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“Then why did you come to the cabin?”
“Because the night before, someone had broken into your room and trashed it maybe?” He sighed. “It took several hours for me to find out you had left with Brogan. He wasn’t answering his phone, and yours was going straight to voice mail. No one knew where the two of you were or where Brogan planned to go. If it hadn’t been for Timothy and the fact that he knew the location of the cabin, then I would have driven myself wild thinking that you were hurt, or worse. ”
Lips parted, Eve stared back at him in surprise. “I hadn’t known about my room until I returned home. ”
“I was going to tell you before you left the cabin. ” He sighed. “It’s just . . . Hell, sis, I took one look at Brogan that morning and I knew you’d slept with him. Then all I could think was, ‘That bastard was sleeping with my baby sister. ’ Sometimes I forget you’re an adult. I still see that wary, uncertain teenager who watched me with that sure and certain knowledge I was going to let her and her family fend for themselves. ”
Eve looked away from him.
She’d been terrified when she’d returned home to find her suite trashed. So terrified she’d accepted her mother’s offer to move into the extra bedroom above the inn.
She was still in that bedroom.
“Come on; you’re not crying because you broke a promise I knew you’d never be able to keep,” he chided.
She was almost amused. Sliding a sideways look toward him, she caught the concerned look on his face.
“Then why did you ask me to promise, Dawg?” She didn’t know how to feel about anything this week. Or how to deal with such strong, stubborn men.
“Because I was fighting to find a way to protect you, Eve. ” He reached back and rubbed his neck with an air of weariness. “I could see what was going on between you and Brogan. I’ve watched it building between the two of you, and when I saw it was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon, I needed time to finish some things. ”
Did he know?
Her eyes narrowed on him. “What are you talking about?”
He sat back on the sofa and watched her quietly. “I know Brogan’s an agent for DHS, Eve. I suspected at first, but then I knew what he was doing here. You don’t have to keep that secret for him, from me. ”
“I never asked to be told. ” She picked at a loose thread on the knee of her jeans as her throat thickened with emotion. “Is he okay?”
“Why do you ask?”
“He’s not been at the inn in a few days,” she revealed. “I was just wondering. ”
“You’ve been worried as hell,” he corrected her. “Timothy says you’ve been pacing your bedroom. ”
She shrugged again. “I was just wondering. ”
“He had some things to take care of in D. C. ,” he told her. “He should be back in a few more days, from what I understand. ” Thank God.
Eve felt a sense of relief expand inside her. She hadn’t realized how worried she had been until Dawg had confirmed that Brogan was okay.
“Do you love him, Eve?” he asked, his gaze so heavy she felt her lips tremble.
“Does it matter?” She had asked herself that question all week.
“You don’t think it does?”
“It didn’t seem to matter to him. ” A bitter laugh escaped past her lips as the ache in her chest echoed to her soul. “He had a job to do. I was a way to do that job. ”
“Hmm,” Dawg murmured. “I guess that was why he waited two and a half years to do it, if that’s true? Strange, if I knew that there was an asset that could help me solve a case, I believe I’d be on her ass first thing out. ”
She picked at the thread on her jeans again, not certain what to say now.
“Eve, do you know what having you meant for him?” Dawg pressed.
Eve shook her head.
“It meant dragging you into a case and endangering you for the very fact that you were there. I may be pissed at him for not keeping his hands off you until this was over, but I’m not a stupid man, honey. You want him as much as he wants you. You didn’t know why he was there; all you knew was that you couldn’t believe the rumor that he could do anything illegal. A man can fight himself, but he can’t fight the woman who can break down his defenses with a smile. Or a tear. ” Lifting his hand, he used his thumb to wipe away another tear. “I don’t know the man as much as I know his history, but I do know he was engaged once, years ago. Until his fiancée had their baby aborted while he was at the training academy, just before joining DHS. It damn near killed him. He had relationships, but never with a woman close enough to an operation to be identified or endangered. ”
