Her brothers had circled the wagons as soon as she came home. While Chance kept her company, Eli and Tyler were with Caro in the kitchen while she had lunch. It was good to have family. Especially when everything seemed to be going so wrong.
“Okay, thanks,” she said, curling up on the couch to watch the financial reports, hoping for more of a clue as to what Wes was up to.
When she heard the argument from the front hallway, though, Isabelle jolted to her feet, one hand slapped to her chest, as though she could soothe her suddenly galloping heart. Two voices, raised.
“What’re you doing here?” Chance demanded.
“I’m here to see Belle. And my daughter.”
Wes’s voice. Hard. Implacable. Her heart jumped again, and the pit of her stomach came alive with what felt like thousands of butterflies. She couldn’t believe he was here. He’d come to her. Why? Isabelle turned to the doorway and stood completely still. Waiting.
“Get out of my way, Chance,” Wes grumbled.
“I warned you once what would happen to you if you made either my sister or my niece cry.”
“Don’t try to stop me.”
“You don’t deserve them, you know.”
“You?
?re probably right,” Wes said. “But they’re my family and no one can keep me from them.”
For a moment, Isabelle held her breath, shocked to the bone by what Wes had said.
“Don’t blow this again,” Chance warned.
A moment or two later, Wes was there, staring at her, and what she saw in his eyes stunned her. He’d always been so locked down. So emotionally distant that he was practically unreadable. But today, everything she’d ever dreamed of seeing was there, in his beautiful sea-green eyes.
Drawn by the loud argument, Eli and Tyler marched into the room, too, and Isabelle’s three brothers formed a half circle behind Wes. Supportive? Threatening? She couldn’t be sure, and at the moment, she didn’t care. All she could see was Wes and all she felt was a rising sense of hope that fluttered to life in the center of her chest.
Wes didn’t care about her brothers, either. He’d known before he arrived that he’d have to force his way past the Graystone wall of protection, and he’d been prepared for it. The brothers had given him a welcome as icy as the Colorado weather, but it didn’t matter. He’d been willing to face anything to reach Isabelle.
Looking at her now, his heart thrummed in his chest and he took his first easy breath since the night before, when he’d found her gone and the world as he’d known it had ended. He crossed the room to her in a few long strides and stopped when he was within touching distance. God, he wanted to reach out to her, but there were things he had to say first. Things she needed to hear. Ignoring her brothers, he focused on the only woman he’d ever loved and started talking.
“I was wrong.”
She blinked at him, and he read the surprise on her face.
Smiling sadly, he went on in a rush. “I know. I don’t say that often. But I was stupid. Shortsighted. Stubborn. I never should have let you leave me five years ago. And I can’t let you go now.”
“Wes—”
“No,” he said, quickly interrupting her. “Let me say this, Belle. Say what’s needed saying for way too long.”
She nodded, and he felt a wild flicker of optimism in his chest. He couldn’t stop looking at her. Her beautiful eyes were wide with a mixture of disbelief and expectation. Her blond hair fell loose to her shoulders and the blue sweater she wore over jeans made her eyes look deeper, as if they held every secret in the universe.
Shaking his head, he began, “See, when my mother died, my father lived the rest of his life in misery. He never recovered, because he’d loved her too much.” He reached out, laid both hands on her shoulders and smiled because he was there, with her again. This was the most important speech he’d ever make and he hoped to hell he’d find the right words. “I promised myself I’d never let a woman mean that much to me. It was a kid’s reaction. A kid’s vow—and it guided me most of my life. Yesterday though, I realized that I had never looked beyond my Dad’s pain. But now I see that the happiness my father had before he lost my mom was worth the risk. Worth everything.”
God, it sounded pitiful, even to him. He’d lived his life in fear. Love had had him running for years. And he’d never realized that by evading it, he’d been missing out on the best part of life. Well, no more.
“I love you, Isabelle,” he said. “I loved you five years ago. I love you now. I will always love you.”
She took a breath and swayed slightly in place, lifting one hand to her mouth. Absently, Wes heard her brothers leave the room, and he was grateful. He wanted privacy for this. For the most important moment of his life.
“I want to believe,” she said, and he could see the truth of that in her eyes. “But how can I risk Caro’s heart? She was devastated when we left yesterday. She cried herself to sleep last night.”
He closed his eyes briefly and silently cursed. If he hadn’t been so stupid, he never would have hurt his child. Hurt the woman he loved. Created such a damn mess out of everything.