Steel Coleman sinned in his heart the day he saw fifteen-year-old Riley Spencer. Driven by lust he couldn't acknowledge or control, he encourages his mother to marry Riley's father, joining the two families and creating a living hell for Steel in the process. In an attempt to spare his sanity, he goes for long rides from the family ranch, and he's not home to protect the family when bandits strike. Riley survives but their parents are murdered. Haunted by grief and guilt, Steel flees to catch the men responsible, promising his younger stepbrother he would return. He never does. When they meet again ten years later, Riley is a far cry from the boy Steel left behind. And he needs his former stepbrother to pay for the very real sin of abandoning him when he needed Steel the most. But their fateful meeting sends Riley running. Leaving Steel is the hardest thing he's ever done, but Riley understands what Steel knew all along -- it's too dangerous to stay. Will he be prepared to face the consequences when Steel inevitably catches up with him? Can forgiveness be possible?

Steel's Redemption

“You can stay here.” He spoke to the wall, his back turned to the bed. “I’ll find other accommodations.”


Steel sighed and sat up. “It’s your room. I have no business here. If anybody should go, it’s me.”


Riley didn’t acknowledge the offer with a nod or an argument. He just stood hunched over the basin, his shoulders tense and spine rigid.


“I shouldn’t have done that to you.”


He looked over his shoulder. “Maybe I didn’t.”


Steel’s blood turned to ice water. There was no warmth in Riley’s eyes. He looked away first, keeping his eyes down as he gathered his clothes and dressed. The silence between them was all the worse now that he longed to speak. Did Riley feel guilty for taking him? Did he feel guilty for wanting it? But there hadn’t been any hint of regret in his coldly delivered words. There had only been the deliberate delivery of fact.


Chapter 10