Doctor Dragon's Fake Bride (Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Book 2) Read online

  “Just ignore whatever I say.”

  He had no desire to ignore her in any way. “Don’t worry. I’ve heard all kinds of stuff. You’re one of the tamest patients I’ve ever had.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. Most people with broken arms scream and curse and cry and kick things.”

  She laughed, and the sound was delightful. “I doubt that.”

  He held out his arm. “Is it okay if I help you down? You might be a little woozy when you stand up.”

  She nodded, and he wrapped his arm around her, easily lifting her small frame. He supported her all the way out to the car, and his dragon was not content to stay quiet.

  Female. Smells good.

  Yes, she did. But that was irrelevant until she was fully healed. He’d been raised well and taught to always do what he could for the good of his clan. That applied to the humans he lived with, too. He and his brothers wanted to respect their true nature as dragon shifters, but not at the expense of others.

  He was lucky he’d made it to Peru with Kellan and the rest of his brothers last weekend. Having been able to shift and fly meant that his dragon was less restless than usual.

  After a short ride, they were back home on Cypress Street. “My house or yours?” he asked.

  “Yours,” she said. “I don’t have any furniture yet. I’m still sleeping on an inflatable mattress.”

  He guided her into his house. “I’ve got an extra bedroom. First, let me fix you something to eat.”

  “That would be amazing,’’ she said. “I haven’t eaten at all.”

  Oh, shit. She was in his house now, and he was making food for her. His dragon pushed at him, restless, wanting more. That was too bad. His dragon was going to have to back off and show some fucking patience. Right now, taking care of Juliana was his most important task, not hitting on her, no matter how much he wanted to.

  5

  Juliana

  Despite the throb in her arm, she woke up well-rested on a comfortable bed. She rolled over and saw a glass of water and a note on the bedside table, along with a single white pill.

  The note was from Quinn. It read: I hope you slept well. If your arm hurts, take this. Breakfast is in the oven. I have a shift at the clinic today, but I’ll be done early since it’s Friday. —Quinn

  Just the thought of him made her swoon a little. He’d caught her before she hit the ground, taken her to his clinic and patched her up, insisted she not be alone, and then made her dinner last night. He even had a clean, fully-furnished bedroom. He seemed perfect.

  But no man was perfect. The last week had taught her that.

  Juliana wasn’t in the market for a boyfriend. She’d just dodged a bullet and gotten away from the mobster Mihal, so the last thing she needed was to overcomplicate her life by developing a crush on the hot doctor next door.

  She took the pill and drug herself out of bed. In the bathroom, she was grateful to find a new toothbrush and a mini tube of toothpaste. She brushed her teeth but ignored her hair. There wasn’t much she could do about her long hair without a brush and some conditioner. She looked like hell, but that was probably to be expected. There was a scrape down the side of her face, most likely from the bushes that she’d hit on the way down. Her hip bones and her knees were bruised, too, but other than that, she seemed fine. Well, other than the cast that she was sporting.

  She made a face in the mirror. Maybe Mihal wouldn’t want her now that she was damaged goods.

  She left the bedroom and went looking for Quinn. She searched each room, but he didn’t seem to be home yet, so she warmed up the biscuits he’d left and ate the grapes he’d washed. He was really domestic for a single guy. She wondered if he had an ex-wife and some kids hanging around. There was a picture of a child in several photos around the house, but there weren’t any kid toys lying around.

  She couldn’t imagine her own father doing anything remotely domestic. She doubted he’d have noticed if someone was lying on the ground next door or about to faceplant onto the sidewalk like she had. If he had, he’d have sent a servant over to deal with it. He sure as hell wouldn’t have gone out of his way to help, not unless it would benefit him.

  God, she was bitter. But didn’t she have a right to be?

  Quinn didn’t seem to have a television, so she picked up one of his books, but after a few minutes of reading about reptiles, she fell asleep on the couch. She woke up when he opened the front door and jumped so much that she dropped the book to the floor.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.

  “It’s your house,” she said, hoping that didn’t sound too rude. “I’m really jittery.”

  She was used to living in a house full of people. There was always staff in their home, as well as family and business partners in and out, and she’d just run away from the Romanian mob. There was no reason for her to feel so jumpy in front of one nice guy.

  “It’s probably the medicine,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

  “Decent enough to go home if you’re ready to have your house back.” She looked at the clock. It was only noon. “Are you done working already?”

  “Not yet. I came home to check on you.”

  Her heart stuttered. Not even her own mother had ever done that. Her nannies had been the ones to check her temperature, and the chef had been the one to bring her chicken soup when she was sick. Here was this guy, who had nothing to gain from helping her, coming home from work to make sure she was okay. To her shock, her eyes stung. She never cried. It wasn’t allowed in her family, not even for the women. She swallowed hard. She was going to have to really watch herself, or she’d be blubbering all over him soon.

  He sat down on the couch next to her. “Juliana, are you okay?”

  She waved her hand in front of her face. “I’m fine. It must be another side effect of the medicine.”

  “We can try a different kind.”

  She’d never met a doctor who was this concerned for her comfort, but maybe there was more going on here than the usual doctor-patient relationship. Quinn’s gaze was intense. He seemed to look right into her soul. He’d done nothing inappropriate, but the weight of his gaze made her skin heat up.

  She’d dated a few times, but with the bodyguards always lurking around, watching her every move, it was hard to go beyond kissing. Plus, her family had always pushed her to stay a virgin until marriage. She’d just thought it was a mixture of cultural hangups, along with not wanting her to end up with an STD or unplanned pregnancy. She had no idea they were going to use her virginity as a bargaining chip to make her more alluring to a suitor.

  “This is fine. I think I’m just tired. You know, I moved to a new town, smashed up my arm, and had to be rescued by my neighbor. It’s exhausting work.”

  He sat back and smiled. “In that case, I’ll make lunch and then get back to the clinic. Do you like grilled cheese?”

  “I love it,” she said.

  Even in her drugged state, she wasn’t willing to miss watching him make her food. From the sofa, she had a direct line of sight to the kitchen. He had on light blue scrubs, which didn’t look good on too many people, but on him, they looked great. The pants were snug on his backside, and she watched the flex of his defined biceps as he picked up a frying pan and added butter. She knew from personal experience that those arms were very strong. Last night, he’d picked her up like she weighed nothing.

  A slow spin of arousal started in her chest and wound its way down to her stomach and between her legs. What the hell? Was she going to get turned on while watching him cook? Apparently so. What would it be like for him to pick her up again? Only this time, instead of him taking her to a clinic while she was half-conscious, he’d be picking her up because he wanted her, and she wanted him, too. She could wrap her legs around his trim waist, and…

  She was knocked out of her daydream by the sound of his deep voice. “You said you were new in town. Where’d you move from? What brought you to Cedar
Lake?”

  Shit. She hadn’t thought of a cover story yet for those two very predictable questions. She didn’t have much of a Boston accent, probably because her parents didn’t. They still spoke Romanian to their parents but had only the barest of accents when they spoke English. “I’m from Maine,” she said. They’d spent enough summers there when Boston got crowded and hot, so that should work.

  He flipped the sandwich over as it began to sizzle in the pan. “That’s a big change, from Maine to Texas. How do you like it so far?”

  She liked it a lot because Mihal Berceanu was nowhere nearby, and neither was her family. This quaint street in Cedar Lake, Texas, was about as far from her parents’ ornate townhouse in Boston as she could get. “I like it so far. It’s hotter than I’m used to for early September.”

  “Yeah. It won’t really cool down until December around here.”

  Would she still be in Texas by then? Her entire extended family usually traveled to Romania for Christmas and stayed in Bucharest with her great aunt. She couldn’t imagine she’d be there this year. If she continued to refuse to marry Mihal, she probably wouldn’t be welcome to come back ever again.

  Her head pounded. Right now wasn’t the time to dwell on her family or their holiday celebrations. “I won’t mind taking a break from the snow.” The snow was always magical when it first came, but after the New Year, it just turned sludgy and gross.

  “I’ve never lived in a place with a lot of snow,” Quinn said. He placed a glass of water and a plate on the coffee table in front of her. On the plate was a perfectly toasted grilled cheese sandwich and a sliced apple.

  Oh, good. Now they could switch the topic to talking about him, and he wouldn’t realize that she didn’t answer why she moved here.“Thank you,” she said, picking up the sandwich. “Have you lived in Texas your whole life?”

  “No,” Quinn said. He sat in an armchair across from her with his own cheese sandwich and apple that matched hers. His eyes looked faraway for a moment, but then he looked at her and smiled. “I didn’t grow up here, but I’ve come to love it.”

  He didn’t elaborate. Maybe his past was as crappy as hers was, and if he didn’t want to give details, that was just fine with her. She asked him about his clinic, and he happily told her all about it until it was time for him to go back.

  Just as he was leaving, she asked, “Are you single? I don’t want to catch your girlfriend off guard.” She hadn’t seen any evidence of a woman in the house, so she assumed he wasn’t married, but she had to ask and make sure. If he was attached, being alone with him in his house would not make a great first impression in this small town.

  He paused by the door. “Yes. I’m single.” He picked up one of the many photos of the same little boy. “This is Declan. He’s my nephew. He’s five, and when you’re feeling up to meeting some of the people in town, you can meet him and his parents. He loves to introduce himself to new people.”

  “I’ll look forward to meeting him then.”

  She waved goodbye at Quinn as he left for work. Still drowsy, she settled back onto the couch pillows. She’d never met a man like Quinn before. There was likely no future for them, so she shouldn’t get too attached, but she was going to enjoy having his full attention while it lasted.

  6

  Quinn

  Having Juliana in his house was messing with his head. Knowing that she was in his home, asleep in his guest bed while he went to work, set off a warm glow in his chest. He wasn’t glad she’d gotten hurt, but he was glad he’d met her and that she’d let him take care of her. Making food for her and doing errands for her satisfied him in a way he’d never felt before. It was true, though, that shifters had a deep need to protect and to provide for the ones they cared about.

  She’d been at his house for four days now, and she’d just stopped taking the painkillers he’d prescribed. Just that morning, she’d mentioned that it was time for her to go home. He wanted to protest, but she was right. Without the heavy medication, she’d be self-sufficient.

  When he walked in the door after his shift on Monday, he feared that he’d be walking into a quiet, empty house, one that would no longer smell of rosemary and lilacs, but to his surprise and delight, she was in his kitchen. Instead of the t-shirts and pajama pants she’d been wearing for the last few days, she had on a white sundress that looked incredible against her olive skin. Instead of being pulled into a bun, her long dark hair was loose and hung down past her shoulders.

  “Hi,” she said. “I had groceries delivered. I hope that’s okay.” She held up a spatula. “I’ve learned to cook a lot of Romanian dishes, but most people don’t like them because they’re so heavy and full of meat. So, I made tacos.”

  “It’s absolutely okay. Tacos sound great, but a lot of meat is fine with me,” Quinn said, which was an understatement. His dragon craved meat, and he often had to tone it down while eating in public. Luckily, he and his brothers could get together and indulge from time to time.

  He wanted to walk up behind her, put his arms around her, and kiss her on the cheek, just like he’d do if she was his girlfriend. Instead, he stuck his hands in his pocket. “Anything I can do to help?”

  She nodded at her cast. “This was pretty easy to do one-handed, but you could get the plates out.”

  He set the table, trying to copy the way he’d seen Clara do it. When he’d been growing up in Ireland, his dragon shifter kin rarely ate at tables, even when they were in human form.

  As they sat down to eat, Quinn had to pace himself to keep from devouring all the food at once. “Thank you for cooking. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “I wanted to,” she said.

  Sitting across from her, it was easy to imagine that she was his and not merely a guest in his home for a brief time.

  Mine, his dragon said.

  Quinn pushed back. Not yet, she’s not. And you don’t get to call the shots on this one.

  Juliana might not be his, but he was going to ask her out. She wasn’t taking pain pills any longer, and she was able to go back home if his question was offensive or over the line.

  As they finished up the tacos she’d made, he wiped his mouth. He looked right at her and smiled. “Juliana, meeting you has been one of the highlights of my summer. I’d love to take you out on a date.”

  Her face lit up. “You would?”

  “I absolutely would.”

  His dragon preened. Just looking at her there with her cheeks flushed sent a flash arousal straight through his body. His cock got hard instantly, but before he could finalize the details of their date, something loud crashed into his front door. Juliana jumped, knocking her fork to the floor.

  Quinn suppressed a sigh. Karate kicks were one of Declan’s signature moves. He’d already knocked his bedroom door off the hinges, but apparently, he hadn’t gotten it out of his system yet. Quinn bent over and picked her fork up and put it in the sink.

  He touched her arm. “Sorry. It’s just my nephew. If I don’t answer, he’ll probably scale the roof next.”

  “Should I go?” she asked, standing up.

  “Not unless you want to.”

  She seemed to brace herself, pulling her shoulders back and taking a deep breath. “No. I want to meet your family.”

  He hoped they didn’t scare her off.

  Quinn tugged the door open to find Kellan on the other side, holding Declan upside down. “Sorry about the kick. We were walking around after getting ice cream in town, and Declan wanted to say hi. We haven’t seen you in a few days.”

  Clara nudged her husband to the side. “What he means to say is that we missed you,” Clara said. “Their manners are a work in progress.”

  Quinn started to laugh, but then he noticed that Kellan was scenting the air and that his brother had realized Quinn had a female in his house. Kellan dropped his voice. “Are we interrupting something?”

  “No. It’s my neighbor. She’s new to town, and she wants to meet more people.”

>   Kellan’s eyebrows shot straight up. He and Brennan were the more outgoing of the four of them. Quinn had never been known to go out of his way to meet the neighbors. “Okay. We’ll be on our best behavior.”

  “Yeah, right,” Quinn said, punching Kellan in the arm. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

  By then, Declan had kicked his dad in the head and scrambled down to the ground.

  Quinn lifted him into the air. “Listen. My friend, Miss Juliana, is inside, but she broke her arm recently, so be careful.”

  “I will!” Declan shouted, and he was off. He knew to be careful with humans, but sometimes, he forgot.

  By the time the rest of them got to the kitchen, Declan was standing on the chair and touching Juliana’s hair. “It’s silky!” he yelled.

  Clara breezed in and pulled his hand down, whispering in his ear, probably reminding him not to touch people without their permission. Clara turned her warm smile toward Juliana and introduced herself and Kellan. “We heard you’re new to town. If you’re free on Saturday, we’re having a barbeque.” Clara put her hand on Juliana’s shoulder. “We’d love to have you.”

  Juliana looked a little shell-shocked. “That sounds great, thank you.”

  “You just moved in next door, right? I’ve always liked that house,” Clara said.

  Juliana nodded. “If you have any interior decorating skills, I’d love some advice. I don’t have a single thing inside besides a blowup mattress.”

  “I don’t have any training, but I’d love to help.”

  Quinn listened as the two women discussed Juliana’s new house, glad he’d let them come in. Clara could put anyone at ease. Within minutes, the two women left together to go look at Juliana’s house, taking Declan with them, who was excited to see a house with no furniture.

  As soon as they were gone, Kellan crossed his arms. “What the hell, man? You’re swooning all over her, and we haven’t heard a word about it?”