Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) by Trish F Leger Page B

fore. When she walked away, the total
adjustment back to the real Nadia, the one that held her cards close to her and
never allowed anyone to see, was final. He knew better than to try and dissect
what he felt all at once. It would take awhile for the essence of her true
feelings to be signaled out.
               
After a few minutes of settling down, he managed to go back inside. Within
minutes he had zeroed in on his date and was about to leave, when Nadia’s small
frame plucked at the edge of his radar.
               
He couldn’t remember ever seeing her look so damn enticing. The wicked blue
gown suited her far better than those other, oversized frocks that she wore in
society. Well, the dresses weren’t that bad, but they sure as hell were nothing
compared to what she was wearing right now.
               
Dark blue clung to every curve of her body. Drake had never seen that much of her before. Now that he was, he was admitting that she was curved in
all the right places. The bare patch of shoulder led to her long, elegant neck,
and as he looked back down his eyes caught on the silver arm cuff that she was
wearing. For some reason that little extra jewelry made all the difference. She
looked pagan, dangerous, and fey-something not entirely of this world, and that
added to the mix of chameleon like fronts that had him so confused tonight.
               
He was just about to tear his eyes away when they lit and stayed on the long
length of one leg extended from the daring little split in that delicious
dress. Long, shapely and so damn beautiful. Before Drake could blink to take it
all in again, it was gone, back under the folds of the long gown. His gums
burned, so did his eyes. How in the world did such a short woman have such long
legs? How was it possible?
                Why in the world does it matter to you? It took you this long to notice she
is a nicely put together woman. Leave it at that and don’t worry about how the
rest of her looks under that dress.
               
Nadia was almost like a daughter to him, not a woman that deserved to be
drooled over. Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he found Natalie and made
for the exit as if flames were licking behind his heels.
    ***
               
Nadia fingered the delicate silver chain of the necklace that her parents had
given her for their last Christmas together. The tears she hadn’t shed yet,
even after tonight’s emotional battlefield, still didn’t fall. They merely
rimmed along the lower lids of her eyes, causing everything to blur and basically
drive Nadia crazy.
               
The soft, but still fragile edges of the silver covered feather pricked her
finger. The feather came from a small hawk that Nadia had taken a liking to
after she’d noticed it at the Haven. The victim of a random vehicle accident,
the hawk had been picked up and taken to the Haven. The beautiful, regal
looking bird touched something deep inside her, causing her heart to stutter
every time she saw it. After doing what they could for the bird, it still
passed after dying from internal injuries.
               
Unbeknownst to Nadia, her father mentioned to Drake her feelings for the bird,
and Drake in turn had acquired one of the small feathers from the animal,
gotten it plated in silver, attached it to a delicate necklace, and Nadia’s
parents gave it to her as a Christmas present.
               
Now with the light from a few candles burning in her living area, Nadia let her
fingers trail over the frail edges of the feather. She always felt that even
though the gift came from her parents, Drake instead gifted her with something
from his world of animals, something full of healing and mystery. He held that
inexplicable air of understanding and knowledge about animals that she would
never comprehend. Watching him work with them was something unexplainable and
beautiful, and if a person watched