Wyatt stoodin front of the bag in the carriage house, cursing himself for being such a fool.
He’d told Priscilla most of the truth.The part he’d left out?
How he feared he was unlovable.
To do so would be to admit that he wanted her love.That he wished for so much more than this marriage of convenience.
“What happened?”Ralph asked as he strode into the training room.“I just saw Priscilla crying as she raced down the hall.”
“I’m failing yet another person,” he muttered as he swung at the bag.
Ralph let out a grunt.“I’d disagree with you but Priscilla looked damned upset.”
He shook his head.“She found out about Angela from Eugene, of all people.”
Ralph took a swing at the bag as well, his fist coming within a hair’s breadth of Wyatt’s face.Wyatt looked at Ralph to tell him what he thought of such behavior but Ralph’s look of fury stopped him short.
“What did I tell you about being honest with her?”
“I didn’t lie,” he held up his hands.
“You didn’t tell the truth either.”
He closed his eyes.“What do I do?”
Ralph hit the bag again.“You do what I said.Go in there and tell her the entire truth.”
The truth?Did he admit that he’d fallen in love?Risk her admitting she didn’t feel the same?
Did he tell her about how no one had ever really cared for him?Except Ralph of course, but then again, Wyatt paid him.
That wasn’t fair.“Why do you still like me?After everything we’ve been through, why do you hang around still?You could make your own way.”
Ralph stood silently staring at the bag.“You’re my brother.”
“No one else knows that.They wouldn’t condemn you for leaving.”
Ralph shook his head, indignation marking every line of his face.“You think I care what anyone else thinks?I’ve been protecting you since you were little.”
“So that’s it?You don’t think me capable?”
Ralph snorted.“You’re plenty capable.Just like I’m capable.You still keep me in your house because you want to protect me too.”
Wyatt supposed that was true.“Of course I do.You’re my family.But Priscilla is not bound to me by blood.She doesn’t have to love me.”
“But she likely does.And no woman who cares about a man likes to find out that another woman preceded her.Likely lives in your heart.”
Angela did not live in his heart.But for the first time, he considered the possibility that Priscilla had been jealous.Did you love her?she’d asked.
He reached out, grasping the rope that held up the bag.“You really think so?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Ralph said, hitting the bag again, despite the fact that Wyatt leaned against it.“Go talk to her and be honest.”
Wyatt frowned.“Maybe.”
This time, Ralph didn’t hit the bag, he hit Wyatt.Hard.The fleshy biceps of his arm burned as he let out a grunt of pain, he looked at his brother.“What the?—”
“Honestly.Don’t be so thick.”
