Unforgiven E-Book

Lorhainne Eckhart

• Herausgeber: Lorhainne Eckhart, INC.
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: The Wilde Brothers
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 212

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

A Woman's Love, a Brother's Betrayal, a Family's Battle

Junior lawyer Samuel Wilde has always been incredibly close with his brothers, but that bond gets put to the ultimate test when a woman enters their lives, threatening to tear the Wilde family apart.

One night, in a foolish moment, Samuel pushes the woman he loves, Jill, straight into the arms of his own brother. Despite being the more suitable choice, his kind and considerate brother couldn't win Jill's heart. Even after Samuel deeply hurt her, Jill finds herself at his door one rainy night, reigniting their complicated relationship. But a shocking discovery adds even more strain to their already tense situation—Jill is pregnant, and she doesn't know which brother is the father.

As emotions run high and bitterness takes hold, big brother Logan steps in to mediate the situation and salvage the bond between the Wilde brothers. With the family on the verge of division, Logan becomes the voice of reason in an attempt to mend their fractured relationships before it's too late.

Leseprobe

Unforgiven COPYRIGHT © Lorhainne Ekelund 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Unforgiven, Second Edition COPYRIGHT © Lorhainne Ekelund 2022, All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Contact Information: [email protected]

ISBN: 978-1-928085-27-0

Unforgiven

The Wilde Brothers

Book 8

Lorhainne Eckhart

Contents

Keep in touch with Lorhainne

The Wilde Brothers

Unforgiven

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Epilogue

About this book

The Holiday Bride

About the Author

Series Available

Links to Lorhainne Eckhart’s Booklist

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The Wilde Brothers

Step into the world of the Wilde Brothers, a captivating family of Idaho, where the rugged charm of the west meets the allure of hot men and strong women in this delightful romantic family saga.

THE WILDE BROTHERS:

THE ONE: A passionate and stirring love story: After losing her job as a surgeon, Margaret retreats to her hometown — where she runs into Joe Wilde, the man she’s wanted for years.

THE HONEYMOON: In "THE HONEYMOON," Joe surprises his bride, Margaret, with an unconventional camping trip for their honeymoon, leaving her unsure about their future together.

FRIENDLY FIRE: In this gripping romance, Julia finds sizzling chemistry with Logan, a Marine veteran and the new town sheriff. But when Julia’s daughter goes missing, can Logan protect them both from harm?

NOT QUITE MARRIED: In “Not Quite Married,” Julia and Logan’s whirlwind romance faces challenges, and doubts arise as unexpected events test their love and trust in each other.

A MATTER OF TRUST: When oil executive Ben Wilde is sent to pitch a pipeline project in Kit Cove, he clashes with environmentalist Carrie Richardson, who opposes his plans. Despite their differences, a strong attraction develops between them, leading to a conflict between their feelings and their respective responsibilities.

THE RECKONING, A Wilde Brothers Christmas: The holiday season and family dynamics can be a wonderful reunion. Only the battle between two brothers, a father and son with unreconciled differences could ruin Christmas for the Wilde Brothers.

TRADED: When Chris overhears football star Jake begging his ex for a second chance, she can’t help offering him advice. And as they grow closer, their unlikely friendship sparks an attraction neither of them can resist…

UNFORGIVEN: Junior lawyer, Samuel Wilde has an unbreakable bond with his brothers—that is, until one woman comes between them, threatening to divide the Wilde family forever.

THE HOLIDAY BRIDE: Trinity Cooper Wilde longs for a quiet Christmas with her hidden baby, but a snowstorm brings Deputy Garrett Franke, the man she's sworn to hate, to her door, unaware that the baby is his. As they become snowbound together, secrets unravel, and Trinity's plan to reveal the truth faces unexpected challenges.

Unforgiven

Junior lawyer, Samuel Wilde has an unbreakable bond with his brothers—that is, until one woman comes between them, threatening to divide the Wilde family forever.

Samuel Wilde has always been close with his brothers until one night in a dumbass move he pushed the girl he loved away, right into the arms of his brother.

Only, Jill couldn’t love his kind and considerate brother, even though he was the better choice. Even after Samuel had hurt her in the most cruel way a man can hurt a woman. But one rainy night when Jill knocked on his door, he knew the mistake he’d made at the same time he didn’t want his brother to have her. Only Jill soon discovered she was pregnant, the problem, she doesn’t know which brother is the father.

And as Jill and Samuel’s relationship turns bitter, big brother Logan steps in to not only save the brothers relationship, but may be the only one who can reason with stubborn and difficult Samuel, before sides are chosen, and the family is divided forever.

ChapterOne

There were days Samuel Wilde didn’t know what drove him. The rain soaked him, and his lungs were burning as he struggled for a simple breath, running faster and faster.

Why did he push himself to the edge, his body, his mind, as if this were the only way he could find peace, quieting the voices in his head just a bit? He knew he was an asshole. Maybe that was why he needed to punish himself. He pushed himself hard, driving himself to a place that welcomed the burn in his legs, the bite in his chest, the pace he set for himself—brutal, to the point that anyone watching might wonder what was wrong with him and why he was pushing so damn hard. He was only a junior lawyer at Pike and MacGregor, and there were days it seemed the lines between right and wrong tended to blur and morph. But his confliction wasn’t just about the law. It was about who he was and about his brothers, whom he didn’t know when he’d pushed away.

As he rounded a corner through the park, hearing the traffic that had picked up, he pushed harder, faster, past the thumping of his heart, his feet pounding the pavement, and not even the puddles soaking his track pants could slow him down. He welcomed the cold rain, wishing the chill would relieve the ache that had become part of him. As he spotted the familiar corner, the coffee shop where he stopped every morning on his way to work and the high rise where he lived with Jill, there it was, that giant ache that came with just thinking of her and his brother Jake.

He fisted his hands, feeling himself being swallowed once again in the hurt and anger, just as a horn blared when he stepped off the curb. He jumped back, lifting his arm to shield his face from the splash of the car speeding curbside.

“Asshole!” he shouted, then gestured with his middle finger to the prick in the car. But the rain had picked up, and the sounds of the morning traffic drowned him out. What the hell was wrong with him, running out into traffic without looking? It seemed everything he did was wrong. His legs were shaking as he stood there, his knit hat soaked to his head. He started moving again, jogging in place, because standing still was when his thoughts became his worst enemy.

The crossing light flashed, and the early morning traffic stopped, and he forced himself to look right and then left, hearing the honks, the noise of Seattle, which at one time he had thrived in. He stared up at the gray concrete high rises, the glass-fronted businesses, and the endless steel, the endless dismal rain, which matched his mood. Another step closer to the high rise where his condo was, where Jill would be waiting, but he needed this time to himself. Just him and his thoughts, his dark thoughts.

As he reached the open glass front door to his building, his sneakers squeaked on the dark tiled floor, and he swiped his hand across his face, wiping away the water, before he pressed the button for the elevator. In the shiny steel doors, he glimpsed the reflection of his light beard, his wet gray tracksuit and knit hat, everything drenched. Droplets ran down his face, and he was unsure whether it was sweat or water from the image staring back at him. Even Samuel had to admit he looked like a thug, unapproachable, dangerous.

The elevator dinged, and he shivered as he stepped inside and jabbed the button for floor twenty-five, which was also his age. Nothing in his life was as he’d once imagined. He leaned against the back of the elevator, feeling his legs start to tighten, his heartbeat slowing. He pulled in a deep breath, knowing he still needed to stretch, as he’d pushed himself hard that morning, much as he had every day for weeks. Lately, he had embraced the burn in his body as he pushed himself to the brink, the only thing in his life he could control. It was madness, because this physical ache was something he could fix, but it did little to help the hurt and the distance he felt from his family.

The elevator slowed and opened to his floor. He nodded to his waiting neighbor, a portly man with thin hair in his sixties, who was wearing the same blue trench coat he wore every day. What was his name? It would come to him, he was sure. All Samuel knew was that he was a banker and had visitors every Wednesday night, always a different college girl dressed in some slinky number, most likely from a local escort service. He dragged his gaze away because everything about the man left him unsettled. He was really good at reading people, and knowing any more about the man was not something he wanted.

Samuel slipped his key into the lock and opened the door, then tossed his keys on the counter of the narrow kitchen, with its ticking clock and low humming of appliances.

“You’re back? I didn’t know you’d gone out.” Jill was holding a mug of coffee as she walked into the small walkthrough kitchen. She was so quiet. She’d cut her dark hair shorter, framing her round face. She was lovely, pretty, but something about her dark eyes haunted him. He wanted her so badly despite his need to punish himself because of the growing rift dividing him from his brothers—or maybe because no one in his family had shown up the day he was to marry Jill.

“Should you be drinking coffee?” he said.

There was no smile for him as she put the mug on the counter. He pulled his wet hat from his head and peeled off his hoody, then dumped both over the back of a kitchen chair. The four-piece dinette was crammed against the wall, but then, this one-bedroom apartment was only five hundred square feet. He should really think of getting something bigger. Jill had already asked twice, but he hadn’t answered. He knew she wouldn’t push. She never did, never had.

“It’s only one cup.” She was behind him because, once again, he had walked away.

He should turn around and look at her, talk to her. He reached for the mail on the table, flipped through the bills, and then dumped them back down. “I’m going to grab a shower,” he said—a hot one he could lose himself in.

“Do you want company?” she said.

This time, he had to make himself turn around, his hand gripping the door frame as he looked at Jill, at her rounded belly, at the baby she carried, and thought only that she’d been with his brother.

“Not this morning,” he said. “I need to hurry. I have to meet a client.”

She stood across the room. The tension between them was so thick he could feel it like a wall, so heavy that it kept him where he was, away from her. Why didn’t that make him sad?

“What time are you going to be home?” she said. She crossed her arms over her breasts, which were larger now. At one time, he hadn’t been able to get enough of her, touching her, making love to her, being inside her. But something had faded. He didn’t know what exactly, only that it was something between them or in him that had died.

“Late,” he said. “Don’t wait up.” He turned away, walked into the bathroom, and shut the door. He should have asked her to join him. He loved her, right? But he didn’t know whether it was himself he hated or Jill, all because he, and not Jake, had had Jill first.

ChapterTwo

“Mr. Wilde, Mr. MacGregor asked for you to take a look at this case again. The client is coming in at eleven this morning for the deposition.”

He didn’t look up at the secretary he shared with five other lawyers, but he did glance at the thick tattered file on the edge of his desk that he’d spent hundreds of hours making notes on. It was a case that should have sickened him. The facts were murky, but the case was clear: their client was suing her rapist, her husband. But there was a twist. One of them was older and in a position of power, with resources available, whereas the other had none. If he had to have guessed who was who, he’d have been wrong.

Their client was the one with the money.

Samuel pulled the file closer and flipped it open. His job was to win at all costs. The case was clean, easy, with very few loose ends. Everything was tidy, a little too tidy. It was a case to put on record, something the police refused to do. But the story, he figured, had been well thought out.

A knock on his open door pulled him from his thoughts.

“So why do you think our client is pursuing this case so hard?” Erin Kaufman, a junior associate who often worked side by side with him, strode in and dumped a file on his desk along with a can of soda as she plunked herself down in a chair across from him. She had long hair that was so dark it was almost black. It was thick and shone under the office lighting.

She glanced up, obviously waiting for him to say something. Her dark-rimmed glasses slipped down her nose, which was slender and large, and she pushed the frames up. Her nose was the first thing he noticed about her every time he saw her. It was such a strikingly odd feature that seemed to fit with her oval face and olive coloring. She was Jewish, smart as hell, and his only nemesis in the office, someone who could and would challenge him for his job.

“She’s angry, as she has a right to be,” he said as he took in the thick file, the notes and pages, unable to shake that feeling of lies, more damn lies.

“Bullshit. She’s got an agenda,” Erin said. She leaned back, her brown ruffled blouse buttoned up to her neck. She lifted her soda and took a swallow, then twirled a pencil between her fingers.

“Maybe you should lay off that stuff,” Samuel said. “How many have you had this morning, five, six?”

Erin downed soda like others did coffee. He was tempted to shoot her the facts from a failed court case about the real effects of aspartame, which the FDA had and continued to cover up. Or maybe she’d tell him to go fuck himself again.

“Don’t change the subject. Three, though, which is probably three less than the number of coffees you’ve downed. Coffee’s not good for you, you know.”

“Maybe so, but my coffee isn’t likely to put me in a diabetic coma or leave me with cancer or numerous other health problems that make you older before your time. Like, when was the last time you had a peaceful night’s sleep?”

She rolled her brown eyes. He knew when she didn’t believe him, and she waved her hand in the air to let him know she wasn’t having this debate again. “Oh, I don’t know, Samuel. When was the last time you did?”

She had him there, but he knew his reasons had everything to do with Jill, his brothers, and the fact that his personal life was a mess.

Samuel rocked back in his swivel chair and gestured widely. “Look, she’s our client, and it’s not up to us to say she’s got an agenda. She hired us, which pays our salary, and I, for one, will give her the best legal counsel money can buy.”

“Wow, you’re cold. Besides, if our client is going to perjure herself, we do need to know so we’re not complicit. You know they frown on that kind of thing, and it can lead to a lawyer getting disbarred. I studied my ass off and put in countless hours to pass the bar, and I’m not willing to throw that away for any asshole who has money.”

“Now you’re being melodramatic. Neither you nor I know that she lied about anything. As a matter of fact, we don’t need to know.” Again, he gestured widely, wondering how the words could roll so easily off his tongue, and when would he start to believe them? “I mean, seriously, what makes you think she’s lying about being raped? She’s a woman, after all. Society, the world, and the courts are on her side on this.”

Erin stared at him over her can of soda. He never knew what she was thinking and whose side she was really on. “I didn’t say she lied about being raped. I’m saying there’s more, way more, a missing piece of the puzzle that could blow this entire case up.” She crossed her ankle over her knee, her dark skirt riding up. It was such a tomboyish move, and he wondered if she had any idea how unladylike it was in a dress or a skirt. Jill would never do something like that. Sometimes, the way Erin clunked around in her boyish flats made him wonder who she really was or what made her tick, considering he didn’t have a clue about her personal life.

“Okay, look, Erin.” He leaned back in his chair. “If you’ve got something we need to know about, tell me. Otherwise, drop it. She’s our client, and I really don’t want to waste time shooting this case in the foot. Remember, we’re trying to win here. It’s about looking after our client, which she is.”

“Yeah, but, Samuel, there’s something about this that doesn’t sit right.”

“What, exactly? The way she was so together, telling us the details of the rape, the way she didn’t shed a tear?” That was the one fact that had bothered him. Even though it had been her husband, the details were…alarming. But again, it wasn’t his place to judge, he’d reminded himself.

“No, not that. If anything, that was the one thing I did believe.” Erin dropped her foot to the floor with a thud and clunked her soda can down on his desk as she leaned forward, fisting her hands as if she had put a lot of thought into what she was about to say. “If she’d sat there sobbing like a baby, that would have raised some red flags, but she’s not someone who falls into hysterics. She’s a hard-ass, strong, difficult. The first time she walked into the room, I picked up on a will of iron, as if everything about her was unbreakable. Some women are tougher, you know, stronger than men.”

“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “Women cry and operate on emotion. It’s a well-known fact that you’re the weaker sex.”

For a second, as she stared daggers at him, Samuel wondered what was going through Erin’s head. Her dark eyes had a way of flashing “Fuck you” without her uttering a word. She stilled as she said, “I guess you’re the type of guy who always falls for the damsel in distress, a woman who needs a man to take care of everything for her, someone who couldn’t stand on her own two feet if her life depended on it.”

He snapped the pencil he’d picked up between his fingers. How could Erin be such a tough-as-nails bitch? Didn’t she get it? Men liked having a woman to take care of, to make decisions for. He did, and he always had—right? That was Jill and why he was with her.

“Oops, looks like I hit a nerve. Sorry,” she added with a ton of sarcasm. She pulled off her glasses and blinked before blowing on them and rubbing them clean with the hem of her blouse. Then she lifted them up, looked at them, and shoved them back on. “So you’re saying a woman who knows how to hold herself together, who can stay composed in the toughest of situations, think clearly, and not fall apart, who can easily reason before opening her mouth, that kind of woman is just acting, because women aren’t able to reason? That’s what you’re saying, right? Let’s not mince words here, Samuel.”

For a moment, he was speechless. How did she do that? She was so damn sharp that it took him a second to consider what to say next. Samuel realized Erin challenged him intellectually in a way no other man or woman ever had, and at times she made him feel as if he were a bumbling idiot. “You’re putting words in my mouth, Erin. That was not what I meant…”

There was a tap on his open door as Rob MacGregor, the managing partner, stopped in the doorway. He was tall, lean, in an off-gray suit that he knew didn’t come from a rack. “Erin,” he announced, “I’m going to have you sit in as second chair on the deposition with Jessica Stowles. Samuel, you okay to run with it? I have to be in court before Judge Adams at two.”

He didn’t need to look over at Erin to see that she was pleased at the invite. She had, up until now, been relegated to only grunt work, staying out of sight. Even though having Erin doing his grunt work had been a win-win, the fact that Rob was now giving her that leg up to work alongside him gave him the feeling that the reins he held were being pulled away.

“Samuel, that works for you?” Rob said, then glanced at his watch. It wasn’t really a question. He was a man who wouldn’t hear anything other than what he wanted to hear.

“Sure,” was all he said, then gestured to her and forced a smile to his lips even though this was his case and he didn’t need Erin to sit in on the deposition with him.

“Good. I expect to hear there were no problems.” Rob tapped the door frame and then walked away, briefcase in hand.

Samuel dropped his broken pencil to the desk, feeling that fire in his belly of just one more thing not going his way. He could feel Erin watching him. “Don’t say anything,” he said, hearing the asshole tone.

She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to say something when his phone rang. Normally, he’d have let it go to voicemail when he was with a colleague, but he’d had about enough of his sparring match with Erin for today, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d suddenly been toppled from the favorite of the managing partners to just a junior lawyer who needed someone to hold his hand.

He reached for the phone. “Samuel Wilde,” he said rather sharply.

“It’s me. I hope it’s okay that I called?” Jill had such a soft voice, and she sounded so hesitant. If Erin hadn’t been sitting there watching him, he’d probably have said something like “I’m busy, got to go,” and that would have been the end of it. She’d hang up, and he’d hang up. Why couldn’t he make this work?

He turned his chair, giving Erin his back. “No, it’s fine. What is it?”

“I have to go in to the doctor and thought you’d like to know,” she said. Cold, impersonal. When had the distance turned into cold obligation between him and Jill? They’d become two polite strangers, tiptoeing around each other. He leaned forward in his chair, feeling the pull of the cord of the phone, keeping his back to Erin.

“Did you tell me about this already? Sorry, I forgot. Is everything all right?” he said. “I didn’t think you had a checkup scheduled this week, or did I get my dates wrong?” He slid around and flipped open his laptop, then clicked the mouse to bring up the calendar. He tapped his finger on the screen, and, just as he thought, there was nothing scheduled for Jill until the next week. He didn’t need to look over to know Erin was listening to everything.

“I don’t. I didn’t. I mean, it’s just…”

He could hear her hesitation, and he looked down, really feeling the awkwardness. He always knew when she was holding something back. “What is it?” he said. Again, it had come out rather sharply. He didn’t miss the way Erin raised a brow, which made him uncomfortable, irritated, because she was listening, but Jill was bugging him, pulling the same flaky bullshit she always did. He didn’t have time for it now.