For His Brother's Wife

“If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go upstairs for a quick shower and some dry clothes,” he said, deciding to make a hasty exit before he did something stupid like wrap his arms around her and kiss her senseless.

She smiled as if she might be happy to have him out from underfoot. “Take your time. Dinner won’t be ready for another hour.”

“When I come back downstairs I’ll help you finish up,” he offered.

“That would be nice, but don’t feel that you have to,” she said, sounding a little breathless.

He nodded and, without another word, walked down the hall, climbed the stairs and entered his bedroom. With his pulse hammering in his ears, Cole made a beeline for the shower, stripped off his clothes and stepped beneath the refreshing spray.

As the warm water washed over him, he scrunched his eyes shut, let his head fall back and tried to come to terms with what he’d just discovered. Staring into Paige’s crystalline gray eyes, he had detected the same awareness he was certain was reflected in his own. And if he’d had any doubt about what he’d seen, the breathlessness he had heard in her voice convinced him that she was feeling the same magnetic pull he was.

So what was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to resist that? After all, he was a man with a man’s needs, not a hapless eunuch. But giving in to his feelings wasn’t an option, either. He and Craig might not have gotten along in life, but Cole was determined not to denigrate his brother’s memory by putting the moves on Craig’s wife such a short time after his death.

Cole’s first and probably best option would be to leave the Double R as fast as he could. But where would he go?

He was certain his room at the Cozy Inn had already been taken. They only had so many, and with the influx of workers there to rebuild the town needing a place to stay, the owners had a waiting list for their rooms, along with every other hotel or motel in the area. And crashing at Aaron Nichols’s place was out of the question. Even though he and his wife had just moved into a beautiful new home in one of Royal’s exclusive subdivisions, Aaron and Stella were newlyweds. There was no way Cole was going to intrude on their time together.

The only other option he had was to stay on the ranch, hope the weather cooperated enough for him to work his ass off and get the job done as quickly as possible. Then he intended to get back to Dallas as fast as his truck could take him.

Gritting his teeth against the heat building in his lower belly, Cole reached out and turned the warm water into an icy spray. The next couple of weeks stretched out before him like a life sentence, and he was going to have to fight with everything in him to keep from acting on the attraction. But he was determined to do the right thing or die trying.

* * *

After a rather silent dinner, Paige poured herself and Cole a cup of coffee. “Would you like to go out on the porch to have our coffee while we talk about my studio?”

“Isn’t it a little chilly for that?” he asked as he accepted the mug she handed him.

“I have a jacket,” she said, laughing. “Besides, I love listening to the falling rain. It’s very calming.”

She omitted the fact that she needed the wide-open feel of being outside in the hope of easing some of the tension between them. With Cole in residence, the normally spacious two-story house felt a whole lot smaller and made her more aware than ever of the attraction still simmering between them. She might have been able to ignore it if she hadn’t seen the heightened awareness in his eyes that afternoon when he’d helped her remove the cake from the oven. But all it had taken was one look and she knew they were both dancing around on thin ice.

“Here, let me help you with that,” he said, setting his coffee on the counter when she reached for her denim jacket on one of the pegs beside the back door.

When he took her jacket from her, Cole’s hand brushed hers, sending a delightful tingle up her arm. “I—I was just going to throw it around me,” she stammered.

Nodding, he stepped behind her to gently drape the garment over her shoulders. His hand seemed to linger a little longer than was necessary, and it was all she could do to keep from leaning her head to the side to lay her cheek against the back of it.

“Ready?” he asked, picking up his coffee mug. When she nodded, he reached around her to open the door. “Ladies first.”

As they walked out onto the porch and sat down in the swing, Paige realized she’d made a serious error in judgment. She hadn’t even considered how intimate it would feel as the sun went down and the dark night enveloped them.

“Besides the floor and another wall of windows, what do you want done to your studio?” he asked, setting the swing into motion.

“Would it be a lot of trouble to add a couple of cabinets for storing paints and canvas?” she asked, happy to focus on something besides the man seated on the other end of the swing.

“It wouldn’t be any trouble at all.” He took a sip of his coffee. “In fact, we could even add a sink for cleanup if you want.”

She liked the idea, but she wasn’t sure how difficult that would be. “Wouldn’t that be a lot more work adding the extra plumbing?”

Cole shook his head. “Not really. The north wall already has water and drain pipes running inside of it for the half bath on the other side. It’s just a matter of tapping into those.”

Enthused by the way the plans were shaping up, Paige set her coffee cup on the small wicker table beside the swing and turned to face him. “That would be fantastic. Since I mostly work with acrylics and watercolors, I’ll be able to rinse and clean brushes without having to leave the room and run the risk of dripping paint on something.”

“It’s nice to see you’re excited about it.” His smile caused a tiny flutter in the pit of her stomach. “And I’m glad I’m able to help make it happen.”

Suddenly self-conscious, Paige laughed nervously as she sat back in the swing to stare down at her hands. “I’m sorry. You probably think it’s silly for a grown woman to be this enthusiastic about something as commonplace as redecorating a room.”

He placed one index finger under her chin to lift her head until her gaze met his. “Not at all. Why would you think that?”

“I suppose it’s because I’ve never done something like this before,” she admitted. “Craig liked the way the house was and discouraged me whenever I mentioned wanting to change anything about it.”

Cole’s only reaction was a slight narrowing of his dark green eyes. “It’s your house now, Paige. You can do whatever you want with it.” His touch and the gentle tone of his deep voice sent a shiver up her spine and made her more aware than ever that there was still a spark between them.

Before she realized what was happening, Cole leaned forward to brush her lips with his. When he lifted his head, he seemed to search her face for a moment before he set his coffee cup beside hers on the wicker table, then took her into his arms.

Unable to find her voice, she simply watched as he lowered his head again to fuse their mouths. The feel of his lips as he slowly, methodically acquainted himself with hers was as erotic as anything she had ever experienced. Of course, she had only kissed one other man in her entire life, and although her late husband’s kisses had been pleasant, they hadn’t been anything like Cole’s. Warm and pleasantly firm, Cole’s lips caressed hers in a way that made her feel as if he was worshipping her.

When he softly traced her mouth with his tongue, then coaxed her to open for him, Paige couldn’t have denied him access if her life depended on it. As she parted her lips, her heart beat double time and at his first gentle stroking of her inner recesses, she felt as if she would melt into a puddle. When his arms tightened around her, Paige automatically wrapped hers around him and held on as the feel of his strong body pressed to hers sent shivers of longing straight up her spine.

The unexpected sensation jolted her back to reality and quickly had her pulling away from him. Had she lost her mind? Cole was her late husband’s brother and the last man she should be shivering over.

Cole immediately released her and, muttering a curse, got up from the swing. Walking over to the porch rail, he kept his back to her and remained silent.

Unsure of what else to do, she rose to her feet and picked up their coffee cups from the wicker table. “I...um, I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll go ahead and turn in for the night.”

As she started to open the back door, he finally spoke. “I’m sorry, Paige. I was way out of line. It won’t happen again.”

“It...wasn’t entirely...your fault,” she said honestly as she continued into the house.

After placing their cups in the dishwasher, she went straight upstairs to her room. Why did she feel so confused about Cole kissing her?

She had known what he intended to do when he set his coffee cup down and took her into his arms. He’d given her ample time to resist, but she hadn’t made a single move to stop him. Why not?

Lowering herself to the side of the bed, she shook her head. She knew exactly why she hadn’t protested. The truth of the matter was, she had wanted him to kiss her. And a part of her wished that he hadn’t stopped.

Paige took a deep breath. Had she been so lonely that she fell into the arms of the first man who showed her the slightest bit of attention? Or was it the identity of the man that was responsible for her atypical behavior?

She suspected it might just be a combination of both.

Three

After spending a second sleepless night thinking about the woman across the hall, Cole was bone tired and more than a little irritable. Half of the crew was down with food poisoning from grabbing dinner out of a vending machine at a gas station the night before, everything on the build was taking twice as long because of their absence and the weather was threatening to end the workday early again. The only thing that seemed to have gone right the entire morning was his managing to get up and leave the house without running into Paige.

“Larry, watch what the hell you’re doing!” Cole shouted as the man barely missed hitting another one of the workers in the head with a board.

When Larry Martin turned to give him a questioning look, Cole immediately noticed his pallor. A ghost couldn’t have had less color. “Did you get a sandwich out of that vending machine last night like the others?” Cole asked.

Larry nodded. “We all had the egg salad sandwiches.”

“What about you two?” Cole asked, turning to the other men.

“No way, boss.” Harold Jenkins grinned. “Me and Terry had better sense.”

“Yeah, we went through the drive-through at the Moo & Cackle and got a healthy meal,” Terry Goodman chimed in. “We both had the macho man burger, a basket of chili cheese fries and a large chocolate milkshake.”

“I’m glad you didn’t decide on something unhealthy,” Cole said drily.

“I think I’m dying,” Larry complained, holding his stomach.

“Go ahead and pack it in for today,” Cole said, resigned to the fact that with the majority of his crew out sick there was no way they could get anything else done on the build. “One of you call me in the morning to let me know how many of you are able to work.”

While Harold and Terry loaded tools into the truck, Cole rolled up the blueprints. “Larry, I want you and the other three who ate from that vending machine to go to the urgent care clinic at Royal Memorial Hospital,” he said, placing the barn plans in the seat of his truck. “R&N Builders will pay for the visit and whatever medication the doctor prescribes.”

“Thanks...boss,” Larry said, sounding worse by the minute.

“But do me a favor. Don’t eat egg salad out of a vending machine again,” Cole advised.

“I don’t think...I’ll ever eat...again,” Larry moaned.

If he felt as bad as he looked, Cole couldn’t say he blamed the man. “Just get to feeling better. You can worry about what you eat after that.”

As he walked toward the house, he watched the R&N truck drive down the lane and felt first one, then another drop of rain land on his forearm. In no time, it was a steady shower and by the time he climbed the back porch steps, the sky opened up with another downpour. It wasn’t even lunchtime and the rain had already set in for the day.

Staring at the back door, he wondered what he was going to say to Paige. Would she want to talk about last night? Or would she prefer to act as if the kiss never happened?

He guessed he could come up with some excuse to make the five-mile drive into Royal in order to avoid the situation entirely, but that would only delay the inevitable. Besides, he had never been the kind of man who avoided confrontations. He preferred to hit a problem head-on, deal with it and put the issue behind him.

He opened the door, entered the kitchen and looked around. He had expected to find Paige getting ready to make lunch, but she was nowhere in sight.

“Paige,” he called, walking down the hall.

“I’m in Craig’s off...in the room I’m turning into my studio,” she called back, correcting herself midsentence.

Cole walked across the family room to the doorway of what had been the sitting room when he’d lived there. When he realized Paige was cleaning out his brother’s desk, he picked up a filled box. “Where do you want this?” he asked.

“In the den,” she said, brushing a wayward strand of her long auburn hair from her cheek. “I wanted to get the room cleared out so your men can get started on the studio whenever they’re ready. I can go through Craig’s things later.”

“I assume Craig had the accounting records and breeding registers on a computer?” he asked, picking up one of the filled boxes. “Do you need that moved, too?”

“Craig used a laptop for everything,” she said, opening one of the desk drawers to poke around inside. “I moved it into my office the week after his funeral.”

Carrying the box to the den, he realized that Paige hadn’t yet looked him directly in the eye. He hated that she felt embarrassed or awkward about something that hadn’t been her doing. He was the one who’d initiated the kiss, and he was going to take full responsibility for it.

“Paige, we need to talk about last night,” he stated when he returned to find her sifting through the contents of a small tin box.

“I’d rather not,” she said, continuing to give her full attention to the container.

He walked over to where she sat in the chair behind the desk and, moving the tin out of the way, took her hands in his to pull her to her feet. “Look at me,” Cole commanded when she kept her gaze trained on his chest.

When she raised her gaze, he hated the embarrassment he detected in her dark gray eyes. “What happened last night was not your fault,” he assured her. “I take full responsibility for it. I was the one who took advantage of the situation.”

She surprised him when she shook her head. “I can’t let you do that, Cole. I was just as guilty as you were.”

“How do you figure that?” he demanded, frowning.

“Would you have stopped if I’d asked you to or given you the slightest indication that I was uneasy about it?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. “I’ve never forced my attention on any woman and never will.”

“Exactly my point,” she said, nodding. “Don’t you get it, Cole? I might have been a bit surprised at first, but I wanted you to kiss me. The only reason I put a halt to things was because I was frightened by that realization.” She took a deep breath. “I’m still not sure that I’m comfortable with that little bit of self-discovery, but it’s the truth.”

He had known they were attracted to each other, but hearing her tell him that she had wanted his kiss sent a wave of heat through him at the speed of light. Cole felt his body begin to tighten and barely managed to keep himself from groaning aloud.

“I don’t think my staying here is a good idea,” he said, releasing her hands to take a step back.

She stared at him a moment before she shook her head. “That’s nonsense. All the hotels and inns in Royal are still full of workers here to rebuild the town. It would be next to impossible to find a place to stay. Besides, we’re adults. There might be a lingering attraction between us from when we were younger, but surely we have enough control to be objective about it.”

As he stared at her, he had to agree that what she said made sense. They weren’t and never had been hormone-crazed teenagers who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Hell, last night was the first time he had even kissed her.

“You’re right,” he finally said, nodding. “We can handle this.”

And maybe if he repeated it to himself enough, he might even start to believe it.

* * *

After lunch, Cole checked to see what kind of bracing would be needed in order for his men to turn the south side of the room into a wall of windows for Paige’s studio while she continued packing boxes. When he came back downstairs, he carried them into the den for her, and in no time they had Craig’s desk and file cabinets completely emptied.

As they worked together to clear the room, Paige began to relax. They both seemed to have put last night behind them and were moving toward building a companionable friendship.

“The only things left to move to the den are a few boxes in the storage closet,” Paige finally said, unlocking the door to gaze inside.

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