Book where a black dragon falls for a red-headed human girl, after she is almost killed while running away from her evil brother's men

Question

I am looking for book that has a black dragon falling for a red-headed human girl, after she is almost killed while running away from her evil brother's men, who want to marry her off to the enemy. It is here, after fighting off some of her brother's men, that she is wounded and about to die, when she is saved by a dragon. He's a large black dragon that can speak, but doesn't tell her that he can turn into a human until he's completely in love with her.

A scene from the book that sticks with me is this: She is fighting to get the throne back from her brother and he land's in the area of her army in his dragon form only to turn into a human with black hair. Charging after her naked, to explain why he never told her he could change form, when she was staying in his cave to heal, or while he talked about his family members.

Answer 1

This is Dragon Actually by G.A. Aiken, book one of the Dragon Kin series.

The girl is Annwyl and her evil brother is Lorcan:

“And you are Annwyl of Garbhán Isle. Annwyl of the Dark Plains. And, last I heard, Annwyl the Bloody.” Annwyl did cringe at that. She hated that particular title. “You take the heads of men and bathe in their blood.”

“I do not!” She looked back at the dragon. “You take a man’s head, there’s blood. Spurting blood. But I do not bathe in anything but water.”

“If you say so.”

His calmness made her feel overly defensive. “And I’m not just taking men’s heads. Only the enemies of Dark Plains. My brother’s men.”

“Ah, yes. Lorcan. The Butcher of Garbhán Isle. Seems to me if you simply took his head your war would be over.”

The dragon is Fearghus aka Fearghus the Destroyer. He rescues her from an attack by her brother's men and takes her to his cave where she is healed by the healer Morfyd.

Fearghus seduces Annwyl in his human form pretending to be a knight. He is eventually outed by his father who disapproves of Fearghus dallying with humans. The scene you remember is:

The dragon silently watched Annwyl’s retreating form. He began chanting and flame surrounded him. That’s when Brastias wondered if he would die this day. The flames grew, enveloping the beast, but eventually the flames died away, leaving a very large, very naked man. With a growl, he followed after Annwyl, disappearing into the tent after her.