Page 65 of Return of the Bad Girl (Rock Canyon, Idaho 4)

Gabe’s fist connected with Kyle’s pretty face, and he stumbled back against the railing.

“Gabe!” Caroline screamed, starting up the stairs. “Don’t!”

But he wasn’t going to stop, not until he scared the piss out of the little prick.

“This is the guy, right?” Gabe said, collecting the front of Kyle’s shirt in his hand, ignoring the blood from Kyle’s split lip as it dripped onto his hand.

“I didn’t tell you that,” she said.

“You didn’t have to,” Gabe said, pushing and shoving Kyle down the metal steps. The fact that she hadn’t denied it told him all he needed to know. “Get out of the way, Caroline.”

Though Gabe might have sounded calm, he was anything but. He reached the ground with Kyle and knocked him backward with a hard upper cut. He wanted to see this piece of shit quake in his fancy suit, for him to beg Gabe to stop.

Caroline tried to get between them. “Gabe, you can’t do this. He’s a lawyer, and you have a record! Think about it!”

Gabe’s arms shook with the need to twist Kyle’s neck until it snapped, but her words broke through the fog of rage. He couldn’t go back to prison, not with Honey depending on him. And what would happen to Caroline if he was locked up? If he wasn’t here, would Kyle hurt her?

With one last punch to Kyle’s middle, dropping him to the ground, Gabe stood over him menacingly.

“You stay away from her, do you hear me? Do not come to this house again, or I’ll make s

ure you disappear.”

Kyle groaned and rolled onto his side, coughing. He looked up at them with hatred and rasped, “I’ll be pressing charges.”

“No, you won’t,” Gabe said, rubbing his sore knuckles. “People might start asking questions about what you were doing here, and I doubt Caroline will back you up when the police want an explanation.”

Without waiting for Kyle to say more, Gabe turned to Caroline and put his hand on the small of her back. “Come on.”

She let him gently propel her up the stairs, and when they got through the door, he shut and dead bolted it behind them. Caroline stood by the back of the couch, her shoulders shaking. As Gabe drew closer to her, all his earlier irritation melted away, and he just wanted to comfort her.

Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he pulled her back against him. His palms rubbed her bare skin, and he rocked her. He wanted to ask her again why Kyle was harassing her, but by the quake of her body, he didn’t think she’d be up for talking yet.

It killed him that this strong, beautiful woman didn’t feel like she had anyone she could turn to. Nobody to keep her safe.

But it wasn’t true. And he wished he was the kind of guy to tell her that. That he could be open about what he was feeling, but he wasn’t very good with words. He was the thug, the tough guy who used violence to get his point across.

Apparently, he hadn’t changed as much as he’d thought. He’d lost his head over a threat to his woman, and he’d dealt with it the only way he knew how.

You just called her your woman.

Deep down, it was how he felt. Like she belonged to him. Like she needed him.

And he wanted her to need him.

“It’s okay. You’re safe. You’re all right,” he said, holding her a little tighter.

“I told you not to get involved,” she whimpered, her hands gripping his forearm as she tried to turn around. He loosened his hold enough to let her, and when she faced him, he was surprised by her dark scowl.

“That guy assaulted you,” Gabe said.

“And I’m still standing. Believe me, he’s done worse. But the things he could do to you . . . Gabe, do you really want to go back to prison?”

“That punk is a fucking pussy,” Gabe said, dropping his arms from around her waist. “He’s not going to do shit to me.”

“You don’t know what he’s capable of, especially when someone humiliates him,” Caroline said, taking his hand and bringing his bruised knuckles to her mouth.

He caught his breath at the gentle brush of her lips, his heart hammering. Trying to play it cool, he used his other hand to tilt her chin up, and he studied her face.