A Time to Heal

Brody Mason needs a nurse. As soon as he can walk again, he’ll leave Hope, Montana, and go straight back to the army. But Kaitlyn Harpe? That’s adding insult to injury. Not just because she’s a daily reminder that Brody’s fiancée, Kate’s sister, married his best friend while he was fighting in Afghanistan. But because Kaitlyn had kept the truth from him.

The Kaitlyn he knew before he deployed would never have perpetuated a lie like that. But this new person—the confident, beautiful woman with hidden depths in her eyes—is nothing like the shy, serious girl he knew. This Kaitlyn troubles him. Because Brody is starting to wonder if he proposed to the wrong sister…

“Don’t say that you don’t matter, because if you’d died over there—”

She was saying too much, and she bit back the words. What was she going to do, confess that she’d been in love with him for the two years he’d been dating her sister? It didn’t matter. He’d made his choice.

“Hey…” His voice was a low rumble, and he put a finger under her chin and tipped her face up so he could look into her eyes. His gaze moved slowly over her face. “You saying you missed me?”

A smile flickered at one side of his mouth. She was saying a whole lot more than that—at least she had been before she’d wisely shut up. Brody ran his thumb along her jaw, the movement slow and deliberate.

She didn’t answer him. He was joking around, wasn’t he?

The Cowboy’s Valentine Bride

Patricia Johns

www.millsandboon.co.uk

PATRICIA JOHNS has her honors BA in English literature. She lives in Alberta, Canada, with her husband and son, where she writes full-time. Her first Mills & Boon novel came out in 2013, and you can find her books in the Love Inspired, Western Romance and Heartwarming lines.

To my husband and our little boy—

the two sweetest Valentines in the world.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Brody Mason’s leg throbbed. The last of his morphine had worn off, and no matter what position he adopted in front of the crackling fireplace in his childhood home, the pain was constant.

He’d been honorably discharged from the army and given a medal for bravery—presented to him in the crisp hospital bed where he’d spent the last couple of months—but he’d never felt less deserving. While people at home called every returning soldier a hero, he saw a difference: real heroes got their buddies out alive, and Brody hadn’t managed to do that. Now he was home in the tiny town of Hope, Montana, and while his family doted on him, no one really understood. His fellow soldiers hadn’t survived the explosion that tore up his leg in early December; he was supposed to have their backs. And that hurt worse than the shrapnel.

The hospital stay had been a haze of pain meds, and every week the doctor assured him he’d be able to leave soon, but then something would hold up his recovery. Brody had missed his sister’s wedding because of an infection in his leg, and he’d been forced to watch her nuptials via webcam, which was just as well, considering that he solidly disapproved of her choice in groom. Once he recovered from the leg infection, there was a bronchial infection triggered by all the dust he’d breathed for the last year in Afghanistan, which put off his second surgery to remove the last of the shrapnel. When the surgery was complete, the nurses stopped hovering quite so much—a good sign.

Then one day in late January, a week after his last surgery, the doctor had deemed him sufficiently recovered and signed his discharge papers. Just like that. No muss, no fuss, no grandeur. His parents picked him up from the hospital and drove him home. Which left him here, sitting in front of the fireplace, trying to find a comfortable position for his aching leg.

The back door to the ranch house opened and shut, and there was the soft murmur of voices. He couldn’t make out who the nurse was...not that it mattered. He shifted again, closing his eyes against the wave of pain. Brody heard a noise behind him, and he reluctantly turned.

Kaitlyn Harpe stood at the door to the sitting room, her arms crossed over her chest. Her auburn hair hung in loose waves around her shoulders, dark eyes fixed on him uncertainly. She looked nervous to be here—and rightfully so.

“You? Seriously?” Brody wasn’t normally this much of a jerk, and he resented the words as soon as they came out of his mouth, but with the pain, his verbal filter seemed to be missing.

“I get that I’m not your first choice, but there aren’t a whole lot of nurses available in Hope,” she replied with a small smile.

Yeah, that was an understatement. Hope, Montana, was a small ranching community, and while there were two large animal veterinarians in town, medical care for people was a little sparser. Before Kaitlyn went to nursing school, her aunt Bernice was the only other nurse in town. He’d half expected to see the older woman.

Under different circumstances, he might have considered himself lucky. He’d known Kate for years and thought of her as a little sister. She’d always been sweet with a quirky sense of humor, and until recently, he would have described her as honest, too, but she’d gone along with the lie his friends and family had told him while he was away—namely that he still had a fiancée. But Nina had married his best friend, Brian, while he’d been dodging bullets in Afghanistan, and everyone had kept silent about that little fact...so silent that he’d never suspected a thing. No one told him the truth until he’d been in the VA hospital in Fort Harrison for over a month. He’d been set to be released for Dakota and Andy’s wedding when that nasty infection set in. Nina still hadn’t visited, and he’d had enough. That was when his family admitted that Nina had married Brian a few months back.

And now Nina’s sister was going to be his nurse while he recovered? It was adding insult to injury—literally.

Brody looked past Kaitlyn to where his mother stood in the kitchen, stoically ignoring them. His mother, Millie, wore an apron over a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved turtleneck, and she was rolling out some dough on the island with enough muscle to wrestle down a steer. Whatever she was baking would be leather by the time she was done with it.

“It’s good to see you.” Kaitlyn came into the room, those big brown eyes fixed on him with a conflicted expression. “I missed you.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course. No one else lets me cheat at poker.”

She was making a joke, but he wasn’t in the mood. She’d been more than a silent bystander to the deception. She’d written him emails every couple of weeks since the day he left, and never once did she let on that anything had changed. At the end of every email, she’d said the same thing: Nina sends her love.

“You didn’t think to tell me I was writing love letters to a married woman?” he asked. He didn’t have strength for pleasantries right now. They might as well get down to it.

How many letters had he obliviously written to Nina since her marriage? Had she laughed at his humble attempts to put his heart on paper while he was out there in the desert? All of this while Nina’s own sister hadn’t even hinted that he might want to take a closer look.

“Your parents said—” she began.

“You all made a fool of me,” he interrupted. “If I’d known she was starting up with Brian, I could have saved myself some humiliation.”

“And if after you learned the truth you lost heart out there and you’d been shot?” she demanded, something close to anger sparkling in those eyes. “We’d have blamed ourselves.”

“You could have blamed Brian and Nina.” He shot her a sardonic smile. “I do.”

Kaitlyn’s eyes misted and she shot him an irritated look. “You aren’t funny, and if you’d been dead, the moral high ground wouldn’t have been much comfort. No one wanted to keep the secret, you know. We all felt terrible about it—”

“Except Nina, of course.” He couldn’t help the bitterness in his tone. Nina had been busy getting married to another guy...and not just any guy—his best friend.

“Brody, I’m not my sister.” Something in her voice gave him pause, and he heaved a sigh. No, she wasn’t her sister, and Nina was the one who started this whole thing, but Kaitlyn could have gone against the tide and leveled with him.

“It’s just that, of all people, Kaitlyn, I figured I could count on you to tell me the truth. There were a few times when I got suspicious, but then I’d get an email from you, and I’d think that it was okay because I could trust you. You’d fill me in if there was something I needed to know. But Nina always sent her love, right?”

Kaitlyn blushed and looked away for a moment. They’d been friends. He’d called her his “overly serious Kate” because she’d taken her studies so seriously, and he’d always tried to distract her while he waited for Nina to get ready to go out. He’d always won that tussle between responsibility and fun, and she’d push her books aside and turn those chocolate brown eyes on to him. Having her full, overly serious attention had felt good—too good. But he knew the line and he’d never flirted with it. Nina had always taken forever to get ready, but Kaitlyn made the wait fun. They’d laughed at the same jokes and talked about life, and he’d given her advice on some boyfriend who wasn’t up to snuff. And of all people, he’d trusted Kaitlyn to be above that kind of deception.

“We all protected you,” Kaitlyn said after a moment. “It wasn’t ideal, I get that, but it was all we could think of. Whether you believe it or not, we were doing this because we wanted you home safe.” She crouched in front of the foot stool where his leg rested. “Speaking of which, let me take a look.”

Brody sighed and nodded his approval. It wasn’t like he had much choice anyway. He obviously needed a nurse to aid his recovery, and as she’d pointed out, he couldn’t exactly be picky.

Her touch was light and discreet as she uncovered the bandaged wounds. He’d been lucky—no broken bones—but the shrapnel had gone deep into the muscle and the multiple surgeries to retrieve it had left the doctors uncertain if there would be nerve damage or not. That thought scared him. He was born on a ranch and raised on horseback. What was he going to do if he had nerve damage? Riding a horse or returning to the army, he’d need this leg to cooperate. Maybe the fact that it hurt so badly was a good sign—nerves screaming their existence, if nothing else.

“I still can’t believe Dakota married Andy,” Brody said bitterly, wincing as the gauze caught on some stiches. When he’d left, his sister thoroughly loathed Andy, and now they were married. Everything had changed in one short year, and home felt foreign.

Kaitlyn replaced the gauze and taped it back down. “Something happened on that cattle drive—that’s all we know. What can you do?”

“He single-handedly ruined our land,” Brody said. “She can’t be in love with him.”

Kaitlyn rocked back on her heels and eyed Brody for a long moment until he looked away. Then she sighed and pushed herself to her feet.

“A lot has changed,” she said quietly. “And I don’t even know if you’re glad to be back or not, but I’m glad.”

“Are you?” She looked like the same old Kaitlyn—gentle, sweet, doe-eyed—and yet she was different, too. She was stronger, more confident somehow. Situations had changed, but so had people.

“I am.” She fixed him with her direct stare. “So you go ahead and be mad at this whole blasted town because I’m happy you’re back in once piece.”

“Give or take,” he said with a wry smile.

Kaitlyn smiled and shook her head. “I’m going to get your prescription for pain meds refilled, and over the next few days we’re going to get you walking.” She looked down at his medication log. “You’re due for another dose in an hour.”

“The sooner the better on those meds, Kate. It hurts pretty bad.”

“Okay.” She looked as if she wanted to say something more, then gave him a nod and turned back toward the kitchen.

Brody gritted his teeth and gently lowered his leg to the floor. The pain was so intense that it turned his stomach, but he wasn’t about to lie around bemoaning his tattered state. He needed to recover, because once he was back in shape again, he knew exactly where he was going.

This ranch and this town didn’t hold anything for him anymore. He was going back to the army to finish what he started. In the army the truth had been ugly, but no one had lied to him.

* * *

WHEN KAITLYN RETURNED from the drug store with Brody’s pain prescription, Dakota opened the door for her. Kaitlyn stepped into the warm kitchen, fragrant with baking bread. The last time she’d been in this room, they’d been having a meeting of sorts—the Mason family and the Harpes. That was the evening when Mr. Mason outlined the plan to get Brody home safe. Nina and Brian had already moved to the city, so Kaitlyn’s father, Ron, filled Nina in on her part of the deal later—to keep her relationship with Brian a secret and to answer Brody’s emails so he wouldn’t suspect anything. It had been an order, not a request. Nina hadn’t wanted to go along with it—she was about to get married, after all, and she wanted to announce it to the world. But if she announced it, then Brody would hear all about it, and that could be devastating. Brody had to be the priority, and Nina would just have to get married quietly.

Kaitlyn hadn’t been back to this ranch since that solemn meeting of minds, but she and Dakota had run into each other around town a few times, and a tenuous partnership was born. They both wanted Brody home safe—which he was. Kaitlyn could only hope that the deception had been worth it.

“Hi,” Kaitlyn said with a quick smile. “I’ve got the pills.”

“How’s his leg?” Dakota asked. “He wouldn’t let me see it. Said he’d wait for a medical professional because I didn’t know squat.”

Kaitlyn smiled wanly—that sounded like Brody, always the tough guy. Maybe he’d been trying to protect his sister—that leg wasn’t pretty.

“It’s...not great.” His leg, from thigh to calf, was covered in jagged cuts and stitches. Some of the wounds had already healed over—more or less—from his first surgeries, but others were fresh from retrieving the deeper, harder-to-reach shrapnel. She could tell how much pain Brody was in, and if his leg got infected again, it could be fatal. He’d been right about one thing—proper medical care was a necessity if he wanted to walk again.

“He’s mad,” Dakota said. “About Nina and all that.”

Kaitlyn was still angry with her sister about her infidelity. Brody was strong, sweet, handsome, kind... He was the perfect guy, and Kaitlyn had been in love with him from afar for a couple of years before he asked out her sister. But he was two years older than Kaitlyn, and she hadn’t even registered on his radar. He’d made his choice—a perfectly understandable one. Nina was the beautiful sister—a redhead with soft green eyes and a voluptuous pinup-girl figure. She turned heads everywhere she went, and Kaitlyn hadn’t, at least not when her sister was anywhere near. Kaitlyn was confident in her own looks—she was beautiful, even—but she’d been quite solidly in her older sister’s shadow.

So why couldn’t Nina wait for him? Kaitlyn had been through it a thousand times. If it had been her, she’d have waited as long as she had to...but Brody wasn’t hers. He’d never seen her that way, and there were lines that Kaitlyn would never cross.

“So who had to tell him about Nina?” Kaitlyn asked. It was the conversation they’d all been dreading.

“Me.” Dakota winced. “Just before the wedding. He kept asking where Nina was, and I think he suspected. I mean, how many fiancées do you know who don’t bother visiting their wounded man in the hospital? When I told him, he just sort of deflated. He didn’t look surprised, just...silent.”

“Imagine if that had happened over there,” Kaitlyn reminded her. “Nina’s such a selfish—”

“It’s done, it’s done...” Dakota shook her head. “And Nina isn’t your fault. We’re all just trying to pick up the pieces, and this was the plan, right? He needed to find out here, so we could get him through it.”

“He’s mad that we hid it.” Kaitlyn lowered her voice further.

“I know.” They exchanged a long look, then Dakota nodded in the direction of the sitting room. “He’s waiting.”

Kaitlyn got a glass of water from the sink and headed into the sitting room. Brody was sitting forward, leaning toward the fire. He didn’t hear her at first, and he was so close to the flames that they reflected against his face.

Brody had changed since he left—there were lines around his mouth that weren’t there before, and his eyes had lost that boyish twinkle. There was nothing boyish left in him—he’d hardened, stilled. If Nina could see what she’d caused... But this wasn’t all because of Nina. This was also because of the war. Soldiers saw things that civilians couldn’t even imagine, and when they got home again, it sure didn’t help to return to a nasty surprise.

Should I have told him?

How could she ever be sure? What she knew was that Brody was home, and her job had just begun.

“Here are your pills,” Kaitlyn said, setting the glass of water next to him and unscrewing the cap to the bottle. “Now, it’s important that you never take more than the recommended dose of these. They’re strong.”

“I’m not suicidal.” Brody held out his hand for the pills, then tossed them back with a sip of water. “Thanks.”

“I was more concerned with addiction,” she retorted.

Brody laughed softly. “I’m not an addict, either.”

“Good.”

He turned toward her, dark eyes locking on to her face. “Did you think I’d change that much?”

Brody had been a fun-loving guy with an infectious laugh. He’d been tall and muscular, but he’d bulked up even more since he left, and his lean muscle had turned hard and thick. His hair had been a tousled mess of glossy curls, and now he had that standard-issue army buzz cut—but it didn’t hurt his looks any. It seemed to suit the new him.

“I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “Life changes everyone, and you’ve seen more than most.”

“Yeah, well...” He leaned back in his chair, wincing as he got settled. “You’ve changed, too.”

“Have I?” She grabbed his medications chart and wrote in his dose. “I feel like the only one who hasn’t changed around here.”

“You grew up.” His voice was low and quiet. “When I left, you were a kid.”

“When you left, I was a woman,” she replied evenly. She’d been twenty-two when he left for the army, and that hardly constituted a “kid.” But she’d never looked quite as womanly as Nina had. Nina had eclipsed her quite easily, it seemed, all pouty lips and swaying hips. Kaitlyn hadn’t had a chance. She had been a tamer version of her sister in every way. Her hair was dark auburn compared to Nina’s fiery red, and her figure was slim, her breasts smaller, her expression direct and frank. Nina had a way of looking up through her lashes that stopped men in their tracks. When Kaitlyn was a teenager, she’d tried to imitate her older sister’s sultry pout in the mirror, and she’d cracked herself up. She looked ridiculous, and she’d decided then and there to simply be herself—a brave stance for someone in the shadow of Hope, Montana’s sexiest available woman.

But not so available anymore.

While Kaitlyn had resented what her sister did to Brody, having Nina both married and moved to the city had been a strange relief. For the first time in her life, Kaitlyn felt like she could breathe a little deeper, expand a little more. With Nina in the room, there had hardly seemed to be enough oxygen for the both of them—and what Nina wanted, Nina got.

“Last year I missed our dads’ birthdays,” Brody said after a moment. “I kept thinking of the feast you all would be eating.”

Kaitlyn’s father, Ron, and Brody’s father, Ken, had birthdays in the same week. The men had been close since elementary school. For as long as Kaitlyn could remember, both families had been celebrating those February birthdays together with a trail ride and a massive meal.

“Last year half of us got food poisoning, so you weren’t missing out on as much as you thought,” she replied with a wry smile. “Someone thought clams would be a great birthday meal. Wow. It was bad... The trail ride didn’t happen. Brian landed in the hospital with some Gravol on IV.”

“You emailed me about that.” His smiled slipped, and she knew what he was thinking. She shouldn’t have mentioned Brian. She grimaced.

“Nothing had happened then between Brian and Nina—that I knew of, at least,” Kaitlyn said. “We were all friends with Brian, you know that.”

“Yeah. Solid guy.” Brody’s tone dripped sarcasm, and Kaitlyn couldn’t blame him.

They remained silent for a couple of minutes, and Kaitlyn remembered how different everything had been a year ago. They’d been proud of Brody, and scared for him. They’d been happy about Nina and Brody’s engagement. Nina had spent hours staring at the ring on her finger, and Kaitlyn had been determined to sort through her own feelings of jealousy privately. She was happy for her sister—of course, she was—and she’d never really believed that Brody would look twice at her with Nina in the same hemisphere anyway. But it still stung, knowing she was destined to be half in love with her brother-in-law for the foreseeable future.

“Are you all still doing the trail ride this year?” Brody asked.

“I imagine so,” Kaitlyn replied. “It’s tradition, isn’t it?”

“Good,” he said. “I’m going to ride, too.”

Kaitlyn frowned, silently considering the options. Trail rides were narrow and bumpy, and she couldn’t responsibly give him enough pain meds to dull that kind of agony. He seemed to read her thoughts.

“It isn’t hard riding by any stretch. You know that, Kate. I’ve been riding since before I could walk, and I’m not sitting back at the house with the cooks.”

“You’ve earned a rest,” she said. “You’re the resident hero, after all.”

“Don’t use that word with me.” His voice turned gruff and stony. “I’m riding. Period.”

There was no invitation for discussion. He’d been through a nightmare in Afghanistan, and she could only guess at the memories he carried with him. He wanted to heal and recover, and that solidity of mind was important. They’d just have to work toward his goal. Even if he wasn’t strong enough to ride in time, he’d at least have something to work toward. And once it got closer to the trail ride, he’d be able to see the futility of putting his body through that kind of punishment. There was no use in breaking his spirit now.

“You want to ride?” she said with a smile. “All right. That’s our goal. Let’s see what we can do.”

“Good.” Brody smiled faintly. “And I’m serious, Kate. Don’t go easy on me.”

“I had no intention of it,” she retorted. “I’ll be a regular drill sergeant. You’ll think longingly of your boot camp days.”

Brody chuckled, then sighed. “Why am I so tired all of a sudden?”

“It’s the pills. Sleep is good for you. Get some rest.”

Brody nodded and leaned his head against the back of the chair. She quelled the urge to brush a hand against his forehead. She didn’t want to go hard on Brody—she wanted to give him the safe, warm place to heal that he so desperately needed, but he didn’t want those things from her. That had been Nina’s domain.

Kaitlyn would have to get over these feelings for him, because a future with Brody was an absolute impossibility. Before it was because he was engaged to her sister, and now, even with Nina safely out of the picture, anything developing between them was equally impossible.

Kaitlyn had lived in her sister’s shadow her entire life, and she refused to stay there in the heart of the man she loved.

On the fireplace mantle, a tattered slip of red paper caught her eye. She paused, stepped closer to look and a lump rose in her throat as she recognized it—a kid’s vintage Valentine’s card that she’d slipped into his luggage before he left for boot camp. They used to joke about the little sayings on those cards—corny lines that could end up being eerily prophetic. So she’d slipped one in his bag that said, “You’re brave, Valentine.” It went along with a joke they’d shared that it took a big man to take on a woman as high maintenance as Nina was. She thought he’d get a laugh out of it...but it looked like he’d done one more than that, and had kept it.

Kaitlyn shut her eyes against the wave of emotion. How she’d longed to say more than “You’re brave.” She’d wanted to say, “You hold my heart.” She’d wanted to say, “Do whatever you have to in order to get back here alive.”

For now, she’d do her duty and get Brody back in the saddle, or as close to it as she could. And maybe in the process, she’d be able to work through a few of these feelings and put them to rest for good. She had some healing to do, too.

Chapter Two

Brody woke with a start, his heart thudding hollowly in his ears. The dream was still fresh in his mind—fire, explosions, fear mingling with his training. In his dream, he pulled himself across the dusty ground, a trail of fresh blood behind him, and he grabbed at Jeff’s hand, only to realize his hand was all that was left of him. He always woke at the same place, with the hand clutched in his, rubbery and limp.

Brody swallowed the bile that rose in his throat, and he sucked in a wavering lungful of air. This had been his first night back home, and he’d slept in the visitor’s bedroom on the main floor. There had been no way he was hopping up those stairs last night, and so they’d settled him down here. It was just as well—he wasn’t sure how he’d feel about sleeping in his old bedroom anyway. His sister’s room was directly above him, and glancing at the clock, he realized that she’d already be out doing chores. It was past four in the morning.

I should be out there, too.

He rubbed his hands over his face and grimaced as he sat up. His leg throbbed. If things were different, he’d already be out in the frigid January air. He’d be driving out to the herds with a pickup bed full of hay, and he’d bring a shovel to break the ice that would cover the cattle’s water troughs. He’d always wanted to join the army, but that hadn’t emptied the cowboy out of him. There was something about the crisp air at dawn and the lowing of cattle that soothed his soul like nothing else, and right now, he could use a little soothing, but he hardly felt like he deserved it.

Jeff had had a wife and three small kids waiting for him, and he’d returned home in a box. Jeff’s wife would have been given a flag in her husband’s honor, and those little kids would never see their dad again. Jeff always had pictures in his pocket, and he’d show them to anyone who would look. Three blond, blue-eyed kids, the youngest of which looked like she could barely walk. So when Brody got back to American soil to find out his fiancée hadn’t waited for him, it hardly seemed fair that he should be the one to come back alive.

He just hadn’t counted on the dreams. Other guys had mentioned them—the haunting nightmares that came back every time they shut their eyes, but somehow he’d thought he’d be immune. He was tough—but not that tough, apparently.

He grabbed the bottle of pills on his nightstand and shook two into his palm. They’d help with the pain. He’d have to remember what time he took them so he could tell Kaitlyn when she arrived.

Kaitlyn as his nurse was hard to wrap his head around. She’d been attending nursing school when he left, but he’d never really imagined her in the role. Her aunt, Bernice Harpe, was the local nurse—a solid woman of sixty. Kaitlyn had always been Nina’s younger sister to him, sitting with textbooks and paper spread in front of her at the kitchen table. When he thought of Kaitlyn, he saw her with a backpack and her hair pulled into a ponytail. And a year later, she was his nurse—cleaning his wounds, checking his stitches, noting his medication. And she was bossy, too.

Swallowing the pills, he dropped back onto his pillow. Everything had changed since his return. The shock of Nina’s marriage was starting to wear off, and while he’d been sure that underneath that shock was some heartbreak and pain, right now he felt relief. He’d been absolutely positive that Nina was the woman for him before he left for the army, but after boot camp and eleven months in the desert with spiders as big as his hand, he’d done a lot of changing, too. He wasn’t the same guy who left town a little over a year ago, and while he’d hoped he could pick up where he left off at home, he’d been wrong.

Maybe Nina marrying someone else was for the best. He couldn’t really imagine her nursing him back to health anyway. He’d been the one to take care of her, not the other way around. She’d been flirtatious and fun, and incredibly high maintenance. That engagement ring had set him back significantly more than three months’ salary. If she’d waited for him, he’d have had to face that look of disappointment when she realized the husband she’d be saddled with—wounded, bitter, broken. Maybe it was all for the best... The pain had dulled—still there but somehow far away—and his eyes drooped shut.

Several hours later, Brody awoke again, this time to a soft tap on his door. He pulled his blanket over his waist to keep himself decent and called, “Yeah?”

The door opened to reveal Kaitlyn. She wore a pair of jeans and a white cotton shirt that brought out the contrast between her milky skin and the auburn waves that fell behind her shoulders. That sure beat waking up to Afghanistan.

“Morning,” she said. “How did you sleep?”

“Like the medicated.”

“I guess that’s to be expected,” she said with a chuckle. “What time did you take your pills last night?”

“Four in the morning.”

She jotted it down on a chart, then pulled out a roll of gauze. “I’m going to change your dressing this morning. Are you okay with that?”

Her tone was professional and slightly distanced. He might as well be in the hospital again with the kind but unrecognizable nursing staff that moved through his room like clockwork. He didn’t like this side to Kaitlyn—and while he appreciated her attempt to put him at ease, maybe he didn’t need to be at ease. A few messy, personal connections were better than sterile professionalism, where the emptiness was filled by the clamor of his memories.

“How come you’re being so formal?” he asked with a grimace.

“I’m your nurse. You’re my patient. It’s a different relationship, and you need to be able to trust me for your medical concerns.”

“I’d trust you a whole lot more if you didn’t sound like a stranger,” he said.

Kaitlyn smiled and shrugged—suddenly she looked like the same old Kate who used to beat him at cards.

“That’s more like it,” he said. “I’m still me, and you’re still you.”

“Except you have to do as I say,” she said, a teasing smile tugging at one side of her lips.

“Yeah, yeah.” She was right—he was at a distinct disadvantage...especially waking up to Kaitlyn coming into his room first thing in the morning before he was dressed and steeled to the day. At least it was cold enough that he’d worn an army-issue undershirt to bed so she wasn’t staring at him bare chested.

“All right,” she said, kneeling next to the bed. “Let’s see the leg.”

Brody tossed the covers back to expose his leg, and she went to work. She moved with confidence, peeling back bandages, easing gauze away from the wounds. She made little sympathetic sounds when gauze stuck to stitches.

“Wiggle your toes,” she instructed.

He complied, and she looked satisfied. “Does that hurt to move them?”

“No.”

“Good sign.” She took his foot in her hand and moved his ankle in a full rotation, then jotted something in a notebook. “How is the pain right now on a scale of one to ten?”

“Ten being?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“When I saw you yesterday,” she said.

So she’d noticed how bad his pain was the day before. That was somehow gratifying. He wasn’t the complaining type, but he also didn’t want to suffer for days unnecessarily, either.

“About a six,” he said.

“And you’re—” she looked at her watch “—just about due for your next dose. So that’s an improvement.”

“Why not just ask if I’m feeling any better?” Brody asked.

“Because you’d tell me you were even if you weren’t,” she retorted.

She had a point. “Okay, fine.”

“So now I want you to stand up,” she said, pushing herself to her feet. She stood beside the bed, hands folded in front of her and a no-nonsense look on her face.

“What?” He pushed himself up onto his elbows. “Right now?”

“Yes, right now.”

“You’re not going to give me pain meds first?”

“No.” She met his gaze evenly, and Brody heaved a sigh. “If you don’t start putting some weight on that leg, it’ll only get harder.”

Brody pushed the covers back and Kaitlyn bent to help lift his injured limb over the side of the bed. Every movement was a fresh blaze of pain, and he closed his eyes against it, willing his stomach to settle. He felt vulnerable sitting here in an undershirt and a pair of army-issue shorts. His muscles were tense along his shoulders, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

“Take a moment to breathe...” Her voice was quiet and close. “You’ll be fine. I’m right here. When you’re ready, you’ll stand, but you’ll put all your weight on your good leg. I’m not that mean.”

The pain slowly subsided, and he had to admit it was marginally better than yesterday. She’d said it was a good sign, hadn’t she?

“Okay,” he said.

Kaitlyn’s cool fingers slipped under his biceps and she tugged him gently forward. He followed her encouragement and pushed himself up, all of his weight on his good leg. He wavered slightly, and Kaitlyn moved in closer—sliding an arm around his waist to steady him.

The auburn top of her head shone just at his shoulder level, and he was distinctly aware of where her hands touched his sides, even if he was trying to ignore it. She smelled good—something like vanilla, but not quite—and it made him start thinking of things he should know better than to connect to Kaitlyn Harpe.

“Can you straighten your leg?” she asked, and her voice was close to his chest as she looked down at his injured leg—that was her focus, at least. He straightened it with a grimace, and after a moment, he put a little bit of weight onto it.

That was too much, and the pain made the room tilt and spin. She’d never be able to catch him if he went down...

“Brody, this is great!” Her tone lost the nurse quality, and she looked up at him with shining eyes. It brought him back to the one time he’d kissed her when he was all of twelve... They’d been kids, and nothing had ever come of it, of course. If he were a little less woozy, he’d be tempted by those pink lips so close to his face—just a matter of dipping his head down and catching them with his—but with the room tilting like that, he’d probably miss. He wouldn’t come off as anything better than an awkward twelve-year-old, pecking a girl on the lips and not knowing what else to do.

“I’d better...” His voice was weaker than he liked, but she expertly eased him back down to the side of the bed, and he rubbed his hands over his face. She was his nurse, but having her this close to him was going to be harder than he’d imagined.

“A little dizzy?” she asked.

“A bit.”

“That’s natural. It’ll be easier the next time we do it. You’ve been on some pretty strong pain medications.” She was back to being the nurse again, and she chattered on about his different doses of meds as she adjusted his pillows so that he could sit propped up in bed.

“I think I need a few minutes to myself,” he said discreetly.

“Sure.” She shot him a grin. “I’ll go get your breakfast sorted out. You shouldn’t take any more pills on an empty stomach. Just trust me on that.”

She made a grossed out-face; he laughed softly. This was definitely going to be strange to get used to... The Kaitlyn who joked around and made faces was also the woman who was taking care of him. This was going to be a delicate balance, he could tell.

“I believe you,” he said.

“I’ll be back in a bit.” She left the room and closed the door behind her with a click, and he was left in silence.

That quiet felt good. Last night, he’d had all sorts of attention from his family. Everyone had questions, and his mother had wanted to make him comfortable, but only ended up leaving his pillow lumpy behind his back. But he couldn’t tell her, because every time she fussed over him, he could see the tears misting her eyes. No matter what had happened over there, she was still his mom, and that was something that hadn’t changed. Except that she’d been part of the deception, too, and that rankled him. When he was off serving the country, he should have been able to trust his family to have his back.

But they thought they had.

And maybe that was the biggest problem.

Of all the changes around here—Nina’s betrayal, Dakota’s marriage, Kaitlyn—he was the biggest change of all, and he wasn’t sure he could fit back into his spot here again, even for the short term.

You’re brave, Valentine. He’d kept it—a standing joke between them—but it had turned into a kind of good luck charm. He’d tucked that slip of paper into his front pocket because it made him feel braver somehow. A lot of the guys had good luck talismans...a small stone from their home driveway, or a hair elastic from a girlfriend. He’d had the Valentine card.

In the army, he’d learned that when you were wounded, you had to keep focused on the next step. That might be pulling yourself across the rocky ground, or tying off your own tourniquet. That was what he had to do now with his recovery—grit his teeth and take the next step. The rest of the answers would have to wait.

* * *

WHEN KAITLYN HAD arrived at the Mason ranch that morning, Millie Mason was making breakfast—oatmeal with raisins, stacks of toast with butter and boiled eggs. The Mason kitchen always smelled of baking and food, something Nina had resented.

“I’m not a cook,” Nina had insisted when Brody said that all he wanted for his birthday was a cake made by his girl. “Why can’t he just get his mother to make the cake and let me provide...other things?”

Nina always managed to sound like Marilyn Monroe with her innuendos, but she had had a point. Since when did a fiancée need to replace a mother? But Kaitlyn had sensed that Nina’s frustration went deeper than a different skillset—Nina hadn’t ever been terribly nurturing. She’d been beautiful, and everyone else had nurtured her. Including her sister. Kaitlyn hadn’t been so different from everyone else, constantly making excuses for Nina. Nina isn’t very good at that. Her heart is in the right place. But maybe her heart hadn’t been quite so well situated after all.

Nina had suggested that Kaitlyn just bake the cake and let Nina take the credit, but Kaitlyn had said no. It was one thing to have her sister dating the guy who had her heart in a vice, and quite another to bake the cake that would make Brody love Nina even more. So Kaitlyn flat out refused...but consented to pick one up at the bakery since Nina wasn’t dressed yet. Looking back, Kaitlyn couldn’t believe she’d been such a pushover.

Now, as Kaitlyn left Brody in his bedroom and returned to the Mason kitchen, she found it empty, the food on the table and the air fragrant with freshly brewed coffee. This was a kitchen where love took the form of food, and while that was hard for a girlfriend to compete with, it certainly did make for a cozy home. Growing up with Millie Mason’s cinnamon buns and strawberry pies would have been idyllic.

“Mrs. Mason?” Kaitlyn called.

There was no answer, so Kaitlyn opened a cupboard and pulled out some bowls and plates to set the table. She wasn’t Brody’s girlfriend, and she didn’t need to prove anything. Her goal was to get Brody to walk from the bedroom to the kitchen, and the best way she could see to make that happen was to lure Brody out with food—and his mother’s fantastic cooking was sitting right here waiting.

An envelope crinkled in Kaitlyn’s back pocket, and she paused. Nina had sent a letter for Brody just as soon as she found out that he was on his way back. That was the deal—she needed to explain her actions herself, except Kaitlyn had hoped she could do it in person, or at least garner up the courage for a phone call. Regardless, once Brody read it, Kaitlyn was supposed to give her sister a call and let her know. That would let Nina off the hook, and she could start announcing her wedded bliss from the rooftops. Mrs. Brian Dickerson.

Kaitlyn had to admit she was curious about the contents of that letter, but there probably wasn’t anything in there that Kaitlyn didn’t already know. Nina and Brian had been flirting for some time before Brody even left, not that anyone thought anything of it. Brian had driven Nina home from the airport after they’d all seen Brody off. In fact, Brian had been around a lot, so maybe it shouldn’t have been quite so shocking that something had developed between the two of them.

The outside door opened with a rush of cold air.

“Morning,” Dakota said as she came inside. She blew out a breath and slammed the door shut again. She pulled off her gloves and unzipped her coat.

“Where are your parents?” Kaitlyn asked.

“They went to my uncle’s place. He’s come down with a nasty flu, so they’re helping out with his chores this morning.”

Kaitlyn nodded. Ranches didn’t stop for pesky little things like vomiting or fevers. Dakota lifted the lid of the porridge pot and inhaled the aroma. What had Mrs. Mason added—nutmeg? It smelled amazing.

“How’s Brody?” Dakota asked.

“I got him standing this morning,” she replied.

“Really?” Dakota grinned. “That’s great! How long do you think it’ll take him to be fully recovered?”

“I’m not sure.” Kaitlyn frowned. “That depends on him.”

“Hmm.” Dakota pulled her hands through her hair. “I know we’ve probably manipulated things quite enough, but—”

“No,” Kaitlyn said firmly. “Leave me out of anything else.”

“The thing is, we’re going to need Brody around here,” Dakota said, ignoring Kaitlyn’s statement. “Dad will, at least. With Andy and me living on the Granger ranch, and with Mackenzie busy with the new babies, I can’t be running between two ranches forever. I’m exhausted.”

Kaitlyn could sympathize. Dakota was a new wife, and she was trying to support the running of two different ranches. It wasn’t a fair workload. But then, Brody wasn’t exactly a candidate for ranch work, either.

“He’s not in any condition to do chores,” Kaitlyn said. “Right now, Brody has to focus on recovery.”

“It isn’t that. The problem is, when I talked to Brody last night, he didn’t seem like he wanted to stay,” Dakota said. “At all.”

Kaitlyn’s stomach tightened. Brody wasn’t intending to stay in Hope? For some reason, she’d assumed that he was home safe...for good. Obviously, it was a presumptuous conclusion, but she hadn’t seriously considered him leaving again.

“I didn’t realize,” Kaitlyn said quietly.

“So we need to convince him to stay,” Dakota said.

“We?” Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, I’m done with interfering. I highly doubt Brody would welcome our meddling, either.”

“He’s always liked you—”

“I don’t think he likes me as much as you think.” She smiled wanly. And he may like her even less after he saw the letter from Nina. She pulled the envelope from her back pocket and tapped it against her hand. “My sister sent a letter to explain things to Brody.”

“What did she say?” Dakota asked, lowering her voice.

Kaitlyn shrugged. “No idea. But I have to give it to him. He deserves to hear from her.”

Dakota nodded, but she eyed the letter in distrust. “I just wish I knew what she said...”

“We aren’t opening it,” Kaitlyn said.

“No, of course not.” But Dakota looked a tiny bit sheepish. “You have to give it to him.”

“The sooner the better, right?” Kaitlyn asked. “I don’t want to make things harder on him, but it might actually help him make sense of what happened.”

There was a rustle behind them.

“Give me what?”

Both women turned to see Brody in the doorway. He’d managed to get his crutches, but he had to hunch over them. They looked like matchsticks compared to his bulky frame. His expression was taut, and his lips were pale. He was in pain, but he’d managed to get out here on his own, and Kaitlyn couldn’t help the grin that came to her lips. She hurried to his side and reached to steady him.

“I’m fine,” he grunted. “Let me do it.”

Kaitlyn stepped back, feeling slightly stung, not that she entirely blamed him. Dakota pulled out the closest kitchen chair, and Brody sank into the chair with a wince.

“You okay?” Dakota asked her brother. “You look...white.”

Brody nodded slowly. He’d be nauseated after that exertion, Kaitlyn knew, and she slid a glass of water in front of him. He took a sip and some of the color came back to his face.

“So what are you supposed to give me, but don’t want to part with?” Brody asked, glancing between them.

Kaitlyn sighed and held out the envelope. “A letter from Nina.”

Brody eyed the envelope in Kaitlyn’s hand, then took it from her, his rough fingers brushing against hers. He looked ready to tear it open, then he sighed and tucked it into his front pocket.

“Aren’t you going to read it?” Dakota asked.

“Probably.” Brody cast his sister an annoyed look. “What’s it to you?”

“I’d kind of like to see what she has to say for herself,” Dakota retorted, and when Brody glanced in Kaitlyn’s direction, Dakota went on, “Oh, don’t worry about Kaitlyn’s feelings. We’re all pretty much on the same page when it comes to Nina and Brian.”

Kaitlyn shrugged—Dakota was right. They’d all hashed through this so many times that the eggshells were no longer necessary. They all thought Nina was a nitwit for what she’d done, and they all knew that there wasn’t a thing they could do about it. Nina had made her choice, and they’d all have to live with it. Including Brody.

“Nina wanted to explain, I think,” Kaitlyn said, except that Kaitlyn highly doubted Nina’s explanation would have the same impact without her big green eyes and plunging cleavage. Nina had always managed to sweet-talk her way out of every scrape, but this one came down to character and cleavage simply didn’t make up for that kind of deficiency.

“Fine.” Brody’s voice was gruff and he reached for the pot. Kaitlyn dished him up some porridge and watched as Brody poured a splash of milk over it.

For all of their plotting and planning, trying to save Brody from the brunt of this, Kaitlyn was now faced with the fresh heartbreak her sister had caused. She could only imagine what Brody was feeling—humiliation, loneliness, disappointment—and she couldn’t make it any better. She couldn’t bake her sister’s cake, and she couldn’t replace her sister’s love.

She opened the medication bottle and shook out two pills.

Brody accepted them with a nod, and in the split second when his eyes met hers, she saw the depth of his pain. This was the problem with being half in love with her patient—that look in his eyes cut her to the core. If there was any other possibility—if Bernice weren’t already working with three elderly patients—Kaitlyn would step back, take some space of her own. But there weren’t any other nurses available, and Kaitlyn owed him.

Chapter Three

Brody glanced in the direction Kaitlyn had gone, and he adjusted himself to angle his hip toward the warmth of the crackling fire. The back door opened and shut as Kaitlyn left, and Brody felt the emptiness of the house settle around him. He didn’t need constant babysitting, but he was still disappointed to see her go.

I’ve got to stop that.

He didn’t need another woman to take Nina’s place, least of all Nina’s sister. But that wasn’t why he missed Kate. He missed her for all the reasons he’d missed her while he was overseas. She had been a good friend for years, and right now he needed that friendship more than ever.

The fire was comfortingly hot, while outside the window frost crept up the glass like creaking fingers. It was bright and sunny outside, with that pale, watercolor sky that promised extreme cold. This was the kind of day that made a man want to be by a fire anyway.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Dakota said, slipping into the chair opposite him and tucking her feet up under her.

Brody startled and his heart pounded in his throat. “Don’t do that to me.”

“Do what?” Dakota asked.

“I didn’t know you came in.” Things that didn’t used to startle him did now—it was hard to explain to someone who hadn’t been in a battle. He liked to know where people were—exactly. He didn’t like being snuck up on, and the pain meds were making him less able to hear the tiny sounds his soldier’s training told him to listen for.

“I came in when Kaitlyn left.” Apparently, she still felt like this house was her own, and frankly, he wasn’t positive that it wouldn’t be hers again. He couldn’t see a marriage to Andy Granger lasting. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“About what?” Brody asked.

“Andy.”

Of course. What else? Brody had never had much of an issue with Andy Granger until the day he sold out to those moron land developers. Their big representative had swaggered around Hope wearing neon cowboy boots and a belt buckle the size of a dinner plate, and everyone had the good sense to steer clear, except Andy Granger. If it weren’t for Andy’s sellout, their crops wouldn’t be failing and their ranch wouldn’t be drying into dust.

“What about him?” Brody asked blandly.

“He’s not as bad as you think,” she said with a small smile.

“Apparently, he’s convinced you of that,” Brody retorted. What had Andy done on that cattle drive—brainwashed her? And the rest of the family, too, because they’d all been at the wedding.

“He had no idea what would happen to our land, Brody. You know that. He didn’t have a crystal ball, and it was complicated.”

“I doubt it was that complicated.”

Dakota fiddled with her wedding ring—white gold and diamonds. At least Andy hadn’t cheaped out on the jewelry.

“Which one of us will get the ranch when Mom and Dad go?” she asked.

This was an abrupt change of topic, and he eyed his sister curiously.

“You always wanted to run this place,” he replied. Before she married Andy, that is. He’d thought they’d already agreed on that much. Had she changed her mind now that she’d joined the Grangers? Or was Andy angling to take over their land, too?

“But you’re back now,” she countered.

“Mom and Dad aren’t exactly dying, are they?” There was no point in discussing all of this now. He wasn’t planning on sticking around for the long term anyway, and six months from now, Dakota might have left Andy and be back home.

“But think about it,” she pressed. “Dad doesn’t have any cash tucked away. This ranch is the entire inheritance. So, yes, I always wanted to run this place, but what about you? When our father dies—and let’s pray that’s not for a long, long time—do you really want to be cut out of everything?”

“Of course not.”

“So how would we split it?” she asked.

This wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. He’d just had his best friend die in front of him, and he couldn’t grapple with his parents’ eventual passing right now. They’d figure something out, he was sure. He and Dakota had always been close, and he didn’t for a second suspect that she’d try and steal his half of anything.

“Why are we talking about this?” he asked irritably.

“The point is,” Dakota said, “that inheritances can be tricky. Andy and Chet had a ranch to split, and their father gave them each half the land.”

“Sounds fair to me,” Brody muttered.

“Except Chet was using Andy’s land for pasture. In essence, Andy had nothing. He technically owned land that he couldn’t do anything with.”

“Then sell to his brother,” Brody said. “That’s what people do.”

“The developers could give him twice as much as the land was worth,” she said. “And he was faced with a chance to buy a business at the same time. He and Chet had this massive falling out, and Andy sold for twice as much money. If he’d sold to his brother, he’d still owe the bank for his business. He sold to the developers, and he owns his company free and clear.”

“Your point?” Brody asked testily.

“I’m saying, Andy isn’t as bad as you think. He and Chet are trying to patch things up, but I can see how complicated one ranch and two heirs can make things.”

“Tell you what, Dakota,” Brody said with a small smile. “You have my promise that I won’t do anything like that to you.”

“Dad’ll leave you the land, Brody,” she said simply. “It doesn’t matter what you and I agree to. Legally speaking, you’re going to inherit.”

“Maybe not,” he said with a frown. He’d always known that his dad intended to leave the ranch to his son, but Dakota was the one who wanted it so badly she could taste it. When Brody up and left for the army, he was pretty sure his dad’s plans would have changed, too.

“Give Andy a chance,” she said quietly. “He’s a good guy, and he’s paying for our irrigation system.”

“You sure about that?” Brody wasn’t the kind of man who counted his chickens too early.

“The money is in my personal bank account,” she said. “We’ll start the installation this spring.”

That surprised him. He’d expected Andy to make some big promises in order to win the Masons over, but he hadn’t expected him to back it up with cash.

“Where did he get that kind of money?” he demanded.

“He’s pretty good at making money,” she said, and he caught the flicker of pleasure in her expression. “His car dealership in Billings is making a steady profit, and he’s done some smart investing.”

“Okay...” Brody said with a nod, although he felt a twinge of discomfort. “I don’t like taking that kind of cash, though.”

“You aren’t taking it,” she said with a shrug. “I am. And he’s my husband, so I don’t feel badly at all. So you can stop worrying about that right now.”

Brody rolled his eyes. She knew him too well, apparently. Sisters had a way of figuring out your buttons quicker than anyone else. A smile crept over Dakota’s face and her eyes glowed in the soft flicker of the firelight.

“It’s so strange to be over there...working the Granger land like it’s my own.” A guilty look crossed her face. “I worry about Dad over here. I mean, I still help him with a lot, and Chet has sent some ranch hands to pitch in, but it isn’t the same.”

“He’ll hire more help,” Brody said pragmatically. “Things will pick up.”

“But you’re back now.” She fixed him with a pleading look.

And he was supposed to take up where he left off—ranching by his dad’s side. It wasn’t that he didn’t love this land, and it wasn’t that he didn’t love this work, but he and his father had never seen eye-to-eye about anything from politics to animal husbandry.

“I see where you’re going with this, Dakota, but Dad won’t give an inch on this place. His land, his rules,” Brody retorted. “So I’m supposed to act like a hired hand around here?”

“No, you’re supposed to act like the guy who’s going to run it after Dad’s too old to do the work.”

But even when his dad was too old to work, he wouldn’t be too old to complain, and that was part of what Brody had been so keen to escape. Working with his old man had never been part of the plan, no matter how much Brody loved ranching.

“Just think about it,” Dakota said. “A lot has changed around here. It might be better than you think.”

Was his sister right, or was she trying to appease her own conscience for getting married to the enemy next door?

“I’ve got to go work on a tractor,” she said after a moment. “It’s dripping oil something fierce. I’d better get out there.”

Whose tractor—the Grangers’ or their own? Maybe it didn’t matter as much as he thought. That was his sister, all right, the little grease monkey. If she wasn’t training horses, she was tinkering with engines. Andy had married a very able woman, but he was also getting a woman who could hold her own against an army if necessary. Granger might not know what he was in for, and that little thought was what made him smile to himself. Besides, she also had a big burly brother, who’d already knocked one guy around for treating her badly, and he’d be more than willing to do it again if Andy ever messed up.

He waved as she headed toward the kitchen and out the back door, leaving Brody in silence. The fire popped and the heat from the glowing wood felt good as it emanated against his bad leg.

They’d had a ranch hand who used to always sit with one hip toward the fire on cattle drives, and now Brody could understand that. He’d probably be doing the same thing from now on—taking advantage of heat to soothe away some aches and pains—because he couldn’t imagine this leg ever being 100 percent again.

He pulled out Nina’s envelope and looked down at the crinkled paper. It was addressed to him, care of Kaitlyn. She could have sent it to his house directly, but maybe she didn’t trust that he’d receive it—he no longer knew what lengths his family would go to protect his feelings, as dumb as that was.

He slipped a finger in the corner and tore the envelope open. There was a single sheet of paper inside, and as he pulled it out, he could see Nina’s back-slanted handwriting. She used to dot all her i’s with hearts when they were dating.

He could hear her voice in the words, and as his eyes flowed over the familiar script, he paused, the information sinking in and his anger simmering higher. This was the side of the story she hadn’t told anyone, the side of the story she’d kept private. He was glad she’d told him, though. It might sting, but honesty was better.

Not a single heart-dotted i. She’d done him the favor of not signing her full married name—Nina Dickerson. That would have stung more, even though it was implied. She was sorry, but—it was very much over between them. Maybe he’d been tricking himself thinking that by putting a ring on her finger he’d stay in her mind. That was bitterness talking.

He tossed the letter toward the fire, and a draft caught it and set it lightly down on the other chair.

Blast. He was going to burn that letter if it was the last thing he did. He closed his eyes as he pushed past the pain and rose to his feet. His crutches were within reach, but right now, he didn’t want to lean on them, he wanted to conquer something—anything!

He took a step forward, pain searing up from his thigh and into his groin, but he kept moving, thumping heavily back down onto his good leg. He couldn’t put much weight on the bad leg for long, but he was most certainly making progress across the floor toward the other chair.

He clenched his teeth as he took another step, relieved to find that his head wasn’t swimming the way it had this morning. Maybe it was the fresh medication in his system, but with a couple more steps, he reached the chair and bent just enough to grab the corner of the letter between two fingers. He tossed it toward the fire again, and this time it landed in the coals, and that back-slanted handwriting started to curl and blacken as the paper caught fire.

Standing there watching it burn, he glanced back at the chair he’d just vacated and realized that he’d walked about five feet on his own without any crutches. He felt a surge of victory. His victories seemed small these days, but he’d take them where he could find them. Kaitlyn would be impressed, too, he realized wryly. When was the last time he’d looked to impress a girl by walking five steps?

But he was a man who could endure pain and get through it. He’d keep moving forward. That’s what cowboys—and soldiers—did.

* * *

THE NEXT MORNING, as Kaitlyn bumped along the gravel road in the family pickup truck, her mind was on that letter. When she’d given it to him, she’d been relieved to relinquish responsibility and put it right back where it belonged—on Nina’s shoulders—but things felt different with some time to think. They’d all spent so much emotional energy trying to protect Brody that it was hard to stop now that he was home again.

“Nina has a good heart,” her father told her that morning. “Don’t be too hard on her. At least they weren’t married yet.”

Her father had always gone easy on Nina, as if life for a knockout beauty was somehow harder than it was for the rest of them. But as a father, Ron Harpe erred on the side of tolerance. Kaitlyn was pretty sure he still thought of Nina as a girl in pigtails—whether that was good for his daughter or not.

“We were going to keep the secret until he got back,” her father reminded her. “And now he’s back. He’s a grown man, sweetheart. Quit babying him.”

Her father had a point, but despite those bulging muscles and steely gaze, Brody was still fragile. He’d been through a lot. He’d nearly died out there, and he’d had some ugly surprises upon returning home. Her father saw the grown man, but she saw the vulnerable war vet. She could only hope she hadn’t made things worse. Nina’s conscience could have waited, for all Kaitlyn was concerned, but the deed was done.

Kaitlyn pulled up the drive and parked. When she arrived at the side door, she found the screen shut but the main door open and Mrs. Mason pulling on her gum boots. She tugged a hand through her graying frizzy hair and reached for a pair of work gloves.

“Good morning,” Kaitlyn said.

“Morning. I’m just heading out to check on a sick cow. Sorry for the rush.” She shot Kaitlyn a smile. Millie Mason was looking decidedly more relaxed now that her son was back from Afghanistan, and her eyes had a new sparkle. None of this had been ideal, but one mother’s heart was very full.

“No problem.” Kaitlyn stood back as the older woman pushed open the screen and slipped past her onto the step. The air outside was cold, and the snow had a thick crust over it.

“Your patient is already up, too,” Millie said with a smile. “You’ll see! Oh, and I didn’t get breakfast made, so...”

So it would be on Kaitlyn to feed Brody. That wasn’t a big deal. Unlike Nina, Kaitlyn knew how to cook. She waved to Millie, then stepped into the warmth inside. She started when she saw Brody standing at the fridge. He had only one crutch tucked under his arm, and he glanced back at her with a slightly smug look on his face.

“Look at you!” she exclaimed, pulling off her gloves and jacket. “How much is this hurting?”

“Like hell,” Brody said with a tight smile. “But it’s worth it. I’m making breakfast. What do you want?”

“I don’t want you landing in my breakfast,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I’ll get it.”

“Have I shown off enough?” he asked, then hobbled toward the table and sank into a chair. He looked a little wan, the pain probably near unbearable levels, but he was trying—really trying—and she felt a wave of tenderness. The same old Brody. That was why it was so easy to fall for him. He was so strong and sweet, but with a core of steel. Brody never gave up—not once he was focused on something...or someone. Kaitlyn had never been lucky enough to garner his focus.

“Very impressive. Now stay down.” She opened the fridge, her gaze falling on a bowl of different-sized fresh eggs on the second shelf. They’d be from the Masons’ chickens out back. “How about eggs?”

“Sure.” Brody twisted around, his dark gaze following her as she moved about the kitchen. Heat rose in her face at his scrutiny.

“Have you taken any new pain meds this morning?” she asked by way of distracting him. “Keep in mind that I count the pills.”

Brody arched an eyebrow. “You think I’d lie to you?”

No, she didn’t. Brody had always been the honorable type, but pain medication addiction was relatively common for injuries this severe, and Brody’s pain wasn’t only physical. He’d been through the wringer since he got back—and she also felt more in control as the nurse than she did as the friend.

“Any new pain meds?” she repeated, shooting him a no-nonsense look.

“No, ma’am,” he replied with a teasing smile. “You’ve gotten bossier.”

If she didn’t look at him, if she just listened to the tone of his voice and the silly banter, it was possible to imagine that no time had passed, and that Brody was the same muscle-bound cowboy he’d always been.

“No, I haven’t.” She cracked four eggs into a bowl and started to whisk them together into a creamy froth. “I just have reason to focus it all on you. Aren’t you lucky?”

Brody rewarded her with a chuckle.

“Look, Brody, I felt a little bad about dumping that letter on you.”

“I read it.”

She glanced back to find his gaze still focused on her. He raised an eyebrow.

“Curious as to what she said?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Brian got her pregnant.”

It took a moment for his words to sink in, and when they did, Kaitlyn frowned. “What?”

“And she’s very sorry, and all that,” Brody said drily. “Awfully apologetic. And pregnant.”

Pregnant! That would explain the quick wedding. They’d all begged them to hold off and wait a little bit, but Nina wouldn’t hear of it. She was getting married immediately, and everyone had to scramble to try and keep the news as quiet as possible, and to call everyone who had any immediate knowledge to warn them from letting Brody know. If Nina had just waited, it would have been so much less complicated, but now she understood the pressure.

“Wow.” Kaitlyn shook her head slowly. “She didn’t tell me.”

“She said she hadn’t told anyone yet,” Brody said. “But I’m in no mood to keep secrets. There’ve been enough of those.”

“How far along is she?” Kaitlyn asked.

“She said she’s due in May.”

Kaitlyn did the mental math... Nina was five months pregnant? But then, she hadn’t seen her sister since the wedding.

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