Bryn (Dragon Hearts 3) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedications

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Mailing list/newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, website, contact Carole, leave a review on ebook site

  About The Author

  Other books by Carole Mortimer

  Dragon Hearts 3

  BRYN

  By

  Carole Mortimer

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2017 Carole Mortimer

  Cover Design Copyright © Glass Slipper Designs

  Editor: Linda Ingmanson

  Formatter: Matthew Mortimer

  ISBN: 978-1-910597-59-0

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

  All Rights Reserved.

  DEDICATIONS

  My Wonderful Family

  Chapter 1

  Pendragon Castle, N. Wales

  Bryn scowled. “I agreed to be the bodyguard of this woman, purely as a favor to you, because she has a stalker. I did not agree to act the role of her boyfriend!”

  Chloe, his soon-to-be sister-in-law, looked up at him with huge and pleading blue eyes. “Tegan isn’t a this woman, she’s my best friend. We were at university together. She’s also my editor, and one of the reasons she’s going to New York is because my first book is up for an award and I can’t go myself.” She gave a pointed glance at the huge curvature of her abdomen. “I feel like I’m about to pop, Bryn,” she wailed, tears poised on the edge of her dark lashes.

  Chloe had become more and more emotional during the last weeks of the pregnancy, and Bryn’s brother Nathaniel was going to kick his ass if Bryn upset his heavily pregnant mate.

  Bryn put an arm awkwardly about Chloe’s slender shoulders. “Dylan said everything is okay with the baby in the last scan, didn’t he?” He might be a surly bastard at the best of times, but he cared about Chloe.

  Dylan, another Pendragon brother, was also their healer, and he was going to be almost as angry as Nathaniel if Bryn did anything to jeopardize Chloe’s pregnancy.

  “The baby is fine.” Chloe gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’m just worried about Tegan.”

  Any stress caused to Chloe was something Nathaniel would be far from happy about.

  She was beautiful, fierce, brave as hell, and totally in love with Nathaniel. She was also expecting the first young to be born to any of the Pendragon brothers in all the centuries they had been alive.

  The brothers were all dragon shifters and had been born in the late fifth century to a human father and their Welsh goddess mother. They had been born to become the secret army of the King Arthur most humans believe had only been a myth and legend from the mists of time. Except Arthur had been very real, and the Pendragon brothers had ensured he lived long enough to be the direct descendant of the future kings of Wales.

  Sixteen centuries later and Arthur was long dead, but the brothers continued on, now searching for the fated mates promised to them. Their mates would ensure they would live for another sixteen centuries and possibly longer still, rather than losing all humanity and becoming only dragon. Two of the brothers, Nathaniel and Deryk, had found their mates in the past year. Both women were from the human world, but they also possessed enough dragon DNA to survive the fierceness of the mating.

  Chloe had not only survived the dragon mating, she was now carrying the first of their offspring. As soon as the baby was born, she and Nathaniel were going to be married in a human ceremony; Chloe had absolutely refused to walk down the aisle with her noticeable baby bump.

  Chloe was also the internationally bestselling author of the Dragon Hearts series of books. Two so far, both with dragon shifters as the hero. No one but the brothers and their mates knew the first book in the series, Nathaniel, had been mainly autobiographical. Deryk, the second book, was also as close to the truth as possible, without Chloe actually being in the bedroom with Deryk and Izzy, his Russian mate. Chloe was just waiting for the next brother to find his mate so she could write about him too.

  But as far as the reading public was concerned, those books were fiction. Even Tegan McCall, Chloe’s close friend and editor, had no idea Nathaniel and his brothers really were dragon shifters.

  Chloe now gave a pained wince. “It was just a single red rose left under one of the windscreen wipers on Tegan’s car for a whole week. This past week, he’s upped the creepiness and started sending her other…stuff.”

  He being Tegan McCall’s stalker, and the reason Chloe had asked Bryn to accompany the other woman when she attended an author/reader conference in New York next week.

  Bryn removed his arm before stepping away from his sister-in-law. He’d never been touchy-feely, and with his dragon so close to turning feral, he tended to avoid skin-to-skin contact with anyone. “What sort of stuff?”

  Chloe looked even more pained. “Well, first it was a dozen red roses delivered to her office, with no card attached to say who had sent them.”

  He shrugged. “Aren’t a dozen red roses, along with the single ones, something you human women consider romantic?”

  Chloe narrowed her gaze on him. “Then it was a set of sexy underwear sent to her apartment, again with no card or return address to say who it was from.”

  Bryn’s mouth quirked in an almost smile. “What man doesn’t like to see his woman in sexy underwear?”

  “Tegan isn’t his woman!” His sister-in-law gave him a fierce glare. “And when I say sexy, I meant very sexy.”

  “Explain.”

  “It was red lace, and the bra had… There were two strategically placed holes for her nipples to peep out, and the matching thong was—can you believe this?—crotchless. An inch-wide piece of lace and—”

  “I get it, very sexy,” Bryn cut in hastily. Jesus! “Anything else?”

  “Yesterday, he sent these matching jeweled nipple clamps and clit stimulator—”

  “Okay, got it.” Bryn stopped her again. Chloe might write very sexy dragon shifter books, but he wasn’t comfortable talking with her about nipple clamps and clit stimulators, even jeweled ones.

  Chloe eyed him curiously. “Are you embarrassed by the subject of sex aids?”

  “Not in the least.” His scowl gave lie to the claim. “It just isn’t the image I want to have when I first meet your friend Tegan.”

  The other woman had visited the castle during the almost ten months Chloe had lived here, but on both occasions, Bryn had been away somewhere on a job for Pendragon Security, the retrieval and protection company owned by the eight brothers.

  “God, no.” Chloe chuckled before as quickly sobering. “Yesterday, he sent her another dozen red roses, but this time, there was a card with them. It only had four words printed on it. ‘We’ll be together soon.’”

  Bryn breathed deeply. “She still has no proof as to who could be sending her these things?”

  Chloe shook her head. “Tegan contacted the florist who delivered the two bouquets of roses and the sex-aid shop where the other things came from, but both said they were paid cash for the items. So there’s no physical receipt for th
em to know the name of the buyer.”

  “Paying a florist with cash is a bit odd,” he accepted. “But I doubt customers using cash in a sex-aid shop is unusual.”

  Chloe sighed her impatience with his reasoning. “I already told you, the guy Tegan broke up with a few months ago threatened her, said he was never letting her go.”

  “That sounds more like desperation than a threat.” Bryn couldn’t imagine caring about any woman enough to keep pursuing her when she’d made it clear she no longer wanted him.

  “Not if he also warned her about getting involved with someone else.”

  Bryn’s brows rose. “Sounds like you’ve decided to set me up as the target instead of Miss McCall.”

  Chloe snorted. “You can take it. And you really should start calling her Tegan if you’re her boyfriend.”

  “Which I’m not.”

  “Pretending to be her boyfriend, then.” She sighed her frustration with his attitude. “It has to be the ex-boyfriend who is sending these things,” she maintained stubbornly. “And as an editor for another publishing house, he’s also going to be at this conference in New York.”

  Which was why Chloe had asked Bryn to accompany Tegan to New York as her bodyguard.

  Bryn had no problem with protecting Miss McCall if it set Chloe’s mind at rest to know her friend was being protected while she was in New York. What Bryn did have a problem with was posing as the other woman’s boyfriend. He hadn’t lived the life of a celibate monk the past sixteen centuries, but he’d also never been any woman’s boyfriend, had no idea how to even go about acting like one.

  Except to now know it was creepy to anonymously send her ultra-sexy underwear and jeweled sex aids!

  He frowned. “What’s wrong with my going to New York as Tegan’s bodyguard?”

  “Because it’s a romance author and readers’ conference.”

  He shrugged. “A bodyguard can be sexy.”

  “Not when Tegan is trying to keep her job. Hawke Publishing was bought out three months ago by a US-based company,” she explained at his questioning look. “Tegan says there are sure to be redundancies and cutbacks. The president and vice presidents of the new company will be joining the conference too, along with Hawke Publishing’s CEO, Justin Hawke. It’s important to Tegan she make a good impression.”

  “And having a bodyguard isn’t it?”

  “No.”

  Bryn grimaced. “How many people are going to be at this conference?”

  “Five thousand or so.”

  Five… “All women?”

  Chloe gave him a scathing glance. “Believe it or not, men read and write romance novels too.”

  “How many of those attending will be editors?”

  “Maybe a couple of hundred from around the world. There are four other editors traveling over with Tegan from Hawke Publishing.”

  “Do any of these other editors take their boyfriends with them?”

  “Some do.” Chloe shrugged. “I really wouldn’t worry about that part of it, Bryn, the readers are going to love you,” she added slyly.

  His eyes narrowed. “How so?”

  She snorted. “Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?” Her gaze raked over him. “Black hair. Broody expression, and unusual bronze-colored eyes. Chiseled features. A ripped body. You’re like a drool-worthy hero from the front cover of every romance book on the market.”

  Great. Just great. “Maybe you should ask one of the other brothers…”

  Chloe raised her brows. “Nathaniel obviously can’t go. Deryk and Izzy are in Russia visiting the in-laws. Dylan needs to stay here for the birth of the baby.” She ticked off each brother in turn on her fingers. “Aeran, Rhys, and Garrett are all in Mexico on a job for Pendragon Security, and Grigor… Well, God knows where Grigor is right now.” Her frown turned to one of concern.

  They were all worried about Grigor. As the eldest Pendragon brother, and another unmated dragon, Grigor had become more and more unstable during the past year as his dragon fought for complete domination. If the dragon won, then Grigor would turn feral and the other brothers would have no choice but to eliminate him before he hurt someone, more than likely a human. Grigor had started to spend more and more time alone in his cave in Alaska.

  Which meant Bryn was the only one left to act as Tegan McCall’s bodyguard. Or boyfriend. “Okay,” he sighed his defeat. “But as Miss McCall is traveling with other editors, I doubt this guy will make his move before she gets to New York. I’ll meet up with her at the hotel there. I have no intention of flying to New York on a public airline.” He gave a shudder at the memory of six months ago, when he’d accompanied a client on a flight to Singapore.

  Being stuck in a claustrophobic metal tube for hours with several hundred humans was not something Bryn wanted to repeat in a hurry. Nor was there any reason for him to do so when he could shift in seconds and fly there in dragon form.

  “Thank you!” Chloe gave him a warm hug before releasing him. “And Bryn?” she called out as he reached the door.

  “Yes?” he prompted warily, not trusting the mischievous glow in her eyes. Nathaniel certainly had his hands full with his human mate. Chloe had insisted on being totally financially independent, hence her writing career, and her red hair was indicative of her mischief and temper.

  Her grin widened. “I telephoned the conference hotel and had the booking changed to a suite so that you and Tegan can be together all the time. Night as well as day,” she added softly.

  Bryn didn’t even bother to reply as he continued out of the room.

  Chloe had been using her pregnancy for months in order to get what she wanted, knowing that none of the brothers, including her mate, wanted to risk upsetting her in her delicate condition. But she was definitely overdue an ass-spanking, and once she’d had the baby, Bryn hoped Nathaniel would see that she got one.

  In the meantime, he had Tegan McCall to protect.

  As her boyfriend.

  At a romance authors/readers’ conference.

  It sounded like Bryn’s idea of hell.

  Chapter 2

  New York, New York

  “Mr. Pendragon has already booked in and went up to your suite a few minutes ago,” the hotel receptionist informed Tegan as she handed a key card across the desk.

  Tegan was feeling tired, very hot, and extremely agitated by the time the two cabs dropped her and the other editors from Hawke Publishing outside the conference hotel. Her fatigue wasn’t helped by having to struggle inside with all her baggage because all the porters were busy, and then having to wait in the long line to book in.

  Justin Hawke, the CEO of Hawke Publishing and son of the founder of the company, had explained that the new American management of the company would be watching all their expenses closely for the first few months of the merger. Business-class seats for their editors wasn’t going to happen, even if Justin and the executive staff of the new owners of the company would all be flying here first class tomorrow. And Tegan just bet that none of them had two dinners and late-night drinks lined up for their first evening in New York, like she and no doubt many of the other editors did.

  Anyone who thought these conferences were an excuse for a relaxing trip to a sexy location by the editors had no idea how difficult it was trying to fit in meetings with all their authors who were also attending. Tegan had only ever been to one other conference before this, but in one day at the previous conference, she’d had three breakfast meetings, two lunches, four afternoon teas, and three dinners. This conference promised to be as manic.

  None of her fellow editors had one of the imposing Pendragon brothers waiting upstairs in their— “I booked a room, not a suite.” Tegan frowned, knowing that if Hawke Publishing wouldn’t fork out the money for business class on the plane, they certainly wouldn’t pay for her to occupy a suite at the hotel.

  “I understand the booking was changed yesterday.” The receptionist beamed. “We had a cancellation so were able to accommodat
e you and your…Mr. Pendragon, in the bridal suite.”

  A Mr. Pendragon Tegan had yet to even meet, let alone wanted to share the bridal suite with.

  It wasn’t that she was ungrateful to Chloe for having arranged this protection for her—those gifts she’d been receiving anonymously, and which were becoming more and more intimate, were creeping her out—but the Pendragon brothers were so…so…

  Well, panty-meltingly hot probably best described the brothers Tegan had met so far.

  Dark and dangerous Nathaniel.

  Scowling and scary Deryk.

  Cold and clinical Dylan.

  As for dark, dangerous, scowling, and cold, Grigor—the best way to describe the eldest Pendragon brother was that he scared the shit out of her!

  Tegan hadn’t met the other four brothers, including Bryn, but she had a feeling he was going to be just as overpowering as the rest of them. Even if Chloe seemed to be over-the-moon happy with her Nathaniel.

  “Thanks.” Tegan took the key card from the receptionist—Keeley, the name tag attached to the lapel of her navy blue jacket read—before turning to gather up her bags.

  “I’ll have those brought up to you.” Keeley came round from behind the desk to attach labels to each of the four bags Tegan had brought with her, and totally ignored the huge line of people waiting to collect their room keys. “Follow me, and I’ll show you the private elevator for the top floor.”

  Yep, Tegan decided as she slung her bag more securely over her shoulder and tried to avoid all the accusing glares being shot her way. Bryn Pendragon was definitely going to be as imposing and scary as the rest of the Pendragon brothers if just meeting him once had produced this attentive reaction in the overworked hotel receptionist.

  She followed Keeley over to the discreetly situated elevator for the top floor.

  New York was as overcrowded and noisy as Bryn had thought it might be. Admittedly, the view from the top floor of the hotel was impressive. He especially liked some of the historical buildings he could see in the distance from this huge picture window in the bedroom. But his dragon always felt uneasy in built-up places teeming with humans, and having been born in a time when there were no cities, Bryn wasn’t particularly fond of them either.