She crossed her arms and shivered as a gust of wind blew around them. “I can see the line of worry around your eyes. I find it’s just better to come out and say whatever it is you need to.”
Rhys didn’t bother to hide his scowl. “Just what do you think I have to say?”
“That you don’t want to see me again. I assumed as much would happen after we left Edinburgh.”
“You must have a verra low of opinion of me.”
Her smile was sad, the dejection visible. “I’d like to think I’m a realist. Last night was … it was everything I ever dreamed of, a fantasy come to life.”
“So you doona want any more of me, aye?” Rhys tried to keep his tone light, but he was hurting too much to succeed.
Lily’s black eyes stared at him a moment, as if she were trying to decipher his words. “What?”
“Did it never occur to you, Lily Ross, that I’m no’ nearly finished with you? That you might be my fantasy come to life?”
“I…” She swallowed and shook her head. “No, that never occurred to me.” Her gaze dropped to the ground for a moment. When her eyes lifted back to him, there was a glimmer of exhilaration that she appeared frightened to show. “Is that what you want? To see more of me, that is?”
Rhys pulled her into his arms and gazed into her dark eyes. The feel of her against him had desire clawing at him, urging him to take her right there against the tree. “I most certainly want to see more of you. I’m no’ sure I’ll ever be ready to have you out of my life.”
Her lips parted and a glow of delight infused her. Rhys bit back a moan when she rested her hands on his chest. There was still a smile upon her lips, but it was sensual and full of promise.
“Why me?” she whispered.
“There are too many reasons to list.”
She tilted her head back and laughed, the long strands of her inky hair lifting in the breeze. Rhys was mesmerized. Lily had no idea of her appeal, of the tantalizing way she seduced him every second of every day. Of how she made him eager to face each day as long as she was with him.
Suddenly her smile dropped as she tried to pull out of his arms. Rhys held her, refusing to release his hold on her.
“This can’t work,” Lily said, looking at his chest.
Rhys inhaled deeply. He’d known this was coming, but it didn’t make it ache any less. “Why?”
“Too many reasons to list.” She threw his words back at him.
“Try me.”
“I can’t,” she whispered, her anguish visible.
Rhys tilted her face up to his. “Is it because of Dennis?” When her face went blank, he continued. “I know, Lily.”
“Of course you know. I told you about him.”
“Nay, lass. I know.”
She shook her head, her chest rapidly rising and falling as she began to grow agitated. “So this was all a ruse? You were trying to get me to fall for you so I would tell you everything?” she demanded angrily.
Rhys easily held her and wished there was a simpler way to handle such a situation. “Lily, listen to me,” he said and gave her a little shake. “This wasna a ruse. I spent the time with you in Edinburgh because I could no longer deny the fact that I craved you as I do the air in my lungs.”
She stared at him in disbelief.
“The enemies I spoke of in the city happen to be a mutual one—Dennis’s boss. He wants to bring Dreagan down, to expose us.”
“Expose you how?” she asked skeptically.
Rhys’s heart knocked against his ribs. For the first time in his very long life, he feared, truly feared. “We’re no’ human. We’re Dragon Kings, rulers of the dragons that used to inhabit this realm. We’re immortal, shifting between human and dragon form.”
He waited with bated breath for her to speak, to show some kind of emotion that she’d heard him. Minutes ticked by as she simply looked at him.
Then she said, “Oh.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
It was a dream. A very bad dream. Lily wanted desperately to wake up. There was no way that Rhys would’ve made love to her so sweetly, showed her his tattoo, and then declared that he wanted to date her. There was no way fate would hand her a man like Rhys—handsome, intelligent, gentle, and strong.
The only explanation for his announcement that he was a dragon was that he was either daft as a loon, or it was a dream. She knew Rhys wasn’t a nutter, so it had to be a dream.
“Oh?” he repeated, with a deeply furrowed brow. “That’s all you have to say?”
Lily shrugged, pinching herself, but still she didn’t wake. “What else am I to say?”
“You doona believe me.”
It wasn’t a question, but a statement. The hurt in his blue eyes was like a knife sinking into her heart. “What you’re saying isn’t possible.”
“Expand your mind, Lily. Quit thinking that in this vast universe humans are the only beings around.”
“I have no doubt there are other things out there. In space. Not here.”
Rhys closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. “This willna work if you doona believe.”
“Then prove it. Show me what you look like as a dragon.”