For His Brother's Wife

When she moved to his side, Cole gathered her to him and covered them with the sheet. For a man who had never cared to share his bed for an entire night with a woman, he found that doing so with Paige felt like the most natural thing in the world.

As she snuggled against him, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of her lying against him. But a sudden thought had him opening his eyes to stare at the ceiling and kept him awake long after Paige drifted off to sleep.

What if he had gotten her pregnant?

Both times they’d made love, he had failed to use protection. The first time, they had both been distracted by the storm. It was a weak excuse, but he had taken Paige at her word that she didn’t think she could become pregnant.

Tonight was an entirely different story. He could understand Paige dismissing the issue. But after reading Craig’s emails, he knew the real reason she was childless and it had nothing whatsoever to do with infertility. Craig had purposely avoided having children with her by avoiding the fertile days of her cycle because when the time came, he had wanted to be able to make a clean break from her.

But Cole had known the truth and had ignored his responsibility of using protection. Was he looking to become a daddy? Just because Paige’s first pregnancy had ended with a miscarriage didn’t mean that another pregnancy wouldn’t be successful.

Glancing down at the sleeping woman in his arms, he tried to imagine what it would be like to see Paige pregnant with their baby. With her inherent need to take care of her family, she would be a wonderful mother, and he would like nothing more than to give her the babies she had always wanted.

But she should be aware that it was a possibility and have a choice in the matter. He couldn’t in good conscience continue to make love to her without using some kind of protection. It was one thing for him to know the reason behind her failure to conceive. But she had no idea about Craig’s deception, and telling her would require Cole to explain how he knew why she had remained childless for the past ten years. As far as he was concerned that wasn’t even on the table for consideration. He couldn’t bear to see the devastation on her pretty face when she learned how little she’d meant to his brother or the cruelty of Craig letting her believe she was unable to have children.

As he felt sleep begin to overtake him, Cole knew his decision had been made. He was going to protect Paige from learning the truth for two simple reasons. For one thing, her knowing what his brother had done wouldn’t change anything and would only add disillusionment to the emotional pain she had already suffered. And for another, dragging Craig’s name through the mud and exposing him for the narcissistic sociopath that he was would make Cole no better than his twin had been.

* * *

After Cole’s doctor’s appointment on Thursday, Paige stood in the paint aisle of the Royal lumberyard and hardware store comparing colors. “Cole, what do you think of this color?” she asked. “I really like the warm cream, but white or off white might reflect the light a little better.”

“Colors that reflect light are more your area of expertise than they are mine,” Cole answered, looking over her shoulder at the samples she held. “Why don’t you just go with the color you like best? I doubt there would be that much difference in the amount of light they reflect.”

“You’re probably right,” she said, deciding on the warm cream color. “I’m probably overthinking things.”

“Hey,” he said, turning her to face him. “It’s your studio and you should have whatever you want.”

His smile warmed her all the way to her toes as he lowered his head for a kiss. His lips moved over hers with precision and care, and even though the caress was rather chaste, she felt a little breathless by the time he lifted his head.

“You’re going to get us kicked out of the lumberyard,” she said, laughing as she looked up and down the aisle to see if anyone had witnessed the kiss.

Cole laughed. “As long as R&N Builders keeps buying our supplies from them, I’m pretty sure they’ll turn a blind eye.”

She could tell Cole was a lot happier than he had been for the past week. At his appointment this afternoon, the orthopedist had removed the large bandage covering his knee and he was now allowed to put partial weight on that leg. He still had to use the crutches, but it was much easier to steady himself as he walked. He also seemed to be happier now that they were browsing the aisles at the lumberyard than he’d seemed when they had stopped at the grocery store earlier. She supposed it was a guy thing, but he had definitely shown more interest in the cabinetry they’d looked at for her studio than he had in the broccoli and cauliflower she had selected in the grocery store’s produce section.