Jordan, March 2010
Pendragon Legacy #3
by Susan Kearney
Forever
Featuring: Jordan McArthur; Vivianne Blackstone
416 pages ISBN: 0446543330 EAN: 9780446543330 Mass Market Paperback
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"A fabulous ending to this dynamic fantasy romance series!"
Reviewed by Mandy Burns
Posted February 13, 2010
Romance Paranormal | Fantasy
Vivianne Blackstone, CEO of Vesta Corporation, has come a
long way since tragedy played a part in ripping apart her
beloved family and her long stint in foster care. She
always knew she was going to make something of herself.
With relentless determination and careful planning, she put
herself through college and now owns a multi-million dollar
company that builds state of the art spacecrafts.
Everything is riding on the line with her pet project,
DRACO, the one-of-a-kind spacecraft designed by her
brilliant engineer, Jordan. During a time when everyone she
loves, earth itself, and all other beings are in danger,
she's glad to know she is doing her part to help the
government find the Holy Grail. Then she finds out Jordan
is not what he seems. Jordan has spent 1500 years trapped in another form,
watching over Pendragon, unable to shift due to being
separated from the staff that gives him the power to do so.
He is now free to continue his mission to reunite his
ancient staff with the Holy Grail when he realizes Vesta
Corporation and its pragmatic owner is exactly what he
needs to continue his journey. His part in building,
designing and sweating to get DRACO in space is finally
happening; all he needs is to add the additional power.
What he is not ready for is his powerful attraction to
Vivianne Blackstone. Jordan can't afford to become
distracted, but as Vivianne confronts him about his false
résumé, their passion ignites. Unfortunately, he is pretty
sure she will not like what he has planned for their ship. The Pendragon Legacy series gives the reader a unique spin
on the history of King Arthur and his Knights. One that
challenges your imagination with colorful characters and a
story you don't want to end. A fabulous series!
Learn more about Jordan
SUMMARY
A DANGEROUS MISSION Vivianne Blackstone devotes herself
to her career, putting her love life on hold. Her latest
project is a spaceship designed to protect Earth from the
deadly Tribes. But its engineer, the alluring Jordan
McArthur, now threatens both her job and her wary heart . .
. AN UNDENIABLE DESIRE Jordan's past goes back to
King Arthur, and he must find the ancient artifact that can
save the galaxy. Vivianne's ship is his best hope, but
convincing the fiercely independent beauty won't be easy.
Especially when the passion flaring between them burns
through their defenses - and love is the last thing they
need to survive.
Excerpt"Damn it, Jordon. You lied to me."
Vivianne Blackstone, CEO of the Vesta Corporation tapped
the incriminating report against her leg and restrained her
urge to fling it at Jordon McArthur, her chief engineer.
Reining in her temper and her suspicions, she reminded
herself that just because the rest of the world was in a
total meltdown after learning an ancient enemy had
infiltrated Earth's governments and major industries, she
didn't operate that way.
She preferred to rely on facts and instincts. While she
obviously didn't have all the details, her intuition had
served her well up to now. And at this moment, her gut told
her that Jordon had been too creative, innovative and
helpful for him not to be on their side. Besides, there had
been no sabotage.
But that didn't mean Jordon wasn't a spy for the enemy.
Vivianne had asked security to wait outside the spaceship's
hatch. She had to consider every possibility.
There was no denying the man could think outside the box,
so it was also possible he could be a brilliant mole. If
so, God help them because to date, he had proved himself an
unstoppable force.
Since she didn't know of a better way to weaken Earth
than to sabotage such an important project as the
Draco, she had to be especially vigilant. Head
throbbing, she stared at the complex wiring. This new
interstellar spaceship had to fly as planned. It had to
work out. So much was riding on this venture to find the
lost and legendary Holy Grail, which thanks to a mission
she'd funded almost a decade ago, she knew actually did
exist. Vesta's future. Earth's future. Her future.
Everything she'd ever wanted, everyone she'd ever loved,
might be lost if this project didn't succeed.
And Jordon's position as chief engineer gave him complete
access to her ship. He could sabotage any one of many
critical systems and no one would be the wiser until they
blew up.
When he didn't respond, she nudged his foot with her
shoe. "I'm talking to you."
Lying on the deck with his head halfway through a hatch,
Jordon shifted until she could just see his intense, golden
brown eyes.
"I heard. How did I lie to you?"
She dropped the papers, but she'd already lost his
attention to the ship. He'd wriggled back inside the
compartment, pulling another wire to hook into the circuits,
no doubt following an electrical schematic that existed only
inside his head. Yet, she was just as certain, his work
would be a vast improvement over the systems she'd already
approved. Unless she decided he really was an enemy spy,
she'd bend over backward to overlook his past—whatever it
was. She needed his expertise. But first she needed the
truth. And Vivianne didn't appreciate him answering her
question with a question. Was he stalling? Wondering
exactly which lie she'd caught him in? Or simply distracted
with his work?
He threaded a wire into a panel box of delicately
networked circuits. "Hand me a screwdriver."
Scowling at his back, she slapped the tool into his
hand. "Tell me these findings are wrong," Vivianne
demanded.
"What findings?" Still focused on his work, he didn't so
much as spare the folder she'd dropped a glance. His
profile, rugged and somber, remained utterly still, except
for a tiny tick in his jaw that told her he was unhappy
she'd interrupted his work. He wouldn't even have a job if
not for her—and he would lose it, if he didn't come up with
a satisfactory explanation for why his entire resume had
been one big, fat lie.
"You've never attended Harvard. Never got your PhD at
MIT. Never taught at Cambridge."
"The Phillip's head." He held out his hand again, this
time for another screwdriver. Impatience laced his voice.
"It's the screwdriver with an X on the tip."
Like she didn't know a Phillip's head when she saw one?
While her specialty was communications technology, she'd
designed and built her first hydrogen rocket by age twelve.
However, when it came to spaceship design, Jordon was the
go-to guy.
Despite his doctored resume, the man knew his
aeronautical engineering. From hull design to antigrav
wiring, no detail on the Draco was too small for
Jordon to re-engineer and make more efficient. Without
cutting corners, last week's total rehaul of the steering
system had been completed in record time. And when the
gyros had melted down, he'd invented a new stabilizer to fix
the problem.
Fuming, she handed him the tool. Three months ago when
she'd learned that the Tribes, Earth's ancient enemy, might
try to infiltrate her company, she'd set up elaborate
countermeasures. Every employee had undergone a thorough
background check. Initially, Jordon's impressive
credentials had all been verified. But then, on a hunch,
Vivianne had dug deeper. And the crap she'd found buried
there stank to high heaven.
One of his engineers spoke over the ship's intercom.
"These voltage converter equations can't be right."
"They are," Jordon answered evenly.
"They're frying the circuits." The man's frustration was
evident in his tone.
"Sean, you'll find a way to keep them humming. You
always do."
"I'm stumped."
"I'll give you a hand as soon as I can."
"Thanks, boss."
"But I'm sure you'll figure it out before them."
Sean chuckled. "I'll do my best."
While this was a side of Jordon she hadn't seen, his
encouragement didn't surprise her. But it wasn't his
leadership skills that she questioned. Vivianne's gut
churned. "Jordon, we really need to talk."
"So talk."
Vivianne paused and considered precisely what to say.
She'd already made one mistake by hiring Jordon before he'd
been properly vetted. She couldn't afford to make
another—like accusing him outright of being a spy. Jordon
was working almost round the clock, practically killing
himself to finish the Draco. If she offended him by
implying he was working with the Tribes, he could walk off
the job. In all likelihood his team might go with him. He
knew she couldn't deliver this project on time without him.
Starting over with a new engineering team would set Earth
back months. Truth be told, without his expertise, she
might not deliver the Draco this century. On the other
hand, she couldn't afford not to confront him.
"As the first hyperspace ship to carry a full crew, the
Draco has caught the imagination and attention of the
masses. Everything we do is headline news, and when the
press finds out that my chief engineer falsified his
employment application—"
"Damn it, Vivianne, I know what I'm doing."
"To the public, a liar is a liar. And if you lied to get
a job, they'll think you've lied about the Draco
during our press conferences."
"So we don't tell anyone. Problem solved."
Vivianne pinched the bridge of her nose to ease her
headache. "But if your lies come to light, you don't just
lose your job, you ruin my credibility. My company's
reputation. It could crash Vesta's stock."
Jordon threaded one of a myriad of wires into a nexus of
circuitry. "As long as this ship doesn't crash, your stock
will be fine."
Must be nice to be so confident, she thought. But he was
right about one thing—he did know what he was doing. His
credentials might be bogus, but his on-the-job skills were
unsurpassed. She couldn't lose him, but she had to prepare
for an attack from Vesta's shareholders, the press—or both.
She could handle the business end. Hell, if she put his
picture on the news, the female half of the planet would
fall in love at first sight and forgive him anything. Mr.
Dark, Tough and Brilliant's gorgeous face might just sway
the general population and perhaps, her stockholders as well.
At a press conference, he'd tower a good six inches over
her five foot eight. A photographer's dream, Jordon was
lean and sinewy. His profile was rugged and somber, his
darkly handsome face reserved, except for his jaw that
looked like it had been carved from granite. She would
handle the fallout from his lies, because beyond his intense
golden eyes and stubborn nature was sheer genius.
What she couldn't handle was a traitor.
"What other lies have you told me?" she asked.
"Whatever would get me this job."
"Real inspiring. Why didn't you respond to the memo I
sent last week?"
"If I spent all my time reading your memos, how would I
get anything done?"
"You've installed miles of wiring that aren't in the specs."
"We're ahead of schedule, so why are you concerned?"
"I suppose you'll say the same about the cancellation of
the prototype cosmic energy converter?"
He merely arched a brow.
She frowned. Before she'd known about his lies, she'd
shrugged off his changes to necessary modifications. But
could it be more?
In a desperate attempt to suppress her frustration,
Vivianne reminded herself how far she'd come. Peering at
the Draco's shiny metal, she had difficulty believing
they'd built this ship in just over three months. Almost
every system was a new design, and while the number of
things that could go wrong was literally infinite, she had
high hopes for success.
"If the story of your doctored credentials leaks, our
client may get cold feet," she explained.
"Chen won't back out." Jordon sounded completely certain.
She didn't bother to keep the exasperation from her
voice. "Billionaires willing to buy a spaceship in order to
search the galaxy for the Holy Grail aren't a dime a dozen."
Jordon grunted.
"If Chen does back out, I'd have to refund his
investment. And with the way you've been spending, not even
I have that much credit."
"Down to your last few billion, are you?" Jordon teased
without glancing in her direction.
She clenched her fists in irritation. "That's not the
point. Maybe we can break the news, spin it in our favor."
She pictured an advantageous story. Something like,
"Genius engineer discovered. Then the article could go on
to praise you and some little known college. I'll have my
PR department put together a package."
"Not a good idea."
His golden eyes glittered dangerously and his response
made her uneasy. Something wasn't right. He should be
grateful that she was willing to fix the publicity nightmare
he'd created. Instead he was acting like a man with
something else that he wanted to hide. But what?
"Do you always make contingencies for contingencies?" he
asked.
She snorted. Orphaned at age ten, Vivianne had become a
ward of the state. Control became her lifeline. She
planned her day from start to finish. She arranged her
appointments, both business and personal, to the minute and
any disruption was cause to work twice as hard to get back
on schedule. She'd used her obsession to earn herself a
first-class education and to build a successful small
business into a world-wide conglomerate.
The down side of running a huge company, however, was
that she had to rely on others. Brilliant engineers like
Jordon didn't give a damn about her minute-to-minute
expectations. He got the job done—but he certainly didn't
do things her way.
"In your case, I haven't planned enough."
Jordon rubbed his ear and stood, reminding her just how
tall and broad he was. But if he was attempting to use his
size to intimidate her, he'd learn she didn't back down. He
was, after all, her employee.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked. "You have someone
else who can build the Draco on budget and under
deadline?" He didn't wait for her reply. Why would he?
They both knew the answer was no. Jordon placed the
screwdriver in his mouth and spoke while he soldered wires
to the circuits.
"Where did you go to school?"
Jordon shrugged. "Here and there."
Her blood pressure shot up ten points, but she did her
best to keep her temper under control. "Could you be a
little more specific?"
He rubbed his jaw and smudged dirt on his skin. She
ignored the urge to wipe it off or touch him in any way.
Folding her arms across her ribs, she waited.
Finally, he shot her a non-apologetic smile that was way
too charming. "I'm pretty much self-taught."
Hell. She needed more that a damn charming smile to
convince her he hadn't been educated on another planet.
That he wasn't a spy. Yet if he was born on Earth, he could
have valid reasons for hiding his past. For all she knew
he'd gone to Harvard, committed a crime and changed his
name. She could deal with that.
Or she could deal with him having attended a less
impressive institution than he'd claimed. But if he
couldn't prove he'd attended any school . . . that was cause
for real suspicion.
"You don't have a PhD?"
He didn't answer.
The longer he remained silent, the more she feared she
should never have hired him and the hotter her temper
flared. "No college degree?" To prevent herself from
sounding as betrayed as she felt, she spoke softly. "High
school?"
She envisioned the headlines, Draco built by Earth's
worst enemy. Not even his dangerous good looks would
help him then. And he'd drag her and her company down with
him, no one would finish the Draco or find the Holy
Grail. Earth might fall to the Tribes.
That kind of betrayal was unacceptable. Vivianne
reminded herself that she'd dealt with many difficult
situations in the last few years. She'd funded archeologist
Lucan Roarke's risky mission to a moon named Pendragon to
find the Holy Grail. While he hadn't brought back the
Grail, he had found a cure for Earth's infertility problem.
Thanks to Lucan, the Vesta Corporation's pharmaceutical
division was manufacturing the infertility vaccine—a vaccine
that turned anyone distantly related to King Arthur or his
Knights into dragonshapers.
Vivianne stared at the scales on the inside of her
wrists. Like one tenth of the population, she could now
shapeshift into a dragon and fly, breathe fire and eat
platinum. With two hearts, she was stronger and would heal
faster than the average human female, and she'd live 300 years.
Too bad her new genes hadn't upped her intelligence. How
could Jordon have fooled her so easily? More importantly
what was he hiding? What else hadn't he told her?
Think. He could have been home schooled. To
prove his innocence, she needed people who knew him and
could vouch for him.
"What about job experience?"
"Nothing verifiable."
"I suppose you fudged the glowing recommendations, too?"
Her pulse pounded and she massaged her aching temple. "Who
the hell are you?"
"You might want to take an aspirin—"
"Thank you, doctor." Her sarcasm escaped
unchecked. "Oh, excuse me, you aren't a doctor of anything,
are you?"
"I don't need a medical degree to see that your head
hurts and you're taking it out on me." His tone was calm,
low and husky and that she found it sexy irked her even more.
"So now you're a shrink."
He'd barely glanced at her before turning to work on his
beloved circuits, but it was so like him to notice details,
even her wincing in pain.
Anger and frustration hammered her with clawing
suspicion. Vivianne willed Jordon to turn around. "How did
you do it? It's as if you appeared in Barcelona six months
ago. Until then, you had no credit. You attended no
schools. Even your birth records are fake. I can't find
anyone who knew you before you walked into my office in
Spain to apply for a job."
"And you've never regretted it."
"Until now." Damn him. He wasn't answering her
questions and was a master at sidetracking the conversation.
"You don't mean that." Jordon shrugged. "You don't
regret letting me build you this ship."
Vivianne hadn't built up her company by allowing handsome
men to sweet talk her into trusting them or by ignoring
urgent government warnings. Even if Vesta hadn't branched
out into manufacturing antigravs and vaccines, or training
dragonshapers to control their new powers, Vesta would
likely be an enemy target since her company was a major
player in the space industry. Both Vivianne and the Tribes
were after the same goal—both wanted the Grail. So it was
very possible that her chief engineer really was a spy.
After all he had total access to the entire ship and the
opportunity to destroy any of Draco's critical systems.
Feeling sick to her stomach, Vivianne's tone snapped with
authority. "Jordon, put down your tools. You can't work on
the Draco until security clears you."
In typical Jordon fashion, he kept right on working.
"Don't you want to see if the new engine's going to work?"
"We'll straighten that our later." Her temper flared
because Jordon knew just how to pique her interest. From
the get go, the engines had been a major issue. It almost
broke her heart to know that the Draco might never
fly now that she was pulling him off the project.
"I'm about ready to test a new power source."
He'd just teased her curiosity as much as it raised her
suspicions anew. The Draco was supposed to convert
cosmic dust particles into electromagnetic fuel. "What are
you talking about? What new power source?"
"The Ancient Staff." Jordon reached to a sheath he wore
on his belt and drew out an object that resembled a tree
branch with symbols carved into the bark. When he flicked
his wrist, the rod telescoped and expanded with a metallic
click. Extended to five feet, the Ancient Staff gave off an
otherworldly shimmer unlike anything Vivianne had ever seen.
The air around the Staff glittered like heat reflecting
off hot pavement. It was if the Staff folded and compressed
the space around it, the eerie effect and haze continuously
rippling outward. Energy twisted around the Staff, the
silent power of all that energy mesmerizing.
She peered at Jordon. The cords in his neck were tight,
his broad shoulders tense as if he were bracing for her
reaction. Damn him. He'd already fabricated a housing for
the staff right next to the panel box.
She tried to tamp down a pinch of panic. "Don't move."
He opened the housing's clips so he could snap the staff
into position. "The Ancient Staff will supply far more
power to the Draco's engines than a cosmic converter."
That Staff wasn't in the plans. It hadn't ever been
discussed. Until he'd just mentioned the Ancient Staff,
she'd never heard of one. For all she knew once he attached
the strange power source to the Draco, they'd all
blow up. Unnerved, she reached for her handheld
communicator to call security, but there was no time. It
would take only a second for him to snap the Ancient Staff
into the housing.
She'd have to stop him herself. "Turn it off."
"The Staff doesn't have an off switch."
Vivianne jerked back a step back. "Don't attach that
thing to my ship."
"It's meant to—"
"I said no." Mouth dry with suspicion, she clamped her
hand on his shoulder.
Before she could yank him back, Jordon snapped the rod
into place. The anxiety she'd been holding back knotted in
her stomach.
But controlling her fear was the least of her worries as
the air around the rod shimmered, then spread up his arm.
"What type of energy is this?" she asked.
"The powerful kind."
"The engines can deal with that kind of power?"
"I hope so."
"Oh that's reassuring."
"I've never seen the Staff swirl like this."
The energy crawled all the way up his arm and stretched
toward her hand. She tried to jerk back, but her body
refused to obey her mind. Her feet wouldn't move. Her
fingers might as well have been frozen.
Panicked, she watched the glow of energy flow over his
shoulder to her hand. Every hair on the back of her neck
standing on end, she braced for pain. But when the glowing
energy engulfed her fingers and washed up her arm, then
sluiced over her body, the tingling sensation somehow
banished her headache and expelled her fear.
The effect was instantaneous and undeniable. Her breasts
tingled. Her sex curled with moisture. Her skin flamed as
if they'd spent the past fifteen minutes engaging in
foreplay rather than arguing over his non-existent past.
She'd always found Jordon attractive, but now, it was if the
Staff and turned on a switch inside her. The golden glint
in his eyes compelled her, his scent tantalized her. And
scared the hell out of her.
She swallowed thickly. If he was feeling the same
effects, he wasn't showing it.
Every centimeter of her skin now was demanding to be
stroked. Unwarranted sensations exploded all over her
erogenous zones. Her nipples tightened, exquisitely
sensitized. The scales on the insides of her arms and legs
fluttered. Sweet juice seeped between her thighs.
Drenched in pure lust, she shook her head, trying to
clear it. "What the hell is going on?"
"Don't know." Jordon practically growled as if it took
superhuman effort just to speak.
So he felt as totally, inexplicably aroused as she did.
Obviously, he wasn't handling it well, either, but that
didn't stop desire from rushing through all her senses.
She craved him like a starving dragon needs platinum, yet
this could not be. Not without an emotional connection.
She didn't do chemistry. She didn't do one nighters. She
didn't crave a man she barely knew.
But there was no fighting or denying the potent passion
slamming her. Sexual need burned into her flesh, blazed in
her bones, smoldered through her blood, the sensations fiery
hot.
If she didn't have sex in the next few seconds, she was
certain she would spontaneously combust
Beneath her hand, Jordon's shoulder tensed. Mouth tight
and grim, he grunted and faced her head on, those golden
eyes seemingly searching into her soul. Tingling and
breathless, she suddenly found it very hard to breathe.
Heaven help her, she wanted him. It was a terrible thing to
have sex with a man she didn't trust, but she could no more
stop what was going to happen than she could prevent a
hurricane from wreaking havoc.
Jordon was clearly caught in the same sexual fire storm.
Eyes flashing with a primal golden-ringed flame, he focused
on her with a fevered intensity, right before he crashed his
hard mouth down on hers, his kiss so demanding he bruised
her lips and her heart jolted. He was unleashing a sensual
fury and she craved more. Much, much, more.
Wrapping her arms around him, she arched her back and
thrust her breasts against his chest. She ground her hips
into his straining sex.
Lips locking, they ripped off their clothes. His flesh
was smooth, muscled, male. He smelled like oil, plastic and
paint. She couldn't breathe enough of his scent into her
lungs. She couldn't touch enough of his smooth bronzed
flesh to satisfy her cravings.
All coiled tension, he backed her against a bulkhead and
she didn't have to wonder if he felt what she was feeling.
She could see desire flash in his eyes, hear the sexual rasp
in his breathing.
Wrapping her arms over his powerful shoulders and around
his corded neck, she clamped her legs around his sturdy
hips. And she attacked him like a savage, with lips and
nails and teeth while his strong hands clenched her bottom
and he lifted her onto his straining sex.
She took him inside her, greeting his fullness with
molten heat. She was burning, going up in flames. Nothing
mattered—not her suspicions, not her inappropriate conduct,
not this raging spark of need that neither of them had
kindled—nothing mattered, except having him.
When she squeezed her thighs and her teeth drew blood, he
groaned and pumped into her hard, deep and fast. With cold
steel at her back, warm male flesh sliding over her front
and his sex thrusting in and out, she couldn't get enough
friction, couldn't draw in enough air, couldn't think past
the mind-jarring explosion.
Powerful sensations, inexplicable pleasure swept her into
a vortex of energy that swept him over the edge with her.
The pleasure was too extreme. No way could she hang on to
consciousness.
She'd blacked out. When she opened her eyes, she wasn't
certain how much time had passed. Thoughts scattered, her
body was wonderfully satiated. It took a few moments to see
and comprehend that Jordon was gone.
And she was floating in the middle of the engine room.
Weightless.
Damn him to hell. Jordon had launched the Draco
into space.
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