He pivoted toward her. “Thought you were leaving. You never want to stick around the family. Why’s it different this time? Like seeing me openly ruined?”
Tears burning, Brighton rushed around the counter and hurried to her room. Every step hammering his words?—destroying my career wasn’t enough??—further into her soul. Enough. He didn’t want her here and she didn’t want to be here. Common ground. The only one they’d ever have, apparently. And she sure wasn’t going to walk on eggshells for however long it took Cord to return. He’d said a week, but it already felt like a year. Between her own guilty conscience and Stone’s constant berating …
She was done. Out of here.
“You are a beast!”
“You always say that.” Stone glanced around the coffee bar counter. He turned off the machine and put the frother and spoon?—both clean now?—back where they belonged.
“Do you really expect her to sit alone in a musty hotel room for two weeks?”
“One week.” He planted his hands on his belt. “And yes, I do expect her to stay there. And be grateful I didn’t throw her out when they showed up.”
“Grateful? You overgrown ape! She’s a broken woman?—”
He huffed and started for his office. Hearing his sister’s assertive steps pacing him, he gritted his teeth.
“You have no idea what she’s going through.”
He rounded on her. “What she’s going through?” Man, it hurt to breathe past the roiling fury in his chest. “She?—” His mind lit on guests sitting in the nearby waiting area, watching them, and he resumed course.
Though Brooke followed, at least she had the common sense not to air any more dirty laundry in the open. “I do not understand you.” In his office, she closed the door.
Stone dropped into his chair. “I don’t have time for this, Brooke. I’m running a lodge.” He grunted. “More like trying to salvage it now.” He dragged a hand over his beard. “Salvage my whole life.”
“And that’s her fault?”
“Yes! She used her wiles and worked me. Cost me my career because that’s what her handler wanted.”
His dark-haired sister actually managed to show him sympathy right then. “Stone … I—”
“No.” He did not need this from her. That was as twisted and wrong as it was even having Brighton in the lodge. “I thought you were closing Mom’s house and heading back to New York.”
Arms folded, she slid into a chair. “I’m ?… working on some things.” She tilted her head and squinted at him. “You really like her, don’t you?”
“Where the heck did you get that idea?” He dropped his gaze to the paperwork littering the desk. “When are you leaving?”
Brooke smirked. “Wow, I really hit a nerve.”
Not in the mood for this sisterly antagonism, he leaned forward. “Do you realize how close I came to the lodge getting shut down out there?”
Her amusement faded. “What do you mean?”
“That inspector who just walked out of here has denied multiple building and program permits, failed every project at least twice?—and now I find out she knows who I really am.” He let out a long breath, remembering that look in Pellet’s eyes. “She thinks I’m some pervert out to exploit women and children. Wouldn’t even sit in this office with me to discuss the outstanding permits and future projects. She has tried several times to get this place shut down. Couldn’t ever understand it.” He huffed a breath. “Now, I know why.”
He shook his head, a raw burn at the back of his throat. Hated himself because, really, he had no one to blame but himself, did he? “Last time she was here, she said I was unfit to run Bexar-Wolfe.” He narrowed his eyes, remembering how she’d watched the café … “If she realizes who Brighton is …”
Understanding slid across his sister’s face. “You can’t let that happen.”
“All the more reason she needs to stay in her room—”
“Dig into that heroic complex that has always defined you and our brothers and protect her!”
Stone exhaled heavily. “Look, I didn’t ask for this. Cord shows up with her in tow, begs me to let her stay, and suddenly I’m standing on a cliff’s edge being battered by the elements and about to give way.”
Brooke watched him for several minutes, then finally edged forward. “Listen.” She threaded her hands together. “I see several things here.”
“Is this your official analysis?” Through the windows, he spotted Rowe coming from the trailhead. Though the guy interacted with the guests as the manager, Rowe was better suited for the more physical aspects like trail rides, etc.
