Raul was humming to himself when he made his way through the castle’s large, endless corridors. Surprised, he stopped for a moment when he realized that he was humming the melody of Winter Wonderland. But after a moment, he shrugged and continued on his way, still humming.
The corridors were empty, after all. No one needed to know that one of those irritating carols they played here all the time had firmly made a home in his head.
Neither did they need to know who’d spent the night with him. Fortunately, with his suite in the family tower, it was highly unlikely that anyone had seen them. With Henrik and Dara gone to Europe with their little one, the tower stood empty—even though he was sure that in a few years, the mated pair would fill all the lovingly decorated children’s rooms with more tiny dragonets.
The thought brought a reluctant smile to his lips. He hadn’t actually thought much about children before. As a dragon who had lost his hoard, mating hadn’t ever really seemed an option. No other dragon would mate someone like him.
And now fate had sent him a human mate, a woman with delicious curves in all the right places, strong and smart enough to run a large place like this. He couldn’t stop thinking about how she felt like in his arms, how he wanted to woo her and lay riches at her feet and build her the home of her heart’s desire...
And yet, his family’s hoard was gone. And with it, his dragon’s heart. Without that gem, he couldn’t focus his power. And while he had enough money to buy Claire a beautiful diamond ring and a lovely house, it would never be enough to satisfy his dragon.
His dragon wanted to shower his mate with their hoard, the precious jewelry and gold that his family had owned for centuries. Even now, so many years later, he knew every single coin and every single jewel that was missing, from the tiny, cracked amethyst his great-grandmother had worn when she was a child to the flawless diamond the size of an egg that had been his mother’s dragon’s heart.
So many years later, and he could still feel the call of his hoard. In fact, the endless, niggling pain its loss had caused his dragon seemed to have become even stronger.
Perhaps the presence of his mate had fortified it. Because how could he mate without it? He had nothing to offer Claire. Nothing that truly meant something to his dragon.
Raul realized that he was no longer humming. It was probably for the best, as he had now made his way to the castle’s ground floor, where the offices were located which, at least for the time being, would be Claire’s headquarter.
And today, the first item on their schedule was a meeting with the castle’s accountant.
Raul grimaced. For all that dragons loved gold and riches, he’d never been one of those dragons who’d taken to the new treasures of the twenty-first century. He didn’t care much about stocks and bonds and tax evasion. It all seemed vaguely distasteful to him—he wanted his hoard to shower his mate with gifts, and he cherished the gems and jewelry for their beauty. What good was a portfolio of stocks? He couldn’t very well make love to his mate on a bed of it. Or if he could, she’d think that he was insane, and quite rightly so.
“I hope I’m not late,” he said when he entered the office and found everyone already gathered.
His heart immediately gave a jolt when his eyes found Claire. She flushed a little, smiling at him. Next to her sat Mrs. Henderson, and on her other side, a man perhaps in his forties, already balding, wearing a well-cut black suit and a smile that immediately set Raul’s nerves on edge.
“Not late at all! We were just early,” the man said, his smile widening as he stood. “Welcome. I’m Malcolm Ryder, the castle’s accountant. I usually work from my office in the city, but I was asked to visit for a few days, just in case you have any questions. And with a client as esteemed as the Snow Castle, I was more than happy to comply with that request.”
Raul forced himself to smile as he shook the man’s hand. He’d taken an immediate dislike to him—caused perhaps by nothing but the fact that Malcolm had sat way too close to Claire for his liking.
The sight had made his dragon rear up with jealousy inside him. But even so, Raul disliked the man’s oily smile, and the way his eyes seemed to flick back and forth, as if looking for hidden secrets he could use to his own advantage.
He wasn’t a shifter, Raul could sense that. But something about Malcolm immediately reminded him of some of the worst dragons he’d known—the ones who didn’t treasure their hoard for the beauty of their gems and the power of the gold that sang to them, but because they delighted in causing chaos and destruction to gather more riches.
Raul had always seen that as a weakness. After all, his own family had treasured their hoard for the connection to long-lost family members.
But then, Raul had no hoard and nothing a dragon would call riches, so perhaps he was wrong to judge this human so quickly. And a man with Malcolm’s knowledge would be quite an asset to the Snow Castle.
“I want to go over some papers and budgets with you, if you can spare me an hour or two today,” Claire said. “I’d just like a general overview of what I’ve got to expect in those next few week. Dara left me an excellent schedule and explanations as to the day-to-day running of the castle, but I like to be prepared.”
“Of course,” Malcolm said with a smile that seemed genuinely delighted.
Immediately, the dragon within Raul uncurled with seething jealousy.
Malcolm didn’t seem to notice his reaction. “I don’t expect any emergencies, and I’m planning to use my time here to go through some of Henrik’s late uncle’s papers. It’s obviously a topic that pains the family, and their vacation will give me a chance to get that dealt with before they return. That means I’ll be at your disposal for at least a week, or maybe longer, if I’m needed here.”
“I’m sure Claire will do just fine,” Mrs. Henderson said with determination. “Now, today, just familiarize yourself with your new office and our life here. Tomorrow, we’ve got a visit from an architect, for the sunroom at the southern side of the castle. The plans for that have all been finalized with the owners, but he’ll expect you to walk him around the area again, and if there are any additional problems, he knows to contact Henrik and Dara by email, because construction won’t start until spring anyway.”
Claire nodded briefly, her eyes skimming the heap of papers spread out before her.
With admiration, Raul watched as she took control of the situation. Already she sat in her chair like a queen, straight and confident as she began to reschedule interviews, delegate the visit of a local reporter to Mrs. Henderson herself, sign off on the scheduled musical entertainment on the balcony for the coming week, and suggest they end the week with a snowman building competition for both children and adults.
“Are you going to take part?” Claire asked Raul when she looked up from her papers. “Snowmen are an important part of winter.”
“The season I hate the most.” Raul grinned as he raised his hands in surrender. “But for you, I suppose I’ll just have to freeze off my fingers.”
“You’ll join my team, of course,” Claire quickly added. “I told you, loving winter is mandatory here. We'll get you there yet.”
Mrs. Henderson chuckled at their banter. “Next Thursday, we’ll have a little concert in the afternoon. The children from Christmas Valley sing carols and collect money for charity. I’m sure he’ll love it.”
Claire nodded and made another note on her schedule as Raul watched with admiration.
How quickly her schedule had filled up. Already his dragon was shifting unhappily within him, but he soothed it with the thought that Claire’s job would keep her close to him for the next six weeks.
Claire might be busy—but Raul’s only job here was to be the local dragon, in case anything came up.
Not that he thought it would. After all, he couldn't even shift properly. Still, it kept the land calm and happy, despite his tenuous connection to the ice dragon’s family.
And it showed Raul just what he’d lost when his family had lost their own hoard. He’d never have anything like this: land that had entered into the mystical connection between a dragon and his home. A town with children who’d bring him gifts, while he in turn would protect them with his dragon’s powers. A home for his mate and his children, where little dragonets could learn to spread their wings and fly...
“I’ll see you this afternoon then?”
Embarrassed, Raul realized that he’d just automatically agreed to whatever it was Claire had asked of him.
“The snowball fight?” Claire laughed softly. “It’s too late to say no now.”
“I’ll win any fight for you,” he said with a little growl, his dragon immediately perking up at the challenge.
Mrs. Henderson chuckled again. “Well done, Claire,” she said with approval. “That one will always be the best choice in a snowball fight.”
A little smirk appeared on Raul’s lips as he thought of how easy it would be to simply melt any ball with his dragon’s fire powers. Of course, with his luck he’d probably lose focus and create a giant wall of fire instead...
“Oh, I’ll fight fair.” He grinned at Mrs. Henderson. “And unfortunately, we were already beaten by the children yesterday. I’m not expecting much.”
“Then that’s settled,” Claire said firmly. “And Dylan will join us too. Whether he likes it or not, he’s getting some fresh air today.”
When their little meeting was over, Raul had to force himself to shake Malcolm’s hand. The man had seemed perfectly professional, and all of his interactions with Claire had been nothing but polite—but still the dragon inside Raul was making a hissing sound of discontent.
But his dragon would have to live with the fact that he’d have to woo Claire like a human. Which meant that he couldn’t just breathe fire at a man who’d dared to take up his mate’s time.
Especially since Raul couldn’t even be sure that he wouldn’t end up burning Claire’s gorgeous hair by accident, given his track records of losing focus once his power was unleashed. And then, there was almost no power left anyway...
“I’m looking forward to the afternoon,” Claire said when everyone else had left her office.
Her voice was soft and warm, and Raul thought with sudden, fierce longing of the way her generous curves had pressed against his body last night.
“I assume I can’t just wait in your office and watch you until then?” he asked hopefully, trying to give her his most charming smile.
Claire flushed, her eyes darkening with what he knew was desire. “No. You're way too distracting.”
Raul sighed in disappointment. Then he leaned forward, gently taking her face into his hands as he kissed her until she was breathless, moaning against his lips.
“I suppose I am,” he said with a little smirk. “This afternoon then. You realize that this gives me time to come up with new ways of distracting you?”
Claire laughed even as she shook her head at him. “Where do guys like you even come from? I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“I’m glad,” he said, his dragon’s possessive pride vibrating in his voice, so that it came out nearly as a growl.
In response, Claire’s eyes dilated until they seemed almost black, and she took a deep, shaky breath.
Then she placed her hand against his chest and gave him a little push.
“Out,” she commanded. “Let me work. You're such a bad influence. This is my first day.”
“That means distraction will be allowed on your second day?”
Raul laughed when Claire groaned, and then voluntarily left before the thought of having her right there on her mahogany office desk became too tempting.