Page 65 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

Her eyes shot to the album we’d been looking at. I watched them narrow, seeing the intelligence flicker across their depths. Samantha was a smart woman. She knew a lot and was quick on the draw. I was surprised it was taking her that long.

Then it dawned, comprehension spreading, racing out from her rising eyebrows to her perfect mouth.

“The gold hidden inside the dragon,” she said, whirling to stare at me. “They’re dressed up as miners.”

“That’s my guess,” I said. “So, let’s find out.”

I shifted, letting my dragon burst free. It came forth with a trumpet of noise, proclaiming its triumph.

“What was that all about?” Samantha asked as she scrambled up my wing like a seasoned pro, easily slipping into her seat at the base of my neck and running a hand over my golden scales.

“Uh, just my dragon being eager to get going,” I said.

It sounded a lot better than “my dragon crowing to the world that sex was just had.” Sometimes the beast inside me was a bit too primitive. Besides, I was still having a hard time accepting its claim that Sam was my mate.

She was great … for a human. But if there really was a gold mine on my property, then I wouldn’t need the sovereign’s deal or her money. Which meant Samantha would probably be assigned to someone else.

My dragon didn’t like that. My head rang with the aftereffects of the roar it let loose in protest, arguing Sam was ours and that it should stay that way.

I liked her. She was attractive and smart. But my mate? I was hesitant to admit that. It seemed too much.

Didn’t it?

“Why haven’t we come this way before?” she asked as I winged south.

“Because,” I said as the lush greens of the forest and meadows gave way to nothing but rocks and scrub grasses, “there’s nothing here. It’s barren land, always has been.”

“Apparently not,” she replied as I slowed, flying slow enough we could look around for signs of activity.

“Perhaps,” I agreed, still not sure I was willing to believe my theory.

Still, the letter had stated I was now the owner of the family fortune. A gold mine would certainly classify as such.

Reaching a ravine, I banked to the west.

“Why are we turning back?”

“Running a pattern over the land,” I explained.

“What about on the other side?”

“Not our property,” I said. “That ravine marks the end of our property. Whatever they found, it’s on this side of it.”

Samantha fell silent. My eyes scanned left and right. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I hoped it would stand out now that I knew where to search.

“Cade.”

“Yes?”

“What if it was on the other side of the ravine?” she asked.

“No. Dragons would never do that.”

She pressed on. “Most humans wouldn’t either. But there are always some. And if, as you said, your family lacked a lot in the way of material wealth, maybe they took what they needed to?”

I was sterner in my denial. “Dragons respect the property of others. We don’t just go try to take what’s on it for our own.”

“It would explain what happened to them,” she said tentatively. “If they were found out, and your neighbors, um, you know.”

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