Gold(14)

But there were differences, too. A sharpness to Ella’s features in contrast to her mother’s softer, rounder face. And a wariness that changed Ella’s overall look.

Still, she hugged her mother and murmured words he couldn’t make out before pulling back and introducing her to Dante again.

Grace gaped as she looked up at him. “You’re a big one, aren’t you?” She laughed. “We can use this one on the ranch.”

“I don’t think he’s the type for that,” a feminine voice said coldly.

Dante looked up to see Ella’s sister, Melanie, fiancé in tow, standing in the kitchen. She slowly walked closer. She was wearing a tight, short dress and high heels that looked more like weapons than something one should wear in the mountains.

“For Pete’s sake,” Ella’s mom said. “Go change before you trip on something.”

Melanie muttered something under her breath, gave him a glare, and then stomped off to a room at the other end of the main floor. Her guest room perhaps?

“Does your sister live in Heber?” he asked Ella.

“We wish,” Ron said. “She lives in Park City. It’s not far, though.”

“How did she end up with Ben?” Ella asked as they stood in the entryway with their suitcases. He was proud of her for not letting the fiancé get to her this time. He still needed to figure out what was going on there.

“They met up at the same company in Park City.” Ron met Dante’s eyes. “Lots of people from here commute there.”

“Makes sense,” Dante said because that always stopped people from explaining further on things he didn’t care about. He was here for Ella, not her sister and Ben.

“Let me show you to your room,” Grace said, leading them to the stairs and moving up them at a brisk pace.

“Mom, I think I know where my old room is,” Ella said.

“Well, since you were bringing a boy home, we thought maybe you should have a larger suite,” Grace said with a small smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners.

Dante hoped Ella would eventually smile enough to have those wrinkles. That would be his new goal.

“Oh,” she said. “But…”

“No buts,” Grace said. “What’s the point of a remodel if we can’t accommodate our daughter?” She folded her arms as Ella walked into the room. “So you turned the playroom into a bedroom?”

Grace nodded. “What do you think?”

Dante walked to the window and looked out at the view of the mountains behind the house. There was a large pond not far from them, and there were cows grazing in the fields behind them.

The mountains captured his imagination the most, though.

Utterly beautiful and wild and breathtaking in scale. All the raw beauty here reminded him of his time, before buildings and civilization had taken over everything.

“How long have you been here?” he asked.

“Oh, our family has been here generations,” Grace said. “Well, I’ll let you two settle in. We’ll be making lunch if you want to come down and join us. We won’t be offended either way.”

“Sure,” Ella said.

Ron waved and disappeared with Grace, leaving Dante alone with his mate, who looked flustered, but for all the wrong reasons.

“What’s up?” he asked, bouncing on the bed and looking up at her.

She kept her arms tightly folded as she looked out the window and then around the room and then at him. “I guess it’s just hitting me I’m finally home.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

She hesitated, her brown eyes wary. He noted she had long, curled lashes, thick like her hair. They gave her brown eyes a doe-ish look that brought out the protective instincts in him.

He longed to go to her and hold her, pull her against him and give her all the comfort in the world, but it didn’t seem welcome.

“Anyway, do you think I could have some time alone?” she asked. “I sort of like to read when I’m stressed, so I don’t think I’ll be going down for food.”

He stood and stretched. Dragons were always hungry; the metabolism to keep up their muscles was severe. “Sure. Want me to bring you something?”

“No, it’s okay,” she said. “I’m not hungry.”

Liar.

He’d bring her something, but he’d give her time to have a nap first. And he’d take this chance to do recon on the family, try to figure out more about what was going on here.

He made sure she was ready for him to go, and when she was tucked into bed and comfortable, he shut the door softly behind him and headed down the stairs.

He stopped abruptly when he saw the entire family eating at a table. Was he late?