Only to have a woman’s familiar voice stop him cold.

“Gage?”

He stopped. Confounded.

Because there, in his front entryway, stood his smiling mother and expressionless father. A designer suitcase rested between them. A liveried chauffeur wheeled a second piece of matching luggage from the back of a luxury SUV idling quietly in the driveway.

His parents looked older than when he’d seen them last. Not just because they were a little grayer. A network of worry lines crawled across each of their faces. The reality of the changes in them brought home to Gage how many years it had been since he’d seen them in person. Guilt pinched at his chest.

“Mom?” Gage stared at her in shock, wondering what on earth they were doing in the States and on his doorstep, tonight of all nights. “What’s going on?”

“We’re here for the party, Gage,” she announced, her pink traveling suit and lightweight trench coat neatly pressed as if she’d journeyed from across town rather than across the globe. She appeared tentative for a moment, perhaps unsure of her welcome. Then she stepped forward to hold out her arms to him.

Regret burned that he’d made his mother doubt his affection for her. No matter what had transpired between him and his father, he didn’t blame her for it. Gage embraced her, pressing a kiss to her cheek as the scent of lemon verbena drifted from her, punching him in the gut with nostalgia despite his strained relationship with his parents.

“I don’t understand why you’d come all this way to attend tonight’s event.” He addressed his father as he stepped back, knowing his parents’ presence could send Elena running if he didn’t handle the situation carefully. “The event is a publicity function for Mesa Falls Ranch.”

A venture they’d never supported since it involved his friends from school, friends who’d been a source of aggravation for Nigel Striker more than once.

His father inclined his head a fraction. His gray suit lapel was decorated with a pin of the New Zealand flag. “Yes. A publicity function carefully calibrated to suggest a revelation about the ranch’s tie to Alonzo Salazar.” He spoke the name with obvious distaste. “A man I would have hoped you’d have erased all connection to long before now.”

Frustration simmered, and Gage felt the painful tension in his temples. Behind them, his housekeeper was already opening the door to usher in Gage’s mother. The driver brought the bags inside.

Foreboding loomed like a thundercloud, smothering him with the sense of inevitability. Tonight was going to be a disaster if he didn’t get a handle on this unexpected visit fast. The last thing he needed was his father upsetting Elena after how hard Gage had worked this week to make tonight special.