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“What’s that?”
Wade glanced back at the barn doorway as if expecting someone to be there. “I don’t think my family is gonna be on board with this at all.”
He was totally right. Now what?
It was one thing to ask Wade for help when they had a degree of rapport between them. It was completely different to expect the same from his house full of brothers. She didn’t even see Annabel being willing to do such a thing. “Do you think there is a way I could convince them?”
Wade shook his head. “But I’ll still talk to them. Maybe we’ll come up with something that works for all of us.” He peered back at her. “You know what I don’t get? Why would you go through all this trouble just to keep a secret that is a decade old?”
Brielle couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze again. She didn’t have an answer for him—at least not one she was willing to share. She’d done too much already—made too many mistakes and asked for too much.
“You don’t have to answer. I’ll keep an eye on him. Tell everyone he’s related to the Keagans,” Wade said.
“There’s one more thing,” Brielle added. She could feel his sharp gaze on her again, and she flinched. “You got that job with my dad today.”
“Yeah? And?”
“I’m still mad at you about that.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t care about that,” Wade said.
She frowned at him. “I’d be willing to let it go if you could help Tad get a job too.”
His brows lifted and he moved closer to her once more. “I think you lost your leverage about an hour ago when you demanded to let Tad step foot on my property.”
She stared at the ground. “Okay, I know. I have no right to ask you to do anything. I’m just some girl who came here to help you start to fix up your home for your family. My requests are definitely bigger than anything I could do for you. Forget I said anything.” Brielle stepped around him, stopping when she heard him sigh.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Unable to face him, she straightened her shoulders and murmured, “Thank you.” Brielle took only two more steps when she thought she heard him whisper something else.
“You’re not just some girl.”
Brielle continued out of the barn and headed straight toward Tad. Before he uttered a word, she said, “I have to get back to the ranch. Wade said you can stay here, but we’re going to tell everyone that you’re his cousin or something.”
“Elle—”
“It’s Bri. No one calls me Elle.” She winced, hating the way her voice sounded. “Just call me Bri.”
“Okay. Bri.” Tad smiled, stepping toward her. She pulled back, holding up a finger. “You might have memories of me, but I don’t have memories of you. So let’s just start over, okay? Wade will bring you by the ranch tomorrow or the next day and see if you can work the ranch with him. That will give you an excuse to see me. Let’s just begin with that.”
Tad nodded. “I like that plan.”
Movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Wade standing in the doorway of his barn, watching them. Her heart leaped into her chest as if it would rather go running toward the one man who was in her corner. Brielle turned back to Tad. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
* * *
Sawdust and alfalfafilled Brielle’s nose as she kicked up the dust and dirt in her father’s work shed. She wrung her hands tighter and tighter, hating that she’d been so stupid not to get this handled sooner.
She could point fingers at Tad all she wanted, but this was just as much her problem, if not more so. Now she was waiting for Wade to come find her and tell her whether or not her father was willing to take on Tad. She hadn’t seen either man, but she’d noticed both Wade’s truck and Tad’s Jeep parked out front.
Brielle shook out her hands and forced herself to stop pacing. All this nervous energy wasn’t going to do her any good. If her father refused to hire Tad, they could still lean on everyone believing that he was simply visiting family.
Male voices passed outside the shed, and she nearly darted outside, but their words stopped her.
“I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish coming out here. If you think you know Bri, you’ve got another thing coming. She’s the most hard-headed, exasperating woman I know.”
Tad chuckled. “Well, mate, if you’re trying to scare me off—”
