Grace rolled her eyes at her daughters and burst into laughter as she spun to face her husband.
She was just giving him another poke in the chest, about ready to scold him, when the door knocker sounded. “Be good,” she said instead. She turned to capture Winter’s hand to keep her from answering the door. “Let your sister get it,” she commanded, pulling her into the living room while pushing Grey ahead of them. “My God, you’re acting like Winter’s sixteen,” she muttered, shoving her laughing daughter in the chair beside the hearth and Grey into the opposite chair. Grace then turned while smoothing down the front of her blouse, folded her hands at her waist, and plastered a welcoming smile on her face just as Megan stepped into the living room doorway with Matt Gregor.
Grace immediately went weak in the knees.
The man was utterly gorgeous. Definitely imposing. His eyes…they were…she couldn’t tear herself away from his fantastically golden eyes. Holy hell, she thought with a shiver, no wonder Winter was a mess of churning emotions. Grace was getting a bit emotional herself.
“Mama,” Megan said, leading Matt all the way into the room. “This is Matt Gregor. Matt, these are my parents, Grace and Greylen MacKeage.”
Grace was just getting her racing heart under control when Matt Gregor gave her a smile that stopped it completely. He inclined his head and held his hand out to her, and Grace found she couldn’t breathe. In thirty-three years of marriage she had never once reacted to another man this way, most likely because she’d never met a man who could even come close to rivaling Greylen MacKeage.
Until now. Grace placed her hand in Matt’s, immediately noticing how solid he felt. “Mr.
Gregor,” she said, praying she sounded normal, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine, Mrs. MacKeage,” he returned, his deep voice resonating with warmth.
“I can see where Winter and Megan get their beauty. And please, call me Matt.”
“Gregor,” Grey said, extending his right hand while gently pulling Grace away from their guest.
“I understand ye own Bear Mountain. Are ye planning on developing it?”
“Mr. MacKeage,” Matt said, shaking Grey’s hand. “I bought the land for my own use. I plan to build my home there.”
“It’s a rather long commute to New York City.”
Matt shrugged. “But worth it, I think,” was all he said as he leaned to the side to better see Winter standing behind Grace.
Grace was impressed with Winter’s restraint so far, and not at all surprised by Grey’s lack thereof. Her husband was looking at Matt as if he were a bug he was wanting to crush.
To Matt’s credit, he didn’t seem worried, but his polite smile did disappear the moment Grace stepped to the side. His eyes locked on Winter with such intense male appreciation, Grace went weak in the knees again.
“Where are ye going tonight?” Grey asked, moving between Winter and Matt.
“To the resort restaurant,” Matt said somewhat absently, completely focused on their daughter.
He took a step around the mountain of fatherly concern and held out his hand. “You look lovely, Winter.
I take back what I said last night. I think I do prefer you in a dress.”
Winter placed her hand in his, gave Grace a “will you please control Papa” look, and moved to stand beside Matt, linking her arm through his. “In the interest of not turning into a pumpkin, I’ll be home by midnight,” she said. She looked at her father and smiled smugly. “You needn’t wait up,” she finished as she quickly led Matt out of the living room.
But her escort brought her to a halt in the doorway, turned back to the room, and inclined his head. “I’ll have her home by eleven,” Matt said. He looked directly at Grey. “Let me know where and when you want to meet for coffee, and I’ll answer any questions you have about me.”
Grey said nothing, merely nodded.
Matt nodded in return, lifted Winter’s gaping jaw closed with his finger, and finally led her out the front door.
The moment the door shut, Megan burst into laughter. “Oh, Papa, I wish you could see your expression right now,” she said, walking up and rising on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I can’t remember the last time anyone, male or female—other than Mama,” she whispered, “caught you off guard.” She turned to Grace. “And you. You should be ashamed of yourself for getting all flustered by Matt’s good looks.”
“I’m old, not dead,” Grace said with a laugh.
“Go to yer room,” Grey told Megan. “Ye’re no better than either yer mama or yer sister.”
Not the least bit bothered to be treated like she was only sixteen, Megan turned on her heels and all but bounced across the foyer to the stairs. She stopped on the bottom step. “I like Matt,” she said. “And so does Winter.”
“Ye don’t even know him,” Grey snapped.
“I know Gesader didn’t eat him when Matt kissed Winter up on the mountain last night,”
Megan returned, again laughing at her father’s stunned expression. “Winter told me Gesader was there, but that he didn’t so much as growl. So Matt must be a nice guy. Animals are good judges of character.”
It took both of Grace’s hands over her mouth to stifle her laughter.
The first rumbles of a growl started deep in her husband’s chest, only to finally erupt in a full-blown curse when he turned to Grace. “Ye’re laughing while our innocent daughter just left with a man who’s interested in only one thing.” Grey waved an angry hand at the door. “Dammit, did ye not see how Gregor was looking at our baby girl!”
Grace reached up and traced a finger down the side of his scowling face. “I most certainly did,”
she said, patting his cheek. “And I remember seeing that same look in your eyes thirty-three years ago, husband.” She rose on her toes while pulling down on his shirt collar to gently kiss his taut cheek. “And I can’t tell you how much that pleases me.”
“Pleases ye?” he repeated, stepping back to better glare at her. “What about a predator dating our daughter pleases ye?”
Grace mimicked his stance by folding her own arms under her breasts. “I’m pleased because I’
ve just realized something you and Robbie and Father Daar never considered, which changes the entire equation of Winter’s destiny,” she said. “None of you factored in the possibility of someone like Matt Gregor coming along. The man I just met has no intention of letting something as insignificant as our daughter’s destiny stand in his way. Yes, I could see that he wants her, and I say let him go for it.”
Grace unfolded her husband’s arms and held both his hands. “I love you, Greylen MacKeage.
You’ve been my rock and my wings and my fiercest protector. Let Winter have what we’ve had. Let Matt Gregor be her superman.”
“So ye’ve decided he’s superman after meeting him for all of two minutes?” Grey asked softly.
“How can ye know that?”
Grace looked down at her fingers twined in her husband’s strong hands. “I just know.” She smiled up at him. “You might call it magic, but I prefer to call it motherly intuition.”
He studied her for several heartbeats, then suddenly turned away. “I have to go to the office,”
he said, grabbing his jacket from the row of pegs on the foyer wall.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Grace muttered, grabbing the jacket away from him and hanging it back on the peg. “You are not going anywhere near that resort tonight.”
“I have paperwork to do. Morgan and Callum and I are meeting with our accountant in the morning.”
Grace captured his hand reaching for the jacket again and pulled it around her waist. She took hold of his other hand, settled it around her, then wrapped her own hands around his neck. “Ourmeeting tonight is more important,” she whispered, leaning into him.
Her husband always had been a quick study. His hands around her waist tightened at the realization of exactly what their meeting tonight was about. His cheeks darkened, his eyes focused completely on her, and his mouth swooped down and captured her pleased smile.