Free Mated by the Dragon by Vivienne Savage Page A

composed herself. The furious color leached from her naturally ivory skin. Flawless might be an understatement, as she had the polished look of a model who spent hours before a makeup artist.  “My father will be notified of your refusal.”
    “Excellent. Tell Maximilian I humbly await his correspondence.” Saul angled his body to remain between Chloe and Brigid when the latter passed by on her way to the door.
    “You have not heard the last of this.” Brigid seethed. “Keep an eye on your pet. It would be such a shame if anything were to happen to her.”
    The woman moved fast in her heels. She strode out of the home without a backward glance or even a thankful utterance to Leiv, who held the door open for her.
    Saul turned to face her immediately. “Chloe, forgive me, I was never told to expect Brigid’s arrival.”
    Chloe nervously bit her lip and glanced toward the door, where Leiv stood with an apologetic expression on his handsome face. He bowed and hurried away, too eager to be away from the room. “You never told me you have a mate.”
    “Promised one. Not a mate. Brigid has had a century to accept my claim to her. Over a hundred years to accept that our parents intended a mutually beneficial arrangement between our families. Even among dragons that is no small drop of time.”
    “Why would she show her face now?”
    Saul quieted. Time alongside her newfound mate had given her the uncanny ability to judge and read his changes in mood. Silence could only mean one thing.
    “Were you looking for her when you met me?”
    “I was,” he admitted.
    “Oh.” He was looking for his dragon lady and stumbled across me. He settled for less than he wanted.
    “Chloe, you wear your worry on your face, but most of all, I sense it here,” he told her, placing his hand directly above her heart.
    “She’s just so… so…” She struggled to release her self-esteem issues.
    “Beautiful and vain,” Saul finished. He closed his arms around her and kissed the top of her blonde head. “Brigid was my father’s choice. She is capricious. Selfish.”
    “Sounds like a dragon,” Chloe said as she attempted to smile for his sake.
    Saul chuckled. The smile upon his face seemed fragile, fatigued by the brief exchange with Brigid. “Perhaps some. When I came of age, I sought her out to fulfill my part of my family’s bargain and she rebuffed my advances. For one hundred years.”
    “Do you… mean it… that you would prefer our relationship over someone of your own species? I don’t mean to…” Chloe gulped in a lungful of air. A quick wipe of her palm dried away the fresh tears on her face. “To question you over and over about it. But she seems to want you now, and she can give you things I can’t.” A child of his own, she thought.
    “Yes, I did seek her when I awakened, in hopes of discovering her feelings for me had changed. Meeting you has altered that course, Chloe. I do not want her, and I am quite satisfied with how circumstance has entwined our lives. I will change nothing about this, nor would I change it for anything.”
    “You chased her for a century, Saul.”
    “I did, and had I not sought her out one final time, I never would have found you , Chloe. You.”
    Chloe opened her mouth to protest, but then a subtle ringing noise escaped her pocket. “It’s my dad.”
    Lifting the slim cellular device to her ear, she accepted the call and forced some cheer into her voice. “Hey, Daddy.”
    “Hey to you, too, sweetie. I wanted to see if you’d changed your mind about the barbeque tomorrow.”
    “Actually, I’m in California visiting my boyfriend. Remember?”
    “Bring him along then.”
    Chloe glanced over at Saul. “Maybe next time.”
    “I can fly you out if money’s the issue and it’s too far a drive,” her father offered.
    “No, Dad, don’t do that.”
    “Southwest has a good deal right now. A pair of tickets won’t cost much.”
    “It’s not about money, Dad. I didn’t think