Montana D-Force (Brotherhood Protectors Book 3) by Elle James Page A

married last August. She had it all planned, the venue chosen, bridesmaids lined up and a dress purchased.
    The pain in the man’s face was more than Mia could take. She touched his arm and asked, “What happened?”
    His lips twisted. “I don’t know. One day she was happy and excited about the wedding.” Phillip’s head dipped. “The next moment, she was dead.”
    Mia gasped and pressed her fingers to her mouth. She didn’t know what she expected him to say, but dead wasn’t it. “What happened?”
    Phillip looked up and away. “I wish I knew. Maybe the stress of wedding planning got to her. I thought we had it together. We had a plan. Then she was gone.”
    “I’m so sorry,” Mia said.
    “I just wish I’d known she wasn’t happy. I’d have done anything to change that, even give her up, if that’s what she’d wanted. I just wish I’d seen the signs.”
    “Signs?” Mia frowned. “Was she ill?”
    Phillip nodded. “Allyson committed suicide.”
    Mia’s heart seemed to hit the bottom of her belly like a solid lead weight. Pretty Allyson Severs, with her dark hair and bright blue eyes, had always had a smile on her face. How could anyone so happy hide such darkness inside?
    Mia paid for the boards, nails, screws and paint and left the hardware store, her heart heavy. As Bear pulled out on the road, Mia pointed. “Go right at the first road.”
    “Where are we going?” Bear asked.
    “To the cemetery,” Mia said. “I haven’t been there since the funeral last year.” She turned away from Bear and stared out the window as tears slipped down her cheeks.
    It wasn’t as if she’d expected coming home would be easy. She’d come, knowing it would be hard.

5
    B ear parked the truck in a gravel parking lot across the street from a small wooden church. A wrought-iron fence surrounded a cemetery filled with grave markers and headstones with the names of people who’d been a part of the Eagle Rock community as far back as the eighteen-hundreds.
    Mia sat staring at the view out the window of the pickup, her cheeks streaked with tears.
    Bear’s chest squeezed. He knew the pain of losing loved ones. He and his army brothers had been through so much together. When one died, the others grieved. Bear never forgot the faces of his fallen brothers.
    Staring at the cemetery reminded him of those men who’d died and the families who’d been there to receive the caskets draped in U.S flags.
    Forcing back the raw emotion threatening to overwhelm him, Bear eased out of the truck. His leg ached, but he didn’t let it slow him down as he rounded the front of the vehicle and opened Mia’s door.
    When she didn’t move, he waited patiently.
    Then she turned and slid down, her foot missing the running board. She would have fallen if Bear hadn’t held out his arms and caught her, pulling her against his chest as he staggered backward, unsteadily. When he had his balance, he loosened his hold and stared down into her face.
    “Thanks.” Mia swept her hair back from her face, and then laid her hands on his arms. “I’ve got this.”
    Bear released her and let her lead the way through the headstones. He followed ten feet behind, giving her the space she seemed to need.
    Mia wandered through the rows, pausing briefly at a large headstone with the names Harvey and Lois Chastain inscribed. Based on the dates the couple had lived, they would have been Mia’s paternal grandparents. She ran her hand over the smooth granite and moved on, coming to a halt near the back of the graveyard. This row didn’t stretch all of the way to the end like the others had.
    Stopping at a pink and gray granite headstone, the second on the row, Mia dropped to her knees and stared at the names.
    Bear leaned against a tree and let Mia have the time to visit the graves of her beloved parents. She murmured something to their ghosts, more tears trickling down her cheeks. Then she stretched out, lying face-down across the grass.
    Bear started