Page 6 of A Rogue Cowboy's Kiss

Falcon took a step back. “She’sstayingin Boston?”

“Again, I don’t know.” Brody frowned. “You all right?”

Bella. In Boston.

All Falcon wanted was to stop running and park his ass on this ranch. Be with the horses. With the people who let him be. With the woman he’d loved for a million fucking years. “She’s staying in Boston?” he asked again.

Brody narrowed his eyes. “What’s going on with you? When was the last time you slept?”

“A couple days.” Falcon strode away, clasping his hands on his head as he stared across the vast lands of the Hart enclave. There were horses grazing. A state-of-the-art barn. And land that stretched into the horizon, a place where there was silence and peace, where noise didn’t ever enter, unless a man asked for it.

The place where Bella had made her home.

It had never occurred to Falcon that he wouldn’t be able to come back here, settle in, and find Bella. It had just never crossed his mind. This oasis had always been the humanity that had kept him from losing himself to the darkness all this time.

And she was gone?

“Falcon.” Brody’s voice was low. “You know the rules.”

Falcon knew the rule Brody was talking about. When they were homeless teenagers living under the bridge, Brody had instituted a rule that they never hid secrets from each other. They never suffered alone. They always shared their truth, no matter what. It had been that rule that had created the bond that had held them all together, because it made each of them realize they weren’t alone, they weren’t going to be judged, and there might not be an answer, but there was comfort.

Falcon had never taken the last name of Hart like the other nine, and he’d kept his distance on some levels, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t part of their inner circle. It also didn’t mean the rules didn’t apply, at least when it came to Brody.

So he answered the question. “I love Bella.”

There was silence for a long moment, and Falcon hardened himself. He knew what a fuck-up he was. Did Bella deserve more than him? Yeah. And Brody would tell him that.

“What else?”

Falcon turned to look at Brody, who was still staring across the horizon. “I said I love Bella. Not as a sister.”

“You’ve loved her since the first moment you met her,” Brody said, turning to look at him. “I wondered how long it would take for you to admit it to yourself.”

Falcon was stunned by Brody’s answer. “You knew?”

“Yeah.”

“Does she?”

“Not that I know of.” Brody paused. “She doesn’t want any man to fall in love with her, you know. She doesn’t trust love. Romance. Relationships.”

Falcon nodded. “I know.” He hadn’t worried that Bella would be taken, because he knew how completely she shut out love. But he hadn’t expected her to move away.

“So, what else is going on?”

Falcon smiled then, relief easing the ache in his gut. “I had this plan to move back here, build a house, see if I could win Bella’s heart, and then never leave the ranch again.”

Brody laughed softly. “Spoken like a man who has been outside the edges of functioning society for a very long time.”

Falcon rubbed the back of his neck, exhaustion beginning to weigh him down. “Yeah, well…yeah.”

They were both quiet for a moment, then Falcon grinned. “You’re not going to tell me to stay away from her, are you?”

“Nope.” Brody raised his brows. “She’s perfectly capable of kicking your ass to the curb if she feels like it. Bella doesn’t need my protection anymore. I’m not going to interfere in her life.”

Energy surged through Falcon, a new fresh energy he hadn’t felt in ages. Maybe ever. Was it hope? Acceptance of who he was? “I’m going to go to Boston, then.”

Brody smiled and nodded. “I figured as much. I’m not sure she’s going to move back here, though. Your dream of a life with Bella on the ranch might not be a possibility. You might have to choose.”

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