For His Brother's Wife

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.

Two (#ulink_95342495-c37f-5aa3-89d0-4e41f77f78c9)

“I hope you like country fried steak,” Paige said, looking up when Cole walked into the kitchen.

The faint scent of his woodsy aftershave put her senses on full alert, but it was the way he looked that caused her pulse to race. His short, light brown hair was still damp from his shower, and he’d shaved off his five o’clock shadow. She barely resisted the urge to sigh when her gaze drifted lower. He was wearing a gray T-shirt with the R&N Builders logo in red, white and blue on the front; the knit fabric had to stretch to accommodate his bulging biceps and emphasized his well-developed shoulders and chest muscles. Her gaze traveled farther, causing her pulse to speed up. His worn jeans rode low on his narrow hips and clung to his muscular thighs like a second skin. She had to force herself to concentrate on removing the apple pie from the oven without dropping it.

Why did Cole have to be so good-looking and so darned masculine? And why on earth did she have to notice?

“I like just about anything homemade, but country fried steak is a favorite,” he answered, seemingly oblivious to her wayward thoughts. “Is there something I can do to help you finish up dinner?”

She shook her head as she placed their dessert on the kitchen island to cool, then reached for the platter of steaks and bowl of garlic and herb mashed potatoes. Carrying them over to the table, she motioned for him to sit down as she placed the dishes beside the garden salad she had prepared earlier. “I have everything ready if you’d like to take a seat.”

He remained standing as she poured them both a glass of iced tea, prompting her to ask, “Is there something else you’d like? I think I have a beer or two in the back of the refrigerator if you’d like one of those instead.”

He shook his head and stepped behind her chair as she set the pitcher on the table. “Tea is fine. I’m just waiting to pull out your chair for you.”

Paige tried to hide her surprise as she sat down. When was the last time a man had been chivalrous toward her? She couldn’t remember if Craig had ever shown her those kind of manners. Maybe when they’d first started dating or when they had attended one of the holiday balls at the Texas Cattleman’s Club and he’d noticed all of the other men pulling out their wives’ chairs for them. But she knew for certain that he had never done it for her when it was just the two of them sitting down for dinner at home.

“Thank you,” she murmured as Cole sat across the table from her.

He shook his head. “I’m the one who should be thanking you for making all of this. Everything looks and smells delicious.”

“I love to cook but rarely take the time anymore,” she said as they filled their plates. “Cooking for just myself isn’t as much fun as it is when I’m cooking for others.”

“You don’t have someone to do the cooking and cleaning?” he asked, taking a bite of his potatoes.

“After your father passed away, Maria stayed on as the cook and housekeeper for a couple of years before she retired,” Paige answered, smiling fondly as she remembered the sweet older woman who had helped her early in her marriage and had taken care of the house and helped raise the twins after the boys’ mother had died when they were five. “Craig wanted me to hire someone to replace her, but I talked him out of it.”

Cole frowned as he took a drink of his iced tea. “Why?”

“I’m not the type to spend a lot of time on the tennis court or golf course,” she said, trying not to notice the play of muscles in his forearms as he used his knife and fork to cut into the steak. “And until the tornado came through, my charity work only kept me busy a couple of days a week.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I had to have something to do to keep me busy.”

She wasn’t going to mention that she had hoped to fill her hours taking care of her children. But it didn’t appear that she was going to have any. And it was too emotionally painful to think that she might never have a child of her own.

They fell silent for a time before Cole asked, “Do you still paint? If I remember correctly, you used to be a fairly good artist when you were in school.”

“I hadn’t put a brush to canvas in years,” she said, surprised he remembered her love of art. “But I recently started painting again and thought I might turn Craig’s den into a studio.”

“Isn’t that room a little too dark?” Cole asked, frowning. “I thought natural light was better for painting.”

“It is,” she agreed, smiling. “Craig converted the sitting room off the family room into his office.”