Free Wolfsbane by Ronie Kendig Page A

it’s an honor to meet you.”
    “Thank you, but the honor is mine. We are so glad you could join us.” She waved him down. The woman was elegant and absolutely beautiful—Willow’s mirror image. And Range had been right—she stood straight and tall, sans the back brace. Proud. Just like they’d predicted. The Metcalfes definitely did pride well. Instantly, Dani loved Mrs. Metcalfe.
    Her father waited as Mrs. Metcalfe took her seat across from him, then pointed to a chair and spoke to Range. “Son, have a seat. Tonight, we honor your bravery in saving my daughter.”
    Heat slapped into Dani’s cheeks.
    “Oh, you’re the lady Uncle Range rescued?” A blue-eyed angel of a girl peered up at Dani from across the table, mashed potatoes poised on her fork.
    Silence dropped on the gathering like a wet blanket.
    The attention it elicited unsettled Dani more than the question itself. She let a smile slip into her lips and opened her mouth to answer.
    “Kaleigh!” Brooke admonished from down the table.
    “No, it’s okay,” Dani said, remembering how many times Alexandra or her father had reprimanded her as a child for simple, innocent curiosities. She smiled at the little girl. “Yes, he saved me that day.”
    “I didn’t save her.” Range’s terse voice broke in. “I lifted her to the Coast Guard chopper. The Middletons pulled her from the ocean. That’s who deserves the honor.”
    Appreciating his humility, Dani offered him a small smile. And tensed at the sudden light in his eyes.
    “Nonsense, son.” Her father leapt into the conversation. “What you did—saving Danielle—means a lot to me.”
    Movement behind Range snagged Dani’s attention. A shadow shifted, then solidified as a man ducked through the opening. Her heart hitched. The man from the courtroom! The one whose mesmerizing eyes had infused her with strength she didn’t have during the trial.
    “Canyon, ‘bout time you showed up,” Mark shouted. “You should’ve heard Leif earlier.”
    “Traitor!” Leif thumped his brother-in-law on the back of the head.
    Again, her father introduced himself and Abigail before Canyon started around the table.
    Laughter warmed the party, but Dani couldn’t shake the heat flaring up her neck as she watched the man they called Canyon. Sharp in a blue shirt and black slacks, he gave his brother-in-law a cockeyed grin and gripped his shoulder in a friendly greeting. “What’s with the tent? You remodeling again, Mom?” He inched down the row of seats, touching his mother’s shoulder as he bent toward her and planted a kiss on her face.
    “That’s right; you’d better greet your mother.” Moira Metcalfe patted her son’s cheek. “Find a seat. Enjoy the evening.”
    The warmth in this family seared her heart. If her mother had lived, would this be what she had instead of a stepmother only a few years older than herself, celebrations replete with all-too-expensive gifts, loneliness to tuck her in at night?
    Willow set a biscuit on an empty plate. “Canyon, have a sit. I already started your plate.”
    He wove through the chairs and tables and greeted his sister in the same way he had his mother. “What’d you put on there? Sprouts and alfalfa?”
    “If you don’t behave, I’ll make sure that’s all you get.”
    His deep laugh rumbled through the night—and straight into Dani’s soul. As he scooted in and looked around, his gaze stumbled intohers. He stilled, his smile slipping.
    Dani’s pulse hiccuped. She wanted to look away. Even told herself to. But if she did, she might never find a moment like this again.

    Weird knots rolled through his stomach as he stared into the caramel eyes that had haunted him since that day in court. Now three weeks later, she sat in his family’s backyard, beneath this absurd tent, with an ethereal glow—compliments of the candelabra and its soft light. Her gaze darted away but came back just as quick, as if some supernatural connection existed between