“Oh, I don’t think—”
“Perfect,” Elia declared with a friendly smile. “This engagement is all so sudden it’s taken my breath away.”
“That makes two of us,” Larkin answered with utter sincerity.
Elia’s smile wavered. “Then this should give us time to catch our breath, yes?”
Larkin’s gaze swiveled in Rafe’s direction where he stood at the counter slicing up the raw meat. “Not unless Mr. Organize and Conquer plans on changing his personality by the time we get back.”
The two Dante women glanced at each other and then at Larkin before breaking into huge grins of amusement. “It would seem you know my Rafaelo surprisingly well, given the short amount of time you have known him,” Nonna commented.
“Perhaps that’s because he doesn’t bother to hide that aspect of his personality,” Larkin replied.
“In case you three haven’t noticed, I’m standing right here,” Rafe said.
He combined Kiko’s kibble with the slices of meat. The dog sat at attention, watching his every move. When he placed the food on the floor, she approached it cautiously, sniffing at the floor and around the bowl before attacking the contents.
“That’s a most unusual dog you have,” Elia said with a slight frown. “If I didn’t know better I’d swear she was part—”
“Definitely not,” Larkin hastened to say. “She belonged to my grandmother, who raised her from the time she was a youngster.”
Rafe broke in, rescuing her from any further questions. “I gather I’m Kiko’s designated sitter?”
Larkin turned to him in relief. There were times his take-charge personality came in handy. This was one of them. “Do you mind?”
“Will she eat me?”
“I don’t think so.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Color me reassured.”
His dry tone brought a flush to her cheeks. “She’s very sweet natured. Very beta.”
“Well, if that’s settled?” Elia asked.
Not giving Larkin a chance to come up with a reasonable excuse for avoiding their girl-bonding session, Elia urged Nonna to her feet and swept everyone toward the front door. Once there, she gave her son an affectionate kiss, one Larkin noted he returned with equal affection. Then they were out the door and tucked into Elia’s car. The next instant they pulled out of Rafe’s drive and headed toward the city. Larkin couldn’t help tossing a swift glance over her shoulder.
Elia must have caught the look, because she chuckled. “Don’t worry, Larkin. We’ll return you safe and sound before you know it.”
Right. It was that nerve-racking time between now and then that worried her. How in the world had she gotten herself into this mess? Yesterday she’d been free as the proverbial bird. No entanglements. No men. Just one simple goal. Find her father.
And now… Larkin shot one final desperate look over her shoulder before settling in her seat. Now she had a fiancé to deal with, his family, no job and was expected to spend the day bonding. Bonding! With Leigh’s former mother-in-law, of all people. Not to mention this bizarre ache centered in her palm. She rubbed at it, which for some strange reason caused Nonna and Elia to exchange broad smiles.
Larkin sighed. What an odd family. Almost as odd as her own.
Rafe stared, thunderstruck. “What the hell have you done to my fiancée?”
“We’ve been doing what women have done for centuries in order to bond,” Elia said. “Shopping.”
“Makeover.” Nonna enunciated the word carefully, then smiled broadly, though Rafe couldn’t tell if it was due to the word—one he’d never heard his grandmother utter before—or the results of said makeover. “This is something girls do together,” she added with an airy gesture. “You are a man. You would not understand.”
Larkin’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you like it?” she asked in a neutral voice. “Your mother and grandmother went to a lot of time and expense on my behalf.”
He hesitated. Damn. Okay, this was familiar territory. Dangerous, familiar territory. The sort of territory men discovered during their first romantic relationship. Most poor saps of his gender stumbled in unaware of the traps awaiting them until they’d fallen into the first one, impaling themselves on their own foolhardiness. Having several serious relationships plus one disastrous marriage beneath his belt, Rafe had figured he’d safely skirted or uncovered all the traps out there.