Читать книгу Demanding His Brother's Heirs - Michelle Celmer - Страница 10

Three

Jason sat at the bar of The Trapper Tavern, the town watering hole, nursing an imported beer with his best friend and attorney Lewis Pennington.

“Are you sure you can trust her?” Lewis asked him after he explained the situation with his sister-in-law and nephews. “I don’t have to tell you the sort of people with whom your brother kept company. She could be conning you.”

Jason didn’t think so. “Lewis, she was so freaked out she actually fainted when she saw me, and she seemed to genuinely have no clue who Jeremy really was.”

“Or she’s as good an actor as your brother.”

“Or she’s an innocent victim.”

“With your flesh and blood involved, is that a chance you really want to take?”

Of course not. The day his brother died was the day the twins’ happiness and well-being had become Jason’s responsibility. “That’s why, when she’s here, I’m going to ask her to stay with me. Until she’s back on her feet financially.”

He’d left Holly his phone number and told her to call if she needed anything. She’d called the next morning sounding tired and exasperated, asking to take him up on his offer to visit, saying she needed a few days away from the city. In the background he could hear his nephews howling. He admired the fact that she wasn’t afraid to admit she needed help. And he was more than happy to supply it. That and so much more.

“My point is that you know nothing about this woman,” Lewis said. “Don’t let the fact that she’s the mother of your nephews cloud your judgment.”

“With a brother like Jeremy, I’ve learned to be a pretty good judge of character.”

“Maybe so, but I’d hide the good china, just in case.”

Jason shot him a look.

“At least let me run a background check, search for a criminal history.”

“If you insist, but I doubt you’ll find anything.”

“When is her train due in?”

Jason glanced at his watch. “An hour.”

He’d offered to drive to the city and pick up her and the boys at her apartment, but she’d insisted they take the train. And when he’d tried to talk her out of it, she’d only dug her heels in deeper. Though he barely knew her, he could see that persuading her to do something she didn’t want to do was going to be difficult, if not impossible.

“If she’s so destitute, why not just pay her debt and set her up in her own place in town? What woman wouldn’t go for that?”

The kind who was too proud for her own good. And as much as it annoyed him, he couldn’t help but respect that. “I offered to pay all the debt Jeremy left her with and help her get a fresh start.”

“And?”

He took a long swallow of his beer, then set the bottle down on the bar. “She wouldn’t take a penny.”

Lewis’s brows rose in surprise. “Seriously?”

“She wouldn’t budge.”

“She’s independent?”

That was putting it mildly. “You have no idea.”

“Attractive?”

Immensely. “That’s irrelevant.”

Lewis grinned. “Are you attracted to her?”

Hell yes, he was. Who wouldn’t be? “She’s my sister-in-law. My feelings are irrelevant.”

“Not if you plan to live under the same roof with her. Feelings have a way of happening whether we want them to or not.”

“My only concern is for my nephews.”

“What if you ask her to stay with you and she refuses?”

“Obviously I can’t force her.”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

Jason frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You have leverage.”

“Leverage?”

“Your nephews. You could threaten to sue her for custody.”

“On what grounds? She seems perfectly competent to me.” Not to mention the damage it would cause the twins, first losing their father, then being ripped away from their mother.

“If she’s as destitute as you claim, the last thing she’ll want is a legal battle. The threat of one could make her more likely to cooperate.”

Or put her right over the edge. He did worry that getting her cooperation would be difficult, but he couldn’t imagine ever taking it to that extreme. However, if there was any validity to Lewis’s suspicions, Jason could be downright ruthless if it meant keeping his nephews safe. But there was no need to jump the gun. Unlike his father, who had been quick to judge and considered anyone he didn’t know well a potential threat, Jason preferred to grant people the benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty. But he knew he could never convince Lewis that she was telling the truth, so he didn’t even try.

“How is Miranda?” he asked his friend.

Lewis sighed and rolled his eyes. “All whacked out on hormones again.”

Lewis and his wife had been trying unsuccessfully to conceive a baby over the course of their three-year marriage. They had tried every method, be it Western medicine or holistic, with no success. They were now on their third IVF attempt in nine months, and it had been emotionally taxing on them both. Though more so on Miranda, Jason imagined. Lewis had a teenage son from a former relationship, someone to carry on his legacy.

Jason found it ironic that Jeremy, who’d lacked the integrity to care for his own sons, had had no problem at all conceiving a child, while good people such as Lewis and Miranda, who had everything to offer a son or daughter, were helpless to make it happen.

“When is the next procedure?” Jason asked.

“Next Friday,” Lewis said, eyes on the thirty-year-old scotch that he swirled in his glass. “And regardless of the outcome, it will be our last.”

“What?” Jason set down his bottle a little harder than he’d meant to. “You’re just going to give up?”

“After three years the perpetual disappointment is taking a toll on us both. We’ve begun to look into foreign adoption instead.”

“Another time-consuming process,” Jason said and Lewis nodded.

“But when we’re approved, at least there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Have you considered a surrogate?”

“Only to have her change her mind after the baby is born? It would destroy Miranda.”

Yes, it probably would. “I’m sorry, Lewis. I wish there was something I could do.”

“We’ll get through this.”

Jason didn’t envy their situation. Though it had taken years of introspection and soul searching, he’d come to terms with the fact that he would never have a family of his own. Now it would seem he’d earned one by default.

* * *

Longest. Trip. Ever.

Despite Holly’s hope that the twins would sleep most of the five-hour train ride, they had fussed and complained, sleeping in fits and bursts, and generally making a nuisance of themselves. By the time Holly got them in the stroller and ready to depart the train, she’d expended the last of her energy and was running on pure adrenaline, wishing she had taken Jason up on his offer to give them a ride. But now as she sat in Jason’s black luxury SUV, the boys buckled safely in the back, that adrenaline was wearing thin.

After today it was abundantly clear that if Holly was going to make it as a single mom of twins, she was going to have to sock away her pride and learn to accept help a little more often. For the twins’ sake. They were a handful now, but what about when they began to crawl and walk and get into things? Just the idea made her weary. She knew she should be in New York looking for a job and a place to live, and taking this vacation was irresponsible and selfish, but her sanity depended on it.

While Jason loaded their bags in the back, she looked over her shoulder into the backseat, peering into the boy’s car seats. They were both out cold. She would have wept with relief, but she didn’t have the energy.

“Rough trip?” Jason asked as he opened the driver’s side door and climbed in, flashing her a smile. One she felt from the ends of her hair to the tips of her toes and everywhere in between.

Whoa. Where the heck had that come from? She turned away, pretending to look out the window at the station, hoping he wouldn’t notice her conspicuously rosy cheeks. It wasn’t helping matters that he smelled absolutely delicious, like some manly musk drifting on a warm spring breeze.

She tried to fight it, but it was hopeless. Ribbons of heat twisted through her veins, making her skin flush. Making her feel restless and aroused.

In all the time she had been with Jeremy, Holly had never experienced this intense physical reaction from a simple smile. To be fair, she hadn’t had sex in over six months, though it felt more like a year. Or five.

Her cheeks burned hotter. She really shouldn’t be thinking about sex right now. But the harder she tried not to think about it, the further her mind strayed.

“Everyone buckled and ready to go?” Jason asked her as the engine roared to life. She could feel his eyes on her; she had no choice but to face him. The alternative was to act rudely.

Willing away the heat rushing to her face, she turned to him, her gaze instantly locking on his stormy eyes. Though it was wildly bizarre, she didn’t look at Jason and see Jeremy anymore. They may have been identical in looks, but his personality and disposition set Jason apart from his brother.

His brow wrinkled. “Are you feeling okay? You’re flushed.”

Aw, hell. “I’m fine. Really. Just tired.”

Concern etching the corners of his eyes, Jason reached up to touch her burning hot cheek with his cool, surprisingly rough fingers, then frowned and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead, the way her mom had when Holly was a little girl. “You’re warm.”

No kidding. She was surprised her face hadn’t melted off. And the fact that he kept touching her wasn’t helping matters.

He was dressed much more casually today, in dark slacks and a white polo shirt that contrasted sharply with his deeply tanned face. Considering it was only the first week of June, she was guessing he spent a considerable amount of time outdoors. If she lived near a lake, she probably would, too. As a young teen one of her favorite pastimes had been going fishing with her foster dad and siblings. She had always hoped someday she would be able to share those experiences with her own children.

“We have to go through town to get to my place,” Jason told her as he pulled out of the lot. “Do you need to stop for anything or would you prefer to go straight to the house?”

“House, please. How far is it from town?”

“Ten minutes, give or take. I’m on the far side of the lake.”

Trapper Cove, which was indeed tucked back into a cove off Trapper Lake, was just as she always pictured a small upstate New York town to look. Quaint and clean and undeniably upscale. She rolled her window down and took a deep breath of fresh lake air. So different from the city.

As they headed down Main Street into the heart of the town, Jason gave her a brief history lesson on the various shops and businesses. They passed a marina and boat launch, and a members’ only yacht club. On the water she counted at least a dozen of what her foster brother, Tyler, would have called “big ass” boats. He also would have commented on the luxury import cars lining the pristine streets. She wondered if the area had been this posh when Jason and Jeremy were kids. When Jeremy supposedly had been living on the streets and begging for food.

Just thinking his name made her heart hurt. It still astounded her how many lies he’d told, and how she had been married to a man she didn’t even know. Looking back, which she had been doing an awful lot since she’d met Jason, she realized that life with Jeremy had never been a fantastic love story. They’d met and started to date, and three months later she’d found herself pregnant. When Jeremy had insisted on marrying her she’d thought the true love part would come later, when they got to know one another better. Clearly she had been wrong. She hadn’t known him at all. The man she thought she’d fallen in love with didn’t even exist.

Never in her life had she felt so betrayed.

As they drove slowly through the center of town, people stopped to wave and shout hello to Jason, and she received more than a few curious glances.

“It’s a beautiful town,” she told him. “You seem to know a lot about it. And a lot of people.”

“Jeremy and I spent every summer here as kids with our mom and grandparents. Our dad came up on weekends when he could get away from work.”

She couldn’t imagine a more ideal setting to spend her summers. Or her winters. Or springs and falls, as well. “So you live here year round now?”

“I do.”

“Are you close to the lake?”

“About as close as you can get without living in a house boat.”

She blinked with surprise. “You live on the lake?”

“Straight across from town.”

She peered out the car window across the lake. She could barely make out the silhouette of homes tucked back against the thick forest bordering the shore; at this distance she could see very little detail. Among them, nearly hidden behind a row of towering pine trees, stood what appeared to be some sort of enormous and rustic-looking wood structure. Maybe a hotel or hunting lodge. It was too huge to be someone’s home.

“Can you see your house from here?” she asked him, as they passed the Trapper Drugstore and The Trapper Inn. Beside that sat the Trapper Tavern.

“Barely,” he said. “I’ll point it out to you the next time we’re in town.”

He left Main Street and the town behind and turned onto a densely wooded two-lane road that circled the lake. Mottled sunshine danced across the windshield through breaks in the trees, and every so often she could see snippets of clear blue lake. The earthy scents of the forest filled the car. It was so dark and quiet and peaceful. She closed her eyes and breathed in deep, and like magic she could feel the knots in her muscles releasing, her frayed nerves mending. For the first time since Jeremy died she was giving herself permission to relax.

It felt strange, but in a good way.

After several minutes Jason steered the vehicle down a long and bumpy dirt road. “There’s something you don’t see in the city,” Jason said, pointing to a family of deer foraging just off the road. They were almost close enough to reach out the car window and touch.

The trees opened up to a small clearing, and towering over them stood what she had assumed was a lodge, so deeply tucked into the surrounding forest, the dark wood exterior seemed to blend in with the vegetation. But as they pulled up to the front entrance, she could see that this was no lodge. This was a house. A really huge house.

She took a deep breath and willed herself not to freak out. She should have known. Most people of modest means did not spend their summers at the lake house. That in itself should have been her first clue that Jason’s family was well-to-do. But she never would have guessed that they had done this well.

The summers that Jeremy had claimed he’d spent living on the street, begging for food, he’d actually been here, in a mansion?

Holly felt sick all the way to her bones. Any lingering traces of love or respect for her dead husband fizzled away. She had never been more deeply saddened or utterly disappointed in anyone.

Jason parked close to the door, cut the engine and turned to her, watching expectantly when he said, “Home sweet home.”