As the matriarch of the clan, Elle sat at the head of the dining table. Next to her sat Justin, and then everyone else took their places.
Damaris found herself seated between Dimitri and Tyler on the far end of the table, across from Mary and Steffi. Ash and Nika positioned themselves at the foot of the table on Tyler's other side, rounding out the seating arrangements.
As the Swansons arranged themselves around the table, Matt, assisted by Sophie and several younger children, began bringing out bowls and platters of food through the swinging door that separated the dining room and kitchen.
Damaris was astonished to see Matt easily carrying a giant metal platter holding two neatly sliced prime rib roasts crusted with black pepper and herbs.
She could have sworn that the food probably weighed more than he did. But Matt showed no sign of effort as he brought the platter over to his dad and Dane carefully placed it in the center of the dining table.
Sophie trotted proudly in his wake, a wide wooden salad bowl cradled in her arms. She was followed by parade of younger kids carrying bowls with several different kinds of salads, glass pans with steaming vegetable casseroles, and a couple of big bowls heaped with golden-brown oven fries.
One of the kids, a black-haired, gray-eyed boy who looked to be about five or six years old, paused next to Dimitri's chair. "Hey, Uncle D," he said cheerfully. "Grandma Elle let me peel a potato! To make fries!"
"That's great," Dimitri told his nephew warmly. "You'll have to show me which ones are yours, so I can be sure to eat some." He leaned down and said conspiratorially, "This is my friend Damaris. I'm hoping she'll be my girlfriend someday."
Damaris felt her face grow hot as people laughed. Hell yes, I want to be his girlfriend!
She gathered her wits. "Hi, you must be Little Mitya. Your uncle has told me all about you."
Little Mitya's eyes widened, and the bowl of oven fries in his arms began tip dangerously as he leaned around Dimitri's chair to peer at her. "What did he say?"
"Here, let me help you with this." Before she could answer, Dimitri deftly rescued the bowl of fries and put them on the table.
"He said he really liked being your uncle," Damaris told Little Mitya.
"I like it, too," Little Mitya confided before dashing back into the kitchen.
Damaris saw that the adults were helping the kids put the dishes on the table. Then the dishes were passed around as the kids ran outside to get their plates so that their parents or other relatives could dish up requested items.
It all looked and smelled amazing. Damaris looked around and realized that this was exactly the kind of family dinner that she had spent her foster home years dreaming about.
When the meat, casserole dishes, potatoes, and baskets of sliced bread had been passed around and everyone had food on their plates, it was time to eat.
The first part of the dinner was conducted in relative silence, as everyone concentrated on the serious business of enjoying the excellent food.
Damaris finally broke the silence.
"This is one of the best meals I've ever had," she said to Elle.
"Thank you," Elle replied, smiling. "I try to serve food raised on this ranch, grown in my vegetable garden, or bought from one of our neighbors."
"I haven't had a real home-cooked meal like this since my parents died," Damaris said. "I tried to cook for Sophie, but I don't have a knack for it. I have to tell you, it all looks much easier on the Food Network."
"If you don't cook, how on earth do you feed yourselves?" Elle demanded.
"Delivery. I can get any kind of food brought to my apartment…Chinese, Thai, Korean, Italian, Mexican, Caribbean, you name it," Damaris replied. "I mostly just use the toaster oven and the microwave."
Elle looked shocked.
"My BBQ place does deliveries to all the local hotels and B&Bs during tourist season," Justin offered. "It's always a challenge finding someone with a car or truck willing to do it, though."
"I miss being able to order Chinese food delivery. And going out for dim sum on the weekends," Dane's wife Annabeth said wistfully. She was a curvy redhead who exuded warmth and charm. "I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, and I lived in the City for a few years before I bought a bakery in Bearpaw Ridge and moved out here."
"And I love going out for Mexican food whenever I head home to Albuquerque to visit my parents," said Caitlyn the journalist. "Especially during Hatch chili harvest season in August, when every grocery store has a chili roaster out front."
She gave a reminiscent smile as her husband Mark shook his head ruefully.
"The people in New Mexico put chili sauce on everything," he told the assembled dinner guests. "Right after we got engaged, Caitlyn took me to meet her parents and their spouses, and her dad made us huevos rancheros for breakfast. He asked me if I wanted them 'Christmas style.' I had no idea what that meant, but I wanted to make a good impression on my future father-in-law, so I said yes."
Caitlyn giggled. "Christmas-style means that you get red and green chili sauce on the dish. It's yummy!"
"It's like eating fresh lava if you're not used to it," Mark said dryly. "Her stepmother finally took pity on me and brought me a glass of milk and a container of sour cream to cut the burn."
"Dimitri is a very good cook," Nika said. Then she patted Ash's arm. "My husband is better, of course, but my little brother makes a grilled salmon to die for."
"Ash taught me everything I know," Dimitri said.
He looked embarrassed by his sister's comments, but Damaris sensed he was pleased, too.
The conversation continued throughout the rest of the meal. Outside on the porch, the eight children seemed to be having a good time at their own table. Occasionally, one of them would dart in holding an empty plate and ask their parents for seconds…or thirds.
Even Sophie took a turn asking for more fries. Her usual shyness was nowhere in evidence as she talked to the Swanson kids.
When they had finished eating, and only a few spoonfuls of casserole and a couple of slices of bread remained, everyone pitched in to clear the table.
Damaris grabbed the nearest casserole dish and followed the others through the swinging door into the farmhouse kitchen. It was a big, old-fashioned room that had been tastefully renovated, keeping the original cabinetry and layout while updating with modern appliances.
At Elle's direction, they loaded the dishes into the big dishwasher and stacked the hand-wash items on the long marble countertop.
Then Justin rolled up his sleeves and filled the sink with hot soapy water while Elle got a pot of coffee going in the industrial-sized coffee maker. Annabeth opened boxes marked with the Cinnamon + Sugar logo of her bakery and lifted out pies and beautiful fruit tarts piled high with glazed red strawberries.
Damaris followed the others' lead and grabbed a dishtowel. With many hands pitching in to dry the cutting boards, chef's knives, serving dishes, and trays, and to put them away, the cleanup was accomplished in about fifteen minutes.
Then they set the dining room table with dessert plates, cake forks, and coffee cups while Annabeth finished whipping fresh cream with vanilla and a bit of sugar in the stand mixer.
After the slices of pie and tart had been distributed and the kids shooed back out onto the porch, the adults settled back around the table to enjoy their own desserts and coffee.
"So, how soon will you start working for Ash?" asked Mark's wife Caitlyn.
She was blonde, with a lively expression, and had been introduced as a journalist.
"As soon as possible," Ash answered immediately.
"Hey, Bro, at least let her finish her vacation," Dimitri protested. "And she'll need some time to find a place to live in Bearpaw Ridge, plus arrange a cross-country move."
"Vacation?" said Annabeth with a wry smile as she glanced over in the direction of the porch where the kids were discussing something in excited tones. "I remember what those were like. What do you have planned?"
Damaris felt Dimitri take her hand under the table. What was it about him that sent an electric shock through her every time he touched her?
"Not much. Sophie loves documentaries about wild animals, so we want to tour the Bearpaw Springs park to see some of those. And Dimitri offered to show me some of the locals-only hot springs in the area."
"Tomorrow. With a picnic lunch," Dimitri added, squeezing Damaris's hand. "Which will of course include something delicious from your bakery, Annabeth."
Annabeth dimpled. "I'll put aside some of my apple turnovers tomorrow morning. Those pack well."
"Which reminds me," rumbled Dane, who was leaning back in his chair, his arm stretched out across the back of his wife's chair. "Damaris, how would you feel about Sophie spending the day here on the ranch? I noticed that she and Matt seem to have become friends already. While you were in the kitchen, he asked me if she could come back tomorrow and go for a trail ride along the river. We usually stop and go swimming when we do one of those rides."
If someone had told Damaris a week ago that she would be okay leaving Sophie with people that she'd just met, she would have called them crazy.
But even on brief acquaintance, she could tell that the Swansons were good people.
And based on what Damaris had seen from today's riding lesson, Sophie would be ecstatic at the chance to spend the day with Matt and the other kids on the ranch. And the ponies, of course.
"Thank you. I think she'd love the idea."
And I'll have Dimitri all to myself. It felt selfish and glorious all at once.
"Which springs are you taking Damaris to?" Elle asked from across the table.
"The BLM ones near Little Bearpaw Lake," Dimitri answered. "It's a really pretty hike from the parking lot at the trail head." He turned to Damaris. "Bring your camera, if you have one. I've seen all kinds of wildlife on that trail."
"Sounds good," Damaris said, then asked warily, "But how long a hike? I have to warn you, I'm a city girl, and I'm more used to sidewalks than mountain trails."
"Oh, it's an easy 30-minute walk to the springs, mostly flat ground," Dimitri assured her, and she saw both Dane and Elle nodding in agreement. "There's a short climb right at the end, because the springs are up on the side of a hill, but we'll have a spectacular view over the lake and the mountains while we're soaking. And chances are, we won't see anyone else, since most of the tourists don't know about these springs. They tend to stick to the ones at the Bearpaw Springs Resort."
"So I noticed yesterday," Damaris said dryly.
"Great! So why don't I come after breakfast—hell, why don't we have breakfast together at the diner in town and then drop Sophie off here before we head over to Little Bearpaw Lake? It's a shorter drive to the springs if we cut through the ranch and head over the ridge on the east side."
"Sounds like a plan." Damaris sipped her coffee and looked around the dining room, crowded with enough Swansons to require both an adults' table and a children's table.
She'd only known these people for a few hours, but she already loved them for welcoming her and Sophie with kindness, good humor, and generosity.
Damaris desperately wanted the Swansons to keep liking her. They were the kind of family she had always wanted, the kind of family she had dreamed about when she was living in group homes where no one ever remembered your birthday and Christmas was hit-or-miss.
She was pretty sure that none of the seven Swanson kids sitting out on the porch right now had ever experienced a forgotten birthday. Or had had to sit quietly on the sidelines in a foster home on Christmas Day while other kids opened presents, knowing they couldn't cry or they'd be punished.
Damaris shuddered and pushed down the old, hurtful memories. Her life was different now, and she'd do everything in her power to make sure that Sophie never had to endure anything like that.
* * *
Much later, after a round of hilarious charades in the living room, Damaris and a very reluctant Sophie left.
Only the promise that they would be returning after breakfast tomorrow for a whole day spent at the ranch kept Sophie from bursting into tears at being parted from her new best friend Matt.
Dimitri claimed another amazing goodnight kiss, during which he had to use every ounce of self-control not yield to his bear's demands to carry Damaris off to his house and mate her.
Then he stood on the road outside Elle's house and watched the Subaru's taillights disappear down the road in the direction of the highway.
Ash emerged from his own house and came up to Dimitri. "Hey, Mitya."
"Hey," Dimitri replied.
He'd noticed that his brother-in-law had left right after dessert, when everyone else was headed to the living room to play a charades-style game, but that wasn't unusual. As the owner of a successful company, Ash often had to schedule calls and teleconferences with investors and other important business contacts located in other continents and other time zones.
"So, she's the one, huh?" Ash asked.
Dimitri nods. "Thanks for hiring her. I owe you one."
Ash shook his head. "I think it's probably the other way around. I think she'll do really well with the job. But there is something I wanted to talk to you about…" He let his voice trail off as he stared down the road where a plume of dust lingered in the twilight.
Something in his brother-in-law's voice alerted Dimitri. "What?"
"Damaris mentioned that she couldn't give me any references because her clients were, uh, 'unsavory,’ was the word she used."
Dimitri nodded. "She did tell me that she worked in the adult entertainment industry."
Ash stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and looked uncomfortable.
All around them, the summer night was filled with the sounds of conversation and laughter coming from Elle's house along with the croaking of frogs and insect chirps drifting up from the distant river.
Finally Ash asked, "Did she tell you that her clients were affiliated with the Mob?"
Dimitri shook his head, but the news didn't really come as a surprise. He'd grown up in New York City, and he knew the Mafia had their fingers in a lot of the city's pies. "No wonder she didn't want you contacting them."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "But I thought I should do a little investigation of my own. I didn't think she was lying, exactly, but her answers were a little evasive on a few fronts. So I wanted to see if the clubs she mentioned existed."
"And?" Dimitri asked.
He didn't like where this conversation was going. Shifters could usually tell if someone was lying to them, and he could swear that Damaris had been truthful with him.
"So I just got off the phone with someone I know at the New York State Attorney General's office," Ash said.
A chill of apprehension ran down Dimitri's spine.
"Damaris's clients—George Leonetti and Tony Rizzo in particular—are mobsters," Ash said grimly, "and the AG's Statewide Organized Crime Task Force is working with the FBI to investigate a series of suspicious deaths tied to the clubs that Rizzo owns. Apparently, an informant pointed out just how many of Leonetti's and Rizzo's employees and known associates have had fatal accidents over the past four years."
Not good.
"And you think that Damaris might be on the list for an 'accident' when she tells her clients that she's dropping them in favor of working for you?"
Dimitri's bear roared to life inside him at the thought that their intended mate might be in danger.
Ash gave him a look that let Dimitri know that his eyes had turned shifter gold.
He shrugged. "I think we need to be on the lookout for any shady characters arriving from the East Coast. Remember those guys who came looking for you last year?"
Dimitri did, all too well. Shit.
"Damaris can't go back to New York," he said flatly. "It's too dangerous."
I'll have to convince her to stay here at the ranch. With me.
"What about renting out the extra bedrooms at your place?" Ash asked.
>
Dimitri had rented Ash's home during the years that Ash and Nika had lived in Seattle.
Once Nika had completed her medical residency and the couple returned to Bearpaw Ridge, Elle had invited Dimitri to build a house of his own on the ranch. That was when he’d known that she had been dead-serious about adopting him into the Swanson clan.
He had promptly purchased plans for a comfortable modern ranch house, then hired Tyler to build it for him.
"That sounds like a great idea. I'll talk to her about it," Dimitri said.
Chapter 11 – Too Hot to Handle
Bearpaw Springs National Park
If I was still planning to arrange an accident for Dimitri, this would be the perfect opportunity, Damaris thought as she walked behind Dimitri on a wide, even dirt trail.
That thought was followed by a surge of relief at the realization that she would never, ever have to arrange an "accident" for anyone again.
Thank God that part of my life is over with.
They were a forty-five-minute drive from the ranch, where she had left Sophie happily ensconced with Matt and the other Swanson kids and miles from civilization.
On her left side, a green meadow dotted with yellow, pink, and white wildflowers stretched down to the shores of a pristine lake. Rugged, snow-capped peaks towered behind the far shore like a movie backdrop, too spectacular to be real. Rounded hills covered with grass and sagebrush rose to the right of the trail.
Birdsong and the gentle rush of wind were the only sounds other than the pleasant rumble of Dimitri's voice.
Damaris was glad that she had decided to walk away from her old life, even if she was terrified about the inevitable conversation with Tony. But she could avoid him for another week or two—he was used to the fact that her special assignments took time to set up and execute.
In the meanwhile, she had better things to think about.
Like the fact that the views in this national park were spectacular, especially the ones of Dimitri's fine-looking ass in his snug, comfortably worn jeans. Coming in a close second was the sight of his broad shoulders stretching his dark red T-shirt as he moved ahead of her with a long, confident stride, carrying a large cooler as if it weighed nothing.
Blaze (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 8) Page 10
