Colters' Lady (Colters' Legacy #2)(15)

As she watched him walk away, it seemed to her that she hadn’t even considered leaving. Not yet. The idea of going back to her world scared her to death. She could stay here. Just for a little while.

Seth glanced over at Lily who had fallen into a fitful sleep. She stirred frequently, a frown marring the delicate lines of her face. Then he looked over at his brother who watched Lily with absolute fascination.

This was crazy. He didn’t even know how to broach the subject. And what would he say anyway? Back the f**k off? She’s mine? Or, how do you feel about sharing?

As if sensing his turmoil, Michael turned and caught Seth’s gaze.

“I think we should bring her home.”

Seth frowned and motioned for Michael to follow him into the kitchen. “Home?” he asked after they were out of earshot. “I live here.”

“It isn’t home,” Michael argued. “We should take her to the mountain. She’s uneasy here, and you’d have to worry at every turn that she was going to take off again. There…there she could rest. Eat good food and have a roof over her head.”

“Are you suggesting we take her to Mom’s?” Seth asked incredulously.

Michael hesitated. “No. My place.”

Seth’s eyes narrowed. “You’re serious about her. You’re not going to let this go.”

“Would you?” Michael asked.

“Hell no.”

“She needs us. She needs a home, a place she feels safe. You’re needed at home, Seth. Callie needs you. Mom and the dads want you there. It just makes sense that we take Lily back to Clyde.”

Seth ran a hand through his hair. He’d forgotten all about Callie. Forgotten everything once Lily had disappeared.

“What are we doing here, Michael? Are we really considering the kind of relationship the dads have with Mom?”

“I don’t see we have a choice,” Michael said quietly.

“Christ. What about Dillon? Are we going to have to go throw Lily in front of him to see if he loses his mind too?”

Michael smiled faintly. “Are you asking me if I think it’s possible he’ll react as we have?”

Seth nodded.

Michael sighed. “Yeah, I’m thinking it’s possible. Am I going to go shove Lily under his nose and say hey do you like her? Uh, no. But you can be damn certain I’m going to be watching to see how he reacts when he meets her.”

“Jesus, this is weird. Beyond weird. I’ve witnessed this sort of thing all my life, but I never thought for a minute that I’d share a woman with my brothers.”

“You aren’t the only one struggling, Seth. This isn’t exactly how I envisioned my life either.”

“Yeah, I get it.” He glanced in the direction of the living room again. “So how are we going to convince her to go home with us?”

“We could always kidnap her,” Michael said with a shrug.

Seth looked at him like he was deranged. Maybe he was.

“I’m a cop, remember?”

“I’m merely suggesting that we bundle her up and go for a ride. A long ride. And if we end up in Clyde, all the better. If she truly freaks out, we can always drive her back, but I don’t believe for a minute that either of us is going to idly stand by and watch her walk back onto those streets.”

“Hell no.”

“So we take her to Clyde—to my house. I don’t want to overwhelm her with Mom and the dads right away or she’ll feel ambushed. I think we should ease her into things there—namely our family.”

“You assume a lot, Michael. What if she doesn’t want anything to do with us? She’s running from something or somebody. She could be in a lot of trouble.”

“To quote one of the dads, when they laid eyes on Mom, her walking away simply wasn’t an option. They were willing to do whatever they had to in order to make her stay. As I recall, there was a lot of cooking, pampering and worshiping.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Depends on who you ask. Of course Mom is going to spout that nonsense.”

Michael shook his head. “No, that came straight from Ryan’s mouth. Hell, Seth, you see the way they still are around her over thirty years later.”

“That’s the way it should be,” Seth murmured.

“But will it be that way for us?”

“I don’t know,” Seth said in frustration. “Do you realize how stupid this conversation is? We can’t make her return our attraction.”

“No, but we can damn sure show her our caring—and eventually our love.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Okay, so we pull off the kidnapping. Christ, I can’t even believe I’m going along with this.”

Michael chuckled. “It’s not like it’s a real kidnapping, and look at it this way. She’ll be the most pampered captive in existence.”

“I need to pack a bag. We should probably head out before it gets dark. Weather’s already nasty.”

“Go then. I’ll watch over Lily while you get your stuff together.”

Chapter Seven

Lily awoke to light stroking on the curve of her cheek. She opened her eyes to see Seth kneeling in front of the couch, his face close to hers. She tried to sit up, but he gently pushed her back down.