Page 94 of Her Defiant Warrior

Why am I not surprised this conversation went way off course?

“I need to talk to you two about something else before I can talk to your mom about a dog. I need your agreement before she and I can make any decisions about dogs.”

Lachlan and Amber both turned to look at one another.

“Like what decisions?” Amber asked Jase carefully.

He slid down off the coffee table and got on his knees in front of the kids. He pulled the black jeweler’s box out of his pocket and opened it up.

“Is it for mom?” Lachlan asked. “How much did it cost?”

Amber punched her brother in the shoulder. “Of course it’s for mom.” Her tiny finger reached out and touched the marquis sapphire. “It looks like Mama’s eyes,” she breathed out. “What’s it called?”

“It’s a sapphire,” Jase told her.

“Oh.” She pulled her hand away and sat back up on the couch, her bottom lip trembling. “Oh,” she said again. Jase watched in horror as Amber’s eyes filled with tears.

“Baby. What’s wrong?” Jase dropped the box on the floor and reached for the little girl who owned such a big piece of his heart. “Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.”

“It’s not a diamond,” she said. Now she was crying. She started to scramble off the sofa, and it wasn’t towards him, it was away from him.

That was a no go.

“There are diamonds on the ring.” He sounded desperate.

“But not the big one,” she sobbed. “I thought you wanted to marry Mom.”

“I do baby girl. I want to marry her more than almost anything in the world.” He finally had her trembling body in his arms.

“Then why didn’t you buy her a diamond ring?”

“I wanted to buy her a ring that would fill her with joy each and every day when she saw it. That’s why I got this sapphire. It’s the color of your and Lachlan’s eyes. It is an engagement ring, I promise. I do want to ask your mama to marry me.”

“You do?” Lachlan said as he pushed in to wipe at Amber’s tears.

“I want to marry all of you. I want all of you for my family.”

Amber sucked in a deep breath and then held it for so long that Jase was afraid she’d pass out. Lachlan just stared at him. Then he poked his sister in her stomach. “Breathe Amber.”

A swoosh of air left Amber’s mouth. “I want all of us to be married too,” she said shyly. “I want us to be a family.”

Lachlan looked up at Jase. His eyes were solemn, his arms were crossed over his chest. “I’ve seen some dads I don’t like. They’re not like Mr. Drakos.”

Jase frowned.

“I mean the other Mr. Drakos. Your brother. I like him. He always makes Mrs. Drakos laugh. He hugs her and smiles at her. He even does it when he doesn’t think anyone can see him. Kenny’s dad is a jerk to his mom. Nobody can be a jerk to my mom.”

Lachlan’s eyes glittered blue fire at him.

Holy hell, I didn’t see this coming.

“You do know that Malik and I were both raised by Grandpa Christos, right?”

Lachlan jerked his chin up in acknowledgement.

“Grandpa Christos is like Malik. He loves Grandma Sharon with his whole heart and every day he hugs her and makes her smile. He raised all of his sons, not just Malik, but me, Renzo, Gustavo, Kato, Amadi, Bruno, Ronnie, Daw and Narong all to treat the women in their lives the same way. If we didn’t, he would be very disappointed in us.”

“My mom is special,” Lachlan told him something that he already knew.