Demanding His Brother's Heirs

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.”

Four (#ulink_e262021e-e08e-5749-baaa-7d2948ec249b)

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 stood 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.