Cowboy Love on Hold [Love: The Cowboy Way 1] Read Free Page B

business. He apologized straight away, and she said she’d forgiven him, but his mother never mentioned either Kimber or Wade again.
    The cruel irony of staying away from her so she would be safe, just to have her die of a heart condition he might have known about had he been home with her, haunted Brandon daily. Wade had no reason to complain about his life.
    “Aren’t you happy? I gotta tell you, there are many who would die for what you have.”
    “Don’t get me wrong. I’m a lucky guy—I mean, I have this place and Kimber. But there’s so much I wanted to do that I didn’t.” His gaze dropped again. “But the decisions about how my life would turn out were taken out of my hands, you know? I never really had a choice. Everyone else had it all mapped out for me.”
    Maybe Wade had problems Brandon didn’t know about, but he was sure as hell having a hard time feeling sorry for him. “Hey, it’s never too late. Take me, for example. I’m about to embark on another life. Sure, I grew up on a ranch, but I have no idea how to run it, day to day. I’m not letting that stop me though.”
    “You’re doing it alone? You’ve got nobody to help you?”
    Brandon knew what Wade was really asking, but if he wanted to play it safe, Brandon wasn’t going to be the one to stir up the hornet’s nest. “Most of the workers stayed on after mom died, and the old foreman still lives in that cottage on the back forty. His wife comes over to do a bit of housekeeping and cook me a meal, so it’s not so bad. You remember Seth Miller, don’t you?”
    Wade laughed. “That old buzzard is still alive? Damn, he must be almost a hundred years old by now!”
    Relieved to see Wade smile again, Brandon strove to keep the tone light, reminding his friend of the times they’d driven Seth half mad with their tricks. “He damned near skinned me alive because of you. He thought it was me who put that skunk in his bed.”
    By the time Kimber walked back into the room a few minutes later, there was no sign of the earlier tension. She looked bemused to find the pair of them roaring with laughter, but then she smiled and shook her head. “I’m not sure if I should ask what you two are talking about in here.”
    Wade reached for her, grabbing her hand and pulling her forward to sit on the arm of his chair. “Just reminiscing about old times. I forgot what a pain in the ass we were as kids.”
    Kimber kissed him on the forehead. “I’ve got news for you—you still are a pain in the ass.” She yelped and scooted out of his reach as Wade tried to pull her down on his lap. “Dinner’s ready. Brandon, if you want to wash up, there’s a bathroom in the den.”
    He watched her leave and turned to Wade, worried that his friend would catch him staring at her, only to find that Wade seemed as bewitched by her as he was. Wade got up and followed Kimber, checking that Brandon remembered where the den was as he left the room.
    But Brandon couldn’t move, not straight away, not with envy eating at his insides and their love for each other taunting him. The only thing that hurt as much as seeing how much Kimber adored Wade was seeing how much Wade worshipped her.

Chapter 3

    The guys cleared their plates, practically wolfing down the food. If they were trying to make her feel good, it worked. Brandon had lost none of the appetite she remembered. In fact, the only man she knew who ate more than he did was Wade.
    “That was great. Thanks so much.”
    Brandon’s easy smile told her he was a little more relaxed than when they’d all sat down to eat. He’d walked into the dining room with such a haunted expression on his face that she wondered if he was about to have a breakdown over the loss of his mother. But the moment had passed quickly, and now, no sign of his earlier torment showed, on the outside at least. His hawkish eyes were no less intense, but now they glittered with warmth beneath the dark, straight slashes of his eyebrows. Brandon