“Thank you for starting dinner,” Max said. He tipped his half-drunk hot chocolate in the sink. “The letter the cops brought and had me sign for are legal papers. My grandmother is upping the ante. She says I’m hardly here with Noel and that I leave his care to my au pair.”
“What’s an au pair?”
“A person who looks after children and receives a payment for it,” Max said. “She doesn’t believe we’re engaged.”
“She’s right,” Sasha said, even though the words made her chest ache.
Max groaned. “God, I’m so confused. I have feelings for you, and every time I look at you, all I want to do is steal a kiss.”
“What’s stopping him?”her dragon whispered.“We’re gorgeous.”
Sasha wanted the answer to the question too. “Why don’t you kiss me?”
Max met her gaze, his eyes full of honesty. “Until I saw you spurt fire at that reporter, I’d intended to kiss you.”
“What changed?”
“You’re a weredragon,” he said.
“We call ourselves dragon shifters,” Sasha corrected. “From the reading we’ve done since our arrival, a weredragon is the same being, no matter which form they take. We are two beings in a single body. One of us cannot thrive without the other.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“You should. Some dragons can be particularly snooty and full of pride. Questioning their origins is considered rude.”
Max lost some of his color. “Would your family approve of me?”
Sasha died a little inside.
“We can’t lose Max,”her dragon said.“We like kissing him! We must have more Max kisses.”
“My brothers will like you.” The truth.
“But not your parents? Don’t you want to go home? My world is here. Noel is here.”
“The day we came through the barrier, my mother had informed me that because I’d turned down all offers of marriage to date, my parents had arranged a betrothal for me.”
“You’re betrothed?”
Sasha shrugged. “I guess I am. Officially.”She checked on the chicken, the meaty aroma overlaid with herbs making her stomach rumble. “Bruceous is the same age as my parents. He is wealthy, and his previous wife died in an accident several years ago. He’s not a nice dragon. He’s the type who goes around trapping younger women in corners or slyly pinching their bottoms.”
“That’s sexual harassment.”
“Yes,” Sasha agreed as she placed the pot of potatoes on the stove to boil. “But somehow he persuaded my parents he’d make an excellent match for me. My gut says that the moment we’re together, he’ll be ready to chase the next shiny object.”
“That’s what your parents want for you?”
“They mean well,” Sasha said. “To them, he’s a gentleman with an important position in the community. My dragon and I haven’t tried very hard to return, mainly because we’ve been responsible for Noel’s safety. But if we’d wanted to badly enough, we could’ve crept out at night to investigate the barrier. Once again, we worried that would leave Noel alone if we penetrated the barrier.”
Max cursed and bounded to his feet. “I’m a selfish oaf only thinking of myself and what this news means to me.” When he reached her, he hugged her hard. “Every step of the way, you’ve given Noel and me your loyalty. He is thriving under your care.”
“What are you going to do about your grandmother?” Sasha asked.
“I don’t know,” Max said in a harsh voice. “According to the legal papers, the judge has ordered me to hand over Noel on the first of the month.”
“That’s in two days.”
“Yes, and it sounds as if this decision is final, that the judge has made a ruling based on the information Julia provided. The legal papers state I must leave the premises.”
