Demanding His Brother's Heirs Read online

  “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.”

  Four

  Holly peered out the car window, craning to see way, way, way up three floors of towering wood beams and glass. She had never seen a house with so many huge windows. The view from inside had to be incredible. The house somehow managed to look traditional and modern at the same time.

  And here she had worried that being in close quarters with her brother-in-law might be awkward. “I guess you weren’t exaggerating when you said you had room for us.”

  Jason winced a little. “It wasn’t my intention to blindside you.”

  “You just didn’t want to overwhelm me. I get it.”

  “You’re not angry?”

  She smiled and shook her head. How could she be? His intentions were good and his heart in the right place, and in her opinion that was all that mattered.

  Besides, to learn the depth of Jeremy’s lies in one huge dose would have been too much to bear in her fragile state. Spoon-feeding her small bites of the truth made it a little easier to digest.

  The front door opened and an older couple stepped outside. After a brief moment of confusion, Holly realized that they must work for Jason. A dwelling this enormous would obviously require a staff.

  They met her at the car door as she climbed out.

  “You must be Holly,” the woman said with a distinct New England accent, taking Holly’s hand and pumping it enthusiastically. “We’re so pleased to finally meet you.”

  “Holly, this is Faye and George Henderson,” Jason told her.

  If she had to guess, Holly would put the couple somewhere in their early to mid-sixties. “It’s so nice to meet you both.”

  “Aye-yup,” George said in a voice as rough and craggy as his weathered face. He was a huge man, even taller than Jason and impressively muscular for someone of his advanced age.

  “Now let me see those little angels I’ve heard so much about,” Faye said, rubbing her palms together, eyes sparkling. She was small in stature, but there was a sturdiness about her that said she wasn’t afraid of hard work.

  Jason opened the car door and Faye peered inside, gasping softly, tears welling in her eyes. “Oh, Holly, they’re beautiful. Your parents would have been so proud, Jason. Wouldn’t they, George?”

  George peered over his wife’s shoulder into the backseat. “Aye-yup. They surely would.”

  “Let’s get Holly settled into her room,” Jason said.

  He and Faye helped with the boys, who didn’t even rouse, while George took care of the bags. The interior of the house was open concept, and with all of those enormous windows, felt like an extension of the forest. With its massive stone fireplace and overstuffed furniture, the decor was an eclectic cross of country cottage and shabby chic. In the center of the first floor sto
od a staircase like she’d never seen before. At least five feet wide, with lacquered tree branch banisters, it wound its way up to the second floor. Holly followed Jason up, her legs feeling like limp noodles.

  At the top was a large, open area with more overstuffed, comfortable looking furniture, its walls lined floor-to-the ceiling with richly stained bookcases, their shelves sagging under the weight of volumes and volumes of books. She had never seen so many outside of a library.

  Another set of those enormous windows boasted a breathtaking view of the lake, and below, off the back of the house, a multi-level deck.

  To the left was a hallway that led to the bedrooms and on the opposite side, another smaller set of stairs.

  “This is incredible,” she told Jason, who had lugged Devon, still sound asleep in his car seat, and the diaper bag up the stairs. “I can understand why you wanted to stay here instead of the city.”

  “I’ve always considered this my true home,” he said, leading her down the short hallway to the bedrooms. As she peered in through each doorway, she could see that the rooms were spacious and tastefully decorated. Warm and homey and comfortable, but in a refined, upscale way.

  “Which room is yours?” she asked, and the idea of him sleeping just a door or two away made her heart jump in her chest. But he pointed up, to the ceiling.

  “I’m upstairs in the loft.”

  Wow. Another floor? This was a whole lot of house for one guy.

  “Here’s the nursery,” he said, shouldering the door open.

  Nursery? Why would a single guy need a nursery?

  The truth was she knew very little about his life. She knew he’d never been married and had no children. Whether that was by choice or circumstance she didn’t know. But she could see that the furnishings in the nursery were far too modern and pristine to be anything but brand-new.

  “You bought furniture,” she said, and from the looks of it, every other baby accessory that she might possibly need. And there were two of everything. Two cribs, two chests of drawers. Even two closets. And lots of toys. A child would want for nothing in this room. “It’s perfect.”

  He set the car seat on the floor next to one of the cribs. “I’d like to take credit, but Faye is the genius behind this. I didn’t have a clue what you would need.”

  “It was nothing,” Faye said, waving away the compliment with a flick of her wrist as she crouched down to unbuckle Marshall from his car seat.

  “You did all this for one little visit?” Holly asked Jason.

  He turned to her. “The first visit of many, I’m hoping.”

  He smiled, and something in his eyes, in the way he looked at her, made her feel all warm and gooey inside. They stood that way for several seconds, just looking at each other, and though it sounded silly even to herself, she could swear that for an instant time stood still.

  “Why don’t you show Holly to her room while I tend to the boys?” Faye said, lifting a passed out Marshall from his car seat and onto her shoulder.

  Holly tore her gaze away from Jason. “I can get them.”

  “Nonsense,” Faye said. “You’re obviously exhausted. You get yourself settled while I take care of these little angels.”

  If she had been on the train with them, she might not be so quick to call them angels.

  Holly started to follow Jason out, but hesitated at the door, looking back at her sons. Since they’d come home from the hospital they had barely been out of her sight. And though they were perfectly healthy now and growing like weeds, leaving them in someone else’s care made her palms sweat.

  “You go on along,” Faye said with an understanding smile. “They’ll be fine. I practically raised Jason and Jeremy.”

  Learn to accept help, she chanted, and forced herself to say, “Okay, thank you.”

  Her room was the next one over. It was enormous, with its own full bathroom and walk-in closet. The furniture was knotty pine, and the king-size bed was draped with a huge, hand-sewn quilt.

  “I think this room alone is bigger than my entire apartment,” she told Jason. “It’s a beautiful house. Thank you for letting us visit.”

  “You’re welcome anytime.” He smiled and she got that warm squishy feeling again, as if her insides had started to melt and were getting all mixed together. It was difficult to look at him without getting caught up in the blue of his eyes. She couldn’t recall Jeremy’s eyes ever captivating her this way.

  She was just tired. And confused. Things would be clearer after she’d had a few hours of sleep. She hoped.

  Jason must have read her mind. “Would you like to lie down for a while?”

  Oh, would she ever. She crossed to the bed and ran her hand over the quilt. It was so pretty that she was afraid she might damage it. “It will be nice sleeping in a real bed again. An air mattress just isn’t the same.”

  He looked confused. “You don’t have a bed?”

  “I do, but that was where...you know, I found him.”

  He winced a little. “Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

  “And there was no way you could have known.”

  “I guess we haven’t really talked about that,” he said.

  No, but they probably should, just to get it out of the way. She sat on the edge of the bed. “There isn’t much to tell, really. When I first walked in I thought he was just taking a nap. As I got closer to the bed I could sense that something was wrong. Then I...” She stopped to swallow the lump in her throat. “He was cold to the touch, so I knew it had been awhile...”

  He winced again, as if hearing the events of his brother’s death pained him. And why wouldn’t that be the case? Despite Jeremy’s shortcomings, they were still twin brothers, identical in almost every way.

  “I’m sorry,” Jason said. “I didn’t mean to dredge that up.”

  Not a day passed—hell, not even an hour—when she didn’t see in her mind the image of her husband lying there. Nothing he could have done, no lie he could have told, would make her wish him dead. And though his death still upset her, her feelings had changed so drastically since she’d learned the truth. Those first few weeks had been torture, and she had missed him so terribly, but then, in a small way, she had begun to feel almost relieved. Not that he was dead, but that she would no longer have to deal with his erratic mood swings.

  “I knew,” Jason said, sitting down on the bed beside her. “I could feel that something was wrong, if that makes any sense.”

  “That’s not unusual for twins, is it?”

  “I could always feel his presence. Even when we were thousands of miles apart. Then he was just...gone.” He turned to look at her and there was so much sadness in his eyes she wanted to hug him, but that felt like crossing a line.

  “Now it feels as though a part of me is missing. Like it’s just, if you’ll pardon the expression, dead space.”

  “I can’t even imagine being that close to another person.”

  “It’s the sort of thing you don’t think about, or even notice, until it’s not there anymore.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, laying a hand on his arm. He glanced at her hand, then up at her face, and there was a look in his eyes like...well, she couldn’t say for sure what sort of look it was, but she knew that it made her insides feel funny.

  “The twins are asleep,” Faye said as she stepped into the room. Holly snatched her hand from Jason’s arm, feeling a bit as if they’d been caught doing something naughty. Which they hadn’t been. At all. Still she felt compelled to explain. But she didn’t.

  “Thank you,” Holly said and left it at that.

  “Is there anything I can do for you before I start dinner?” Faye asked. “Anything you need?”

  “Just a nap.”

  Faye smiled. “Make it a quick one. Dinner is in one hour.”


  When she was gone, Holly told Jason, “She’s so nice.”

  “She’s thrilled to have you here. So is George. He’s just not as likely to show it.”

  He did look like the strong silent type, a lot like her foster dad had been. A gentle giant. Holly sighed and rubbed her temples, longing for rest, but she was too wired to sleep.

  “Headache?” Jason asked her, and she nodded. “I think there’s a bottle of pain reliever in the bathroom. Let me go look.”

  “I can—” Before she could offer to do it herself he was halfway to the bathroom. “—Or not.”

  Just to test out the bed, Holly swung her legs around and lay down, her head sinking into the pillow.

  Oh. My. God. She’d never been on a mattress so comfortable. It was like a little slice of heaven. She dared to close her eyes for just a second, knowing she should check on the boys. And that was the last thing she remembered.

  * * *

  Bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water in hand, Jason walked back into the bedroom, but it was too late. Holly was out cold and snoring softly. She was so pretty and wholesome-looking that it damn near knocked his socks off. And sweet. Far too sweet and earnest for her own good. Her marriage to Jeremy was proof of that. It was a relief to know that with him, she and his nephews would be safe and well taken care of.

  He set the bottle and glass on the table beside the bed in case she woke and needed them. He took a quick peek in the nursery, but didn’t go in. Both boys seemed to be sleeping soundly, and he didn’t want to risk waking them.

  His phone started to ring and he quickly stepped into the hallway. It was Lewis.

  “I did the background check.”

  That was quick. He wondered if that was a good or bad thing. “And?”

  “She is who she says she is. She has no criminal record. Hell, as far as I can tell she’s never had so much as a speeding ticket.”