Page 35 of Dragon’s Rogue

He stepped back. His shirt was still torn, and she could see his chest moving. He was breathing faster than he should have been. Her own heart was racing, and she almost thought she could hear his thumping wildly, matching hers exactly.

She waited to hear what he had to say. But instead of saying anything, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out an oversized playing card. He held it out to her.

It was her missing Tarot card. The Knight of Flames, riding a dragon.

Chapter 18

Blaze stared at him. “Where did you get that?”

His eyes never left her face. “You know where.”

Off her workroom floor, after it had burst into flames. But it wasn’t burned now.

“Why did you take it?” she asked.

“I saw you working your spell. I was in it.”

“You were spying on me?”

He shrugged, a small smile hovering around his lips. “I was breaking into your house, remember? Of course I was spying on you. What I want to know is, why did I come up in a card reading you were doing?”

Blaze snapped, “Maybe because you were about to break into my house?”

“It’s more than that,” Zane said. He nodded at the idol in her hand. “Whatever is going on with that idol, I’m connected to it. I have a right to know what it is.”

“You have no right to anything of mine,” she said. “Including secrets and information. You broke into my house and stole from me.”

“I gave it back,” he pointed out, giving her a smile and a ‘don’t I get points for cuteness?’ look.

No. He did not. She couldn’t let his overwhelming hotness make her let her guard down. “Only because you want something else from me. That being the case, it might be a good plan to start by saying you’re sorry for breaking in and stealing my idol. And smashing my window.”

The smile widened. “You wouldn’t want me to start our relationship out by lying to you, would you?”

“We don’t have a relationship.”

He held the card out to her again and said softly, “You don’t think so? You saw me in your spell.” He took a deep breath. “And I’ve seen you in my dreams. For almost as long as I can remember.”

That stopped her breath. Once again she saw the tumble of memories and sensations that had washed through her mind when he kissed her.

I’ve seen you in my dreams…

They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment. Then he asked, “Who was the other man in the vision? And how is he linked to the idol?”

She said quietly, “His name is Silas Turner. I stole the idol from him. One day soon, he’s going to come and try to take it back. And then I’m going to kill him, if he doesn’t kill me first.”

Zane’s dragon roared inside him. It was all he could do not to Change right there where he was standing—and then go find this Silas dirtbag and turn him into a pile of charred bones.

“You’re not going to die,” he said. She looked taken aback at the ferocity in his voice.

“I doubt you can stop it, and I doubt even more that you’ll try,” she said.

“Maybe I can stop it,” he said. “Maybe that’s why I was in your vision.”

She didn’t say anything, just rubbed her thumb absently over the idol, as if she were thinking. Then she seemed to realize what she was doing, and he saw a shudder pass through her body. She stuffed the idol into her clutch bag and snapped it shut.

“Look,” he said. “If I help you with the idol, with this Silas guy, will you let me look at the Dragonfly of Morocco? Just look at it.”

She studied him. “Why is it so important?”