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Edmonds, Washington
Tevryn stood toward the back of the room where he had a clear view of the ballroom and the balcony that lay just outside it. He had wrangled an invitation, as two of the three men that had concerned Falkor had been confirmed attendees. The third man, the governor, seemed to be the outlier to Tevryn. For one thing, his position was far too public. It would be difficult for him to operate any kind of grand scale secret operation.
There was a complication, though.
She was here. He’d known it from the time he entered the hotel. The feeling of being sky drunk had almost overwhelmed him, and the sound the earth made when it rumbled beneath his feet was disconcerting to say the least.
Whistler appeared to be at ease moving among the powerbrokers in attendance. Why shouldn’t he be? He had more money and power than all of them. Tevryn kept his eye on Whistler but continued to scan the room to try and pinpoint the location of his eternal flame. His eyes flitted from Whistler to various women who appealed to him physically. It wasn’t difficult; there weren’t all that many.
Unlike many human males, most dragons preferred women with height, curves, and intelligence. Most of those in attendance at the event looked like they could use a cheeseburger or three. One that caught his fancy early on didn’t set his signals off and appeared to be married to some fool who was drinking too much to realize she was flirting with several men.
And then Delaney walked up on the stage to accept an award for the advanced redesign of Edmonds’ City Hall. Delaney Pierce. It wasn’t just the beauty of the project that appealed to him, but all of the modern and sophisticated systems that had been built into and skillfully hidden within the building. He smiled as he watched her climb the few steps onto the dais to accept the award. She was cautious—as if she was afraid she might stumble or fall. She was charmingly awkward physically accepting the award but spoke with increasing confidence and authority in her speech.
She was glorious—curl red hair that seemed to threaten to cascade down her back; an interesting and intelligent face and curves any dragon would kill to have for his own and their mutual pleasure. He could feel his cock stiffening in response to his being able to single her out. That the timing of her arrival was inconvenient was not insurmountable.
Each time he thought of approaching her, Whistler would move on to someone else and thus draw Tevryn’s attention away from her. His dislike of Whistler was beginning to intensify in a way that had nothing to do with the war that was fast approaching.
Tevryn looked up and caught her staring at him from outside on the balcony. When and how had she gotten out there? She gave him a brief smile which conjured up an image of shifting to his dragon form, charging across the ballroom, shattering the glass, grasping her in his talons and flying off into the ribbon of moonlight that shone above the stormy seas. He caught her eye and raised an eyebrow in question and to let her know he saw she was looking at him.
Whistler was turning away from the man he’d been speaking to and seemed to realize that Delaney was alone and unprotected out on the balcony. His movements were mirrored by a bodyguard who seemed to be more suited to muscle beach than a black-tie event. Ensuring he still had Delaney’s attention, Tevryn nodded subtly in Whistler’s direction. She seemed to understand the need for caution but before she could escape from the balcony, Whistler had joined her there—the meathead he had for security standing in front of the door, barring any entrance or exit.
Delaney was trapped, and now Tevryn’s whole reason for being at the event narrowed down to one objective—to save his mate. Whether it was from Whistler, herself, or both, he didn’t know. All he knew was that it needed to be done.
Chapter 3
Delaney
Delaney watched with a kind of detached fascination as Elron Whistler made his way through the crowd—a crowd that parted as if they were the Red Sea and he was some holy man with a staff. In Whistler’s case, his staff wasn’t some kind of wooden pole, but rather a very large man who blocked the door that led from the ballroom to the balcony.
“Ms. Pierce, I’m Elron Whistler.”
Like she didn’t know who he was? Oh god, her shoes. Her shoes were sitting right where she’d slipped them off next to the balcony railing. Should she just ignore them and hope he’d either do the same or hadn’t noticed? Or she could try to subtly kick them off the balcony and then wait for everyone to leave before walking barefoot back to the car her sister had arranged for her? The third option was to try and slip them back on, but she knew she’d never pull that off without making a fool of herself.
“Mr. Whistler, I’m well aware of who you are. Living here in the Pacific Northwest, I’d have to be living under a rock not to know,” she said, walking forward and extending her hand. Best just to brazen it out and hope he didn’t notice. “I didn’t know you had been invited.”
Whistler took her hand, enveloping it between both of his and shaking it. Combined with the weird vibe he was giving off, it was all she could do not to make a face. She might be barefoot, but the head of Whistler Industries had a weak and clammy handshake; it was not pleasant at all. Maybe when you were as rich and famous as Whistler, you didn’t need a firm handshake, but she wasn’t rich or famous, so she and Lucy had practiced handshakes until Delaney’s was confident and reassuring.
“I get invited to most of these things, but rarely attend. However, I was very taken with your redesign and completion of the city hall project. I think you showed not only an excellent eye for the design itself, but many of the improvements you made to the structure and systems were masterful. I like to keep my eye out for people who show a lot of promise. I think you are one of them. So, when I got the invitation, I decided to attend.”
“Thank you. I’m grateful for the praise from a man in your position. I remember studying the redesign of your corporate headquarters in Bellevue when you acquired the old office building.”
“It was lovely when it was designed, but when the city grew in another direction, it fell into disrepair and ruin.”
Delaney nodded. “I always loved its curved form, but replacing all that concrete with steel and glass was such an inspiration to me. I studied that building when I was at the University of Washington. In some ways, I think it inspired me to become an architect—it was the perfect example of form, purpose, and beauty.”
“Thank you. Many people thought I was a fool to buy it, but I think I proved them wrong.”
“I would agree. Are you enjoying yourself this evening? I’m a bit overwhelmed at all the fuss.”
“You shouldn’t be. The Edmonds City Hall is now a building other cities are envious of. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you begin receiving incredibly lucrative offers from other cities and captains of industry.”
Delaney wasn’t sure, but she was beginning to think he hadn’t noticed her lack of footwear.
“I hope you’re right. My business partner and I recently parted ways, so it’s up to me to make the firm a success.”
Whistler pursed his mouth. “Yes, I seem to recall hearing something about that. Bad business on his part. I think he may well find he made a critical mistake, but that does lead me to why I sought you out on your big night. I like to study the people I’m thinking of doing business with. As I said, I thought the work you did on the city hall was masterful, and I was very impressed by what you had to say on the podium.”
“Thank you. I don’t know how many chances I’ll have to talk to a group of people like those gathered tonight. I wanted to take advantage not only to put my name forward, but my design philosophy. Who knows? Maybe one of them, or you, might like what I had to say and think we can partner on an interesting project.”
