Free Gambling on Her Bear (Shifters in Vegas) by Anna Lowe Page B

Blood Diamond.” She nodded. “So I came out here, trying to see it. To verify it. I even snuck into the auction viewing—”
    “Of course, you did.” He sighed.
    “And God, when I saw it…” She trailed off, stirring her hands in the air as if the diamond were right there, pulsing with power only a dragon could sense. “I knew that was really it.”
    She didn’t say,
And I knew I had to have it,
because it wasn’t about greed. It was about family pride. About righting a wrong. About proving herself.
    “I didn’t want it for me. I wanted to bring it back to dragonkind. To give them its power instead of letting vampires strut it around like just another expensive toy. I was going to give it to the dragon elders, not keep it for myself.”
    “Why?”
    “Why? To prove what I could do instead of demonstrating what I couldn’t do. To finally have them accept me and value what I could do. To…to…” She stammered, and her shoulders shook until his hand closed over hers and anchored her again.
    She inhaled sharply and stared into her soup. Wow. Had she ever rammed as many sentiments into one breath? Had she ever admitted as much to herself?
    Tanner let a minute tick by without saying anything. His fingers caressed hers while the candle on the table flickered, sending shadows over their hands.
    “I swear I would have given it to the elders,” she whispered.
    “Of course, you would.” He said it with such conviction, such unwavering faith, like it was self-evident and not a minor miracle.
    Bears had honor, she knew. Bears like him, she could trust. The question was, would he trust her?
    “Then Schiller bought it,” Tanner said, gesturing for her to continue.
    She shook her head. “He
faked
buying it when, in fact, he was the owner the whole time. That part was hidden, of course, so he could pose as a buyer. It was all a publicity stunt to draw attention to the casino.” It had cost her a couple of hundred bucks to bribe the truth out of a snake shifter who worked for the auctioneer.
    Tanner nodded, disgust written all over his face. “That fits Schiller perfectly. The bastard.”
    “His family stole the diamond from mine, and the auction was all a front. The high price he paid drove up the prices on all the other diamonds in the auction and brought a lot of new customers to the casino. It allowed him to take the diamond out of whatever vault he had it locked away in and show it without being asked too many questions about where he obtained it. And then the bastard had the nerve to stick my family heirloom between Elvira’s tits.”
    Tanner scowled as if the image disturbed him as much as it disturbed her.
    “So you decided to steal it?” He sounded doubtful.
    “Okay, okay, that might not have been the best plan. But I had to do something. And it’s not like I could outbid the Count of fucking Transylvania at his own game. Nineteen million, he paid for it.”
    Tanner scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Nineteen point two.”
    “You were there?” she almost yelped.
    He nodded, and she nearly shoved the table. “You were at the auction? You stood by and let Count Fangula buy what rightfully belongs to me?”
    He put up his hands in that,
Hey, I’m a good guy move
he did so well. “I didn’t know it was yours. I didn’t know you.”
    They stared at each other for a second while a thousand emotions collided in her heart and mind. Anger. Lust. Betrayal. Love. Hope. Bitter defeat.
    “What are you doing working for those jerks, anyway?” she managed to shoot out.
    He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again, then looked at his soup. “It’s a long story.”
    “Summarize,” she shot back.
    He looked at her, and for the first time ever, he looked doubtful, even ashamed.
    “I’ll tell you,” he said, sounding a little hoarse as his gaze studied everything in the room but her. “While you eat. I have the feeling this is going to be a long night.”



Chapter Nine
    Tanner puffed out his