It wasn’t as if she hadn’t thought about that same thing, but hearing the words from Colt, from the man she’d made love to only two weeks earlier — and knowing the other ranch hands were thinking the same thing — stung. Really stung.
Just like that, she found herself shivering in the water, her body cold and drained. This was a game she didn’t want to play anymore. She was a failure, just like her father said she was, just like Tony assumed she was, and just like Colt told her she was.
Suddenly she was fighting tears. She’d held off crying for twelve years, and now she felt like doing it every freaking day. This was so not good.
“Would you please turn around? I want to get out.” Her voice was weak as she struggled to keep the tears at bay.
“It’s not like I haven’t seen it all before, Brielle,” Colt said, but this time his voice wasn’t as harsh.
“Please, Colt.” There was only defeat in her tone now. She hated him right now for making her face her weaknesses, for making her doubt herself. But he was right. She was failing while her brothers were thriving in their businesses. A heavy weight had descended on her chest, and if she didn’t get out of this water, she never would, because her limbs were barely holding her up right now.
He was wrong in thinking that her daddy was going to save her, though. No. Her father would cast her out, and her brothers wouldn’t give her a helping hand. She suddenly felt so alone, more alone than ever before. At least before this challenge her father had given her, she’d known she could come home. Now, she didn’t have that same faith.
As if Colt could sense that she was at the breaking point, he turned around, and Brielle moved slowly toward the dock. He kept his back to her when she stepped out of the water, her body shaking so badly now that she could barely catch hold of her clothes.
She hadn’t brought a towel, so not only did she have to put her sweaty, disgusting work clothes back on, but she’d have to put them on while she was still wet. It took her twice as long as usual, but even by the time she was finally clothed, the shivers hadn’t died down. She had no idea how she’d manage to drive the quad back. She was exhausted, barely able to stand.
“Hey, are you okay?” Colt had turned back around, and as she swayed in front of him, he held out his arms and caught her. Feeling her shake must have prompted him to pull her in close against his chest.
“You’re freezing,” he muttered, and rubbed up and down her back.
“I’m fine,” she said through chattering teeth. “Just need to get back to the house.”
He pulled back and looked at her, really looked at her, and Brielle felt the unshed tears fill her eyes. She didn’t want him to see her. Face it — she didn’t want anyone to look at her anymore.
“Aw, hell, Brielle. I’m sorry,” he whispered, and he picked her up in his arms.
She wanted to protest, wanted to tell him to stop being nice. But it was too late for that. She knew how he truly felt, and she deserved it. She needed to just leave this place, a place that made her feel so bad about herself. It had to be this place.
But instead of letting her go, he carried her over to his horse and lifted her up, barely giving her time to grip the saddle horn before he swung himself into the saddle behind her, and then wrapped an arm around her waist and held her securely against him.
“My quad…” she protested as they began moving.
“I’ll send someone for it, Brielle.” Then he was silent as the sun began setting in the sky and he directed his horse toward her house.
Brielle fell asleep with her head leaning against the hardness of his chest.
Chapter Seventeen
When Colt and Brielle reached the house, the sun was setting, and, thankfully, no one was around. He didn’t want anyone to witness him carrying her inside again. Not this time. It was either blind luck or fear, but no one had said a word to him about the first time he’d gone inside. Nevertheless, he knew Sterling, and word travels fast in a small town.
As he leapt down from the horse, Brielle woke up, though she was disoriented as he lifted her down effortlessly and cradled her in his arms. He didn’t know how he’d gone from furious with her to worried, but there it was.
She leaned against him, still half asleep, as he walked through her front door, and he steadily made his way to the living room and sat down on the couch with her still in his arms. She appeared so vulnerable, and it was something in her he’d never seen before.
He hated that his words had done this to her, made this strong woman so weak — even if he knew it was bound to be temporary. She wasn’t the spoiled little city girl he’d first thought she was. There was a lot more to Brielle than she wanted the world to see, and all of a sudden Colt found that he wanted to see beneath the layers of protection she’d built around herself and discover who she truly was.
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
Her question startled him from his thoughts, but she was asking and she deserved an honest answer. “I want to know more about you — the real you, not this spoiled little girl you try to show everyone.”
“How do you know that’s not me?” She couldn’t hide the pain in her voice.
“I don’t,” he said, and he felt her recoil. “But I have a good feeling that it’s an act, like I said a couple of weeks ago. I’d just really like to know why you feel the need to put on such a facade.”
If he was honest with her, maybe she’d reciprocate. He practically held his breath as he waited for her to speak. He could feel her pulse increase. Had it really been so long since she’d opened up that she didn’t know how to do it anymore?
“You can talk to me, Brielle. It won’t leave this room,” he vowed. “I know you don’t know me, but once I give my word, I don’t break it.”
“You’re right. I don’t know you. I don’t let myself know anyone,” she said with a sigh.
“Why? You’re obviously beautiful, intelligent, full of spirit, and that’s just scratching the surface. Why do you feel you have to act like someone you aren’t?”
Brielle sighed again. “Do you know that I have four brothers?”
“No. I knew you had siblings. I met your father. There was something he said about you all being spoiled and needing to grow up before it was too late. I wasn’t in the best of moods when I spoke to him,” Colt said. What he didn’t say was why he’d been in such a bad mood. If she knew it was because he’d just learned that the land he wanted had been sold out from under him, she’d close up faster than a Venus flytrap with a fresh kill.