Page 66 of Savage Knight
Cross raised an eyebrow.“You’re married?”
“Yes, Aera,” Evren replied.“You’d have known that if you ever bothered to call.”
“We met at my engagement party to another man,” she said.“He rescued me.”
“Yeah, that sounds like something Evren would do.”
At that moment, a young woman walked into the dining room, looking a little skittish as she glanced at each person.Cross rose to greet her and cupped her face as he kissed her forehead.Then took her hand and led to the chair next to his, where he grabbed a plate and filled it with some fruit and a croissant.Lowen noticed both Evren and Jeremiah watched with their mouths hanging open as Cross filled a glass with orange juice and placed it in front of the woman.
“Hi.I’m Lowen Grenier.This is my husband, Evren.”
The woman smiled and waved at her.
“And that’s our oldest brother, Jeremiah,” Evren said.
“Do we have to use the word ‘oldest’?”Jeremiah asked grumpily.
Lowen grinned.“Would you like us to use the word ‘elder’?”
“You used to be my favorite sister-in-law.”He turned his attention to Aera’s woman.“And who might you be?”
“This is Lorelei,” Cross introduced.“She doesn’t—”
He stopped talking when loud, off-key singing filtered from the hallway.
“Great,” Cross muttered, shooting his stepbrothers a glower.“Did you tell him to come by?”
“Sax comes and goes as he pleases,” Jeremiah replied, waving his fork around like it was no big deal.“You know none of us can make that man do anything he doesn’t want to do.”
Saxon stepped into the dining room and threw his arms wide as he belted out a note.He liked singing, and she wondered if it was to irritate the other men.Lowen always thought he looked like a fallen angel.He certainly had the blonde hair and blue eyes one associated with the heavenly beings, but she knew just how sadistic he could be.He protected his family fiercely, and he wasn’t shy on how he tortured people who messed with them.
“Aera!”he cried.“Big bro has come home!”
“I’m not staying, Saxon.”
Saxon pouted.“You’re the only one not living in Vegas.”
“That’s what I said,” Jeremiah muttered
Cross rolled his eyes.
“And who is this lovely lady?”Saxon asked, making a beeline for Lorelei.He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles.“Tell me your name, so I might dream of you tonight.”
“Knock it off, Sax,” Cross warned.
Saxon jabbed a thumb toward him.“Overbearing, isn’t he?Does he speak for you, Miss...?”
“She can’t talk,” Cross said quietly.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t.She’s mute.”
Sorrow filled Lowen as she studied the younger woman.No wonder Cross was so attentive.She’d seen how fiercely protective the stepbrothers were of people they cared about, so she wasn’t surprised to see the same trait in this new brother.
“Were you born mute?”Saxon asked.
Lorelei shook her head.
