His Old-Fashioned Love (Old-Fashioned Series) by Laylah Roberts Page B

oldest, then comes Kent and Cam. I’m next, and Frankie, our sister, is the baby.”
    “Poor girl. I bet you boys were hard to live with.”
    “What are you talking about?” he asked with a mock-amazement. “We were wonderful big brothers.”
    “Uh-huh. I can only guess that your brothers are as overprotective as you.”
    “Actually they’re worse than me—especially Heath. He took his job as head of the household very seriously. Didn’t help that Frankie could be a real brat. Believe me; she deserved every one of the spankings she got.”
    “Your brother spanked her?” she asked incredulously.
    He nodded. “Yep. That’s the way we were raised—our parents spanked us. Didn’t your parents spank you?”
    “Ahh, no. I was a pretty good child.”
    “Making up for it now, huh?”
    She wrinkled her nose at him.
    “Do you have siblings?” he asked.
    “No. My parents had me late in life. They died when I was in college, just before I met Matt.”
    He frowned. “So you said that Matt is Derrick’s brother, doesn’t that make things awkward when you live and work with Derrick?”
    “ Matt and Derrick have never gotten along, even before Matt left me. I should probably feel bad for driving more of a wedge between them but I know that they disliked each other long before I came along.”
    “He must have been crazy to leave you.”
    “Nice of you to say so, but he had his mistress to keep him warm.”
    “He was cheating on you?”
    “Oh yes, for most of our marriage it seems. Of course, I didn’t know all that until after he left me. He really couldn’t have chosen a worse time or place, either. Believe me, hospital is a hell of a place to learn your husband is leaving you for a prettier, younger and thinner woman.”
     
    Brax couldn’t understand any man who would be stupid enough to let Holly out of his life. But her husband had left her when she was injured and vulnerable was unbelievable.
    “ What a jerk,” he told her with a scowl. “Sounds to me like you’re better off without someone like that in your life.”
    “ I suppose looking after me didn’t really hold much interest to him.”
    “ I can imagine that it was a long recovery.”
    She blew out a breath. “You could say that. Months of physical therapy and my leg will never be fully one hundred percent. But at least I can still work. Luckily, Derrick was there for me. He hired me a fantastic divorce lawyer and I got a hefty settlement that paid all the medical bills. Derrick needed a personal assistant he could trust. He doesn’t trust many people, so here I am.”
    Brax knew there was a hell of a lot more to it. He couldn’t imagine waking up in a hospital—injured and frightened—only to be told your asshole husband was leaving you for another woman .
    Sounded like without Derrick she’d have been completely on her own.
    “The two of you are very close.”
    “ Yes, Derrick and I have always gotten along well, something that really annoyed Matt. He was jealous of Derrick, I guess.”
    Brax reached across and squeezed her hands. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, baby.”
    She shrugged. “I guess in a way it was a good thing. Neither of us was happy, but for some reason we couldn’t seem to walk away. The accident gave him the push he needed.”
    Brax just didn’t understand that. Didn’t understand how a man who had sworn to love and cherish his wife could leave her when she needed him most.
    Holly hi d a yawn behind her hand and Brax suddenly realized how late it was. They had been sitting here, talking for hours. Considering they didn’t have a lot in common, it was extremely easy to talk to her.
    Signaling for the bill, Brax sent Holly a smile. “What say we get you up to bed, young lady? You look exhausted.”
    She snorted. “Is that your way of politely saying I look terrible?” She brushed her hand over her hair. He grabbed it, pulling it away.
    “ Never. You look beautiful as ever, but you flew in late last