Betrayal of the Dove (Men of Action) by Capri Montgomery Page B

called.
     
    She wished Eve was back in the Sates, but ultimately, she was just grateful that she had made it out of Ireland alive. Thomas had called and told her what Blaine had told him. He was not happy about the situation by any means, but they all knew there wasn’t much they could do about it. Eve was her own woman and she seemed determined to put herself in the path of hell at any chance she got. London was safe—relatively anyway. While she didn’t want her to move there, she knew there was a chance she would.
     
    The store phone rung and this time she answered it in the professional way she should answer it, even if she was getting increasingly frustrated over present circumstances that was no excuse to answer the phone with a one word irritable “what,” thrown out there.
     
    “Hey big sis,” Eve said so sweetly and with an English accent on top of that. She imagined her sister was prepping for the big move—or trying to prep her for it. They were close. As the only girls in the family they had to be. Although, Eve had been blessed with her connection to Thomas. She was closer to him than she was anybody. She was always so cute hanging on to him too. Alyssa hadn’t really had that connection. She loved her brothers, but she never had what Eve and Thomas had with each other—that deep blood bond that seemed unbreakable. Eve was family all the way, while Alyssa was the independent rider. She loved her family, but she had no problem moving west after high school. She didn’t want to stick around in a city that she practically hated living in. So, family or not, she packed her car and hit the road. She kept in touch with everybody, but it wasn’t the same as Eve and Thomas’ relationship.
     
    “I take it you got my message.”
     
    “Yeah, you sound jittery. I don’t think I’ve heard you like this since…hmmm…your first date with Jarrod Womack. Oh yeah, I remember that.”
     
    Alyssa laughed. “He was the hottest guy in my class; of course I was nervous,” she said. “Thanks for calling me back. I probably sound like a complete idiot right now, but I’m nervous. I have to show up there Monday morning for the nine o’clock hearing and my attorney tells me I’m in with one of the toughest judges in the state. Not just the city, Eve; the entire state. What’s up with that?”
     
    “You’ll be fine. I know you. You’re my big sister. You’re the woman who packed her car and moved across country without anybody’s permission. You’re the woman who punched Morris Fischer in the nose because he pushed me down in the mud, and he was about three times your size in weight and probably almost that in height,” she laughed. “You kick butt.”
     
    Alyssa laughed. She was the shortest in the family and they never really let her forget it, not that she could anyway. Her brothers towered over her. Eve wasn’t so bad, but she was still taller. “Anybody messes with my sister and they deal with me,” she said. It didn’t matter how big anybody was she was not going to stand by and let anybody hurt her sister. “But this is different. I don’t think I can get away with punching this guy in the nose…or the judge for that matter.”
     
    “I don’t think so either.” She laughed. “Otherwise I’ll have to bail you out of jail.”
     
    “From London? Yeah, that might not work so well.” She shook her head as she put a piece of jewelry back in the case and locked it. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to close the shop. I’m already closed on Sunday. Monday is one of my busiest days, and now I have to close. I hate that. Why couldn’t they pick Tuesday, when it’s near dead in here anyway? They picked Monday. That’s a good seven thousand in sales stopped at the door. I wonder if I can counter sue him,” she mused. If she won maybe she should sue him for making her lose revenue, and her sanity too because she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep or a peaceful day’s thought