Page 21 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

Welcome back. Or perhaps I should say, welcome home. Because this is yours now. The entire property will belong to you once I’m gone. All of it. Including the family fortune. Though I doubt you’ll need it. I’ve heard you’re doing quite well among the humans. Still, that “legacy” belongs to you now. Make good use of it.

X

I frowned. Who had written the letter? Why did they refuse to sign it?

More importantly, what family fortune? I reread that line again, trying to keep myself calm. We hadn’t been a rich family. Any real “money” we’d possessed was in the land and the house itself. There was no fortune. We’d planted and harvested our own food because finding the money to feed everyone was more than we could all afford. True, we’d never gone hungry, but rich? Not my family.

So, what had changed?

“What does it say?” Samantha asked, crowding closer to my side, reading over my arm.

I fought a twitch as her golden blonde hair tickled my exposed skin. She was so close. I could just reach out and—

“A family fortune?” she gasped, rearing back to look at me. “Cade. That’s great! You’re not broke anymore. You’re rich!”

“Yeah.”

Her face scrunched up in confusion. “All right. You don’t exactly sound enthusiastic about that. Do you not like money or something?”

“I do,” I said quickly. Perhaps too quickly. “That’s not the problem.”

“Then what is?”

I snorted, tossing the letter on the counter. “We don’t have a family fortune.”

“Then why does the letter say you do?”

“I don’t know,” I was forced to admit unhappily. “We didn’t when I left.”

“How long ago was that?” she asked, pointedly looking around the house. The very abandoned, overgrown, and long-untouched house. “Something must have changed.”

She couldn’t be righter. Something had changed. The question was, what?

And would it be enough to pay off my debts? Perhaps then I could get out of this silly agreement with the sovereign. Maybe even leave and head to the West Coast and never come back.

My dragon protested, trying to argue against that idea, but I shoved its concerns to the side. I wasn’t listening to it. Not now.

“So, how do we find it?”

“No idea,” I said. “I guess we’re going to have to search the house and grounds. There’s bound to be a clue somewhere.”

I just hoped it didn’t take too long. I was already growing tired of living among dragons. I wanted out. The sooner I could pay off my debts with this fortune and leave, the better.

Chapter Twelve

Samantha

“Where do we start then?” I asked when he didn’t immediately reply or start moving, once again lost in his mind.

I wanted to pry, to ask just what was going on in there. The homecoming, such as it was, had clearly brought memories and emotions bubbling up to the surface in the big dragon-man. He was trying his best to not let it show, but it was obvious.

“Good question,” Cade rumbled at last, shaking himself free. He set the letter down on the table and began moving at last, even if it was just pacing the kitchen.

“Could they just have been referring to the house, do you think?” I asked, looking around.

“No. The letter said the property was mine. The property and the fortune. They’re two separate things,” he said, thinking through the logic.

I shrugged, walking over to the next room, where a dining table covered in leaves, dust, and dirt sat unused. “I don’t think it’s in here, whatever it is.”

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