Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(121)
Author: Kristen Ashley

Likely because of all that was happening, and the entirety of it being beyond mad, Belle had not come to understand the fullness of the situation.

Until then.

And Jack knew she did when she whispered, “Oh my God, it was Miles who pushed me.”

Jack curled her close, moving his other arm so he could hold her in both even as Angus said gently, “No, lass, no’ Miles. Caldwell.”

“I don’t believe this.” Belle continued whispering and Jack lifted a fist to below her chin to tip her face to his.

“If this is true, my love, it’s as Angus says. It wasn’t Miles. It was Caldwell.”

And he said that because he had to believe it. If he didn’t, he, too, would go mad but it would be a far different madness than the benign lunacy sharing that room with him and Belle.

She pressed into him, sliding her arms around him. “We have to get him to take that potion, Jack.”

“We do,” he agreed though how they would manage that he had no f**king clue.

“Joy is going to need to talk to him, Jack,” Cassandra stated quietly and Jack’s mouth got tight before his gaze moved to her.

“I don’t want my mother involved in this,” Jack returned. “Hell, I don’t even want her knowing this.”

“You’re no’ going to convince your brother to talk with us, lad,” Angus replied cautiously. “And from what we know of the situation, Belle and Yasmin will have no better luck.”

“It has to be Joy,” Cassandra reiterated. “But I’ll go with her. There’s a few tricks I have up my sleeve.”

“Lachlan has a way about him,” Lorna put in, “and I’ve got a way about me.” She grinned cheekily. “I’ve been known to be good at slipping in a potion here and there without detection. We make him docile, he’ll be easier to talk to. We give him a talking potion, it’ll all come out.”

“See, laddie, we’ve got it covered,” Angus announced, throwing his arms out and grinning his demented grin.

Jack wasn’t certain he agreed.

However, he was certain he had no choice.

And he bloody detested it.

“Right,” he said. “We’ll talk to Mum. We’ll call to Myrtle and Lewis and then we’ll reconvene to decide what’s next once we speak to the children.”

“Uh… Jack, that we would be Lorna, Uncle Angus, Cassandra, Belle and me talking to the wee ones,” Lachlan told him. “You can’t be there.”

“Pardon?” Jack asked low, his eyes narrowed on the younger Scot.

“As you know, we’ve been asking around, gathering intel,” Angus cut in. “No master of this house has ever seen the children. They appear freely in front of others, members of the family, servants, guests. But no master. Not only no current master but also none of the sons. We think there’s a reason for this. Though we canno’ say for certain why, whether it’s their wish or if seeing a master puts them in some danger. What we can say is that we need to abide by it if it’s their wish or, if it’s the other way around, no’ forcing their appearance in front of a being that might place them in danger.”

“Okay, I’ll be there and I’ll tell Jack all about it,” Belle offered quickly.

“Aye, lassie,” Angus grinned at her.

“No,” Jack stated flatly and felt Belle’s eyes move to him so he looked down at her.

“What?” she asked.

“No. You will absolutely not be in on this without me with you.”

“But, they’re children and they’ve never harmed anyone,” she reminded him.

“This is true,” he agreed. “But what they could say might be distressing and I’ll not have that either. Let Cassandra and the McPhersons deal with this. They can brief us later.”

“I want to be there,” she pushed.

“And I’ll not allow it,” he returned and her brows drew together.

Then she whispered, “Allow?”

“Belle –”

She took a step back, out of his arms but she didn’t go far and immediately dug in for a fight. He knew this when she planted her hands on her hips.

“Inside me is their mother,” she announced.

“Belle –”

“And I’m here to release them,” she went on.

“You’re here because we’re in love with each other and intend to spend the rest of our lives together,” Jack reminded her.

“Well, that too,” she muttered.

Jack pulled in a calming breath then repeated, “Belle –”

“I’m going to help those children, Jack. I’m going to be there when the McPhersons and Cassandra talk to them. I’m going to assure them we’re going to do everything we can to get them where they need to go. And then I’m going to do everything I can in order to get them where they need to go!”

“Perhaps, poppet, we can talk about this without an audience,” Jack suggested with strained patience.

“We could, I’m sure. Though it would be a waste of time because the result will be the same. I’m going to be there when they talk to the children. And there’s a lot to do so we shouldn’t dillydally,” she declared.

She was lucky she used the word “dillydally” because Jack thought it was cute. If she hadn’t, he’d have lost control of the shreds of patience he was clinging to.

Unfortunately, she used the word “dillydally” therefore Jack found himself biting off the word, “Fine.”

“Fine,” Belle replied, grinning at him, openly pleased she got her way.

“My love,” Jack started to warn, “if you end up with nightmares or sitting in the window of our room attempting your non-thinking in order to get over unpleasant thoughts, don’t come to me. I’ll only tell you I told you so.”

She moved into him, pressing her softness to his frame as she wound her arms around him, tipped her head back, kept grinning at him and whispered, “Balderdash.”

It was. It was complete balderdash.

And he thought that word was cute too.

“Jesus,” he muttered, winding his arms around her as well.

“Can we get to work or are you two going to continue your domestic through cuddling?” Lachlan asked and Jack looked over Belle’s head to pierce him with a scowl.

“Getting to work would be good,” Jack told him.

“Excellent,” he murmured, grinned at the floor and left the room.