Page 15

“Tennessee was beautiful, but my hometown of Darling never had anything like this.” Even though they were alone, she spoke just above a whisper.

“Not many places do. It never gets old.” He turned them toward the grand house at the end of the long drive. “Let me introduce you to my family.”

She didn’t know why the mountains settled her, but they did. Her Daddy was right. She’d been talking with all his brothers and his sister for weeks. Now, finally, she would get to meet them in person. “I’m excited to meet your family.”

He held her hand and led her down the drive to his home. “They’re excited, too. I’ll introduce you to everyone and then we’ll go upstairs and settle in.” When her stomach grumbled, he added, “Then we’ll come back down and find something to eat.”

She laughed. ‘That might be a good idea. Oh. My. Gosh. Are those buffalo?” There was a hulking dark animal nuzzling snow out in the pasture.

“They’re bison. I’ll go ahead and tell you right now that I don’t want you going near them. We have people who think they are tame, but they aren’t. They are wild animals. They won’t go out of their way to attack you, but they are unpredictable. I don’t want you anywhere near them. Are we clear?”

Crystal. It was the easiest “Yes, Daddy” she’d ever given. Her desire to pet a bison was only a nanometer above petting a rattlesnake.

“We need to hurry as much as you can, Tildi. The sun will set in about forty-five minutes, and the temperature will drop fast once it does.”

Wow, it was already freezing. “I can jog if that will help.” Well, for a few yards anyway. She hadn’t gotten much exercise the past year, locked in all those rooms by Nico Midnight. She would never be able to say she was glad she’d been kidnapped the night she helped cater his birthday party, but she could certainly count Boone as her reward.

Not that she felt that way at the second, since she could tell he was doing his best not to laugh. Well, she was going to start exercising. One day in the future. The distant future. Probably.

Though it had seemed like the main lodge was a long way off, it took them almost no time to make it to the house. Everyone had already gone inside, not that she blamed them. Boone had been right. The sun hadn’t set, yet the temperature had already dropped.

As he led her to the front door, she noticed the lighting and stopped.

His eyes were wary. “What’s wrong, Tildi? You aren’t still nervous, are you? I’ll be right beside you, babygirl. I would never let anyone be rude to you.”

She shook her head. “I’m not nervous. Or at least I wasn’t until I saw that you have three chandeliers lighting the overhang.” Outside their house, well, their mansion. A log cabin could be considered a mansion if it was the size of a small apartment building and had chandeliers, right? “Who lights their porte cochere with chandeliers?”

Gazing at the ceiling, Boone shrugged. “I don’t know. And I’m not sure you can call it a chandelier when it’s made from wrought iron.”

“You can it if has all those cut metal decorations of wolves and pine trees and stuff.”

He frowned at the wagon wheel shaped lighting, shrugged, and took another step toward the two story double door entry. She jumped when he shouted, “Isn’t anyone going to get out here and greet my girl?”

Tildi gasped. What would his family think of him bellowing out a demand like that?

Boone grinned at her expression and took up their earlier conversation. “For what it’s worth, my parents didn’t build it, either.”

Before she could ask just how old those chandeliers were, the massive wooden front doors swung open, and a woman with long chestnut brown hair came racing toward them, hands outstretched and wide open for a hug. “Tildiiiii!”

Tildi stiffened. She recognized Boone’s only sister, Kenzie, immediately, but she wasn’t sure her enthusiasm wouldn’t send them both to the ground. Without missing a beat, Boone stepped in front of her. Grabbing Kenzie around the waist, he swung her off her feet and spun around three times before setting her down.

Boone grinned down at his sister. “I said greet her, Tiger, not tackle her or scare the bejeezus out of her.”

She slapped his chest and laughed. “I’m excited.” At his raised brows, she added, “But I’ll be careful.”

Tildi watched the exchange in silence. So, that was what a real family interaction looked like. Her heart hurt for all she had missed growing up. Giving herself a mental shake, she shut the thought down. That was then, this was now.

She stuck out her hand toward Kenzie. “It’s so good to finally meet you face to face.”

Kenzie stared down at her extended hand. Looking up with a grin, she said, “I’m not going to be that careful!”

The next thing Tildi knew, Kenzie enveloped her in a tight hug. She froze. What was she supposed to do? The onlyperson to hug her like that was Boone. Nothing so uncivilized ever happened in her family. When they were forced to show affection for the cameras, the most she got were stiff armed, fake hugs followed by lukewarm pats on the back.

No way was she giving Kenzie one of those. Warmth flooded her entire body. Before she knew what she was doing, she hugged Kenzie just as tight.

With one more squeeze, Kenzie stepped back. “I’m so glad you’re finally here. I have so many things planned.”

Boone groaned. “Don’t get her in too much trouble right out of the gate, darlin’.”