Secret Confessions: Down & Dusty – Brooke Read Online Free PDF Page B

main homestead at the left of the property, he diverted to the right, continuing for a kilometre before pulling to a stop in front of a house. A new house. One she wasn’t familiar with.
    ‘What’s this?’
    Heath continued to stare straight ahead, focusing on the brick building with its bay windows and wide verandah. ‘It’s the reason I waited a month to see you.’
    She frowned. ‘Because you were busy building?’
    ‘Construction started while I was overseas, but it’s taken a while to get the final touches right. I wanted it to be perfect when I brought you here.’ He looked at her then, stealing her breath with the vulnerability staring back at her. ‘This is my house. The place I plan to live from now on.’
    ‘It’s beautiful.’
    ‘Do you really think so?’ His question was filled with concern.
    ‘Does it matter what I think?’
    ‘I’d like it to.’ He reached out a hand, swept the loose hair on her cheek behind her ear. ‘Seeing as I built this for the both of us.’
    She straightened. ‘You can’t be serious.’
    He shrugged.
    ‘Then you’re crazy.’ What the hell was he thinking?
    He laughed, long and low and oh so endearing. ‘Maybe a little.’ His lips quirked, not in arrogance or cockiness, but in happiness. Pure happiness. ‘There’s a lot of things you aren’t aware of.’
    A shiver of warning skittered down her spine. ‘Like?’
    ‘We better get out first.’ He jerked his head toward the house and opened his door.
    She followed after him, her chest restricting with painful intuition as he met her at the front of the car and took her hand.
    ‘When I left for university, I made a promise to Rowan and Connor.’
    No. She shook her head, not knowing where this speech was leading, but already hating her brothers’ involvement.
    ‘Hear me out.’ He squeezed her fingers. ‘I never wanted anyone else. I knew that from my teenage years, and nothing has changed—’
    ‘Heath.’ She stepped back, breaking the connection of their palms. ‘What have you done?’
    ‘I asked them to keep an eye on you.’
    Her mouth gaped. ‘You son of a bitch. You’re the reason they’ve warned off every man in the state.’
    He gave her a sad smile. ‘Yeah.’
    Years of hell. Days of torment. Hours of starved lust. All because of him. All for him.
    ‘You’re an arsehole.’ She stumbled backward, caught between the shock of his love and the pain of betrayal.
    She needed to get out of there. Needed to get home. To stride out the confusion. To run free from the unnecessary years of heartache. Her feet began to backtrack of their own accord, distancing her from the future before her.
    ‘Brooke, wait.’
    Her heart stopped. Breathing was impossible. Her lips parted, but there were too many words, too many questions.
    ‘Look.’ He held up his hands in a placating gesture. ‘I know you’re angry. I anticipated that. But there was no way I could’ve asked you to wait for me. You would’ve done it. You would’ve wasted years of your life, alone—’
    ‘So instead, I spent all this time being ruled by my brothers. Did you know they caught me in bed with Bryce Thompson? Do you know what they did to him?’
    ‘Yeah. I know.’ The bastard smiled. A huge, beaming smile. ‘Believe it or not, Rowan kept me up to date on what you did while I was gone. He even sent photos over the years.’
    No way. She didn’t know if she should laugh at his elaborate plan to bring them together or throw up from the nauseating deception. ‘Gah!’ She threw her hands in the air and turned away to release a shout of frustration.
    Crunched footsteps followed as she continued to walk down the long drive, the sound of Heath behind her getting closer.
    ‘Tell me I’m right,’ he murmured over her shoulder. ‘We would’ve drifted apart over the years I was away. There was no way we could’ve made it through living on sterile emails and rushed phone calls.’ His hand landed on her hip and her traitorous