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Rafe swooped Louisa up and gently tossed her into the air to make her giggle. Then he settled her against his chest and sat down on the bed, next to Nikki. With all of his girls there, Rafe felt an overwhelming sense of love and protectiveness. It was still strange to think that one spur-of-the-moment kiss had started all of this. And yet, he was glad it had worked out. Because he wouldn't change a thing, not for all the money in the world.
ChapterTwelve
Kaylee MacDonald's stomach roiled, and she did her best to keep her breakfast down. She really shouldn't have come down to Stonefire, given her secret, and yet she hadn't been able to say no to Finn's request to help out. Her clan duties were watching over the children, including the clan leader's triplets, and she had no real reason to refuse.
Well, there was a reason, but one she didn't know what the hell to do about.
As the overpowering vanilla scent she'd applied hit her nose, she hoped it was enough. Because she knew by now that if a woman was pregnant with a dragon-shifter's child, her scent would be intertwined with the guy in question, and she didn't want anyone knowing her secret. Since she didn't know the father's identity, she couldn't even share the news with him.
Why she'd ever thought attending a clandestine, masked dragon-shifter party in the wilds of Scotland had been a good idea, she didn't know. But at the time, Kaylee had been frustrated that no one on Lochguard had taken notice of her—or if they had, they hadn't sparked any attraction for her—and she'd wanted some sort of anonymous, no-strings-attached sex with a hot dragonman.
Yes, he'd worn a condom. However, apparently that hadn't been enough. She really should've listened to her sister's advice about taking dragon-shifter approved birth control before jumping between the sheets with one. Especially since all a man had to do was look at a MacDonald woman and she'd end up pregnant.
She resisted a sigh. Too little, too late to heed Gina's advice now.
Little Annabel MacLeod rushed up to her, covered in mud, and pointed behind her. "Jack's throwing mud at everyone. You need to stop him."
Given what Kaylee knew of the twins, Annabel had probably started it. Still, she took a deep breath to calm her stomach and gestured for the little girl to lead her. "Okay, bring me to where you all were playing and we'll go from there."
Kaylee smiled over at Dawn Whitby-Chadwick, who was also helping to watch the kids, and motioned with her head to say she was checking something out. The other human woman nodded, and Kaylee took Annabel's hand to keep her from running off—it was common knowledge that Annabel MacLeod liked to run off if something interesting caught her eye.
They approached an area where Jack MacLeod, Rhys James, and Murray Moore-Llewellyn were all huddled together and hiding something from everyone. Rhys was the oldest in the group, and he looked up to see Annabel and narrowed his eyes. "You snitched!"
Annabel stood tall. "You're not playing fair."
"Then you shouldn't have thrown the first mud ball."
"I did not."
Murray nodded. "Did too."
Releasing Annabel's hand, Kaylee said, "Since you're all covered in mud, I think the odds were pretty fair, regardless of who started it. But you know what happens now, don't you?"
Jack eyed her with suspicion, looking far too much like his father, Tristan, right then and there. But Kaylee was used to all kinds of intimidating dragon-shifter looks by now and didn't miss a beat. "I'll have to hose you off in someone's backyard until you're clean."
"But it's cold!"
"It might snow!"
"That's mean!"
She shrugged, determined to tease them a little. "If you can stand throwing cold, wet mud, then you should be fine."
Annabel grunted—much like her father in that moment too—and said, "We can take our clothes off and shower inside."
Kaylee tapped her chin, as if thinking about it. "That might work, although it'd be more fun to use the outside hose."
Rhys sighed. "What if I clean up our dirty footprints after the shower? Will that work?"
Kaylee grinned. "That sounds like a plan. Now, let's head to Rhys's house, since it's the closest." Kayla quickly sent a text to Harris Chisholm and Dawn, letting them know she would be gone for a little while. Once she got a confirmation back, she herded the four children toward the house just down the pathway.
It was a sign of how cold and tired they were that the children barely argued on the way—the twins, in particular, always argued.
Soon enough, they all stood just inside the front door. Rhys's mom, Samira, appeared in the doorway and raised her brows. "Do I want to know?"
Kaylee laughed. "They need to wash off, and your place was the closest. Oh, and your son kindly offered to clean up any dirty footprints in the entryway after they're done."
Samira smiled and looked at the group of children. "Well, hurry up, then. I might just have some fresh biscuits for you, if there's time."
