Caitlin awoke with a start, uncertain where she was at first until a warm hand brushed down her arm. Then it all came rushing back—her arrival at Dragon’s Lair, her mother’s intrusion and boarding the plane.
When they’d boarded, she hadn’t paid much attention. It’d been easy enough to fall asleep when they’d left Tennessee, but not so much now. Even though she was still exhausted, she looked around the dimly lit cabin. The only description she could think of off the top of her head was air yacht. The Drakes’ private jet wasn’t a short-hop plane. From the size of it, the baby could easily do transcontinental flights with ease.
The interior looked nothing like any plane she’d ever flown on before. She stretched her legs out before her, pressing her back into the baby-soft leather of the seat. No wonder she’d fallen asleep so quickly; this was easily the most comfortable recliner she’d ever sat in before.
From behind black-padded doors toward the rear of the plane, Sean’s voice drifted across her ears. Apparently, he was on the phone again, meaning she was free to go snooping.
Caitlin felt the side of the chair for a button to lower the leg rest. Instead, the one she pressed extended the chair out into a bed. Comfortable? Yes, but not what she wanted. She pressed another button and this time righted the piece of furniture to a chair and then swiveled away from the window. She rose and stepped around the chair next to hers—there were four of them, one on each side of the aisle and the chairs could swivel to face each other if the people seated wanted to hold a conversation.
Behind this setup was another, but while still recliners, the chairs were more like airplane seats in that they didn’t swivel around. Between the two sets of chairs was a table that folded down against the wall.
She turned around and walked past the swivel recliners into a small kitchen—or galley, she supposed—and pulled open the fridge to take a bottle of water. The closed doors beyond the galley probably led into the cockpit. She had no desire to see what was there, so turned around and walked into Sean’s chest.
“Looking for something?”
“No. Just being nosy.”
He laughed. “It’s a winged travel home. Braeden does nothing in half measures.” Pointing down the aisle, he added, “On the other side of the first set of doors is the head...bathroom. Double sink, shower, toilet. Beyond that is another set of doors that leads to another cabin with more private seating for four. Beyond that a soundproof door concealing the bedroom, where there’s two sofas that fold out to beds.”
Then he slid open a small panel on the wall next to the galley door and pressed a button. A huge screen slid down in the center of the cabin. “And if you want to watch a movie, you can do that in any of the cabins. Including the head, except that screen’s a little smaller.”
Caitlin widened her eyes. “Impressive.”
“No half measures whatsoever.”
“I can’t imagine his travel trailer.”
Sean laughed. “Where did you get the idea that Braeden goes camping?”
“No?”
He escorted her to the double chairs. “Hardly.”
They no sooner sat down than his phone rang again. “Excuse me.” He rose and walked down the aisle.
She turned her attention out the window to see only the blackness of the night. They were headed to the Drake family’s medieval stronghold on Mirabilus—an island somewhere in the Irish Sea.
It was said that the glamour spell cast over the isle, more than a thousand years ago, still held, and that any mortal who looked upon it saw nothing but mist and fog obscuring their vision.
She couldn’t begin to imagine a magic that strong. What sort of power did it take to cast such a permanent spell? This island had been in his family’s possession since the beginning of time. What sort of powers did he and his brothers hold?
Caitlin glanced toward Sean before looking back out at the expanse of darkness. He was still on the phone. Had one of his brothers discovered something about her son? She folded and unfolded her hands, fighting the impatience gnawing at her. It had only been a few hours, but her worry for her son made her anxious and left her wondering why this seemingly top-of-the-line plane was taking so long to get to Mirabilus.
“Soon.” Sean sat back down and covered her fidgeting hands with one of his own. Obviously, his call had ended. “We’ll be there soon.”
When she only yawned then nodded in response, he slipped his arm across her shoulders and pulled her against him, asking, “Tired?”
“Very.” But the knowledge that they were getting closer to her son now had her nerves on edge. Besides, his fingers circling her shoulder, and the warmth of his side against hers, had her wishing for something more than sleep.
Even though she didn’t feel his presence in her mind, his deep chuckle let her know that he was tuned in to her thoughts and she tried to pull away, but he simply swept her into his arms and across his lap as if she were nothing more than a rag doll.
“Where were we before your mother appeared?”
The warmth of his breath whispering against her ear sent shivers down her spine. Caitlin sighed and pushed against his shoulder. “Not in public.” She had no intention of joining any mile-high club.
“There’s no one here.” He made a show of looking around the empty cabin. “It’s not as if we’re aboard a commercial airliner.”
“Was that your brother on the phone?” She tried to change the direction of their conversation before it got out of control.
“Of course.” While he followed her lead with the conversation, he didn’t stop caressing her shoulder. In fact, the free hand he’d placed on her stomach was now inching higher.
“Anything I should know? Did he discover something about little Sean?”
“No. We were discussing our living arrangements at Mirabilus.”
“What do you mean by our living arrangements?” She sucked back a soft gasp as he brushed his hand along the underside of her breast.
“As in where we’ll be sleeping.”
He’d easily, and all too conveniently, ignored the intended emphasis she’d placed on the word our. Caitlin wished she could just as easily ignore the warmth of his hand that had trailed away from her shoulder to steadily stroke the sensitive spot beneath her ear. With all of the calmness she could muster, she asked, “Any reason we can’t have separate rooms?”
“A few.” He leaned his head down to rest his lips behind her ear. “For one thing, while it may be a castle, it doesn’t have near unlimited supply of empty rooms.”
“Uh-huh.” She closed her eyes, savoring the rush of sexually charged pleasure rippling to life. She really should stop him.
And she would...soon.
“For another thing—” he paused to graze her earlobe with his teeth then continued “—why wouldn’t we share a room?”
His lips joined in the play along with his teeth. She wasn’t certain which would make her lose focus first—the light nips from his teeth or the gentle suckling of his lips. She’d had no idea earlobes could be that sensitive. Caitlin leaned away, but he just followed along.
“We aren’t a couple.” For some reason her tone didn’t sound too sure of that fact even to her own ears.
“No?”
He brushed his thumb across her breast. Her nipples strained through the layers of clothing to get closer to his touch. She gritted her teeth to keep from crying out with longing, swallowed hard and finally said, “No. We aren’t.”
He