Kiss of the Dragon Read Online Free Page B

my father that I am still abed.” Her command came
without hesitation. “Who dares to call at this hour of the morning? The sun has
only just awoken. They cannot expect a well-bred lady to be up and about at
this early hour.”
    Jabulani laughed loudly, a good-humored sound that resonated
against the stone walls of the corridor. “You have been up for hours, Beauty. I
would bet a year’s wages on it. And your father knows it.”
    Making a face, she agreed. “Of course, I have. But they need
not know that.”
    “Your father has already informed them that you were up. He
expects you to do your duty and make an appearance below stairs.”
    Bianca scarcely kept the obscene curse from escaping her
lips as she paced to the balcony window and back, her dark dreams momentarily
forgotten with this news. She had more important matters to attend.
    Suddenly she stopped and turned to the large servant. Her
eyes brightened with mischief.
    “Please summon Lady Modesta for me, Jabulani, then return to
my father and stall for more time.”
    The smile that had previously graced his face disappeared
and a look of disapproval settled there. “What are you thinking to do, Beauty?
What do you need with your cousin?”
    “Do not worry! Everything will be fine, Jabulani. Trust me.”
By the scowl on his face Bianca knew her innocent look did not fool him at all.
She gave him a bright smile and nodded her head assuringly. “Trust me.”
    With a curt nod, his face set in disapproval, Jabulani
turned and made his way down the stairs toward Lady Modesta’s chambers. Bianca
closed the door and hurried to her wardrobe, flinging the door open wide to
reveal the array of splendidly colored gowns, arranged in the colors of the
rainbow, deep red to royal purple. She needed something special for this
occasion. Something meant to impress upon the newly arrived nobleman just how
thrilled she was to have yet another suitor.
    With only a slight hesitation, she picked two gowns that
caught her eye. She carried them to her large canopy bed and spread them out
over the deep blue velvet bed cover. She dropped her dressing gown to pool on
the floor at her feet and reached for one of the gowns. It would take her only
a few moments to ready herself for the encounter with one more in a long line
of suitors who had come to compete for her hand and therefore her fortune.
    As she carried the gown she chose past the tall looking
glass that stood next to her dresser, Bianca caught a glimpse of her trim naked
body and she paused to take a good look at herself. She constantly heard tales
of her celebrated beauty and she had suffered through many evenings being
entertained by traveling bards who seemed to have an obsession with her
physical attributes.
    Her suitors complimented her lavishly, and her father told her
time and again that she was the very image of her dear angelic mother. But as
she stood looking at herself with all of those empty compliments whirling
around in her head, she failed to see what they saw.
    Bianca stared at her reflection in the tall gilded mirror
and saw a young woman whose face was pleasant enough, with two slanted violet
eyes, a small straight nose and a sweetly curved mouth. She smiled suddenly and
then ran her tongue over her small, white, evenly spaced teeth. Yea, admittedly
her teeth were white and straight, nothing exceptional.
    She shrugged her shoulders and felt the softness of her long
hair against the skin of her back. If there was one thing she might be a little
vain about, it was her mane of glorious black-as-midnight hair. It hung in a
long, shining curtain down her back, nearly reaching her knees. Raising her
hands, she thrust them through the mass of hair, lifting it off her neck. As
she turned her back to the mirror, she let it fall back to whirl about her
backside and thighs. The movement of it against her bare skin caused such a
sensual feeling that she whirled around several times letting her hair wrap
around her like a