Her voice was hoarse with the effort to hold back her emotions as she watched him, despising herself for the brooding look she saw in his eyes.
Finally he shook his head slowly. “You’re not an awful person at all, Eve,” he seemed to chide her gently. “What would make you think you are?”
Her breathing hitched as she pushed back a sob. “I lied to you. I didn’t mean to, but I gave you my word and I broke it. I broke it and I blamed you for my own guilt when I knew, you may not have been able to explain why, but you were only trying to protect me.”
His brows lowered, his expression becoming dangerously still.
“Eve, do you think I’d hold that against you?”
She couldn’t maintain his look. Turning away, she whispered, “One of the few things asked is that we not betray family.” She shrugged. “I lied . . .”
“And I think I’ll kill Brogan and just have it done with,” he threatened as her gaze swung back to him. “Because it’s obvious that falling in love with him has somehow weakened your mind.”
Never let it be said that Dawg Mackay was afraid to state his opinion.
Eve shook her head in confusion. “I promised . . .”
“Pretty much because I manipulated you into that promise and exerted as much guilt as I could to ensure you made it.” He snorted. “Eve, sweetheart, you can’t let the people you love do this to you.” Reaching out, he wiped a tear from her face as his expression eased. “Honey, I never blamed you for breaking your promise. Hell, I knew you would break it.”
“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.