Khan (Bowen Boys, #2)(4)
Every woman had it, and when breeding like she was, it was something to behold. George watched the boys sit there for a few minutes longer after Caitlynne moved out of the room. He nearly went after her when Khan walked up to the boys.
“You made her cry, are you happy?” Each of them looked to where she’d gone before dropping their heads again. “If I hear that you did this again, I will hunt each of you down and make you regret it for the rest of your days. Do I make myself understood?”
They said that they did and nodded. Walker didn’t even have to speak to them, but looked down on them. Shame was the worst kind of punishment, and these two had done a number on their brothers. George sat back on the couch and decided that he was going to go out to the site himself to see what the boys would do to please their sister-in-law.
Chapter Two
Marc watched his brother come toward him. It wasn’t until he moved to the left to answer a nurse that he noticed that he brought Caitlynne with him. This was not going to go as well as he’d hoped. She, of course, came straight at him. And she did not look like she was happy.
“Where is she?”
He didn’t answer, but nodded to Walker.
“He told me that you were beat to shit and that your partner was as well. Is this your way of getting out of work tomorrow?”
He’d forgotten about that. “No. And that would be today. I was the only person left to go on this and she needed backup. More than us apparently.”
The city had asked him to investigate the local trash company. People were complaining about things not being picked up and trashcans being tossed around the street so that they’d been hit by other cars. What he’d found tonight was that the company was also entering garages and taking things.
“They let me take her as a patient. But as I told you on the phone, we’re leaving day after tomorrow, so you either have to find another doctor for her or we’ll have to think of something else.” Walker was pulling on a lab coat and had a stethoscope in his hand as he spoke. “You might want to consider Doctor Tanner. He’s—”
“She’s going to come home with me.” They both looked at him wide-eyed. “If he finds her again—and if she stays here, he will—he said he’d kill her. I like this girl, and I won’t let some asswipe hurt her again.”
Monica Preston worked for his firm. She’d not been there long, but she had proven to be a good worker and a great investigator. Marc had hired her as someone to answer phones and work the office. He discovered her worth when it only took her fifteen minutes to solve a problem for a client that they’d been working on for weeks. He’d promoted her and hadn’t regretted it since.
“Marc, is she your…”
Marc looked at his brother and wondered what he was talking about. Then it hit him. “No. Christ no. I like her and all, but no, she’s not my mate.” He glanced toward the room where she was. “But I do feel protective of her. Very much so. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t let anything happen to her.
Walker went to see to her, and Marc and Caitlynne followed him. His breath caught every time he saw her. Christ, her boyfriend had done a number on her. He was glad he’d been there because he was able to scare him off, but by the time he’d figured out what was going on, it had been too late.
Her face was all that he could see of her right now, but back at the scene, he’d looked her over. Two broken ribs, he thought, and her fingers had been stomped on. Her left eye was swollen shut and the other filled with blood. He thought her lower lip was going to need stitches, but didn’t know for sure because there was so much blood all over her. He cringed when Caitlynne started barking questions at her.
“Did you know that this man was capable of doing this to you?”
Monica nodded.
“Then tell me why you’d stay with the mother f*cker. Is this how you get your jollies?”
Monica wasn’t normally an aggressive person, but she came up off the bed at Caitlynne in a heartbeat. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve had five restraining orders against him in the past four months. I moved here to get away from him. Again. He did this because he thinks in his twisted f*cking mind that I belong to him and goes into a rage whenever I try to make it so he stays away. You think of some way to make this stop and I’m all for it.”
She staggered, and Caitlynne grabbed for her. When Monica cried out in pain, both he and Walker stepped forward. But the look on her face had them both step back. She was afraid of them.
“Come on. Let’s get you taken care of.” Caitlynne helped her back into the bed. “I’m sorry for pissing you off, but you seemed to need it. Now we can get the prick and take care of him. Can you shoot a gun?”
Walker laughed, and so did Marc. The question had been so calmly asked that it startled Monica. The look on her face was priceless. She told Caitlynne no, but she’d thought of it. Caitlynne assured her that she’d teach her how the next time she was in town.
When Monica was safely in the bed, Caitlynne left the room. When Marc started after her, Walker shook his head and turned to Monica. It wasn’t until he whispered to him mind that she was okay, just emotional that he understood how hard this might be on her.
“Is she all right? I didn’t mean to upset her.”