Khan (Bowen Boys, #2)(3)

It was a medallion. He held it up to the light and saw the cat etched on it. He could see the dark colors and knew it was a panther. Corrine had one as well. Hers was on a chain to wear around her neck, and his was attached to a beautiful pocket watch. George kissed her on the cheek as he put it in his pocket.

He watched her move around the room. Her belly was just beginning to poof out. He hadn’t said anything about it because she seemed a bit touchy about everything. When he’d told her that he’d missed her, for instance, she’d cried. And when Corrine had handed her a fruit salad instead of leaf lettuce like they had, she’d cried again. Walker told them she was all right, just hormonal. He hoped that was all it was.

Walker was watching her too. He looked so happy that it was all George could do not to stand up and do a jig. And the fact that they’d brought Khan over with them had him as happy as a lark. He looked over at Corrine when she tugged on his arm.

“You old fool, you should listen to them. I don’t know what has gotten into them.” She nodded toward Reed and Marc. “They fight much more and I’m going to send them to the shed.”

The boys had been arguing about one thing or another for the better part of a week. He hadn’t been able to get either one of them to tell him what it was about, but he’d had enough. They were upsetting their mother. Before he could stand and take charge, Caitlynne did.

She knocked the chair legs out from under Marc and then stepped on his head. Before Reed could get out of her reach, she had him down as well. He knew that neither of them would hurt her, but he was just standing up to tell her to let him take care of it when Khan simply stood up.

“I’ve only been here for a little over two hours and you have been biting at each other ever since. What the f*ck is going on?” She pulled a gun out and pointed it at Reed when he started to stand up. “I’m not in the mood to f*ck with you, young man. Either you two tell me or I’ll start shooting manly parts. I don’t believe those heal all that well from what I’ve heard.”

“He said that you’re going to keep me from working with the CIA and that you had no intentions of letting me before you left here.” Reed sounded more hurt than mad, and she apparently knew it too.

“So instead of coming to me and asking, you let him bait you into being pissy at our homecoming? You’re an idiot.” She lifted her foot off of Marc’s face long enough to look at him then put it back. “And you. What the f*ck? You have nothing better to do than f*ck with him? You want me to find you something to do?”

“No. But…” Marc looked at his brother then up at her, and George had an idea what was going to spill from his son’s mouth. “Why does he get a job like that when I don’t?”

She lifted her foot off him and put her gun away. When she told them both to stand up, she stepped back from them and crossed her arms over her chest. She was tapping her foot hard, and he knew she was pissed.

“You want a job. Well, good for you. I thought you had one. Or is that little investigative thing you got going on not a job? You sit around your office all day and eat bon-bons?” He shook his head and glared at her. “Again, why didn’t you come to me and ask?”

“You’ve been away.” Marc looked up at his brother and then back at the floor. “I’m sorry, but I don’t really have anything to do. My business pretty much runs itself now, and with the money you put into my account, I don’t have to stress about every little thing. I’m bored.”

He had to hand it to her, she was good. When she started pacing the room, George noticed that his other sons, Dylan and Sebastian, both sat near Marc and Reed. It seemed that each of them wanted a job.

“And what the hell am I supposed to do with four little boys?” Each of them looked ready to protest, but she stopped them with a raised hand. “You’re boys. Only a boy would sit around and whine about how he’s got nothing to do. Only little kids would pick at each other until they got their asses kicked only to start all over pissing another kid off. You want a job? Then f*cking earn it. You think I got mine handed to me? No, I did not. I had to go to college and work my ass off. You think it was easy for a woman to get to where I am right now? No, it f*cking wasn’t.”

Each of them dropped their heads and wouldn’t look at her. George glanced over at his other two sons and was happy to see them laughing. Quietly, but they were laughing. His mate touched his shoulder.

“She’ll make a great mother. She might want to clean up her language a bit, but she’ll love them.”

George nodded at Corrine’s observation.

“I can’t wait to hold him.”

George didn’t want to say anything, but he wanted a granddaughter. He had enough boys. He loved them, but wanted a little granddaughter to spoil and have hang out with him. He looked over at Corrine and started to tell her his dreams when Caitlynne spoke again.

“Starting tomorrow morning, each of you will report to the construction crew on Walker’s land. And if I hear of one tiny little argument, I will make your lives a living hell for a month.” Marc started to protest, but stopped. George couldn’t see Caitlynne’s face, but he was sure she was giving him that brow thing.

He’d seen her do it to Walker. She would simply raise her pretty eyebrow at him and he’d be bending over backwards to make her happy. His boys did it as well, but she had a certain power over them they didn’t quite understand yet. It was the Mom factor.