Page 64 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

“Oh. Well, here, let me show you. They definitely just dressed up as construction workers or something every time.”

Climbing off him, uncaring about my nudity, I grabbed the last album and sat back in his lap, opening it to the pages, showing him the same outfits on the remaining family members. His throat tightened as I flipped the pages, but he didn’t stop me.

“That’s odd,” he remarked as I hit the fourth such photo.

“I know, right?”

His face narrowed at the same moment his muscles went taut. “Unless …”

“Unless what?”

He looked at me, excitement brightening those wonderfully unique copper eyes. “What if they aren’t costumes.”

I looked at the picture. Then back to him. “They are, though?”

Cade shook his head. “What if they’re uniforms?”

I blinked. “They … are?”

“No, no. I mean, what if they aren’t playing dress-up. What if they actually had to wear those uniforms. Because of what they were doing. Look, see, it’s a pickaxe right there.” He pointed excitedly at one of the pictures.

“Yes, and?”

“What else do you see about the pictures?”

He flipped through them slowly, letting me analyze each one. Then back to the start and over again. I watched the faces, the uniforms, everything.

“They get dirtier?” I guessed.

“No, not that. Not the people. The rest of the picture.”

Then I got it.

“That darn wooden dragon!” I exclaimed, finally noticing it in each picture. “The one that had the gold in it.”

Cade was on his feet. “This is it, Sam. This is it!”

“Is what?” I asked, just as animated but still fumbling in the dark for the answer he already possessed.

“The family fortune,” he said, jumping in excitement. “Come on, let’s go!”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Cade

“Go? Go where?” she asked as I hopped on one leg, struggling to contain my excitement as I quickly dressed.

“That way.” I pointed generally to the south.

“What’s there? We’ve never gone that way before.”

“Just get dressed,” I urged, sticking out my tongue. “I’m playing a hunch here.”

I watched enjoyably as she did, my eyes running across her naked body, taking in every inch of bared skin, counting down the hours until I could explore it once again. Already I longed to hear her breathing grow sharp and fast, and watch her spine arch up to the sky as I ran my tongue up the inside of her thigh …

“You don’t need to keep it a secret, you know. You can clue me in.”

“The clues are all right there,” I told her, pointing at the photos. “You have everything you need to come to the same conclusion I did.”

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