Natural Born Trouble Read Online Free

Even Duke had been bright enough to figure out that it was time to grow up and take responsibility for his sons, that parenting wasn’t something a man could do in his spare time.
    Not that he hadn’t loved them all along. He had. He adored them. In fact, he was in awe of them. They were bright and mischievous and loving. He just didn’t know a doggone thing about day-in, day-out caregiving. But he could learn, by God. There were books on the subject. He supposed there were even shrinks who specialized in that kind of stuff, not that he would ever be caught dead talking to one.
    He did buy the books, though. A dozen of them the first week. When he caught the boys reading them, he figured he was never going to get an edge unless he worked at parenting full-time. With a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, he had hitched a ride in the corporate jet and had a long talk withJordan Adams. Jordan came from a long line of men who understood about family. He’d offered Duke a vice presidency in Los Pinos on the spot. With it came the promise of stability.
    Two weeks later, Duke had a new job and a new home. Moving in a hurry was something at which he excelled. It remained to be seen if he could get the rest of it right.
    As he stepped out of the car in front of that appealing new home, the boys came barreling out the front door. It was a scene straight out of an old “Father Knows Best” episode and for a moment he allowed a feeling of immense satisfaction to steal over him. Not that it would last. His kids were irreverent little imps who would never be confused with anybody’s angelic offspring for long.
    â€œDon’t let the screen door slam,” Duke hollered just as it rocked on its hinges. He winced at the sound. He figured that door, the hinges and the frame would last a month, tops. Fortunately for all of them, he was reasonably handy with tools.
    â€œSorry, Dad,” Joshua said unconvincingly.
    â€œYeah, sorry,” Zack echoed.
    Already stripped of his jacket and tie himself, he noted that they were looking a little more like normal kids again, with dirt streaking their faces and rips in their T-shirts. There had been one awful period when they’d been so neat and tidy he hadn’t recognized them, just as he often didn’t recognize himself in the business suits he was wearing these days. The boys’ transition had been the fault of the second housekeeper. Or was it the third? Anyway, she’d had a very rigid outlook. She was the only one Duke had actually had to fire. She’d seemed to enjoy thechallenge of turning his sons into proper young men a little too much.
    â€œHey, Dad, guess what?” Zachary said.
    â€œHush,” his brother hissed.
    â€œWhat?” Duke asked, suspicion aroused by the exchange.
    Zack scowled at his brother. “We gotta tell him. She’s coming right now.”
    â€œWho’s coming now?” Duke asked. He glanced up the driveway and saw that, indeed, a four-wheel-drive vehicle of some kind was kicking up dust. “Okay, guys, what’s up? What kind of trouble are you in?”
    â€œWe’re not in any trouble,” Joshua claimed. “Honest, Dad.”
    The last time Duke had heard that he discovered that they had broken a neighbor’s window—his very large, floor-to-ceiling window. It had cost an arm and a leg to repair it. He would be taking the money out of their allowances until they reached puberty.
    Since the truth seemed to be in short supply coming from these two, he decided to wait to see what the new arrival would have to say.
    He studied the car as it came closer. Expensive and trendy once, it was little more than serviceable now. There was a layer of dried dirt, topped by dust over most of it, muting a dark green paint into something closer to muddy moss. For a man who took his cars seriously, this one was enough to make him shudder. He had an automatic hankering to rush for a