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"No And I never will," I replied, droppingover at ht ahead at the ith the letters clasped tightly in his hands "He was a bastard A lying bastard," Steel said, his pain heavy on each and every word, e

"Yeah, he was," I replied I wasn’t going to argue that He had also allowed another man to raise his child as his own These letters were all dated months before Dixie’s birth Before Steel’s How could he do that? The final letter was one froht have had about the truth Dad claimed Dixie was his, but he’d said he loved us more He wanted my mother and his boys He couldn’t leave us and he’d told her she needed to let hio Her child would be Luke Monroe’s The man I knew to be Dixie’s father

There wasn’t another letter after that Not in this box at least Dixie’sLuke to raise her alone When Dixie had been five, Luke Monroe remarried a woman named Charlotte, who adored and cherished Dixie, eventually becoh Charlotte loved her fiercely, Dixie had alondered about her birth ed to knohy she had left her

I never wanted her to find Millie Monroe I hoped the worave Dixie could never know She’d had too much loss and pain in her life It hy I’d suffered on my own To protect her Always to protect her

"Why didn’t you tell her?" Steel asked

I turned to Steel, studied his face, the hurt and disbelief visible in his eyes, as he realized his world was slowly cru her first He wasn’t focused on protecting Dixie froly secret

"Because I would die to shield her from this kind of pain," I replied Because I love her more than you ever could I didn’t say those last words aloud, but we both knew they were true

"I can’t tell her, can I, Asher? You aren’t going to let me explain? I have to hurt her like you did?"

I stood and moved away fro about himself first, and not her That infuriateda life with her, yet he wasn’t willing to sacrifice his happiness for Dixie’s

"The pain you’ll cause her by breaking it off with her is nothing compared to the kind of painSteel, I made love to her I’ve been inside hertook her innocenceand, dammit, I’m her brother! That’s fucked withain Because, I never stopped loving her"

Steel sat and stared at me silently Several ue with me, but he didn’t say a word

Finally, he rose, and held the letters out to me "I won’t tell her I won’t tell anyone," he said, his voice thick with emotion "I love her, toofuck, this is sick Does Luke not know? He’s let us both date her Hell, I’ve asked her to marry me"

I shook my head "Of course he doesn’t know He woulda never let us date Dixie This whole fucked up shit happened because the only two people who knew are now gone forever"

I took the letters and held them away frorasp them "How am I supposed to hurt her?" Steel sounded so torn I’d been where he was Wanting to explain it all to Dixie Every ti sad eyes, I wanted to tell her howtwisted This would only hurt her worse She adored Luke Monroe Not only would telling her mess her head up, but it would take away the security of knowing her daddy loves her It would likely destroy Dixie