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but he’s a good guy.” Matthew cocked his head and looked at Leith consideringly. “Okay, he’s a good guy if he’s on your side. If you get on his bad side, watch out.”
    Sighing, Sunny flopped back into her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. She was well aware she was pouting, but she figured she deserved it after the day she’d had. “I guess I got on his bad side when I wouldn’t let him into my motel room.”
    Matthew grinned and shook his head. “No. He likes you, I can tell. He actually talks to you. Do you know how long I had to work with him to get even a few words out of him at a time? Besides, he probably would have called you an idiot if you’d opened the door to two complete strangers.”
    “Put away that lower lip, little girl,” Leith said without even turning around.
    Little girl? “Hey. I know I haven’t exactly had the most mature attitude since you’ve come around, but give me a little credit. I’m twenty-five, not three.”
    The big man turned around and pinned her with a stare so intense, she squirmed in her seat. Wanting to make sure he knew she wasn’t about to be pushed around, she stuck her chin out and met his gaze steadily. His eyes softened and he strode over to her, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “You remind me so much of my Elizabeth. You’re going to be the death of me.”
    Stunned, Sunny simply sat there. What was with the sudden tenderness?
    Before she could say anything, Leith walked away again and pulled the plane’s phone off the wall. He waited a few moments until someone obviously picked up the other end. “Raven? Matthew and I are on our way back with the new fire handler. Have Anna and Sloan ready to train her right away. Her magic is too strong for either you or me to train her for very long.”
    He listened for a few minutes before hanging up the phone. He didn’t turn around when he spoke again. “I’m going to the back office to get some work done. Try not to set the plane on fire, lass. Matthew, if you need anything, just shout.”
    He didn’t wait for a reply, nor did he actually face them. He simply rushed to the back of the plane and shut himself away.
    Wow. Weird. Sunny turned to Matthew, only to find the man staring at the closed door of the office with a sad look on his face. “What?” she asked. “Who’s Elizabeth?”
    Matthew cleared his throat a couple of times before looking at her. She could have sworn she saw the shimmer of tears filming over his blue eyes. “His daughter,” he said huskily.
    She had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn’t be meeting this Elizabeth any time soon. “He doesn’t look old enough to have a child,” she said instead.
    Matthew’s mouth twisted in a wry smile. “He’s the oldest witch in our clan. He once told me he was born in the same year Columbus set sail for the new world.”
    Sunny could only blink. “That would make him more than five hundred years old.”
    Nodding, Matthew cleared his throat again. “Yeah. Witches live for a really long time. We age slowly after our twenty-fifth birthday. Most of us live well past our nine hundredth birthday before we start to age again. Then, the process is relatively quick from there.”
    Sunny chewed on the information for a few minutes, until the engines on the plane started. Buckling her seatbelt, she turned again to Matthew. “What happened to his daughter?”
    “Ah, picked up on that, did you? I don’t really know what happened, but Leith’s entire family was slaughtered three hundred years ago. He’s never told anyone more than that. I suspect our clan leader, Raven, knows but I don’t think anyone else does.”
    Sunny suddenly felt like crying over people she hadn’t even met. At least she had no memories of her parents. Some would say not having those memories was horrible, but she felt like knowing them would have made the pain of their loss even more acute. What must Leith be going through right now, having experienced love and then