Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay) Read online

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

  JANET CHAPMAN

  “No one is better at tugging on the heartstrings

  and the funny bone!”

  —Romantic Times

  Praise for MOONLIGHT WARRIOR,

  the first book in her thrilling new Midnight Bay

  paranormal romance series

  “Plenty of good humor. . . . Lovable characters, a sweet romance, and the grouchy troublemaker dragon combine for a delightful read.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “A warmhearted tale of love and magic. . . . Full of warmth, danger, and romantic passion.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Will knock your socks off. . . . A must read. . . . I couldn’t put it down.”

  —Winter Haven News Chief

  “A magically believable story brimming with imaginative scenarios and unforgettable characters.”

  —SingleTitles.com

  “A charming tale with sympathetic and quirky characters. . . . Great fun.”

  —A Romance Review

  “Chapman’s romantic fantasy is a sweet and silly mythical mélange with a dark magic center. . . . Brimming with interesting, well-crafted characters.”

  —Reader to Reader

  Praise for the charming Highlander series

  A HIGHLANDER CHRISTMAS

  “Romantic and magical. . . . Chapman dishes up all the passion and tender love she’s known for.”

  —Romantic Times

  “A humorous plotline, self-deprecating characters, and a decided dose of enchantment make this a warm read for the season.”

  —BookPage

  “Filled with poignant realism interwoven with the enchanting magic of the holiday season. . . . Will charm and delight readers.”

  —Single Titles

  “An extraordinary seasonal story full of laughter, romance, and magic.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  SECRETS OF THE HIGHLANDER

  “Liberally spiced with mystery, this story has warmth and genuine love that make it the perfect antidote for stress.”

  —Romantic Times

  ONLY WITH A HIGHLANDER

  “A mystical, magical book if there ever was one. . . . A perfect 10!”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “Chapman’s amazing ability to meld rich characterization with passion and romantic adventure is unmatched and unforgettable.”

  —Romantic Times

  TEMPTING THE HIGHLANDER

  “Chapman breathes such life and warmth into her characters, each story is impossible to put down.”

  —Romantic Times

  WEDDING THE HIGHLANDER

  “A series that just keeps getting better. . . . This is Chapman’s most emotional, touching, and powerful novel to date.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Exciting. . . . Janet Chapman writes a refreshingly entertaining novel.”

  —The Best Reviews

  And for her latest enthralling contemporary romance . . .

  TEMPT ME IF YOU CAN

  “Hidden secrets, passion, and a dash of danger all work in perfect harmony to create an outstanding read!”

  —Romantic Times

  “An absolute joy! Books like this are the reason I like to read in the first place.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Janet Chapman at her very best. The characters are likeable and believable, and the villain is truly vile. . . . One of the best romance stories—with a hint of mystery—you’ll read this year.”

  —Reader to Reader

  These titles are also available as eBooks

  Also by Janet Chapman

  Tempt Me If You Can

  A Highlander Christmas

  Moonlight Warrior

  The Man Must Marry

  Secrets of the Highlander

  The Stranger in Her Bed

  The Seduction of His Wife

  The Seductive Impostor

  Tempting the Highlander

  The Dangerous Protector

  Only with a Highlander

  Charming the Highlander

  Loving the Highlander

  Wedding the Highlander

  Pocket Star Books

  A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2010 by Janet Chapman

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  First Pocket Star Books paperback edition February 2011

  POCKET STAR BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Cover design by Craig White

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  ISBN 978-1-4391-5989-7

  ISBN 978-1-4391-9050-0 (ebook)

  Chapter One

  Fully aware that she was losing the argument from sheer absurdity, Maddy crossed her arms under her breasts and lifted her chin, determined to go down fighting. “You take that back right this minute! Refusing to have anything to do with another man named Billy does not make me a chicken.”

  Eve Gregor—her supposedly very best friend—rolled her eyes. “I’m not implying you’re a chicken, he is. And his name is William.” She suddenly shot Maddy an eager grin. “But I’ll give you a manicure if you come over to supper tonight and call him Billy to his face. Or Bill. Or even Willy.” Eve leaned on the counter, obviously warming to the idea. “And I’ll throw in a pedicure if you wear your short shorts.”

  Maddy dropped her arms to her sides in surprise. “Are you forgetting that he threatened to spank me if I ever wore those shorts again? Right after he walked up, stark naked, and kissed me in front of half the men in town? I don’t care if he is Kenzie’s friend; William Killkenny is an uncouth, outrageous, lecherous brute.”

  Eve dismissed Maddy’s concern with a laugh as she walked from behind the counter. “William wouldn’t really spank you; he was just blustering because your short shorts had been driving him crazy with lust all week.”

  “But I hadn’t even met him before he walked out of that library carrying your mother, so how in hell could I have been driving him crazy with lust?”

  Eve started rearranging the shrunken supply of bread and pastries on the table of her woodstove shop and bakery, and shrugged. “There must have been two dozen men who showed up to help rebuild our house and barn, so it’s possible you simply didn’t notice William.” She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “But the men all sure as hell noticed you and Susan.”

  Maddy pounced on the chance to change the subject. “Speaking of Susan, nobody’s seen her since last Wednesday. I checked at the bank, but she never showed up for work on Monday, after her vacation. So I drove to her house last night, just to make sure she wasn’t lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of her stairs, and the place looked as if she hadn’t been there in days. All her plants were wilted, and there was a package from Victoria’s Secret on her doorstep that was still soaked from the rainstorm we had three nights ago. I think w
e should file a missing person report or at least talk to the sheriff. What if something terrible happened to her?”

  When Eve said nothing, Maddy straightened the sign on the banana bread with a frown, wondering why her friend didn’t appear at all concerned about their friend. “I’m beginning to see why Susan feels so desperate to have a man of her own,” Maddy continued. “She’s been missing for six days, and nobody even noticed. Can you imagine being that alone in the world?” She nudged Eve with her hip. “I know she acted bitchy toward you when you moved back to Midnight Bay, but how can you not be worried about her?”

  “Because not only do I know that Susan is on a mountain in western Maine, I also happen to know that she’s up there with Hamish MacKeage.”

  Maddy slapped her hand to her chest in surprise. “Susan ran off with Hamish?”

  Eve nodded. “I guessed as much when they both turned up missing last Wednesday, so I asked Robbie MacBain to check it out when he went home. He called Thursday evening and told me to quit worrying, because he’d spotted the two of them at an old cabin he owns up on West Shoulder Ridge.”

  “Susan ran off with Hamish?” Maddy repeated, utterly shocked—and downright appalled. “Why, that no-good rotten witch! I can’t believe she managed to hook her claws in one of those sexy, seemingly intelligent MacKeage men.”

  “Hey, two seconds ago you were feeling sorry for her.”

  “That was before I knew she actually had the nerve to run off with one of them.” She shook her head. “Poor Hamish; by the time Susan lets him come up for air, he’ll be ready to swear off women forever.”

  “It’s more likely Susan is the one trying to come up for air,” Eve said with a giggle. “Last Wednesday, just before we realized Mom was missing, Robbie MacBain warned me that he wouldn’t put it past any of his MacKeage cousins to steal you or Susan away if one of them took a serious liking to either of you. And sure enough, Hamish stole Susan.”

  “Are you saying he kidnapped her?”

  Eve’s grin widened. “Kenzie assured me she wouldn’t be protesting too long, once Hamish gets done with her.”

  Maddy snorted. “Does your husband think all Scots are God’s gift to women?”

  “I imagine Susan is thinking so right about now.”

  “So you’ve known about her running off with Hamish for five days, and you simply forgot to share that juicy bit of gossip with your very best friend?”

  Eve’s grin turned into a scowl. “It’s hard to share juicy gossip with someone who’s never around. I keep inviting you over to dinner, but you keep declining.”

  “That’s because I wanted to give you newlyweds some privacy. You and Kenzie have only been married six days.”

  Eve rolled her eyes again. “Privacy? We have an old priest, my mother, and a boisterous Irishman living with us, not to mention a spoiled-rotten harbor seal pup that keeps trying to get into the house. What’s one more? No, two more; I distinctly remember inviting Sarah, too.”

  “Yeah, like I’d expose my sweet, innocent child to Killkenny. He was buck naked when he walked out of the library, Eve. But instead of having the decency to ask the paramedics for a blanket, he was more interested in threatening me.”

  “Oh, will you get past that? I told you, William is not going to spank you.” Eve arched a brow. “Likely because he knows you’d clean his clock if he tried.”

  “Damn right I would.”

  “So, will you please come to dinner tonight?”

  “I don’t know.” Maddy crossed her arms under her breasts again, this time to ward off a sudden chill. “The man gives me the creeps. His hair is longer than mine, for crying out loud, and his beard pretty near suffocated me when he kissed me. The guy not only acts like a caveman, he looks like one, too.”

  “But he’s such a tall caveman. Come on, you have to admit he’s got one hell of a ripped body. And I have a feeling he really likes you.”

  Maddy glared at her. “That’s the creepiest part. I’ll have you know that I heard a noise outside our house Sunday night, and when I shut off my bedroom light and went to the window, I saw a man going into the woods. And the next morning I found a collection of seashells on my back porch.”

  “What makes you think William is the one who left them?”

  “They were arranged to spell out my bonny sweet lass. And if that wasn’t bad enough, yesterday I caught him outside the nursing home talking to one of our male residents in the garden. But when I went out to ask him what in hell he was doing, he scaled the six-foot fence as if it were knee-high and was gone.”

  Eve’s eyes widened. “You think he’s stalking you?”

  Maddy was glad to see that her friend was finally taking her seriously. “You got a better definition for what he’s doing?”

  “Then all the more reason to come to supper tonight and confront him.” Eve touched her arm. “That’s what the Maddy Kimble I know and love would do.”

  Maddy balled her hands into fists at her sides. “You’re right. Since when have I started letting some full-of-himself man scare me off?” She stormed to the door, but then stopped to look back at Eve. “And I will bring Sarah with me tonight, if only to let her see me in action.” She shook her head. “She hasn’t said anything, but I think Sarah is being bullied at summer rec. And seeing me stand up to Killkenny just might help her do the same for herself.”

  “She’s being bullied? Then you need to talk to the head of the summer recreation program. They must have a policy for dealing with bullies.”

  Maddy sighed. “I’m sure they do. But if I make an issue out of it, Sarah will be mortified. And besides, I don’t think it’s any one kid in particular; I think a whole bunch of the little snots started teasing her after she got back from her trip with Billy’s parents.”

  “Are they jealous that Sarah got to spend three weeks in a fancy motor home?”

  Maddy smiled sadly. “What kid wouldn’t be jealous, considering the farthest most of them have ever gone is Ellsworth? But I think they’re really teasing her about the fact that her daddy knocked up an eighteen-year-old over in Oak Harbor.”

  “So it’s true, then?” Eve whispered. “Billy got another woman pregnant?”

  “An eighteen-year-old,” Maddy repeated. She snorted. “Apparently my ex-husband’s sperm only works on barely legal girls. Billy got me pregnant on my eighteenth birthday, but when we tried to give Sarah a brother or sister a couple of years later, he suddenly started shooting blanks.”

  Eve held her hands over her gaping mouth. “What are you going to do?”

  Maddy shrugged. “Privately, I am sincerely praying that this marriage works out for him. And publicly, I’m telling everyone that Sarah is going to be a flower girl at their wedding.”

  “You want Sarah to be in the wedding?”

  “Of course I do. She needs to be included, if only to know that she’s just as important to her father as his new baby. Jeesh, you’re acting as if you expect me to be embarrassed or something.”

  “What do you have to be embarrassed about?”

  “Maybe that Billy replaced me with a younger woman?”

  Eve was back to rolling her eyes. “Oh, for the love of—Everyone knows that you left him. And this woman can’t be considered a replacement if it’s been six years since your divorce. Hell, I had barely been divorced six months when I married Kenzie.” She cupped her slightly bulging belly and grinned. “And I got knocked up before my wedding, too.”

  Maddy gave a dramatic sigh. “Sperm just runs rampant in Midnight Bay.” She looked at her watch and then opened the door. “I have to get back to the nursing home. I’ll pick up Sarah when I get off work, and we’ll be on your doorstep in plenty of time to set the table.” She started to step onto the sidewalk, but immediately scurried back inside and headed for the rear office. “Speaking of the devil,” she muttered, rushing past Eve. “Kenzie and William just pulled up. I’m leaving the back way.”

  “Jeesh, come on,” Eve said, running after her
and grabbing her arm. “Now’s your chance to confront him.”

  Maddy brushed down the front of her nursing scrubs and then tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I’m a mess.”

  “What do you care, if you’re going to read him the riot act for stalking you?”

  She took a deep breath and smiled tightly. “I promise I will tonight, right after supper. But instead of being covered in other people’s body fluids and looking like something the cat dragged in when I do, I intend to be dressed like a woman he’ll think twice about messing with.”

  “Omigod,” Eve said, covering her mouth again. “So you are going to wear your short shorts tonight.”

  “No, I’m going to dress like a schoolteacher!” she said, poking fun at her friend. “And I’m going to waggle my finger in Killkenny’s face just like old Mrs. Bean used to do, and tell him—Oh, shit!” Maddy cried when the bell over the front door gave a cheery tinkle. She immediately bolted out the back door, leaping a pile of old pallets as she made her escape.

  “Cluck-cluck-cluck!” Eve called after her with a laugh, watching Maddy sprint down the back alleyway. The woman might be acting as though William Killkenny’s far from subtle pursuit offended her, but Eve suspected Maddy was secretly thrilled.

  Though probably not nearly as thrilled as she was. Maddy was her best friend, and it was important to Eve that she also find happily-ever-after.

  Well, she was her best friend after Kenzie. But husbands didn’t really count—especially when they were ancient enough to believe that a woman should be deliriously happy living on Old MacDonald’s farm.

  Which Eve was. Deliriously.

  And she wanted Maddy to be deliriously happy, too.

  Preferably with William.

  Not only did William have the potential to be Maddy’s desperately needed knight in shining armor, but Eve had a more selfish reason for wanting to see them become a couple. William was actually a ninth-century Irish nobleman whom some vindictive old witch had turned into a dragon twelve hundred years ago, and the poor guy could probably use some happiness of his own. He’d somehow managed to travel through time to this century in hopes that Kenzie could help him lift the curse, and now that he was a man again, keeping William’s past a secret from Maddy was just about killing Eve.