Free Criminal Promises by Nikki Duncan Page B

briefed
him, ordered me not to tell you what’s going on.”
    Arguments and demands
danced on her tongue. She chose a different route. “Are my kids in
danger? Is Adalia going to come into my house again? You’re a cop.
What the hell are you doing to stop her?”
    “It’s not that easy,
Mags.”
    Knowing he was right didn’t
settle her. She’d been holding things in, going along, for too
long. His dismissal busted through her reserve and allowed all the
pressure to escape. “It’s plenty easy. I want to know what you
know. Why you thought I needed to be watched. What does she
want?”
    “I don’t have answers for
you.”
    Arrgh . The man could be dense and she was losing her patience in
the glare of his omissions. “You knew she was out. You should have
stopped it. None of this should have happened.”
    His head jerked back as if she’d struck him.
She didn’t care.
    “You could have asked me to stay in the
living room. You could have taken one minute to act civil rather
than acting like a know-it-all jerk ordering me around. Rather than
acting like Detective Pritchett.”
    He worked his mouth like he
was going to say something. She stayed still and shook her head. If
he left, he could take Adalia with him. “You being here is a
mistake.”
    “Too late. You said
yourself I made you feel safer.” Harte stood, towering over her as
he shook his head. “Guess what, sweetheart. I was doing my job in
the living room. I don’t have time for niceties and patting you on
the head like a little kid when there’s danger or a perceived
threat. I want to catch Adalia Wood more than I want to coddle your
feelings. I couldn’t have stopped her today, because it took your
sexy ass too long to come tell me about her. And I am not like
Pritchett.”
    Sexy. Did he mean that? Idiot, that doesn’t
matter right now.
    Rather than cower on the
bench, she stood and stepped forward until her toes bumped his.
Angry heat bounced off him, but she refused to give in. “You think
today was my fault?”
    “Maybe you could have
acted quicker.”
    “Maybe you could have told
me what was going on so I could have been on the look out. I
would’ve known who she was so I could react faster!”
    “You—”
    “Couldn’t have done
anything any differently!” She shoved him back a step. “I stepped
into the hallway and saw a silhouetted woman I didn’t get a good
look at until it was too late. What was I supposed to do, magically
transport myself to you while barricading her retreat?”
    “Maggie—”
    “My sister and daughter
were in the next room. She was in the car before I figured out who
she was. My priorities were dead on.” She bit her tongue to keep
herself from voicing the colorful string of four-letter words that
would help nothing. But he was wrong.
    “Here’s the long and short
of it, Mags. You agreed to my living here.” His voice quieted to
normal. His eyes softened. “You wanted to feel safer. I’ll make
sure you are.”
    “Your presence didn’t stop
her from waltzing in the front door.”
    “No, but it will not
happen again.” Confidence rode his deep-timbered growl.
    Her anger drained as fast
as it had built to a boil. Her temper was hot, but generally
subsided quickly. “Does she want me dead?”
    “If she doesn’t get what
she wants.”
    “What does she
want?”
    “Not sure.”
    “You know more than you’re
telling.”
    “And I’ll no doubt piss
you off again before I have it all figured out. If I notice
something off I probably won’t take the time to ask you politely to
do something.” He held up a hand when she opened her mouth. “But
I’ll try to give you as much of an explanation as I
can.”
    “Start with what you found
in the office?”
    “No.”
    “Why?”
    “It only raises more
questions. Potentially painful ones.”
    “Maybe I could help you
answer them.”
    “No.”
    She stepped around the
immovable mass of man in front of her and paced the floor. “You
treat this like a