by Melody Anne
The two shared a few stories of their experiences in bigger cities, and an hour passed delightfully. “Please tell me you do a three-hour pedicure,” Brielle said, and she was only half kidding.
“No. I think my hands would fall off,” Kendra replied. “But I am looking for a masseuse who would be more than happy to give you a three-hour foot massage. As soon as I hire one, I’ll let you know. Hold on; I’ll be right back.”
When Kendra returned a few minutes later with a cup of hot tea, Brielle took it happily and told her, “I can’t tell you how nice this is. I love the ranch — something I never thought I’d say — but there’s just something about pampering yourself that makes you feel like a woman.”
“I hate to say it, but you are dating Colt Westbrook. You should just have him fly you to a fancy spa for the weekend.”
“How would he do that?”
“Well, Brielle, the man does own like half a dozen airplanes.” When Kendra turned around, Brielle’s face was drained of all color.
“What?” Brielle was barely able to get that one word through her throat.
“You didn’t know that?” Kendra gnawed on her lip. “I’m sorry. People just love to talk. I assumed that since you’ve been dating him for a while… Never mind.”
“Colt works on my ranch. How could he own that many planes?” Who could afford that many? People like her father, that’s who.
“I probably don’t know what I’m talking about. People gossip, remember?”
“Please tell me, Kendra.”
Kendra spoke reluctantly about the giant ranch Colt owned, and the huge house, planes, cars, and other toys that most people only dreamed about having. By the time the beautician was done talking, Brielle had long forgotten the sense of relaxation this visit had given her.
Brielle dug into her purse and pulled out some cash. “Thank you so much for the pedicure and the information.”
Kendra refused to take the money. “Oh, this one is so on me,” she told Brielle. “I’m so sorry I have such a big mouth.”
“You don’t — not at all. I just can’t understand how I could be dating a man…hell, fall in love with a man who I really don’t know. Why didn’t he tell me? Why did he want me to think he works for me?”
Brielle’s emotions were on a roller-coaster ride, going from confusion to grief, and escalating to fury in a brief amount of time.
“I’m sure he has a valid reason,” Kendra said, but there was doubt in her eyes.
Was there ever an excuse for lying? Brielle wondered. Maybe at first he hadn’t wanted to tell her, maybe he’d been afraid that she was a gold-digger or something like that. But they’d been making love every night and sometimes in the day, for heaven’s sake. What kind of a man was he?
Brielle left the salon and walked to her truck in a daze. One thing was for sure — she wasn’t waiting a single minute longer to find out who Colt Westbrook really was.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
WHEN BRIELLE SAW the turnoff for the Mystic Creek Ranch, her heart lodged in her throat. His property had to border on hers. She went down the long drive, now speechless when she came up to a massive dwelling, larger than the one she’d grown up in, sitting in the center of a perfectly manicured front yard.
This wasn’t the ranch of a poor man. This didn’t even look like a ranch, if she were to judge by the house. Yes, the place was made of logs, but it certainly was no cabin. It was three stories high, with huge open windows. A wraparound front porch held rocking chairs, perfectly positioned flowerpots — at least they weren’t blue — plus a couple of small tables, and beautiful stonework framing it all in.
This mansion cost more than any rancher should be able to afford. Colt wasn’t just well-off; he was unbelievably wealthy. As she thought back to that day in her bedroom, the day she’d told him she didn’t care that he was just a ranch hand, she hung her head. How he must have laughed at her as he walked away. Talk about an easy lay. A cheap date, even.
He’d been playing her this whole time, and she’d fallen in love with him. Was this something they did out here in Montana? Did they get all excited when strangers showed up so they could trot out the game How Stupid Is the City Girl? and guffaw?
After leaving her truck, she approached his front steps and looked cautiously at the rail. No, no spider would dare to hang out here. Why did he choose to spend every night with her when he had this home to come back to? Again, because she was easy. From the front door, she didn’t hear a sound from inside the house. Then laughter drifted from somewhere out back.
Seeing a pathway, she followed it and found a gate, which opened without even a squeak. The shock of his betrayal was finally wearing off, and pure, unadulterated rage was taking hold. Why? Once she got on the other side of the gate, she saw a huge expanse of yard leading to a clear lake with a dock and a boat — and a boathouse — all waiting for the rich boy to go to and play in.
More laughter, now louder, came her way, and she followed the sound around the side of the house. Looking to her left, she found Colt on a massive deck, sitting on a chaise lounge with a cold beer in his hand, and two other men nearby.
One she recognized from the midsummer celebration — she believed his name was Jackson. The other she hadn’t seen before. Oh, but the man was about to meet her, and in the mood she was in, she was sure to leave a lasting impression.
Under normal circumstances, that Colt had company might have saved him, but not this time. No. She was beyond caring what anyone thought about her. Colt had lied to her, and he was about to discover exactly why it wasn’t wise to lie to the woman you claimed to love.
As if sensing her, Colt turned, and their eyes clashed. For a second or two, a smile lingered on his face, but then he sat up straighter. The look on her face had to be frightening.
“Brielle…”
Hearing her name coming from those deceiving lips drove her forward. She stomped up the stairs and didn’t even bother to look at Colt’s two companions. They did their best to get out of the way. Smart guys.
“Don’t you dare even say my name, you lying son of a bitch!” She didn’t even recognize her own voice.
“Brielle, I can explain.”
“I’ll just bet you can. Save it, Colt.” She looked around the back deck of his log mansion, built-in outdoor kitchen and all. “A ranch hand? Really? You must have found immense entertainment in the fact that I thought you worked for me. Did you come home and look around and laugh? Was it a fun game for you to play?”
While he struggled to speak, she cut him off. “I lived in the world of the rich and famous for a lot of years, Colt. A lot of years!” she thundered. “But I will tell you this — in all that time, I never met anyone who held a candle to you. No one who came even close. With them, I knew they were lying. I knew they weren’t truly my friends. That’s how that world works. But bravo to you, sweetheart,” she said, then raised her hands and clapped loudly. “You really fooled me, Colt. You got under my skin and burrowed down. You rammed right through every defense I’ve managed to build, and you took my heart and ran with it.” On her final words, her anger drained. Despair had taken over.
Colt stood and moved toward her. “Please, Brielle. Please let me explain.”
She held out her hands in horror and retreated. “Don’t you dare touch me, Colt. You’ve lost that right!”
“I was going to tell you.”
“I’m done, Colt. I’m done with you.” She packed up her emotions and returned to the place she’d lived for so many years. Cold comfort.
“Don’t say that, Brielle. What we have is real,” he said, and took a step closer.
“No, Colt. That’s where you’re wrong. We don’t have a single thing, because our relationship, or what I thought was a relationship, was built on lies. Just tell me this. Why? Was it really just a game?”
“It wasn’t a game. I swear it wasn’t.”
She didn’t know where his friends had gone, and she didn’t care. The ent
ire town knew she was a fool already.
“Why, Colt?”
She didn’t know why it mattered, but she needed to close this chapter in her life, and the only way to do that was to have some sort of an answer.
“I didn’t know you, Brielle.”
“Just spit it out, Colt. I’m tired and I’m done, so just tell me.”
“Your father bought the property I wanted. I didn’t know you then. I wanted it, and I was willing to do whatever it took to get it,” he said, and she felt like a knife was slicing into her heart. “But that changed…”
She held up her hand to keep him from saying anything more.
“It’s over, Colt.”
She turned and walked away. Of course, he chased after her, of course he tried to plead with her, but Brielle didn’t hear a word he said through the buzzing in her ears. She didn’t even see anything as she climbed into her truck and started the motor, her motions on autopilot.
“Brielle, don’t leave like this,” he demanded, but she was beyond listening.
Throwing the truck into gear, she drove away in a tornado of dust. She welcomed the numbness that settled over her, because she had no doubt that when the numbness vanished, the pain would be unbearable.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
AWEEK AFTER BRIELLE walked away from Colt’s house, her father showed up on her doorstep, and she fell into his arms, so grateful to see him again. If she focused on her dad, she wouldn’t have to focus on Colt. That’s what she should be doing anyway!
There were a million questions brewing about how the cancer treatment was going. Of course they’d been in contact, and he was keeping her updated on the phone, but it would be much better to look into his eyes. That way she might know whether he was speaking the truth or trying to protect her feelings.
Anger and hurt inspired by Colt had helped to keep the tears at bay, but she simmered with frustration because the man had been showing up daily with flowers, chocolate, and jewelry, begging her to speak to him, begging her to forgive his lie. He’d offered to fly her anywhere in the world she wanted to go, offered to give up everything just for another day with her.
Of course he could give her everything money could buy. He was obscenely rich! He’d lied to her. And worse, he’d done it so that he could take her ranch from her. Colt was a user. How could she forgive that?
So it was a welcome relief to open her door and find her father standing there. She clung to him and promised herself that she was never going to let him go, that she would focus wholly on him, and not think twice about Colt Westbrook.
When Brielle looked past her father, she found two men standing beside him. At first glance, she thought nothing of it, but then her eyes snapped back first to one giant of a man, and then to the other, who wasn’t far behind the first, and very close in height to her father.
The three of them looked so similar, all sporting matching white hair, identical blue eyes, and solid shoulders. Even the smiles they were each wearing looked nearly the same. What in the world was going on?
“Ha! We’ve been getting that reaction a lot.”
One of the men spoke in such a loud voice that Brielle fell back another step.
“Honey, don’t let this man intimidate you,” Richard said with a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “We’ll all come inside and then I can tell you everything.”
Almost in a trance, Brielle nodded, and she led them to her kitchen table. She knew she should offer them something to drink, but as she looked between the three men —all so amazingly alike! — she knew her legs wouldn’t work long enough to perform the whole operation. She had to sit down.
“Since we just showed up like this on your front doorstep, as we’ve done with three of your four brothers, I’m going to get right to it,” Richard said with a gentle smile. “These are my brothers.”
Brielle waited for the punch line, but when he was silent, she was forced to speak. “You don’t have brothers.”
“We just discovered each other after I moved to Seattle. To make a long story short, my biological mother delivered three children, triplets. Joseph and George stayed with her, and I ended up with her doctor and his wife, the nurse. We’ll never know for sure if this was consensual or not, and it’s better that we all not delve too deeply into it. I loved my parents very much, and that won’t change. But now I have brothers, and we have much in common. Plus, you and your brothers have two uncles and a whole hell of a lot of cousins.”
The joy in her father’s face was contagious. Some of Brielle’s recent sorrow disappeared as she watched three kindred smiles beam at her from different positions at the table.
“This is a lot to take in,” she finally said.
“Well, I love that you ended up here, Brielle,” Joseph told her. “There are good people in Sterling. One of my best friends, Martin Whitman, lives here, along with Bethel, Eileen, and Maggie. I’m sure you’ve met them all.” He reached out his hand to clasp hers and added with a laugh, “I’m your Uncle Joseph, in case you got me and George confused.”
“I don’t think I’ll mistake you with that voice,” Brielle said.
“I don’t understand that. Everyone says I speak so loudly. I think I’m quiet as a mouse,” he replied, and she couldn’t tell whether he was joking.
After the initial shock wore off, Brielle was finally able to move, so she made them a pitcher of fresh lemonade, and the four of them spoke long into the evening. Just before she went off to bed, she and her dad sat down together alone for the first time that day while Joseph and George left to visit with old friends.
“We’re headed to see Crew next. He’s our last stop,” Richard told her. Crew and her father had probably been the ones to butt heads the most, but through this journey their father had sent them all on, the relationship of father and oldest son had improved greatly.
“I’m coming with you.” Brielle didn’t know the words were out until she said them.
“Well, of course I’d love to have you join us, but is it a good time for you to take off?” her dad asked.
“Yes, Tony has everything under control here, and it will only be a few days. And…” She had to fight tears. “I just need to get away for a bit.”
She was more than thankful when her father didn’t ask her the questions she saw forming in his eyes. “Okay, Peaches. We’ll head out at first light. Don’t warn your brother. We like surprising all of you. It’s family drama at its best.”
“I quite understand. Now enough of all of that. Tell me what your doctor has been saying.”
His lips tilted up a little bit more as he looked at her. “I’m going to need to have another surgery…” he began when she stopped him by holding up her hand.
“Another surgery? When was the first one? Why would you keep this from any of us?”
She didn’t want to yell at her father in the condition he was in, but at the same time, she couldn’t believe that he would keep something like this from them. It was just wrong.
“I had my first surgery last year, and it didn’t look good, so my previous doctor told me to get my affairs in order, which is what I set out to do with you and your brothers. Then I moved to Seattle and met my brothers. They didn’t like the first prognosis and they knew another doctor, my current one. He had a different opinion. He’s hopeful. I’ll know more in a few months. For now, it’s best for all of us to not dwell on it.”
He gripped her hand as he spoke and looked at her with both hope and love in his eyes. She had a million questions, but she could see that he was tired. She’d be with him all week, and one way or another she would find better answers.
After giving her a big hug, her father went to the bedroom she kept for him, and for the first time in a week, Brielle climbed the stairs not dreading her own cold bed. She would get away, take time to think, and figure out what she was going to do next.
She didn’t want to leave the Ponderosa Pines Ranch, but she didn’t know how she could stay with Colt being her n
eighbor. Maybe she should just offer to sell it to him. That’s what he really wanted, wasn’t it?
She went to bed that night and finally was granted a dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
COLT PACED BRIELLE’S front porch, feeling more like a fool the longer he waited. She’d been absent an entire week — she’d completely disappeared, and he had no idea where. When he first found out that she’d left, he’d thought for sure it was over, that he’d lost her for good.
Not that he would have given up so easily. Love like this didn’t just disappear. No. If she moved away, he’d follow her. Even if it took months, years, decades, he would wait for her. He’d barely slept during the last two weeks, his arms empty without her in them, his heart aching without her there to fill it.
He sounded pathetic even to himself, but that was the way it was. He was desperately in love with Brielle Storm, and whatever he had to do to prove that to her he would do. There was no way he’d live his life without her.
He’d been greatly relieved to find out from Tony that she wasn’t gone for good, but that she’d left with her father to visit one of her brothers. And Tony had let him know that she was coming home tonight.
So here he was on her front porch, where he’d been waiting for the last three hours. The ranch hands had all walked by at some point or other to snicker or just enjoy the show. Colt didn’t care. He was going to prove his love to Brielle, even if the entire town of Sterling thought him nothing but a lovesick idiot.
That’s what he was, wasn’t he?
“You know you’re going to set her house on fire, don’t you?”
Colt turned to find Hawk walking toward him. “Not now, Hawk. She should be here any minute,” Colt said, turning to pace the length of her porch yet again.
“When I got calls from three of her ranch hands who were concerned that you aren’t in your right mind, I figured I had best come out to investigate,” Hawk said as he came up onto the porch and then kept in step with Colt.