Page 12 of The Mating Magic
Despite the day’s warmth, the house was relatively cool inside. Sunshine streamed through the frontwindows.
Instead of heading for the kitchen, he wandered down the hall. An open door showed a bathroom with pink square tiles and a yellow toilet and tub. Shame crawled through Evie. Chase had said little about his family’s holdings, but she knew they owned an ancient castle in the Scottish Highlands where he and his family sometimes spent summers. She’d seen photos on Instadragon of Chase, his older siblings and his cousins and theirparents.
Stacks and piles of items cluttered the first bedroom on the right. Damn. Evie went to close that door. Toolate.
Chase blinked. “Surely this isn’t where yousleep.”
“It’s the storage room. My room’s across thehall.”
She pointed to a closed door. Figured. Her room was neat and sparse. He would have to see the one room that looked like a tornado hitit.
“You hoard junk.” He frowned. “Whateverfor?”
Evie bristled at the suggested criticism. “Every dragon hoards something. And it’s not junk. Lacey is in the resale business so I collect things for her to sellonline.”
“Of selling junk.” Chase’s disapproving look kindled her anger. “You can do so much better, Evie. Whatever happened to yourart?”
Maybe he didn’t mean to sound condescending, but damnit, he had no idea how much it cost to live in human form these days. “My watercolors don’t pay the rent, Chase. Or the electric bill. We have to work for a living, unlike some dragons, who are supported by their richfamilies.”
Chase shook his head. “My family doesn’t support me, Evie. I work in the business, or used to. And that excuse about your art is merely an excuse. You’re good enough to get a showing of your own. If you truly want it, you can make ithappen.”
How could she explain to him she barely had the confidence in her art to show her paintings to Lacey? It took time, effort and associating in certain social circles to make the right connections to have an art gallery display herwork.
If only Lacey had time to mix the potion, maybe then Evie would feel bold enough to solicit art galleries for a showing of her own. Certainly she had enoughpaintings.
“You always did believe in me,” she murmured. “At least you believed in mytalent.”
He clasped her shoulders and stared down at her, his gaze piercing. “I believed in much more, Evie. Still do. You just didn’t believe inus.”
“I believed in us, Chase. But your family didn’t. I doubt they everwill.”
The space between them seemed so large, so cavernous, too insurmountable to cross. They might as well have been miles apart instead of inches. Chase came from a higher echelon of dragon society that claimed a large piece of the economic pie, while she and Lacey spent their entire lives fighting for a meresliver.
“Forget them.” He cupped her cheek. “Why do you think I took this apprenticeship with Drust? Not because I wish to serve the Coldfire Wizard, or that he’s my bloodline. I did it to find a way free for us, apart from my family. When I’m finished with my two years of apprenticeship, we can have a freshstart.”
A fresh start. New beginnings. Chase believed in her. She believed in him. Hope flared inside her. Maybe they could make this work. Was it a pretty but improbable dream that she could be the mate to a dragon higher on the social ladder than herself, a man whose family could date their bloodlines back to the ColdfireWizard?
“If you truly want it, Chase, you can make it happen,” she said, throwing his own words back athim.
His kiss was no soft brush of the lips this time, but urgent and hard. Evie slid her arms around his neck, needing this contact, missing him dreadfully. It had been a cold and lonely four weeks without Chase, without his touch, his laughter, his presence at herside.
When they broke apart, she felt dazed with desire, her thoughts scrambled. But one thought rang clear –I deservemore.
“A new start is good, Chase, but I need more than words from you as a commitment. I need to know I come first in your life. Before your family.” She took a deep breath, knowing she might drive him off for good. “I need you to introduce me to your parents and your family, and tell them you’re serious about me and our relationship. Today. I can’t live in limbo anylonger.
His expression turned guarded and her heartsank.
“That isn’t possible right now, Evie. There are matters I must addressfirst…”
Evie tuned him out, grief spearing her. “I guess it’s too much to ask. Family will always come first when you’re a Burke. RightChase?”
Chase’s jaw clenched. “Right now I came here to find the potion Drust needs. That comes first.Lacey!”
“You rang?” Laceydrawled.
Her sister peered down the hallway, and then swept Chase with a contemptuous look. “I guess you haven’t changed at all, Chase. You’re still adickwad.”
“Neither have you. Where isit?”
