Reed: Bowen Boys (13 page)

Khan shook his head, but Reed spoke. “He’ll know it’s a fake in a minute. You said he was a collector. Collectors can spot a forgery a mile away. We have to use the real thing or he’ll know something is wrong.”

She looked at Camps when he answered the phone, but didn’t really pay any attention because she was trying to wrap her mind around using one of Corrine’s eggs.

“I’ve never even seen her collection. Is there something…smallish? Maybe something that is already damaged?” Both men shook their head. “How much is the least expensive one she has? Do you know?”

“I know how much Dad paid for it. Does that help?” She shook her head at Khan. “I have a picture. Would that help you?”

“I’m not sure I want to see it. I love them, and if I see this one, I might just cry. Do you have any idea how much one of them can go for? How hard they are to find?”

“Mom told me.” Khan handed her the phone, and she looked at the picture. “She said Dad got it for her as a wedding gift. Mom said that if you want to bait the hook, you have to have a fat worm to do it. Stupid saying, but I think she’s right. Do you know this one?”

She nodded. “This one is part of the Imperial eggs. And I would bet one of the originals. Peter Carl Faberge only made a few, about seventy-five, between 1885 until 1917. He gave most of them to the Russian Czars Alexander the third and Nicholas the second as Easter gifts for their wives. I’m betting this one, when opened, has a golden hen inside.” Khan nodded. “This is very rare, and worth more than fifteen million dollars. How much did he pay for it, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Dad can talk a man out of his last meal, and this guy, some traveler, told him that he’d found it in a house when he’d been visiting his lady friend in Russia. Dad said the man was down on his luck and that he needed to get back there. Since he was getting married a few months later, Dad said he’d buy it. It’s what started Mom collecting them.” Khan showed her another picture, this one with the egg open and the hen sitting next to it. “He gave the man two hundred dollars.”

“Christ.” She looked at Reed and laughed at him. “Hell, we used to play with that damned thing. Mom would be gone doing something and we’d play with the chicken to add to our farm.”

“Well then, that settles it. If it can stand you six, then it can withstand me.” At least she hoped so.

Chapter 13

“My name is Kerry Stephens, and I was wondering if I could set up an appointment with Mr. Puckett. I have something I’d like to see if he wants to purchase.” Caitlynne nodded at Kerry, and Reed held his breath. The more they got into this thing, the more terrified he’d become.

Just last night they’d gotten another call from Norman. He was a lot less nice, not that he’d ever been, but over the phone he’d been vicious and ruthless. He’d spewed things at Kerry for so long she’d simply hung up the phone and went to the kitchen. Reed called him back immediately.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Norman had sputtered about Kerry being ungrateful again and that she owed him. “She has paid whatever debt you think she owes you long ago. She owes you nothing.”

“I’m her father, and I will say what she owes me. You put her back on this phone this minute or—”

“Or what? You think you can threaten me? Bring it on, you motherfucker. You don’t have the resources or the balls to take me on and even hope to win.” Norman started to speak again, but Reed had had enough. “You call here again and I will have you arrested for harassment. And trust me when I tell you, I’ve got more pull than you will ever hope to have.”

“She’ll come to me and bring money, or her sister and I will be killed. He wasn’t happy when the last plan didn’t work.” Reed glanced at the kitchen door, glad now that Kerry had figured it out and not gone. “I need money, and he needs to kidnap her. You’ll pay ransom to get her back, right?”

Reed had hung up, then took the phone off the cradle. He’d called his brothers using his cell phone and told them that this was the only way to contact either of them, and then spoke to Caitlynne.

He’d told her the entire conversation, and her mind had begun to work immediately. “I don’t think I’d mention this to Kerry just yet. Let me do some digging. If they’re planning to kidnap Kerry, they either have some great planner or they’re stupider than we first thought.”

Reed thought them incredibly stupid and told her so. “But I think you’re right. Norman’s call here just a few minutes ago upset her to the point of tears. When I called him back, he told me that bullshit.”

“I’m looking into this Puckett guy now. Let me get back to you on him and this Baker guy.” And she had, nearly two hours later, and Kerry was setting up an appointment to go and see him.

She nodded at Caitlynne and him. “Yes, I can be there then. But can you tell him I’m bringing a friend with me? Yes, that’ll be fine. Ten o’clock.”

“You’re in?” Kerry nodded at him. “Great. Tomorrow at ten then, and we’ll—”

“Today at ten. He has an opening, and he wants me to come in at ten.” She looked at the egg that Caitlynne had brought with her. “I’m not sure this is a good idea now.”

“You’ll be fine. Reed is going to carry his weapon, and if anything goes fucked belly up, he’ll get you out by shooting every cocksucker in the place, and you can shift and chew some dicks off.” They both looked at Caitlynne. “Sorry, a little hormonal right now. Walker and I are having another baby, and this one is fucking me up.”

Reed laughed and hugged her, knowing that it would piss off his brother. When Kerry hugged her, he thought of her being pregnant, and realized they’d never talked about it. He decided that when this was over, they were going to talk about a great many things. He looked up at the clock. It was now or never.

“I’ve set something up at the court house. If we leave now, we’ll be set before you go to the meeting.” Kerry looked at Caitlynne, then him. “I know I should have cleared it with you, but I thought we’d get married today.”

“Should have cleared it with me? I’m pretty sure you should have. When did you set this up?” He told her yesterday. She left the room, and he looked at Caitlynne, who was laughing.

“Do any of you Bowen boys ever do things after talking it over with your mate? I’m wondering, because it doesn’t appear so. You’d think with you being the youngest that you’d have learned something from the rest of them, but I’m pretty sure you’re as fucked-up macho as the rest of them.” He cocked a brow at her. “No, this is me talking and not the hormones. You guys need to take a breath and think with something besides your dicks once in a while, and you might not end up in the dog house so often.”

She left after giving him a hug, and he had a thought to check her for weapons first. After she left he sat down in the chair, and jumped up when the door opened from the dining room. It was Kerry.

“Well? Are you just going to sit there or are you going to marry me?” She looked at Camps. “Do you suppose you could have a nice luncheon for when we return? I’d like to invite his family over after. Unless he didn’t tell them this was happening today.”

“I did.”

She glared at him, then looked at Camps again. “Thank you very much. I’m sorry you have to be pressed into making this on such short notice. Or did he tell you as well?”

“No, mistress, this is….” He had to cover his mouth, and even Reed could see the mirth on his face. “This is the first I’ve heard of it as well. Will you require a cake?”

She looked at him, and then Camps did. Reed decided that from now on he was going to ask her for everything. He was not going to be made to feel this way again.

“A cake would be nice if you have the time.” He put out his hand, and she stared at it for a full minute. He wasn’t sure she was going to take it. When she did, she looked up at him.

“Do this again and I’ll make Caitlynne being hormonal look like child’s play, understand?” Camps burst out laughing and had to leave the room. Reed was going to hurt the man when he returned, but he nodded at her.

“I love you.” She nodded again, and they went out the door. Yes, sir, he was going to be more upfront with her from now on. Because, as much as he hated to admit it, she scared the shit out of him.

~~~

Burton looked at his clock again. It was still an hour to go and she’d be here. He got up to make sure that everything was in its place, and then went out to check with his secretary, Rowena Winters, again.

“I swear to you, Burton, if you ask me again about the tray, I’m going to brain you with it.” He nodded and flushed. He loved this woman to death. She had kept him out of jail several times because she was simply that good, but there were times when he thought she knew him too well.

“I’m on edge.” She nodded and handed him a piece of chocolate from her drawer. She knew that it calmed his nerves. “What if she’s not receptive to this? What if I’m wrong?”

“Eat the candy and stop second guessing yourself. You’re not wrong. You’ve had her checked out several times over the past six months. You know as well as I do that she’s your niece.”

He went back to his office and sat down. His niece. His sister’s little girl. Well, not little now, but all grown up. He started to pace again and heard Rowena clear her throat. He sat down and thought about the first time he saw Kerry.

She’d answered the door to the house where he’d been instructed to find Death. Burton had been so stunned by how much she looked like his sister that he’d been rendered speechless for several seconds. She smiled then, and he felt as if he’d been given a great and rare gift…a fond memory of his sister as a child. And now she was on her way here.

He looked over at the eggs she’d collected, unable to flip them for a profit once he’d seen her. He was going to give them back to her, and give her whatever she needed in the way of more money. He didn’t think it would be that easy, but he was going to try.

“She’s here.” He nearly told Rowena to send them away, he was so nervous. “She is here with a man who is insisting that he keep his gun. He said if he can’t carry, she’s not coming up. What do you want to do?”

A gun? She needed someone to follow her around with a gun? For some reason that pissed him off. Who would dare hurt what he considered his only family? He looked at Rowena, who only smiled and went to her desk again. He heard her say to send them up.

He was standing by Rowena’s desk when the elevator opened. His breath caught when he saw her. Even though it had only been about three years since he’d seen her the last time, he could see the marked difference in her. And the man standing next to her wasn’t simply her bodyguard, but someone who was in love with her. And it looked as if she loved him as well.

“Mr. Puckett, I’m Kerry Bowen. We spoke on the phone.” He looked at the man and then back at her when she continued. “I have something I’d like to see if you can purchase from me.”

Burton led her to his office, and the first thing that she saw were her eggs. When she went to stand next to them, she looked back at the man and he nodded at her. “I don’t understand. I was told that you had sold them for the money.”

“I think you should have a seat. Both of you please.” She shook her head, and the man went to stand next to her. “I’m so sorry for this, but there is more to us than simply me being a buyer of your eggs, Kerry. I’m your uncle. Your mom was my sister.”

“I think we might sit after all.” The man led her to the chairs and sat next to her, holding her hand. “I’m Reed Bowen. Kerry and I were married today…this morning as a matter of fact.”

He stood up to give them both a hug and stopped when Kerry stood up. She walked over to the eggs and touched each of them before she turned to him to say anything.

“She left me with those people? Why did she leave me with those people?” Burton glanced at Reed, then back at her. “You say you’re my uncle. Then why the hell did you leave me there if you knew this?”

“I didn’t know. I thought that when your mom had died that you, too, had passed on. Your father was so distraught at the time; all I could get out of him was that he had lost you both. Then a few weeks later, I heard that he’d killed himself. I never got anything else from him prior to that.” He sat on the corner of his desk and watched her pace. “When I went to collect a payment on the money that I’d lent you for the eggs, because it was supposed to be just a loan, I saw you. You look a great deal like your mom. Her name was Letitia, and I’d always understood that she died giving birth to you. She’d been alone, from what I’d been able to find out. Something about your dad being in jail, or some other business that I’ve never been able to piece together.”

“But you found out differently since then.” He nodded at Reed as the young man continued. “She died later. We believe at the hand of the man who ended up abusing Kerry. Her father we still can’t find, but we have no reason to believe that he’s still living. What have you found out?”

“Letitia was killed by Norman Stephens; that much I’m fairly certain of. Her father, at last findings from the PI that I hired, is alive. He does, however, keep to himself and stays out of trouble. He didn’t have anything to do with my Letitia’s death, but had indeed lost them both. Someone, it appeared, kidnapped them both, and she was told he was dead. His name is Olen, in the event you’ve not found it.”

Reed nodded and went to her and wrapped her in his arms. Burton looked up when Rowena came into his office. She nodded at them, then stepped out of the office. He excused himself and went to her.

“I know them, the Bowens. Do you?” He nodded. “She’s in good hands then. I think that you should tell them everything and be done with it. She’s going to have some questions and you have the answers. Give them to her.”

He took the chocolate she handed him and went back inside. He’d have to tell them or be as big as a house before this was finished. The woman was forever giving him sweets to keep him calm.

Reed was standing behind Kerry as she had taken her seat again.

“I’m going to tell you some things that are going to seem sort of out there.” Burton tried to think how to tell them all the things he knew about her father. “Olen was…he was loving and kind when he wanted to be, which only seemed to be around your mom. But he could…let’s just say he had a wildness about him that I hadn’t been aware of until later.”

“He was a panther.” Burton looked up from his notes at the younger man. “So are we. Kerry didn’t change until recently, and I’m a pureblood. And we have a little information on her mom, but not a great deal. Perhaps you could fill us in.”

“You’re a…I never thought that. Christ.” Reed sat down, but he didn’t say anything more. “I would say prove it, but I’m not sure my heart can take much more. The first time your father changed, it was to leap at me when I’d hugged Letitia to me. She’d just told me that she was pregnant with you. After that…after that, I got the story from them. He changed her before they were wed and she’d been meaning to tell me. How do you not tell someone that?”

“It’s against our laws. You said that you no longer think my father was responsible for my mom’s death. Why not?” Burton looked at her, his heart breaking for her. “Never mind. I need to know, but now I need to know how you’re involved with Gilbert Baker. He’s trying to kidnap me and hold me for ransom and having my…the other people I grew up with help him.”

“Involved? Not me. The little pisser never has paid me back for the other loans I’ve spotted him. He has this grand idea that he can—” His heart stopped beating for several seconds. “Mother of Christ, he’s going to do it. He’s going to actually try and do it.”

He shouted for Rowena and asked her to bring in all the transcripts from his conversations with Baker. She hurried out and then came back with a large bag of his favorite kind of chocolate, dark and filled with nuts. He opened the first small bar and popped it into his mouth as he handed them both some of the file he had.