“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,