Taming the Dragon (Loved by the Dragon, #3) (7 page)

“I could have sworn I saw a jaguar moving past those trees,” Marcy whispered.

“You did,” Teo replied, unconcerned. “I have several on the island.”

She turned her face up and stared at him. “Is it safe?”

“It is why areas are restricted, Marcy. They cannot reach the resort and they offer no danger to me.” He paused, seeming to consider something, then looked down at her. “Please promise you will not wander alone in search of me.”

“Er... sure thing.” She had no desire to wind up as cat chow.

Teo punched in a code at a locked gate, waving Marcy through first. The change between sides was subtle. The path widened and transitioned from loose dirt to hard-packed gravel, the plants arranged with an eye for aesthetics rather than growing where they would, and voices drifted on the breeze rather than the chitter of insects and monkeys.

“Um, so... we’ll meet in your office to finish the painting? I promised to help Astrid with the sandcastle contest in the morning but I’m free the rest of the day.”

“Yes, of course.” He leaned in and brushed a light kiss against the corner of her mouth. The simple, affectionate gesture ignited sparks down the length of her spine. “Enjoy your time with Chloe.”

When they parted at the hotel, Marcy pinched herself repeatedly. The dream didn’t end, a sign her sensual evening with Teo truly took place. Then again, the sore and aching feeling between her thighs was the only proof she needed.

M
arcy arrived to an empty office the following afternoon. A note left on the desk informed her their portrait session would have to wait. Teo had gone off the island for business matters and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.

Disappointment washed over her, leaving a sour taste in her mouth. Rather than return to the beach, she sat behind the desk and booted up the computer. She figured she may as well work on the financials while she had the time.

Once she studied the suspicious account activity and totaled the numbers, Marcy shook her head. Without speaking to Teo, she couldn’t verify fraudulent from approved purchases.

Marcy tapped the speed dial button on the intercom phone. A small tag beside it read ‘Kekoa’.

“This is the residence of Teotihuacan Arcillanegro. How may I serve?”

“Kekoa, right?”

“Sí, señorita. How may I help you?”

“I have a list of unknown account numbers I’d like to run by you. I need more information, and Teo mentioned you manage most of his finances.”

“I will log onto the computer from our home network to assist you.”

What a sweet guy,
she thought. Conversation between them painted a favorable portrait of Teo’s mysterious house servant. Like Saul, Teo also had a shapeshifter in his service, but he’d never elaborated by telling her more about Kekoa’s nature.

Once he logged on to the chat program linking the office and home computers, she sent him a list of account numbers and waited for his feedback.

Kekoa: I am familiar with all of these, save for three.

Marcy: I take it that it’s unusual for money to disappear to random accounts?

Kekoa: Yes. The first five accounts are private donations to local animal shelters. We give money to them. This next account is to help needy families. Teo dislikes the idea of starving children, so he gives secretly to a few organizations.

Kekoa rambled in text about the good deeds of his master. A smile crept onto Marcy’s face.
He loves him.
Together, they eliminated most of the transactions Marcy flagged and Kekoa promised to look into the rest.

“Ugh, I can’t believe he went through all this trouble to build a resort business and didn’t hire an actual full-time accountant,” she muttered to herself after Kekoa logged off. She opened a calculator program and totaled up the missing funds.

Her hunch was right; Teo had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, spread out over a gross amount of time. Without full access to his accounts, there was nothing to do but catalog a list of the offending transfers.

Marcy took the time to package her findings, lingering in the office with the hope Teo might return at any moment. He didn’t, so she left his office before she risked missing her surf lesson on the beach.

***

A
young, dark-haired man approached Marcy on the beach the next morning where she lay on a blanket to recover from the previous day’s strenuous activities. Under his open, white shirt, he carried the build of a Pacific Islander, thickly muscled and sturdy in frame. Unlike Teo, he wore his hair short.

“Greetings, señorita. I am Kekoa. Master Teo would like to see you in his office if you are free.”

“Nice to finally meet you, Kekoa. Sure thing. Could you help me gather my things?”

“Of course.”

With Kekoa’s help, Marcy packed her belongings away and folded her beach blanket. He carried everything, including the personal tote bag filled with her snacks, laptop, books, and change of clothes.

The blue Spix was the first thing Marcy saw when she stepped inside Teo’s office at the administration complex. The bird perched on a stand with a half-eaten peach clutched in one claw. Beside Teo’s desk, her easel awaited her, paints positioned in a neat row with her supplies and fresh rags.

“Good afternoon, Marcy.” Teo sat behind the desk with his intent gaze on the monitor. “Allow me a moment to complete this then I will sit for you.”

“You brought the bird here. To your office.”

“You wished to paint one, yes? So I brought her to you.” He offered a small, brief smile. Almost shy.

Marcy’s gaze caressed his body as he stripped, visually digesting every inch. Teo took up the exact same position as before on the chaise. The parrot answered his call and perched on his bent knee.

Something’s different. He’s so quiet.
The conversational dragon of the first portrait sitting said little and spoke only when addressed.

“Is something on your mind?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m a good listener,” Marcy prompted.

“It is nothing,” he assured her.

“Okay. Well, if you’re not going to talk, do you mind if I put on some music?”

He waved a dismissive hand toward the computer, so Marcy crossed behind the desk and found the satellite radio. Within moments, peaceful and relaxing music filled the space.

“Your belly has rumbled twice,” Teo interrupted her hours later. “Have a break to order lunch.”

“I brought one with me,” Marcy said.

“I insist. There is a menu beside the computer you may use to this purpose.” With the exception of his generous offer, Teo remained aloof, a quiet, distant man sharing the office with her. A stranger.

Does he regret it? Did he use me?
A dozen other thoughts niggled into Marcy’s mind until she dismissed them and placed a delivery order for lunch on Teo’s dime.

“Would you like anything?”

“No. I hunted and will be fine for some time yet.” Teo stroked his fingers down the parrot’s wing feathers and offered the bird a nut.

Okay... What crawled up his butt?
Marcy sighed and gave up on the attempt to spark conversation. She added a few more details to the artwork while she waited for her meal, which arrived in under ten minutes. She’d never get enough of the café’s scallops, but the uncertain mood between her and Teo ruined the taste. Her appetite suffered during the silent lunch. Eventually she put her leftovers in the small fridge behind the desk and moved back to her easel. Painting, at least, occupied her mind and made the passing hours seem to fly.

“All done.” Marcy applied a last paint stroke then set her palette aside. It was, without a doubt, the best watercolor she’d ever put to canvas.

Some rich bitch is going to have this.
A small stab of jealousy struck her at the thought. She had depicted the stoic man in natural colors, utilizing a photorealistic style to highlight his strong jaw and handsome features. His Spix added a bold splash of color against the brown skin painted on canvas.

“You have great talent.” Teo had already pulled on his clothes. “Will it be dry in time for the auction Friday night?”

“Er...”
Fine, he wants to be all professional about this. I can do the same.
“Yes, it should be fine once I seal it. It will need a frame though.”

“Already ordered. Kekoa will deliver it tomorrow.”

“I prefer to mount and frame my own work.”

“As you wish. Do what you must and I will compensate you. Now then, I see you made many organizational changes with my accounts. Are my funds secure?”

His sudden jump from one business matter to another baffled her. He hadn’t touched her once and he barely even looked at her.

“Not so much. You’re missing large chunks of money, Teo. I’ve flagged over three dozen different transactions where the numbers don’t add up. Each is for a small amount, by your standards anyway — sixty dollars here, a hundred there. They’re interspersed in with hundreds of other transactions between your many charities but the bulk of them are drawn from the main umbrella organization.”

“Do you know who the thief is?”

“No names, but I do have account numbers. There are three of them in offshore accounts. I don’t have the needed access for determining who it is, but there’s enough evidence here to report so an investigation can be launched. Kekoa had no record of them. Your friend is very overworked, so please don’t blame him.”

The quiet dragon regarded her with a tense expression, his jaw clenched. “I do not blame Kekoa.”

“Good. I’ve seen tricks like this before and heard about others. Whoever hit you has stretched this out over a long time, Teo. I only traced it back about a year, but it may have gone on for even longer...” Her voice trailed as she took in Teo’s features. He looked scary.

“I should have known better than to trust a mortal with any extension of my horde. This is typical of human monkeys; thieves and liars, taking what is not rightfully theirs!”

“Excuse me?” Marcy stiffened. “Human monkeys? You’re calling humans monkeys now?”

“You are right. I’ve paid an unfair insult to monkeys when humans are rarely more than parasites infecting this Earth,” Teo rumbled. His high cheekbones were flushed with color.

“Right. I think it’s time for me to go. Here, I printed it all out and highlighted the accounts for Kekoa.” She passed over a thick manila folder with a thumb drive taped to the outside. “Everything is also saved on the flash drive there and on a CD I locked away in your drawer. Multiple backup copies never hurt.”

“I did not include you in my generalization, Marcy. Your kind are not worthy to have you among their number.”

“Save it. This human monkey has a date at the bar.”

Marcy claimed her supplies and collapsed her easel without another word to him. Teo stood tall and straight, his face an impassive mask. He gave her no argument. Once she stalked to her suite and jumped into the shower, she scrubbed dried ocean salt and remnants of sand from her skin. She donned the perfect short and flirty dress for a night at the bar.

Maybe she didn’t have a date, but she’d be damned if she waited around for a spoiled dragon.

“H
ave you seen Teo around anywhere?”

Marcy snapped her gaze to her best friend. “No. Why would I have seen him?”

“I figured since you try to avoid him you’d have noticed if he was around,” Chloe replied. She snagged two glasses of wine from a passing waiter and handed one to Marcy.

“Who knows? He’s probably off hobnobbing with someone or counting his treasure, or something equally boring.” Marcy absently adjusted her dress strap and avoided eye contact. She would have worn the same cocktail dress again as the first night, if Chloe hadn’t insisted it would be a fashion faux pas to wear the same thing twice. They made a stunning pair in similar little black dresses.

“Oh well. True, I guess. Saul likes to go count his rubies whenever we have a spat. Anyway, the auction is about to start up.”

The banquet hall had been transformed. Neat rows of velvet-cushioned chairs had been filled by the wealthy and influential guests. Marcy and Chloe took seats toward the middle of the room and were offered fresh champagne glasses.

Teo’s organization had acquired everything from priceless works of art to decades-old movie props. Rare wine vintages went for thousands of dollars in bidding wars between members of elite society. Their elusive host arrived when the last bottle sold and he personally delivered it to the winning bidder.

“Next up, a portrait,” the auctioneer announced as two men carried in a large cloth covered rectangle and set it on a waiting easel. He pulled the covering with a flourish. Quiet murmurs filled the room and more than one lady sighed in sheer appreciation. Several glanced from the intimate portrait to the man who had inspired it. Teo stood at the side of the room, impassive as ever.

“You painted
Teo
?” Chloe hissed, leaning in close against Marcy. “You told me a guy approached you on the beach.”

“Which was true. Teo is a guy and he asked me to paint his portrait for this,” Marcy mumbled back. The bidding had started in earnest with several ladies already driving the price up to $200,000.

“He’s
naked
.”

“You can’t see anything.”

Chloe stared at her then raised her hand.

“Three hundred thousand for the lady in the back,” the auctioneer called out.

“Chloe!” Marcy shot her friend a scandalized look and grabbed her arm, pulling it back down. Someone further up took over the bid at a half-million.

“What? I thought you might like it,” Chloe teased. “Or maybe I’d give it to Saul. They’re so close he might actually
like
it.”

“You bitch.” Marcy’s shove barely budged Chloe. The dragon’s blood flowing in her friend’s veins made her more formidable than any human. She couldn’t shift like her husband, but her body had undergone irreversible changes during pregnancy, making her stronger and faster.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Marcy didn’t answer.
Because I... didn’t want to get your hopes up. I didn’t want you to think one day I’d be immortal and forever-young like you, with a man who actually gave a damn about me for more than five minutes.
She sighed. “It was for his charity work. He’s still a human-loathing asshole and I wouldn’t piss on his flaming corpse after Saul breathed on him.”