When she was seated, Cole shut the door before stepping around Wade and offering him a hand.
Wade’s blood heated through his veins. He’d accept help from his brother when Cole offered an apology for all he’d put their family through years ago—and for all the havoc he’d wreaked here at the ranch.
The blond man stepped back and dropped his pistol to his side. Wade ignored Cole’s outstretched hand and stood up slowly, not trusting any of these men to get antsy and discharge a bullet.
He sat at the table, the document Cole brought glaring up at him from where it still waited for his signature. Wade ignored it and turned all of his attention toward Hazel. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, and he breathed a little easier. He had a hundred other questions he wanted to ask her, but not now. Not here.
“Isn’t this better?” Cole sank into the seat opposite Hazel, occupying the chair like a lord tired from a day gallivanting about the manor lands.
Under the table, Wade clenched his hands into fists.
“I remember you.” Cole was looking at Hazel. “From the depot in town.” His eyes slid to Wade. “Isn’t that interesting?”
Wade dug his nails into his palms. If Cole thought he was getting an explanation, he was sorely mistaken. When Wade didn’t address his unspoken question, Cole smiled, the movement stretching that scar on his cheek. It was an ugly thing, marring the face countless girls had sighed after when Wade and Cole were younger. Wade had the distinct impression that Cole wanted him to ask how it had happened.
“Why are you here? What do you want?” Hazel’s direct questions drew everyone’s attention back to her.
Cole looked toward Wade, as if he expected him to explain. But when Wade said nothing, Cole leaned back into his chair and smiled again, stretching that scar in a way that made him look particularly dangerous. “I never had a sister. And I sure never expected my brother to marry. I’m Cole Pierce, ma’am,” he said with a silky politeness. “Your brother-in-law.”
Hazel couldn’t hide her surprise. “I don’t understand. You’ve been the one making all the trouble here? But . . .why? Why would you do that to your only kin?”
Cole leaned forward, his arms on the table and his green eyes—the same shade as Wade’s—hard as jade. “Because he took everything I had. Did he tell you about that? Threw me out of our family’s home without a cent to my name. Told me never to come back.”
Hot anger rolled through Wade. “I gave you a choice. You failed to do what was needed.”
Cole’s gaze moved to Wade, and he sat up straighter. “Not everyone is as perfect as Wade Pierce. I couldn’t have ever lived up to your lofty standards. No one could have.”
Wade didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply. If his brother wanted a fight, he’d give him one over that contract on the table—not for past decisions.
Besides, the guilt he’d carried all those years had seemingly melted away the second Cole had appeared at his front door. He’d given his brother every chance to change—and Cole had refused. If Wade had allowed him to remain at home with their father, he would have caused the old man even more grief than he’d already endured.
Wade had made the right choice. He was sure of that now. He couldn’t force Cole to change—no one could have, except Cole himself.
And he hadn’t.
A profound loss began rising inside Wade as he watched his brother sit back in that chair. And all he could think about was how disappointed their mother would have been in him.
“I know all about that,” Hazel said, breaking the silence. “But it still doesn’t explain why you’ve done what you did. Unless it was simply for revenge. But considering you’re a grown man, and not a child, I’d hope that wasn’t the case.”
Her words were barbed, and Wade forced himself not to smile at them. Cole stood abruptly, knocking the chair backward with such force that Hazel jumped. He slammed a hand down on the paper in front of Wade.
“My brother owes me. He got everything—a home, a wife, our father’s love, this ranch. I got nothing. I had to pull a life together from scratch. It’s past time he pays me for what he did.” Cole’s eyes bore into Wade’s. “Sign.”
Wade didn’t dignify the command with words. He simply remained as he was, ignoring the pen and ink Duke had fetched from the office earlier.
Cole let out a measured breath. He crossed behind Wade, stopping next to Hazel. Wade watched him carefully. He both knew and barely knew the man Cole had grown into. If he laid a hand on Hazel—
“I’m surprised you married,” Cole said to Wade even as his eyes traced Hazel’s face. “Given how our ma’s death nearly killed our father.” He laid a hand on Hazel’s shoulder.
Wade jerked forward, ready to shove Cole to the ground, but he was only halfway off the chair when Duke was there—right in front of him with that pistol in his face.
Cole laughed, hollow, just as empty as Wade suspected his soul had become. He fanned his hand across Hazel’s cheek, and Hazel closed her eyes, the tremble in her shoulders evident even from where Wade sat.
“Leave her out of this,” Wade said, trying to keep himself from doing something stupid. Something that wouldn’t help either of them.
“She brought herself here,” Cole said, tilting his head as if this were some sort of game. “Sign it, and I’ll let her walk out that door, unharmed.”
