Betrayal of the Dove

Chapter Seven

“There’s a meteor shower tonight,” Shane said. “Would you like to come watch it with me?”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “I mean, no.” She corrected herself. She was still his boss. She wouldn’t even be entertaining the idea if Eve hadn’t sprinkled her words of wisdom on her before she left for South Dakota. She was determined to get her things out of the cabin and packaged securely for shipping. There wasn’t much to be done, but she did need to put things in the sturdier crates that were being delivered to the ranch before she arrived. She said she was going to make another stop in Boston to see Thomas, and that Adam’s brother, Chase, had asked her to stop in and see them. His brother was gone, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t still be a part of their family, at least that’s what he had said to her. Alyssa could tell Eve wasn’t really enthused about going. She had told her that she felt guilty every day, but even more so whenever she got an email from Chase. Trent, the oldest brother, seemed to hate her and she really couldn’t figure out why Chase tried to keep in touch.

“You were a part of their family,” Alyssa had told her.

“Yeah, and I destroyed it,” she had said. “I got Adam killed. He died because of me, and I know that, and I think Trent knows that too. I don’t know why Chase doesn’t hate me just the same as his brother. He would have every right to.”

Alyssa had tried to reason with her and help her understand that it wasn’t her fault, but she, like the rest of the family, knew Sabian had been behind Adam’s not so accidental work accident and she blamed herself. It wasn’t her fault; they had all tried to show her that and Alyssa hoped, and prayed, that one day she would believe it.

Eve’s heartache hadn’t stopped her from trying to encourage her big sister to take a chance on love again. “He’s a good guy and you’re a fabulous woman. He’d be lucky to have you.” She had said before she hugged her goodbye. Alyssa had used that hug as an opportunity to do two things; one, say bye with love until she would be able to hold her sister in her arms again. And two, put the money Eve had snuck back into her cash register back in her baby sister’s open purse. The moment she knew Shane was buying the white gold and sapphire bracelet on Eve’s behalf she had insisted her sister take the money back. Eve had refused, of course, so Alyssa not so gracefully shoved it into her sister’s bra. Shane had laughed hysterically at the crazy sibling struggle in front of him. Alyssa had come out the victor before a customer walked in.

She knew Eve had snuck the money back inside the cash register that morning and she also knew that she wasn’t going to take it. This was her sister and she wasn’t going to charge her or anybody else in her family for anything. She hadn’t even charged Thomas for Thena’s wedding necklace gift. Family was family and in her book that meant her brothers and sisters didn’t buy anything from her. If they abused that belief of hers she would probably go bankrupt, but it seemed to bother them to take something for free from her just as much as it bothered her to have them pay for anything so she knew she would never have to worry about them trying to take advantage of her.

In that hug, Eve had whispered in her ear. “Life is too short. Don’t let the opportunity pass you buy. He’s a good a man.” And with one final wave to the man in topic she had left for her next destination. Clearly, she had left behind confusion because even though Alyssa wanted to say yes to this man she knew she should say no.

“Funny. The way you looked at me when you saw me without my shirt that day I assumed maybe you wanted to.”

She had looked longer than she should have. She had desired when she shouldn’t have. “I’m your boss. It wouldn’t be appropriate if I went out with you.” No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t.

He shrugged. “I could quit, and then you won’t be my boss and we can go out.”

“No! I like…that is I…you’re a valued employee.”

He laughed. “Go out with me tonight, Alyssa. The sky is going to be clear. We can lay out in the cab of my truck on my property and watch the show.”

She knew she should say no, but the thought of being with him, in his arms, watching the majestic show…she couldn’t pass that up. “Okay,” she said. “It doesn’t start until two in the morning so I can drive out—”

“I’ll take you out to my place after work. We can have dinner. We can watch the show and I’ll bring you back here after that—unless you want to stay over.”

Oh she did want to stay over; she definitely wanted that, but she had to open the shop in the morning and she would need sleep. The meteor shower show would be on a Tuesday night but would only really hit its peak in the early hours of Wednesday morning and there was no way she could close during the week, or any other time for that matter, simply because she stayed up to watch the event. “Sounds like a plan,” she said. She could play it by ear and see how things went. If they connected and she didn’t want to leave then she would stay the rest of the morning until time to go to work. If this attraction, this…lustful thinking, fizzled out before the end of the night then she would know where they stood. She mentally shook her head at herself. This wasn’t lust. Sure, she had thought about the man sexually—desired his body, craved it nearly, but there was something more. She liked this man. He was smart, loyal, mysterious and protective yet not overly dominant. The mysterious part intrigued her and she wanted to know more about him. What made Shane Maxwell who he was? Why did he decide to be career military? And why was it that anytime he was near her, her heart beat just a little faster and those butterflies she thought only happened in adolescent crushes seemed to be fluttering around in her stomach incessantly?

This date was a risk because if he decided by the end of the night that he didn’t want her in his life as anything other than a boss for the short time he planned to work for her, she wasn’t sure she would feel the same way. She was risking her heart again and that scared her. She needed to change the subject. She needed to get her mind off her fears and on to something else.

“There was another robbery on the Row last night,” she said. Sure, that was a brilliant transition from talking about a peaceful date night to talking about the guy inflicting fear on all the shop owners. “Petrof, from the bistro, came down to tell me about it. Not that I could have missed the police activity.”

“I know about the robbery,” he nodded. “Your police friend questioned me at six o’clock this morning.”

“What? Why?”

He shrugged. “The man has his sights set on you, Alyssa. If you don’t see that you’re either blind or in denial. I opt for denial.”

She sighed and shook her head. “I see it. I’ve just been trying to deal with it without making any waves. He’s a cop and he’s with the precinct that covers this stretch of town. I don’t want any trouble that I might not get an assist out of;” she knew cops and she knew they stuck together. “I figure he’ll get tired of pursuing me once he realizes I’m not into him.”

He snorted. “Yeah, like that’s going to happen. You’ve told him in a thousand subtle ways. You need to be direct.”

“Got it,” she said. “Now, back to you. Why did he question you?”

“He wanted to know if I had an alibi.”

“Are you kidding me? What the heck for? He thinks you’re doing it?”

He chuckled. “I think he just thought he was going to rattle me out of bed early this morning and scare me.” He shrugged. “It didn’t work on either account. Plus, he’s not even the detective on the case. He’s overstepping his authority.”

“I’m going to talk to him; that’s just not right.”

“Don’t bother.”

“Why not? Do you have an airtight alibi and you don’t think he can try to throw suspicion on you? Seriously, you’re not a bad guy and I won’t have him paint you as one. Gossip spreads, and I won’t have him tarnishing your reputation.”

He shook his head no. “The store in topic had the alarm go off at eleven last night and I was on conference with a former military commander. He’s still serving this country and we had a secure meeting that lasted well into the morning hours. He’s usually in Colorado, but he was in Hawaii for the past few weeks. I spent some time working out of there myself,” he nodded as if that explained everything crystal clear. “He can vouch for me if it comes to that. But I don’t want you to worry about me. Keep your distance from the man as much as possible.”

She nodded. Even though she wanted to defend him, she would honor his wishes. He clearly had a reason for wanting her to stay clear. “How long were you in Hawaii?”

“Not long,” he admitted with as few details as humanly possible.

“Were you stationed there, or something else?”

“That’s classified,” he said sternly. “Next question.”

His being stationed there wouldn’t be classified so clearly it was something else he was doing there. “Is my baby sister safe there or should I try to get one of my brothers to lock her in the attic and not let her leave?”

He threw his head back with a hearty laugh. She didn’t see anything funny about the question. She really wanted to know if there was something going on she should be worried about. When he settled down he looked at her and smiled. “I wouldn’t advise holding a person against their will. That’s a federal offense,” he grinned. “But yeah; I think she’ll be as safe there as she would just about anywhere else stateside.”

She nodded. “Thank you.” He couldn’t give her details about what had him in Hawaii, but at least he could give her enough to set her mind at ease—well, moderately at ease. She would always worry about Eve no matter how old she became.

“About our date tonight;” she smiled just thinking of the fact that she had labeled it a date when she couldn’t remember if he had. “Do you mind if I shower and change first?”

His eyes darkened in color, betraying his calm, cool and collected exterior look. She could tell he was anticipating their evening together just as much as she was. “Not at all,” his voice was low and completely male. That voice did things to her when it was singing out words like the G-string of a finely tuned century old cello. Now that it was inching towards a deep C-string vibration she was feeling those wicked sensations spread through her body deeper, stronger, harder. She felt her lips part as his eyes stared at her mouth as if he were envisioning what it would be like to kiss her right there. She felt her own breathing rapidly transition from normal to erratic with arousal.

“You don’t stop looking at me like that, Alyssa McGregor, and I’m going to come behind that case and take you right where you stand.”

“I…you’re looking at me,” she said incredulously.

“Honey, you’ve been staring me up and down as if I were standing here naked. You can do all kinds of things to a man with a look like that.”

“I was not,” she said as she felt the heat rush to her cheeks.

“Yes you were,” he smiled slyly. “And I promise you, next time I’m going to strip and let you see what you’re fantasizing about.” He winked at her before turning and going back into the security room; leaving her standing there with her mouth open and a shocked expression on her face. She laughed to herself, knowing she was blushing wildly.

“Oh gosh,” she said under her breath. “That man is going to be a handful.” The thought hit her like a freight train; she was ready to try to handle him too. Maybe Eve was right. Maybe now was the time for her to get over her last relationship disaster and open her heart to a romantic relationship again. Whether she was ready or not didn’t seem to matter because her heart had already convinced her brain that it was going to attach to the sexy man hiding out in her security room. Shane Maxwell. How could a man with a name like that not be delectably sinful?

She had a customer come in and she was in the process of ringing up the item when she heard his cell phone ring. That was the first time since he had been working for her that she had heard his phone ring during the day. When he started speaking she realized that she could hear his conversation clearly. She wasn’t trying to hear his conversation, she just did, and that told her that he could hear every conversation she had anywhere near the door. Suddenly she wondered if she and Eve had talked about anything she might not really want him to know. She stopped wondering about it the second she heard him say, “how did he die?” She knew then that something was wrong, and from the tone in his voice she could tell it was somebody close to him. She hoped it wasn’t family. She didn’t know much about his family, but she was relatively certain his parents were still alive because he had mentioned them before and it wasn’t a past tense reference…it also wasn’t a long conversation.

He opened the door to the security room. From the look on his face she could tell he knew his conversation had been audible from her position, which reassured her that all of her conversations had been too. “Do you need to leave?” She didn’t care that he hadn’t been working for her long; the death of somebody he knew was a viable excuse for taking some time off work. “If you do need to leave you can go, Shane. I’ll be fine here.”

He shook his head no. “The funeral isn’t set yet.”

“Okay, well whenever it is set feel free to take the time off. And if you need to take time away at some point today or tomorrow just to deal with it that’s fine too.” She wanted to ask who it was, but she wouldn’t pry. Shane was a very private man and she didn’t want to intrude on that privacy.

“He was a friend,” he said somberly. “We were both part of a team, highly secure team,” he said and that told her more than what he didn’t say. He was part of one of those elite, covert, highly secure top secret military units—probably like the one Thomas was preparing for before he nearly got himself killed on a mission. “The Dove Team,” he said absently as if he was talking more to himself than to her. “He was a good man.”

“I’m sorry, Shane. Why don’t you take the day off and just grieve the loss?”

“Because,” his shoulders stiffened. “I’ll need the time when I get more details on the bastard who killed him.”

She knew that tone and she understood those words; Shane was going for justice his way, not the court system way. “How was he murdered?”

“He was on vacation in Austin, Texas with his wife and kids when somebody gunned him down in the hotel parking lot. His wife had asked him to go out to get the baby’s play toy. Can you imagine how she feels right now?”

She could. She would feel the same regret and feelings of responsibility that his friend’s wife probably felt. She probably knew if she hadn’t asked him to go out to the car he would still be alive. “I hope she’s sitting with a counselor right now. Otherwise that’s going to eat at her until there’s nothing left but a shell of her former self.”

He nodded. “Thing is, he might have been killed in or out of that room, and if it had been inside she could have been killed with him. Twenty-eight year old kid,” he shook his head. “Survived Afghanistan only to come home and get gun downed in a parking lot of a Holiday Inn.”

“Was it a robbery?”

“No, doesn’t look that way. His wallet wasn’t taken. A witness thought he knew the man. She heard him say something like, what are you doing here; or why are you here…something like that, but she wasn’t positive. The only thing she was sure of was the man said, maybe you’ll find out if doves really can fly up to heaven. Sounds like an attack on our team.”

“Or maybe just one man,” she said because she didn’t want to think about somebody coming after Shane. He was retired military now and in her mind that provided some relative measure of safety for him.

“I’m not so sure about that. Another member of our team died not that long ago—car accident, or so they say. They’re going to reopen the investigation.”

“Well there’s a witness this time so maybe they’ll get the guy sooner rather than later,” she hoped.

“The witness is blind. She didn’t see anything; she just heard it. And since she was close enough for both parties to know she was there, I can only guess the guy who killed him noticed she wasn’t a real threat when he did it.”

“Security cameras; they’re all over hotels even in the parking lots.”

“I was on the phone with my former commanding officer and the guy made sure he wasn’t seen on camera. The light near Rick’s car was busted, the camera lens was busted, and a tree was conveniently blocking the one camera that should have been able to get a clear shot—that of course was the hotel’s fault for not keeping the tree groomed. So the bastard got a free and clear pass on murder, but I can promise you he won’t enjoy it for long.”

“Shane,” she patted his hand. “Go home, deal with this. I’ll be fine here; I promise.”

“No,” he said clearly. “I’ll await the details before I make a move. Rule number one,” he stated. “Know your enemy before you go on the hunt. Otherwise you’re just hunting blind and hunting blind will get you killed.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? Legally; it’s not…well, it’s just you could get in a lot of trouble.” At least she assumed he could since this wouldn’t be a hunt that was government sanctioned.

“Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six, Alyssa. Beyond that, I don’t care. He was a team member, they both were, and I’m not letting this go.”

She nodded. She understood because Thomas had felt the same way—and he hadn’t let it go. More than ten years of hunting Sabian and he had finally got his man; he had finally delivered justice. She understood them both, even if she wished neither man had to pick up their guns for yet another fight. “Well,” she looked at him seriously hoping he would be okay. “If you need an alibi you have one.”

He chuckled half heartedly given the pain etched on his face. “I wouldn’t want to drag you into this.”

“You’re not dragging; I’m offering.”

“That’s not really legal.” He looked at her before reaching his hand out and gently stroking the contours of her cheek with his finger.

“Actually, it is. You see when you’re not here I’m thinking about you anyway, and the question they usually ask is if the person was with you. In my head you are, so therefore I am not lying if I say you were with me.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Women. You all find a way to fix anything don’t you?”

“I can’t speak for all women, but I’ve spent many of years having to create cover stories, mostly to keep the brothers McGregor at bay. I’ll alibi you in a heartbeat.” She patted his arm. “Now, I really do want you to take some time; okay? Losing a friend isn’t easy.”

“Later,” he restated once again. “Besides, we have a date tonight.”

“We can do it some other time. There will be other meteor showers…eventually.”

“No,” he shook his head. “I want tonight with you, under the stars, surrounded by the mountains watching the heavens rain down from above. I want that. I need that. Will you allow me that?”

“Yes,” she stood and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m here if you need to talk.” He wrapped his arms tightly around her, lowering his head to rest atop hers. She could tell he was hurting, but trying to hold it in, trying to control the anger and sorrow within him. It was probably his nature to keep it together, grieve later, after things were finalized, and right now it sounded as if there were new revelations that could make the one murder case turn into two. She could only imagine what he was going through, the war his emotions were fighting against each other within him. She wanted to be his compass; that anchor that kept him rooted on stable ground; that guiding factor that showed him his way back home if ever he deviated off his course.

“Am I interrupting?”

She pulled away slowly and turned her attention to the voice that beckoned her out of her present utopia. “Officer Davis,” she smiled. “How are you?” He had told her before not to call him by his last name. “You can use my first name,” he had said, but still, she tried to do that as little as possible.

“Fine,” he said with an edge to his voice. “Didn’t realize the two of you were together.”

She didn’t know what to say. Technically they weren’t really together. They were going to have one official date tonight, but that did not a couple make. Although she wasn’t sure she should advise Craig of that either. She wanted him to back off; maybe this was the way to get him to do it.

“Did you need something?”

“The robbery,” he looked at Shane before looking at her. “It’s getting closer to your store here and I think it might be best if you took better precautions. It’s not very safe to live above your store right now.”

“This is more than my shop; it’s my home and I’m not going anywhere.” Not that she could even if she wanted to. Shane had been right; she couldn’t afford paying to keep up two places. It wasn’t just the mortgage payment issue; there would be utilities for two places, combined with taxes for two places. She just couldn’t afford it right now.

“Well I’d suggest you make sure you can trust your security.”

She hadn’t missed the disapproving tone in his remark. Shane was a darn good security consultant. He had implemented so many changes in her store. There were a few more he wanted to make, but he had to order in some products and his “go to guy” was off on an assignment for another two weeks. She was also thinking of upgrading her monitored security system to something with better security ratings. She didn’t have the worst thing out there right now, but she did have a basic plan per month and now she was thinking she might want to upgrade her package and maybe get some motion sensors too. Maybe she should call Brinks and compare the price with her current outside security monitoring system. Shane wouldn’t be in her store twenty-four hours a day and she was going to need to make sure the system she had kept her safe at night too. She had never really thought much of the basic service package until Shane pointed out all the flaws.

“I’m upgrading my security system within the next week or two, so I think between Shane and Rider Security Systems I’m good to go.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself. I just hope you’re thinking with your head and not something else right now. Hope you know who to trust;” and on that final thought he turned and walked out of her shop, leaving her standing there fuming.

“There are so many things I could have said to him, but I didn’t because none of them would have been ladylike.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. The eye rolling thing had been contagious after all, she mused. Clearly Eve had rubbed off on her there.

“I told you the man wants you.”

“Insulting me is not the way to my heart,” she said in a low, nearly lethal tone. How dare he imply that she was too dumb to think clearly just because of a man?