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I sighed, and my breath fogged the door.

The constant pampering had another downside. Namely, our sex life was beyond non-existent. No matter how much I insisted I was ready to resume our nocturnal activities, they insisted the opposite.

“We’ve plenty of time for that, lassie,” Alec had said.

“Your health is more important,” Lachlan had agreed.

Except I was fine. I didn’t need another bowl of soup or back rub. I needed two strapping, horny Highlanders to make my toes curl. Problem was, if I waited for the Highlanders in question to make the first move, I could be waiting a very long time.

Verra. God, I needed to hear that sexy accent growling at me in bed. Or on the sofa. Or the table. I didn’t care where.

I gave my reflection a firm nod, then turned and strode through the living room, the tartan flaring behind me like a cape. The bedrooms were on the other side of the penthouse, with a view of Hyde Park. Although the guys hung out with me in the master suite during the day, they’d slept in a separate room at night, saying they “didnae want tae disturb” me.

Well, no more.

Determination pumping in my veins, I headed for their room. As I neared the door, Alec’s voice drifted into the hall. “So it’s not a problem, her being human?”

I stopped, my scalp prickling.

Lachlan’s heavy sigh came a second later. “It’s never going to be ideal. But it doesn’t matter.”

“Right. We know she’s fertile.”

Oh my God. I pressed a hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t make a sound. My heart pounded so hard I felt lightheaded.

Lachlan murmured something I didn’t catch. Then Alec said, “We need to claim her. That will help.”

Another sigh, and Lachlan said, “It’s going to be a while before I can bring myself to touch her.”

The hall went blurry as tears flooded my eyes. How could I have been so stupid? All my initial instincts had been right. They weren’t into me. They only wanted each other. But their species was in danger of dying out.

My throat burned. They didn’t want a mate. They wanted a surrogate.

And if I refused, they had the power to override my wishes. They could lock me in their castle tower and throw away the key.

I backed away from the door…and then I was moving fast, my bare feet soundless on the marble floors. I ran to the kitchen, where my phone was plugged into a charger. My heart thudded like a drum as I shoved the phone in my back pocket and rushed to the front door. I pulled on my boots with shaking hands, and then looked over my shoulder fully expecting to see a wall of smoke barreling toward me.

But there was nothing, so I slipped out the door and ran for my life.

Chapter Seventeen

CHLOE

I was both the luckiest and unluckiest woman in the world.

On the one hand, I’d managed to flag down a taxi seconds after fleeing the penthouse. The driver had taken me straight to Heathrow, where a flight to New York was leaving in less than an hour.

On the other hand, I had no passport. I’d been so intent on escaping Alec and Lachlan, I’d forgotten all about it.

Now I was sitting in a deserted waiting area across from the ticket counter while a bleary-eyed agent tried to get the U.S. embassy to answer its phone in the middle of the night. Judging from her expression, she wasn’t having much luck.

Anxiety gnawed at me as I swept my gaze around the terminal, my eyes peeled for a pair of six-foot-four Scotsmen. Why, oh why, hadn’t I remembered my stupid passport? I kept my license and credit card tucked inside my phone case, so at least I had money and some form of identification. It drove my mother crazy, and she was forever predicting the habit would lead to disaster. “What if you get mugged? Now you’ve lost your phone and your money.”

Well, that hadn’t happened. Instead, I’d lost my dignity and maybe my freedom.

No big deal.

Two police officers—one man and one woman—rounded a corner and made a beeline toward me.