Free Queen of Dragons: Steamy Fantasy Erotic Romance (Dragon nights Book 1) by Tasha Bell

insisted she have a proper
chamber, with a proper bed, and had kept the thugs away from her, even striking
one of Matt’s sons hard across the cheek when he tried to fondle her. That first
night she had been questioned for hours, about where Kit had gone and what his
plans were, and about what Harper was doing in the tavern. She’d felt so sorry
for herself, sitting there in that hard chair trying to answer questions she
knew nothing about. She’d told them that she didn’t think Kit had any plans, he
was just a bit of fun, that if he did have any plans she certainly didn’t know
what they were, and that Harper was in the tavern because Alexandra had taken a
fancy to him. Eventually Miranda had broken down, tearfully shouting that she
didn’t know any more, and could she please go home now. The captain had stroked
his moustache and looked deep into her eyes with his cold blue stare, she felt
he was probing her soul, but eventually he had told her “I believe you.”
    She’d asked if that
meant she was free to go, but the captain had told her that it was truly a
regrettable state of affairs, but that she was still considered a potential
subversive by the crown and by Sir Robert, and that she would have to stay in
the castle under arrest. Captain Bates had reassured her that he would
personally do everything he could to ensure her comfort during this unfortunate
confinement, and that he would petition the capital to have her released. He
had been true to his word and she’d eaten well, each meal accompanied by a
glass of wine from Sir Roberts’s cellar. And after dinner Captain Bates had
visited her every night, to chat about his day; the militias he had organised,
or the subversives he had arrested - Miranda couldn’t believe there were so
many in Amvale. Sometimes they’d play a game of chequers and he’d talk about
all the steps he was taking to get her released or he’d tell her about his
childhood - growing up the third son of a minor noble, knowing he’d never
inherit any land or power so he had to go out and get it for himself. Over time
she had grown used to her captivity, her pail skin whitened away from the sun
and she spent hours every day in front of the mirror, brushing her dark red
hair to a brilliant sheen.
    She found the
hardest part of her confinement the lack of physical contact. Miranda knew that
the women of Amvale considered her a loose woman, someone not to be trusted
around their husbands, but she just saw herself as a very tactile person, she
liked the touch of other people, and if that touch happened to be particularly
intimate then so be it. Locked in the small room she spent a lot of time
thinking back to some of her past experiences, back to the pair of blond farm
boys she’d met one summer, or the buxom blacksmith’s daughter who had taught
her the way around another woman’s body. She even thought of Kit and his weird
hobby of pretending to be a horse. Every time the handsome Captain had come to
see her she longed for him to reach out and grab her, to throw her roughly on
the bed, or kiss her softly on the lips. She had spent hours wondering about
what his trim little moustache would feel like on her soft delicate skin. When
he came into the room she always made sure that she showed him a little
cleavage, or that her skirt was rucked up high on her leg, but he had never
once made a move to touch her.
    Turning away from
the mirror she slipped on one of the new dresses that Captain Bates had
provided for her and waited to hear his key in the door. He’d been teaching her
to read using an old manuscript illustrated in vellum, and she was exited to
tell him about a story she’d read that day about a knight and a dragon. When
the door finally swung open she turned around to meet him and her bright smile
dropped, instead of the elegant Captain she saw the leering Matt Tindall. He
stepped inside the small room and Miranda rocked back against her dresser,
shocked at his rank smell, for