Page 45 of The Troublemaker

Brody suddenly looked serious, which Lachlan didn’t like at all. “None of us set out to get married. We fell in love.”

“I mean, maybe you’re all in love now, but you can’t tell me that was how it started. Angus.” He turned his focus to his oldest brother.

He had asked Alaina to marry him after she had found out that she was pregnant by a man who had abandoned her. Lachlan admired his older brother’s protectiveness. But that was where it had come from. Alaina was the youngest of the Sullivan sisters, while Gus was the oldest of the McClouds. They cared for each other a great deal now; that much was obvious. But as far as love went...

“Nope,” Gus said. “I’ve been in love with her for years.”

“That’s not true,” Lachlan said. “We would’ve known that.”

“No, you wouldn’t have. Not even I knew it. How would you know if I didn’t?”

“Seems fake. If you didn’t know it how can you be sure you’re not just rewriting things for yourself? Doesn’t sound super legitimate to me,” Lachlan said.

“All I wanted with Elizabeth was to have fun,” Brody said. “But I also knew that I was going to be getting into a complicated situation, given that she had a kid. I still couldn’t stay away from her. That’s not just attraction. That’s something bigger. Maybe it isn’t love, not at that stage, but it’s the seed of it. That’s the thing. When there’s a woman you want, and you can’t deny it, you can’t keep away from her no matter how much you should...”

Tag and Hunter raised their hands. Yeah. He knew that was true about them. Given that Hunter had gotten together with his best friend’s much younger sister, and Tag had ended up with a very sweet town librarian. That was definitely undeniable and not something planned.

But still, he didn’t see why he couldn’t manufacture a little bit of that domestic bliss the way that he was planning. They were overcomplicating it. And it was because they had this...singular experience. But he didn’t think that it took that singular experience to make it. That was what he wondered. That his parents thought that they were in love? That was the thing that got him. He didn’t ever want to take that chance. Going into something led by emotion.

He wanted to go about this, but in a more rational way.

“So you’re considering marrying my sister-in-law,” Gus said. “I don’t see how that could go wrong. Definitely not going to make my life a living hell.”

“You chose to marry Alaina. Whether or not your life is a living hell is on you, bro,” Lachlan said.

“Watch it,” Gus said, eyes narrowed. “I saved your life. I can go ahead and rescind that if you want. It’s not murder, then. It’s just balancing the scales.”

They eyed each other for a moment. “I’m teasing you. But anyway. I like Fia. She’s a nice woman, and she cares about the ranch. She’s also pretty.” Gus shrugged. “I don’t see how it could go wrong.”

“Why do you have to say things like that?” Hunter said. “That’s like daring the universe to drop a bomb on you. You know that, right?”

“It’s just a date,” Lachlan said. “And given my vow of celibacy and my vow of no alcohol—” He raised his beer bottle when he said that, then quickly lowered it.

“Good job on the no alcohol, chief,” Hunter said.

“It doesn’t count. Because Fia isn’t here to see it, and neither is Charity.”

“What does Charity have to do with this?”

“I told you. I went to her and asked what exactly I needed to do to become... I don’t know. Reformed. Ready for marriage. And she gave me a list of things.”

Every single one of his brothers laughed. Even Gus, who notoriously didn’t laugh much.

“That’s rich. She going to turn you into a choir boy?” Gus asked.

“No. She’s just helping me out with the whole thing. Anyway. Be at my house for the poker game if you can be, and bring some food.”

“I can’t miss this,” Tag said. “Nelly and I will be there.”

“Count me and Elsie in,” said Hunter.

“I would, but we’re taking Benny to his dad’s tomorrow, and we decided to stay over in Portland for a couple of days rather than drive back,” Brody said. “Going to spend a little quality time with my wife in the big city.”

“Wow. Sounds fun,” Lachlan said.

“It will be. Because we’ll be in the hotel the whole time.”

Lachlan grimaced. “All right. I’ll see some of you tomorrow. And you’ll see. It’ll all be just fine.”

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