“I’m afraid that with the amount of snow that’s been falling all day and this evening, the roads into the village are currently impassable,” Hunter excused.
Again, Sephie noticed that he hadn’t actually confirmed or denied that the police had been informed of the situation, only explained that the snow-covered roads would make it impossible for them to drive here even if they had been told.
She turned to find Ranulf watching her with those enigmatic green eyes.There were no flames dancing in their depths at the moment, silver or gold, but the intensity of his complete focus on her was almost enough to setSephieon fire.
There was no denying her attraction to this man—kissing him earlier had easily confirmed that.She had never felt as aroused as she had for those few minutes when Ranulf’s lips claimed hers and he had lifted her and held her so easily in his arms, her legs wrapped about his waist revealing his arousal to her.
But, apart from knowing she enjoyed his kisses, Ranulf was still mostly an enigma to her.
An enigma she was falling more and more in love with by the second!
His brothers were included in that enigma.
But she did know that the three of them lived in a castle, no matter what other people might perceive it as being.Including her parents.
Which was slightly weird, but did absolutely nothing to negate or lessen her complete trust in Ranulf.
Wallis, the man they now all considered to be insane, had also told Ranulf he was only interested in taking “as much treasure as I can load aboard a helicopter.”
Sephie couldn’t stop thinking about this so-called treasure and its connection to dragons.A creature that most people in the twenty-first century accepted as being mythical.
Which, if Sephie really was starting to question whether they might have once existed, and if their treasure was stored nearby, was more than a little worrying.Admittedly, her parents had brought her up to be open-minded about such things, but having a receptive mind and accepting that dragonsmightonce have existed was something else entirely.
“I’ll try to explain everything once you’re happy your parents are settled into their room.”
Sephie looked up.Without her realizing it, Ranulf had crossed the kitchen and was now standing beside her.He had spoken to her softly enough that no one else in the kitchen would be able to hear him.
Except…Lachlan, Hunter, Belle, and Zoeyallseemed to be staring at them as if they knew exactly what Ranulf had just said to her.
She gave a shake of her head.“Believe me, you aren’t going to justtryto explain everything.You’re going to succeed,” she informed him firmly.
* * *
“I am so pleased for you!”Zoey threw her arms around Ranulf and hugged him tightly the moment Sephie and her parents had left the room.Bella had offered to accompany the Malcolms and show the couple their bedroom.“Sephie is perfect for you,” Zoey added once she had released him.
Yes.Yes, she was, Ranulf acknowledged proudly.Sephie was strong, resilient, everything a dragon’s mate should be.She would make a fearless dragon in her own right.An even fiercer and protective mother to their offspring.
Ranulf had never dared to hope that he would ever become a father.Oh, he’d thought about it, but only in the past and always in the abstract, never as something that might ever become a reality.Now he couldn’t stop thinking about it, imagining the joy he and Sephie would share in their children.Not immediately, of course, because Sephie was still very young, but the possibility of them having children together was more than Ranulf had ever dared hope for before.
If, that was, Sephie agreed to become his mate once Ranulf had explained the situation to her.
That really was a big if.
He had seen the disbelief, then curiosity, in her eyes as she listened to Wallis’s ravings about dragons and treasure.Just as the man had said, the Drake name was connected to dragons and, by associated, their vast hoard of treasure.
It would be easy enough for Ranulf to show Sephie his dragon and the treasure.It was her reaction to those revelations that would be the defining moment as to whether Sephie could accept him and his dragon.Because they were one and the same.Indivisible.
Ranulf would be lying if he denied being extremely nervous about doing that.Because once he’d explained the situation to Sephie, he would have no choice but to accept her decision if she refused him.
Lachlan gave him a slap on the back.“Sheisperfect for you, brother,” he approved before frowning.“The situation is a little more complicated in that she has parents who will grow old and die while their daughter remains looking exactly the same.But Sephie is an intelligent young woman, and she obviously already likes you a great deal.Once you’re mated?—”
“Ifwe’re mated,” Ranulf cautioned.
“You know what will ultimately happen if she refuses you,” Hunter warned.
They all knew that he would go mad and eventually die without the emotional and physical connection to the woman who was his fated mate.
Even so, Ranulf refused to pressure Sephie in any way.She needed to know the truth, all of it, before she would be able to make a learned decision on things that were going to seem totally unreal to her.
