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Zenos saw me only as a conquest. I felt sure he looked at most women that way. Maybe he missed his mate. Maybe he didn’t. Whatever the truth of his feelings for her, Zenos needed to restrain himself in my presence. I was already taken. Wasn’t I?

“Piss off, dragon. I’m not interested in ya,” I said, slinging Mulan’s now vibrator-laden purse up my arm and over my shoulder. “If I was ever that desperate for a man, ya wouldn’t even be on the shortlist.”

Zenos chuckled. “Well, I guess ya put me in my place then. Now I’ll have to behave around ya. Forgive me for teasing ya, lass.”

I nodded stiffly and marched off. Even though his wicked, lustful expression might be burned into my brain, I wasn't a woman who indulged herself with outright scoundrels just because they looked as good as he did.

Well, I wasn’t that kind of woman anymore. Prison had changed me.

I sure hoped it was for the better. I’d refused to sleep with Rasmus for good reasons. I would not bounce in and out of the dragon mage’s bed to pay for his teaching services, either.

I prayed to Danu that I’d be able to laugh about this later. A mature woman ought to hold a vibrator in her hand without feeling ashamed of it. But it was one thing to know ya should feel okay and another to pull off not caring about the opinions of others with dignity.

My face flamed the entire way to the house. Since I made it back unseduced and not much more emotionally scarred, I counted myself lucky. That lusty, teasing bastard calling himself my teacher was exactly the kind of male I used to like.

Chapter Nine

Ipractically forced Mulan and Conn to stay the night. Mulan looked so fragile against my bed covers that I needed to dosomethingto ease her pain so I could ease my own. Loaning them my room was all I could think to do.

Going to Mulan’s house for the night was out of the question.

None of her family emerged from their rooms to even ask about her. For that reason alone, I wasn’t about to leave her in the same house with those cold-hearted people.

Conn would be with her but I didn’t want him distracted.

I thought about camping out on one of the couches in the library but didn’t see Henry taking that well.

Sleeping in the foyer was out for the same reason, even though that would have been the smartest decision. I could have kept an eye on Ezra’s statue and seen anyone coming down the stairs. Zenos had made me paranoid with his teasing warnings about Ezra working on freeing himself. He nearly had me reconsidering Ben’s offer of an armed guard.

The obvious choice for me was to sleep with Rasmus tonight. It would have accomplished everything to spend the night with him. Lying next to him would erase the unwelcome memories of the dragon mage's attempt to seduce me.

The repentant guardian had already promised to help me if Mulan’s family started any trouble. That potential was yet another warning Zenos had dropped on top of my other concerns, yet refused to explain.

Goddess only knew everything was pointing me in the guardian’s direction. Even if he didn’t welcome me with open arms after all the fussing we’d done, we both knew I belonged with him and not out here sitting in my greenhouse.

But my pride wouldn’t let me ask him. Even if my brain was broadcasting my resistance to every guest I had, I couldn’t go to the guardian and beg him to sleep with me. Not in my own house.

My eyes were closed when a large male presence filled the greenhouse doorway. I reluctantly opened my eyes and found Rasmus staring at me. He leaned, hands in his pockets, against the door opening that was barely tall enough to allow him to enter without ducking.

My tired sigh filled up the rest of the space. “This is turning out to be a shitty vacation for us both, isn’t it?”

To my utter surprise, the guardian laughed at my poor joke.

His smile was warm. “Maybe you should have taken a trip instead of staying home. I hear that works out better.”

My lips twisted into a smirk. “Well, I do like going to the beach. Maybe I’ll do that next time I take some time off. Staycations obviously don’t work out for me.”

Rasmus came inside the little building and sat down beside me. “Are you still angry at me?” he asked.

I turned my head to look at him. “Yes, but I’m nearly to where I can’t remember why I was so mad to begin with. It turns out that holding a grudge takes a lot of effort. I’m way too busy with my problem guests for that sort of thing.”

When Rasmus laughed again, I could do nothing but stare at him in shock. “Do you genuinely think I’m funny? Or are ya playing nice to suck up to me?”

Shaking his head at my question, the guardian stood. “Once you get over being mad and decide we’re okay again, you know where to find me.”

“Wait,” I said before he cleared the door. “I think I’m over it.”

“No, you’re not,” Rasmus said with another chuckle, but he still returned to my side. Grinning, he scooped her up in his arms. “Did you ever readGone with the Wind?”