Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 138334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
“Tried to get bossy with her,” Timur corrected.
Fyodor frowned, his gaze switching from Gedeon to Meiling and then back. “I thought you would consider it an honor, Meiling.”
Gedeon gave a grunt of annoyance.
Fyodor shook his head. “That wasn’t the right way to put it. It was an honor for my men to be introduced to you. I thought you would be looking for your mate. Don’t women want to find their mates?” There was genuine curiosity in his voice.
“Is that what you found with Evangeline? Was she looking to find a mate for her leopard?” Meiling asked.
Timur flashed a quick grin at his brother. “If Evangeline hadn’t been so sweet, Meiling, I think my brother would still be standing out in the back alley with his hat in his hand and that silly-hopeful-desperate-pleading look on his face.”
“I have a gun, Timur,” Fyodor warned. “I’m not opposed to using it on you. Someplace your wife won’t get too upset with me shooting you.”
Gedeon’s eyebrow shot up. “She would be okay with you shooting him?”
“Ashe wants to shoot him half the time,” Fyodor explained. “Don’t you find him annoying?”
Meiling’s laughter slipped out. “I think you’re all a little bit crazy.”
Heads turned toward that sound. Conversation ceased again. Meiling didn’t seem to notice. Gedeon despised all those hungry male eyes on her. He rubbed at her thigh, needing the connection with her more than she needed it with him.
The men at the table looked at one another. It was Elijah who answered for all of them. “That’s true. We probably are a little insane. But that’s because we married women who won’t do a damn thing we tell them. Before Siena, I was perfectly sane. Unhappy, but perfectly sane. She does things without consulting me first. Just does whatever the hell she feels like and damn the consequences. Think about that, Gedeon, before you ever decide happiness wins out over sanity.”
“What did she do without consulting you?” Meiling asked.
Her feathery lashes covered her dark eyes and then were back up, making Gedeon’s heart ache. He could fixate on her lashes if he let himself, which was odd. He never missed little details, but he didn’t let them occupy his mind to the point that he was consumed recording that image in his brain perfectly—especially right in the middle of a room filled with potential enemies.
The other thing he found very odd was Slayer, his leopard. In a roomful of shifters, Slayer would normally be insane, fighting for supremacy, wanting to tear everyone apart, especially after Meiling had been threatened. Not now. His violent, dangerous, scary leopard was rolling around as if he were a kitten at playtime, nearly purring. It made no sense. He made no sense, and his leopard made no sense.
“Yeah, Elijah, give us one of the many things Siena dared to do without consulting you,” Timur urged. There was laughter in his voice.
Gedeon glanced over at Joaquin and Tomas, the two men who probably knew more about Elijah Lospostos than anyone else. They had known him since childhood and had been his bodyguards for years. Normally, it would be impossible to tell what either man was thinking, but even they had matching ghosts of grins on their faces, even if it was just for a moment.
“She decided to have triplets. That would be three babies, Meiling. To make matters worse, all girls. Daughters. Can you imagine me with daughters? I’ve doubled up on the guards for now, but those girls become teens and I’ll have to quadruple the bodyguards. It’s a fucking nightmare. Everyone thinks it’s funny, but my little girls have a way of twisting me right around their little pinkie fingers. I give them my sternest stare and they tear up and it’s game over. One starts to cry and all three of them cry.”
Meiling pushed at her hair and regarded Elijah with her dark, velvet-soft eyes. “She decided on having triplets all on her own, did she? And she gave you daughters on top of that very bad decision.”
Elijah frowned. “I wouldn’t call it a bad decision. I never said it was a bad decision, only that it makes me a little insane. Siena scares me. The pregnancy scared me. Carrying that many was tough on her body, and she wouldn’t even hear of doing anything but carrying them. I tried to tell her that she was important, but that woman can be so damn stubborn. Then girls. What the fuck do I know about girls?”
“I imagine you learn fairly quickly if you want to,” Meiling said, giving no quarter. Her voice was very low. Her palm dropped over Gedeon’s and then the pad of one finger traced his knuckles, the only indication that she found the conversation difficult.
“It isn’t a matter of reading a few books,” Elijah objected. “Not if you want to be a good father. I was born into a certain position. In the business I’m in, women are used as commodities. Bargaining power.”