Betrayal of the Dove - By Capri Montgomery Page 0,59

the good guys in uniform at least—as he had right now toward this one. “Now,” she said and her low authoritative tone told him she wasn’t leaving room for argument. She practically dragged him over to the kitchen area. It wasn’t as if the kitchen was closed off. It was a flat for crying out loud, and the divider screen she had in place had been knocked over so there wasn’t anything to shield his view. He could still see the bastard gawking at her. Having a visual on his enemy was making him angrier. Craig watching his woman as if he had every right to look at her like a side of beef was going to be his breaking point. He felt his reserve, the controlled nature he had been perfecting for years, starting to crack.

“Go downstairs right now and pull yourself together,” she mumbled in a low, but serious voice.

“I’m fine.” But he wasn’t fine. He was holding on by a thread here. Control, he needed to remember his training, his skills, but right now he wasn’t able to talk himself down.

“Go downstairs right now,” she placed her hand on his chest. “Because if you don’t you’re going to do something stupid that gets you arrested, and then where does that leave us, huh? You would be stuck in lockup while whoever is after your team runs amuck in Arizona. Who do you think his first target is going to be, huh? Me.” She pointed her finger to her chest. “Because he’ll know it would nearly destroy you to know you failed at your protection detail.”

She made sense. If this guy were after his entire team, after him, then he had probably spent a lot of time studying them, learning what made them tick. “Fine,” he mumbled before walking out of the flat and going downstairs as ordered. “That woman,” he sighed as he stood in the hallway alone. “I swear she’s a peacekeeper to the core.” He was willing to bet, whether she would acknowledge it or not, that she was the rope connecting her family together. He had heard her conversation with her sister. He had heard her advising her to not shut off her heart to love and life. In the most compassionate way she could, she had told her she needed to start the healing process, and she needed to move forward. “You can’t bring him back, Eve.” She had spoken those words with heartfelt compassion. “No matter how many crazy dangerous assignments you go on, you can’t change what happened. You know he wouldn’t want this for you. You know he would want you to go on, to live your life without regrets. He was that kind of man, Eve, and you know that.”

“I know,” she had said.

Every word that he heard her utter had been supportive, yet had been a firm statement that her sister needed to hear. He also heard her conversation with Gavin and Thomas. She had advised both brothers not to push Eve too hard. “She’s coming around, slowly, but if you push too hard she’s going to retreat.” Shane knew she was right, and they probably did too. Alyssa was more psychologist than sister sometimes, or maybe she was both. Maybe how she treated her siblings was how family relations were supposed to be—supportive, loving, caring. He wouldn’t know because his family wasn’t anything like that.

He watched officers go in and out of her flat. He had spoken with one of the detectives that had arrived to work the case, and then he decided to return to the flat. He couldn’t hide out in the hall all morning. He should have been up there, by her side, helping her with the questioning process. Of course he knew she didn’t need help. She was a strong woman who could survive on her own, yet still, he felt as if he should have been there for her.

He wasn’t halfway through the door when Alyssa approached him, put her hand on his arm and urged him to leave. “I’m not going to do anything rash,” he said as if she should have known that.

“I need you to come downstairs with me,” her voice was nearly a whisper. She had something she needed to say, and for some reason the look in her eyes worried him. Had he come off as a total caveman to her because of his inability to keep his growing rage under control? He looked to Leo who