Page 15 of Lachlan

Lachlan grimaced. “Well remembered.” His dragon preened at his mate’s attentiveness to his words.

“None of you are married?” she prompted curiously.

“No,” he grated as, out of deference to Belle’s human emotions, he continued to hold backhisneed to state his claim onherright now.

She smiled at him. “As I intend getting on the first train back to London, I doubt I’ll be around long enough to be bothered by your brothers’ differing levels of brooding.”

Mine.

Take.

Now.

After hearing Belle state she was leaving, it was difficult for Lachlan to control the roar of his dragon, but hopefully, none of that inner struggle showed on his face.

“Are you okay?” Belle eyed him curiously, letting him know that he hadn’t completely succeeded in hiding his inner turmoil at the thought of her leaving him.

“Fine,” he bit out from between clenched teeth. “But, as I said earlier, I doubt the trains are running after the blizzard we’ve had for the past twenty-four hours.”

Belle had no idea if there was a hotel or somewhere else nearby where she could stay until the weather improved and the trains were running again. She certainly wasn’t going back to the McGregors’ house. Or anywhere near Ben.

Not only had he tried to get into bed with her, but apart from that cursory search this morning with his father, he hadn’t even bothered to look for her after realizing she was missing.

Maybe he really had thought she’d gotten on a train and gone back to London without so much as a thank-you or a goodbye?

As Lachlan had just pointed out, the trains wouldn’t be running today, and considering the weather, Belle doubted they would have been running yesterday either.

Which meant Ben really hadn’t cared whether she lived or died.

Belle would seriously have to think about moving into other student accommodation before Ben came back from Scotland. There was no way she could live in the same house with him now.

“You can stay here with us until the weather improves,” Lachlan announced as he opened the door for her at the end of the sheer rock passageway.

Belle momentarily forgot her denial as to the suitability of accepting his hospitality or questioning how he had even known that was what she was thinking. Instead, she groaned her pleasure as the opening of that door meant she was immediately assailed by a blast of heat and the delicious smell of food, luring her to step into the warmth of the huge kitchen beyond.

She came to an abrupt halt, her fingers tightening about Lachlan’s, when she stepped into the room and saw two men sitting at the scarred table placed squarely in the middle of the room.

She didn’t need to be told they were Lachlan’s two brothers. Not that they looked like him, or alike, for that matter, because they didn’t. But as Ranulf and Hunter rose to their feet, she could see all the brothers were the same six and a half feet in height, with wide and muscular shoulders and chests, narrow waists, and long, long legs.

One of the brothers had his short dark hair styled shaved on the sides and back and longer on top. His eyes were so dark, they almost appeared black.

The other brother also had dark hair, but it was long to his jaw, a darker beard covering his chin and top lip. His eyes were a piercing green.

Belle wasn’t sure if, genetically, it was possible for brothers to individually have gray, dark brown, and piercing green eyes.

Whether it was possible or not, that was what the Drake brothers had.

The two men in the kitchen were also both staring at her with the same intensity Lachlan had when he’d first entered the cave where she’d taken shelter.

She could also see Lachlan more clearly in the overhead light of the kitchen.

If anything, he was even more startlingly attractive now she could fully take in those piercing gray eyes and slicked-back silver hair.

“This is Belle Brown,” Lachlan introduced as he released her hand to stand behind her and help her remove the thick coat. He then placed it and her hat and gloves on one of the hooks beside the door. Belle continued to hold on to her backpack.

Piercing green eyes blinked at her. “My God, is she…?”

“Yes,” Lachlan bit out tersely as he moved to stand beside her, his arm almost touching hers.

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