For His Brother's Wife
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Kathie DeNosky
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19,6K
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10
One
Colby Richardson—Cole to his friends and family—pushed his wide-brimmed Resistol back on his head and muttered a word he normally reserved for dire circumstances and locker room banter as he stood in the feedlot of the Double R Ranch and surveyed the damage to the outbuildings. His gaze strayed to the empty space where, up until six months ago, the main barn had stood. The debris had been cleared away, but it did little to erase the memory of seeing the barn he and his brother used to play in reduced to a pile of broken boards and splintered beams. The deadly twister that had leveled parts of downtown Royal, Texas, and several other small communities close by had skipped its way across the west Texas landscape, laying waste to everything in its path—including part of his family’s ranch.
Glancing over his shoulder at the ranch house, he shook his head as he amended that thought. It didn’t belong to his family anymore. When their father passed away a few years back, the ranch had gone to Cole’s twin brother, Craig. Now it belonged to Craig’s widow, Paige.
He sighed heavily as guilt and regret settled over him. He had always hoped that one day he and his estranged twin would be able to put the anger and resentment aside and, at the very least, establish a semblance of a relationship. After all, they were only thirty-two. There should have been plenty of time for that. But when the tornado tore its way through the area, his brother’s time had run out, and with his passing any possibility of reconciliation between them had been brought to an end.
The devastation and loss of property were one thing, but the death of Craig—along with six other souls at the Royal town hall that day—was another. Cole and his business partner, Aaron Nichols, had used their Dallas-based construction company to help rebuild the town and make repairs to damaged property. But there wasn’t a damned thing anyone could do to bring back the lives that had been lost. He wished with everything that was in him that there was.
Taking a deep breath, Cole unclipped the cell phone on his belt. He had put off making the repairs to the Double R long enough. The construction crew he had assigned to rebuild the Lone Star Bar and Grill would complete that job by the end of the day and could start on the repairs to the Double R first thing in the morning.
As he relayed the work order to the crew foreman and clipped the phone back onto his belt, he watched his sister-in-law leave the house and start across the yard toward him. A knot the size of his fist twisted his gut. The moment he’d learned about the tornado and Craig’s death, he had rushed back to his hometown to do whatever he could to help Royal recover and to help Paige get through making the funeral arrangements for his brother. Right away it had become apparent that he’d have to keep his interaction with her brief and he knew she had to be confused by the strained encounters. But he hadn’t anticipated the effect she still had on him.
The first time he’d laid eyes on her in his senior year of high school, Cole had been fascinated with her. Tall and willowy, she moved like a graceful dancer, and as he watched her walk toward him now, he found himself just as captivated as the day they’d first met. The slight breeze played with her long auburn hair and he couldn’t help but wonder how the soft wavy strands would feel as he ran his fingers through them.
“I didn’t realize you were coming by today, Cole,” Paige said, smiling as she walked up to him. She used the name his family called him and it suddenly occurred to him, she was the only family he had left.
Shaking his head to dispel the last traces of his ridiculous introspection, Cole forced himself to concentrate on the reason for his visit to the Double R. “I’ve scheduled one of the R&N work crews to start rebuilding your barn and making repairs to the other outbuildings first thing in the morning.”
“Have the construction crews you brought with you from Dallas finished all of the work on the other projects first?” she asked. She had been adamant that the repairs the Double R needed could wait until permanent housing for the displaced families who had lost everything during the storm had been taken care of. Her selflessness hadn’t surprised him in the least.
He nodded. “Aaron is in charge of overseeing those crews, but he assured me the last of the houses R&N Builders are contracted to rebuild will be finished by the end of the month.”
“Good.” She shaded her pretty gray eyes from the midafternoon sun with one delicate hand. “Stella and I were talking the other day about how important it is to get the families back into homes of their own and reestablish a sense of permanence and normalcy,” she said, referring to Stella Daniels, the town’s acting mayor and his business partner’s new wife. “Children need that sense of belonging after what they’ve been through and all they’ve lost.”
Cole detected the compassion in her tone. One of her most compelling and attractive traits had always been her thoughtfulness for others and he realized she hadn’t changed much over the years. Paige was still the considerate, caring woman with a mile-wide soft spot for kids she had been in high school. It was a real shame that she hadn’t had any children of her own. When she’d married his brother, she’d been pregnant. Unfortunately, she had miscarried only a few weeks later and, to Cole’s knowledge, she’d never become pregnant again. He fleetingly wondered why, but he wasn’t about to ask. Cole had never been one to pry and he wasn’t about to start now. What had happened between Paige and Craig during their ten-year marriage was their business, not his.
Not knowing much about what little kids needed, Cole nodded. “I guess it’s important for them to feel that security.”
“I think we all need that,” she agreed, smiling sadly. “But especially after the tornado tore up everything familiar to us.”
“How are you doing?” he asked, barely resisting the urge to put his arms around her for a comforting hug. It had to be extremely hard for her to lose her husband at such a young age and in such an unexpected way.
“I’m okay,” she said, her gaze straying to the distant horizon. “In the past several years, Craig had had to go out of town on business a lot, so I’m used to spending time alone. But I always knew he would eventually be coming back home.” Turning to meet his gaze head-on, she added, “It’s knowing that won’t ever happen and that I’m truly alone in the world that’s the most difficult to deal with.”
“I know it’s been a big adjustment.” Cole stated the obvious.
He wasn’t sure what kind of business Craig had been involved in that would require a cattle rancher to make frequent trips out of town. But then he didn’t know much about his brother’s life beyond the fact that he belonged to the Texas Cattleman’s Club—the same as Cole and most of their friends. Cole had even convinced Aaron to join the Dallas chapter after they had become friends and gone into business together. The connections they had made through their involvement with the TCC, as well as their reputation for excellence in quality and value, had helped propel R&N Builders to become one of the premier construction companies in the state.
They remained silent for several long moments before Paige glanced toward his truck. “Did you bring your things with you?”
“No, I’ll just stay at the Cozy Inn,” Cole answered, shrugging. “I have to get up pretty early and I wouldn’t want to disturb you.”
When he’d returned to Royal six months ago, Paige had offered for him to stay at the ranch while he was in town, but he had declined. He’d told her that it would be easier for him to stay close to the job sites where his construction crews worked. But the real reason he had stayed in Royal instead of at the ranch was due to the attraction he still felt whenever he was around her.
Paige gave him one of those looks that a woman gives a man when she thinks he’s being overly obtuse. “Think about it, Cole. I live on a working cattle ranch. I get up before dawn every morning to give the hired hands a list of things I want done for the day.”
“Don’t you have a foreman to do that?” he asked, frowning.
“I do, but he’s still dealing with his injuries from the tornado.” She shook her head. “He was in the barn when the storm moved through and it’s a miracle he survived. I assured him that he would have a job once he recovered, so I’m taking over for him until he’s able to return to work.”
“Couldn’t you have one of the other men act as foreman until he recovers?” Cole asked.
“I could have, but with Craig gone I need to stay busy,” she answered. “Besides, I want to learn more about managing the ranch since I’m going to be running it alone.”
“You could always sell out and move into town,” he suggested.
She looked directly at him. “I did think about it. But this is my home now and I prefer the country quiet over the sounds of a busy town.”
Cole couldn’t fault her for that. He had grown up on the ranch and when he’d gone away to college, it had taken him most of his first semester to get used to the noise of a bustling campus. Now, living in Dallas, he spent most of his weekends in a fishing cabin on a nearby lake just to get a little peace and quiet.
“Living in town would be closer to the charities you’re involved in,” he said, shrugging.
He hadn’t discussed anything about her future plans with her since Craig’s death. For one thing, he had made sure not to spend too much time with her once it became clear he was still attracted to her. And for another, it really wasn’t any of his business what decisions she made or where she lived.
“And staying here at the ranch instead of driving back and forth to the Cozy Inn would be closer for you while your work crew rebuilds my barn and makes the repairs to the outbuildings,” she shot back. “You said yourself that you liked to be close to the job sites you’re in charge of overseeing. You couldn’t get any closer to the job than staying here.”
He hadn’t expected her to turn the tables on him and use his excuse not to stay at the ranch against him. “I wouldn’t want to impose,” he hedged.
She shook her head. “That’s ridiculous, Cole. This was your home long before it was mine.”
Cole didn’t want to go into the fact that he really hadn’t missed the home he grew up in. He had too many memories of the altercations he had been in with Craig to be overly sentimental about it.
“But it’s your home now,” he countered.
“And I’m inviting you to stay here,” she said, giving him a smile that caused every one of his male senses to go on high alert. “It will give us the chance to catch up.”
As he stared at her, Cole realized that he’d run out of plausible excuses. He couldn’t tell her the real reason behind his reluctance to stay at the ranch with her. She would probably think he was crazy, and to tell the truth, he really couldn’t say she would be all that far off the mark. It was absolutely insane to be so damned attracted to his late brother’s wife.
Resigned, he finally nodded. “All right.” He turned toward his truck. “I’ll bring my things with me tomorrow morning when we start the job.”
“Would you like to stay for dinner?” she asked, walking beside him.
“Thanks for the offer, but Stella has a town council meeting and I promised I’d meet Aaron for dinner at the TCC clubhouse to discuss business.” He felt guilty when he noticed the disappointment she couldn’t quite cover with her smile.
“Okay, then I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” she said, turning toward the house.
“I’ll be here for the next couple of weeks or so,” he felt compelled to tell her. Maybe knowing it wouldn’t be just a night or two would change her mind about having a houseguest for such an extended period. “Before I leave to go back to Dallas, you’ll probably get tired of looking at me over the dinner table.”
His words didn’t seem to discourage her. If anything, her smile brightened. “I’ll plan on making something special for dinner tomorrow evening to welcome you back home.”
Cole’s guilt at avoiding her the past six months increased tenfold as he watched her walk up the back porch steps to enter the house. He knew Paige had to be lonely. Her parents had both passed several years ago, and with Craig gone, charity work could only go so far to fill in the empty hours of a day. She was obviously anticipating having someone to talk to for a change.
Climbing into his truck, Cole started the engine and drove down the lane to the main road. The next few weeks were going to be a true test of his fortitude. From the time he’d seen her walking down the hall at Royal High School all those years ago, he had wanted nothing more than to make her his girl. But it was too late for that. She had married his brother and, even though he and his twin had never gotten along and hadn’t spoken in more than ten years, Cole wasn’t about to disrespect Craig’s memory or his marriage to Paige.
* * *
The following morning when Paige got out of bed, she found that she looked forward to starting her day for the first time in longer than she cared to remember. What she had told Cole yesterday afternoon had been all too true. Craig had been away on business several nights out of each month for their entire marriage, but she had always known he would be returning home. And even though they had stopped sharing the same bed a few years ago due to Craig’s restlessness while he slept, she had taken comfort in the fact that she wasn’t alone—that he was just down the hall in the master suite. But the finality of his death not only forced her to face the fact that she had been lonely for a very long time, but also made her realize that their marriage had never been what she had wanted it to be.
She sighed as she walked into the bathroom for a quick shower. Maybe their relationship would have been different if circumstances had been less stressful when they’d gotten married and she hadn’t lost the baby. But she’d had very little control of the situation. The minute Craig’s father had learned she was pregnant, he had insisted that Craig do the right thing and marry her immediately. Her parents had been older and very conservative and the news of their only child being pregnant out of wedlock had broken their hearts. That was why when they urged her to accept Craig’s awkwardly worded offer of marriage—she hadn’t wanted to disappoint them further and agreed.
Unfortunately, only a few short weeks after she became Craig’s wife, she’d lost the baby and had been unable to become pregnant since. She supposed she could have requested they end the marriage and go their separate ways. But she had made a lifetime commitment when she’d recited her wedding vows and she had been determined to be a good wife to Craig, even though they hadn’t been in love.
As she finished drying her hair, Paige decided not to dwell on the past. Craig was gone and, although they might not have had the closeness she had always wanted for their marriage, they’d had a comfortable life together and gotten along well. That was more than some couples could say.
She went downstairs to the kitchen and started the coffeemaker. As she looked out the window above the sink, she noticed that Cole’s truck was parked close to where the barn used to be. “When he says he gets up early, he means it,” she murmured aloud. The pearl-gray light of dawn hadn’t fully given way to the rising sun and Cole had already arrived and was ready to start work.
When the coffeemaker finished, she poured two cups of the steaming brew and left the house. She walked down to where Cole stood looking at a set of blueprints. “I thought you might need some of this,” she said, handing him one of the cups.
“Thanks.” He smiled as he took it from her. “Since most of the jobs I’ve been in charge of are on the opposite side of Royal, I couldn’t see any sense in driving all the way across town and back every morning for coffee at the diner.” Taking a sip, he nodded his approval. “This is the best coffee I’ve had in the past six months.”
“Doesn’t the Cozy Inn have coffeemakers in their rooms?” she asked.
He grimaced. “They do, but either I’ve been doing something wrong or they need to find a different brand of coffee packets.”
“Well, you’ll at least have decent coffee while you’re here at the ranch,” she said, taking a sip from her own mug.
“About that...” He hesitated. “I’m not sure it would be appropriate for me to stay here.”
She frowned. “Why on earth would you say that? There’s nothing improper about you staying here. This ranch has been in your family for five generations.”
He stared at her for several long moments before he finally nodded. “I guess you have a point.”
“I know I do,” she stated firmly. “Did you check out of the Cozy Inn?”
“I have to go back into Royal to meet with the crew working on rebuilding the hospital wing that collapsed during the storm.” He shrugged. “I’ll check out then and bring my things with me.”
The sound of a big truck had both of them turning to see a semi pulling a trailer full of lumber coming up the lane, followed closely by three R&N Builders pickup trucks. “It looks like it’s time for me to go back to the house and let you all get started on my barn.”
Cole handed her his empty cup. “Thanks for the coffee.”
His hand brushed hers, and a pleasant tingling sensation zinged up her arm. “I—I’ll have your room ready when you get back from town.”
As she walked back to the house, she felt Cole’s gaze following her as surely as if he’d touched her. Climbing the back porch steps, she entered the kitchen and took a deep breath. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so insistent that Cole stay with her on the Double R, she thought as she set his cup on the counter. When she had been in high school, she’d had a huge crush on him. Perhaps it hadn’t completely disappeared.
Thinking back, she could have sworn he had been just as smitten with her. But the one time he had asked her out, she’d had to explain that she wasn’t allowed to date until she was finished with school. He had assured her that he would ask her out when he came home from college for the summer after she’d graduated. But he had apparently forgotten his promise and stayed at the university to take a couple of summer classes. By the end of summer, Craig had charmed her into going out with him instead and the following spring they had gotten married. The only time she had seen Cole after that had been when his and Craig’s father had passed away.
She poured herself another cup of coffee and sank into one of the chairs at the table. The tension between the brothers at the funeral had been palpable and she never had learned why they were at such odds. She’d thought twins, even fraternal ones like Craig and Cole, were supposed to be close and share a bond that defied logic. But the Richardson brothers were as different as night and day. Whereas Craig had been outgoing and filled with restless energy, Cole was quieter and had a calming air about him. And the contrast didn’t end with their personalities.
They looked absolutely nothing alike. Cole had beautiful dark green eyes, was a couple of inches over six feet tall and had a muscular build and straight, light brown hair. Shorter by at least three inches, Craig had pale green eyes, wavy, dark blond hair, and had been on the thin side. Both men were extremely handsome but in different ways. Craig’s features were classic and he always looked as if he’d stepped right out of the pages of GQ magazine. But Cole had that rugged appeal that sent shivers up a woman’s spine and had her imagining how it would feel to be in the arms of all that raw masculinity.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she shook her head as she rose to put their coffee cups in the dishwasher. She had no idea where that had come from, but it definitely wasn’t something she intended to give further thought. She wasn’t looking to find herself in the arms of any man, let alone Cole Richardson. Even though he was nothing like Craig, she had spent ten years with one Richardson brother and that had been enough to last her for quite some time.
* * *
Cole waited until the work crew left at the end of the day to move his things from his truck into the Double R ranch house. He wasn’t looking forward to the next couple of weeks—especially after his reaction when his hand had brushed Paige’s that morning as he’d passed her his empty coffee cup. If just that slight contact could cause his heart to stall and a fine sheen of sweat to bead on his forehead, what kind of hell would he go through being in such close proximity with her day in and day out?
Pulling his luggage from the back section of the club cab, he slowly walked toward the house. He hadn’t been in the Double R ranch house in well over ten years and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to go inside now. The memory of the night he’d left the ranch for good was an ugly one and had resulted in him severing all ties with his twin. They had managed to be civil with each other for their father’s funeral a few years ago, but just barely. As soon as the service had ended, he had gone back to Dallas and, although Craig had started emailing him in the year or two before his death, Cole had deleted the messages unread. He hadn’t been interested in anything his brother had had to say.
“I’ve got your room ready for you,” Paige said, opening the door as he climbed the porch steps.
“Lead the way.” He took a deep, fortifying breath as he stepped across the threshold and hung his black hat on a peg beside the door.
Cole did his best not to notice the slight sway of her hips as she preceded him down the hall to the circular stairs in the foyer, and he concentrated on looking around the house he grew up in. With the exception of some colorful Southwestern art on the walls, the house looked much the same as it always had. One of the terra cotta tiles at the foot of the steps had a hairline crack from the wear and tear of five generations of Richardson boys’ roughhousing, and the honey oak banister still had nicks from where he and his brother had tried sliding down the thin rail.
“What’s so amusing?” Paige asked as they started up the stairs.
Lost in the memories, he hadn’t even realized he was smiling. “I was just thinking about the time I tried sliding down this rail and ended up wearing a cast on my arm for six weeks.”
She grinned. “Not such a good idea?”
“Well, it had seemed like it at the time,” he said, chuckling. “But I was only ten and quickly found out that it wasn’t.”
When they reached the second floor she showed him to the room closest to the stairs—his room when he’d lived here. “I hope you don’t mind, but I boxed up the things you left behind several years ago and put them in a closet in Craig’s...in the office just off the family room.”
“You should have just thrown them away,” he said, setting his suitcase on the bench at the end of the bed. He was surprised Craig hadn’t insisted on her disposing of everything he had left behind. “I really wouldn’t have cared.”
“I couldn’t do that. They weren’t mine to get rid of.” Shaking her head, she opened the curtains to let the late-afternoon sun brighten the room. “There were several sports trophies and medals. You earned those in high school, and I thought you might eventually want them.”
“I’ll go through the box while I’m here to see if there’s anything I want to keep,” he finally said, swallowing hard. Backlit by the sunshine coming through the window, she looked absolutely gorgeous, and if he hadn’t already realized the extent of the attraction he still felt for her before, he sure as hell did now. Her dark auburn hair seemed to glow with shades of red and gold and emphasized her flawless peaches-and-cream complexion.
They stared at each other for several seconds before she started toward the door. “I’d better check on dinner. It should be ready in about twenty minutes if you’d like to wash up.”
“Yeah, I’ll be down as soon as I shower and change clothes.”
When she pulled the door shut behind her, Cole took a deep breath, turned to get a clean set of clothes from his luggage and then headed toward the adjoining bathroom. It was going to cost him a fortune in overtime and his work crew was probably going to end up despising him for it, but he was going to push them to get the Double R job finished in record time. His peace of mind depended on it and for a couple of different reasons.
At one time the Double R ranch house had been his home, but there were too many unpleasant memories of the clashes he’d had with his twin for Cole to be comfortable staying there. When they were growing up, he had dismissed Craig’s narcissism and need to win as just being overly competitive. But when his brother had involved others—unconcerned if they got hurt in his game of one-upmanship—Cole had quickly realized Craig was driven by a dark side that seemed to be directed exclusively toward him.
As he finished his shower and pulled on a clean shirt and jeans, Cole gritted his teeth when he thought of their last confrontation. Before he’d had a chance to ask Paige out, Craig had somehow figured out the extent of the attraction Cole had for her and it was as if he had thrown down a gauntlet that Craig quickly picked up. When Craig had taunted him with his intentions of bedding her before Cole had the opportunity to ask her out, they had come to blows. Cole had even tried to divert his twin from his mission by telling him that he was no longer interested in Paige. But it hadn’t worked and the next thing he knew, Paige was pregnant and she and his brother were getting married.
Taking a deep breath, Cole tried to release the rage that still gripped him whenever he thought of the callous way Craig had used Paige. It was one thing for his twin to come after him, but when his brother had involved her in his vindictive game, Craig had crossed a line. In Cole’s opinion, it was unforgivable.
But that was ancient history now. His window of opportunity with her had closed long ago. No matter what lengths Craig had gone to in order to win Paige, Cole had to accept the fact that she had remained with his brother for more than a decade. That had to mean they had been committed to their marriage, and whether or not he and his twin had gotten along, Cole was bound to honor that.
