Dragon's Eden Read Online Free PDF

prisoner had disappeared. One instant he’d been
standing in the courtyard surveying her home, and in the next he’d
melted into the night like a jungle cat on the prowl.
    She knew what had spooked him, Henry’s
drunken rendition of “Island Girl.” Truly, it was enough to spook
anybody, those wavering high notes hanging on the wind,
interspersed with an old man’s cackling. Carolina must have put him
up to it. Henry never would have expended the effort necessary to
get to Cocorico in the dark without some kind of threat inspiring
him.
    Swearing softly, she dropped the T-shirt
back into the washtub and reached behind her to jerk the cord on
the generator. When the engine caught, she ran into the kitchen
through the side door from the cabana. Old sot that Henry was, he
was her friend, and she didn’t want to see him come to harm at the
hands of the dragon man. She crossed the room, scooting through the
narrow space between the table and the north wall, hurrying to
reach the switch concealed by a hanging basket full of fruit. Her
hand connected with metal, and with a small grunt of effort, she
threw the switch.
    Painfully bright light flooded the
courtyard, freezing everyone in place. Through the west window,
Sugar saw Henry swaying on his feet near the clothesline, blinking
against the light, but thankfully exposed for what he was, a
harmless old man.
    Jen was a triangular silhouette of gray next
to the icehouse—and he was staring right at her on a line of sight
from the cliffs to the interior of the cottage.
    A jolt of adrenaline washed into her veins.
Whatever she’d expected, it hadn’t been to find the Chinaman
guarding the entrance to Cocorico and watching her from out of the
darkness.
    Her prisoner, the dragon man, was harder to
spot. She quickly moved around the kitchen table and stationed
herself at the front door, ignoring Jen as best she could. Her gaze
scanned the courtyard, the beach, and the wilder places spreading
away from the cliffs, searching for Jackson. He couldn’t have
gotten far, but she’d be damned if she could see him.
    The reason became clear an instant later
when she was captured from behind and hauled back inside the
kitchen.
    Her gasp of fear was quickly replaced by one
of disbelief when she realized who had her. The dark hair falling
over her shoulder and the rock-solid chest at her back didn’t leave
a doubt in her mind, except she couldn’t believe anybody could have
moved as fast and as quietly as he had. He must have been almost
upon her before she’d even cleared the threshold from the
cabana.
    “Let go of me, you . . . you—”
    “Who’s the drunk?” he growled in her
ear.
    “Henry. He’s a friend.” She struggled within
the viselike circle of his arms, flailing at him. He’d gone too
damn far this time.
    “Not of mine.”
    “You don’t have any friends,” she snapped,
anger getting the best of her. She tried to elbow him in the ribs,
but he was too quick, shifting his hold but still restraining her.
In the next second, though, she fell to the floor, suddenly
free.
    She looked up at him, ready to lambaste him
for his carelessness and threaten him with anything she could dream
up—from chains to starvation—if he ever grabbed her again, but her
threats would have been redundant. The gleaming blade of Jen’s
sword lay against his neck, marking him with a thin line of
blood.
    Her dragon man glared down at her,
subjugated by the edge of steel curving toward his throat. His eyes
were dark with fury. His fists were clenched at his sides.
    “You’ve made your point, Jen,” he muttered
between closed teeth. “Now back off before I accidentally kill
you.” When Jen didn’t move, he spoke a stream of Chinese, all of it
commanding and angry.
    The old man’s reply was the silent removal
of the weapon, followed by the hushed metallic slither of the sword
being sheathed.
    Sugar slowly pushed herself to her feet, all
of her senses on overdrive. Shulan had brought two