Private JusticeSpecial Ops Bodyguard by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mills & Boon Romantic Suspense
Published: 2011-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

Kate blinked. She’d been lost in her own thoughts, and Gage’s request felt like a non sequitur. “I’m sorry?”

“Your sister’s husband. What’s his story?”

Kate’s shoulders sagged. “Oh. Larry.” She puffed her bangs off her forehead as she circled the end of the counter and started putting away silverware. “Well, clearly the guy acts like a jerk sometimes.”

His steady gaze held hers, showing no reaction to her comment. He showed little if any emotion at all, in fact. For not the first time, meeting his stoic expression brought to mind the craggy rock cliffs of the surrounding mountains. Hard. Cold. Unmoving.

“Go on,” he prodded.

Kate twitched a nervous grin, embarrassed to have been caught staring. And what about him staring at you?

“He’s not always like that, mind you.” Kate sighed and jammed a handful of drinking straws in the dispenser. “By tomorrow he’ll be apologizing all over the place and making her promises…” She let her voice trail off, wondering why she was telling this stranger her sister’s private business. With a quick, embarrassed grin, she shrugged the topic away.

“And he convinces her to stay.”

She cut a startled glance to his and nodded.

“Sounds like typical battered wife syndrome to me.”

Battered wife syndrome. A chill raced down Kate’s spine. Though she knew the truth about Janet’s marriage, hearing the harsh but honest term applied to her sister was unsettling.

“Has she called the police on him?” Gage asked.

Kate hesitated. Did she want to get into this with a man she just met? “Uh, yeah. She has. So have I. For all the good it does.” She gnawed her bottom lip and sighed. “Larry went to school with the guys on the force. They’re his buddies. They don’t do anything about him.”

Gage’s dark eyebrows drew together, and his light blue eyes turned stormy. His muttered curse rumbled like approaching thunder. Kate’s hands stilled on the countertop, and she tipped her head, studying him. “Why do you ask?”

His chin jerked up a notch. “Someone should do something about him. He can’t be allowed to hurt her, or you, and get away with it.”

“I’m trying to help her. I moved out here from Ohio about a year ago to be with her. She’s the only family I have, and I can’t let her—” She dropped her gaze to her hands when her voice cracked.

An awkward silence passed, filled only by the clatter of dishes from the kitchen where Pete was preparing for the next morning’s breakfast.

“Janet is lucky to have you.” The words were spoken so softly, she could almost believe she’d imagined them.

Lifting her head, she met a penetrating stare that seemed more caring now than icy. His pale blue irises were flecked with navy, which warmed his eyes and softened the hard edge he projected.

Or maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see. Was she so desperate for a man that she’d conjured tenderness and warmth in a stranger who’d yet to crack a smile for her?

Sucking in a deep breath, she rallied herself.

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