How to Tame a Dragon Ch. 09

Maybe for a little while she had been.

But now she was back and he could tell that she was enjoying being in the heart of her family again.

He finished the meal which tasted like ashes on his tongue. When the meal was finished the announcement was made to congratulate the happy couple, and that there was a disco on the lower floor if people would like to make their way there.

Daniel was going to have a quick word with Jessie and Richard, and slip away unnoticed. That was his intention.

Izzy thwarted him.

He felt her tiny hand grab his wrist in a vice like grip and look down in surprise.

"He won't leave me alone!" she told him in frustration. "Please stay with me for a little while. If he thinks that I'm with you, he won't dare bother me then."

Daniel put a possessive arm around her waist, and glared at the slime ball as he came over to Izzy.

Robert looked at Daniel, then the arm, and then at Izzy in some confusion. "They said that you were single," he complained.

"They were wrong," Daniel responded coldly.

"Obviously!" Robert sneered, before glaring reproachfully at them both and then scurrying off.

"I don't think he'll bother you anymore," Daniel told her quietly taking his arm from her waist.

"Stay with me for just a little longer," she begged, "just to be sure!"

Daniel knew Robert's type, and he knew that he wouldn't be back, but for a little while he had the perfect excuse...

He decided to indulge himself, just this one time.

He pulled her close, and they walked down to the dimly lit dance room.

The first few tracks were loud energetic pieces, but then there was a slower one and the dance floor was invaded by couples.

"Dance with me Daniel?" Izzy asked softly. "Please?"

They moved to the dance floor and she wound her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him.

They swayed gently to the music. Daniel held her tight and bent slightly to breath in the scent of her.

There were no words needed between them, and for a little while it was just the two of them.

It didn't last.

The music came to a halt and the light's came up.

"Izzy? Izzy! There you are!" First one girl, then another, and before he knew it she was surrounded.

He moved away to be engulfed by his own small family circle. "Daniel I've not had a chance to talk to you at all tonight!" Mrs. Harker told him reproachfully. "I didn't realise that you knew Jessie's little sister so well..."

Izzy lost sight of Daniel, as her cousins closed in around her. They led her off to a small table -- all talking at once.

Had it been any one but these four, she would have made her excuses and left to find Daniel, but she just couldn't do that to Maggie, Laura, Kitty and Jenny. These four had had a rotten couple of years, and had only got through it by sticking together, and she loved them dearly.

"Where have you been staying?" Laura was asking her.

She sat talking to them for a little bit, telling them of her life, but she was constantly searching the sea of faces.

"He's still here." Again it was Laura who spoke quietly to her. "He's over in the corner talking to that older couple..." she frowned in thought. "I think that someone said that they are his parents..." she said a little wistfully.

"So what are you all doing?" Izzy asked brightly.

This time it was the youngest Kitty who answered. "Well... me and Jen are still in school you know..." she said with a little pull to her mouth. "And Laura is still working at the doctor's surgery..." she said narrowing her bright blue eyes at Laura. She grinned then at Maggie. "And that traitor over there; is just about to abandon us all, to get married."

Izzy turned to her eldest cousin Maggie. "Maggie is that true? When?" She asked in delight.

"I am getting married in the autumn; yes..." she nodded. "But I shall still be keeping an eye on that pair over there." She grinned at the two younger girls and Laura gave a little chuckle. "They thought that once Maggie got married, that they would be able to wrap me around their little fingers, and party all night long."

"Yes and they thought wrong!" Kitty and Jenny both moaned in unison.

The music started up again, and the two girls shot off to dance energetically.

"You all seem so happy now... but how will you manage with the girls on your own?" Izzy shouted over to Laura.

Maggie also seemed to have disappeared, leaving the two of them to talk.

"It was so rotten last year after mum and dad were killed like that. We never would have got through it if Maggie hadn't been so strong for all of us," Laura gave a little sigh. "Jenny and Kitty are almost grown now, and don't need taking care of any more... just a nudge here, and a reminder there every once in a while." Laura shrugged her shoulders and smiled gently. "I can handle that I think..." She grinned, her blue eyes twinkling and the little threat of a dimple that never quite made it to the surface.

Izzy and Laura sat chatting and occasionally someone would wonder over and say hello. Izzy enjoyed talking with Laura; the two of them had always been close in age and interests. She also enjoyed the brief hellos from other members of her friends and family, but she felt like a visitor.

Oh it was nice to see the familiar faces again. But she talked to her mum and Jess on the phone almost all the time, and this place that had once been her home... well, it just wasn't home anymore.

Home really was where the heart was, and for her that was with Daniel...

She loved Daniel!

She opened her eyes wide in surprise and Laura stopped talking mid sentence.

"Oh my!" Izzy gasped.

"What is it?" Laura asked in alarm.

"I love him Laura!" she couldn't hide the shock that flooded through her.

Laura grinned and that dimple threatened to break out again. "You didn't know?"

"No!"

"Maybe someone should have taken a photo of you every time you look at him," she giggled. "You look like you want to dip him in chocolate and eat him alive!"

"Now there's a thought," Izzy said half seriously.

"Izzy," Daniel said from behind them, making both of them jump guiltily.

"We should think about heading back soon," Daniel told her eying Laura curiously.

"Daniel this is my cousin Laura, Laura this is Daniel. Why don't the two of you say hello -- while I go and say bye to mum and dad."

Izzy left the two of them, her face still a little pink.

She found her parents fairly quickly and a few minutes conversation, with a promise to call in the morning and her farewells were finished with there.

Daniel joined her at the exit as she was chatting with Jessie and Richard.

"Call me!" Jessie ordered her brightly.

"I just need to nip to the ladies Daniel, I'll be right back," Izzy told him quietly.

She had spotted the machine in there earlier, and hoped that there would be no one else in there.

She was lucky the lady's was empty, and she shoved in several coins, withdrew the foil packets, and after tucking them into her hand bag she left again.

Her mission this evening was a simple one. She was going to seduce Daniel.