Killer Honeymoon Read Online Free Page A

now. We have a fishing cabin in Alaska, too, but I just let a property
management company handle that. People rent it and stuff. I don’t ever go
there.”
    “Jake, this is getting ridiculous.” She pushed
her plate away. “I feel a little sick.” Her stomach had flipped over, twice,
but it was sick with excitement, like the feeling she had the night before
Christmas every year of her childhood. It was good sick. It was guilty sick.
    “I never technically lied to you. I just sort of
kept things hidden that I didn’t think you’d like.”
    Jane chewed her lip. How would they ever take
care of all of this?
    “We can talk about the investment properties
later.”
    “There are more?”
    “Yeah…Grandpa was a smart guy and picked up a lot
of land in East Portland for cheap back in the fifties. It was a good move for
the family. It may sound like you and I have a lot of, um, places, but you
should see what Jeff has.”
    “If Jeff has so much of his own, why does he
need to live in the Laurelhurst house?” Jane ran her hand through her ponytail,
this time honestly trying to get a grip on how all of this worked. Money.
Families. Those two things rarely went together well.
    Jake drummed his fingers on the table. “I know
it’s a major disappointment not to get to live there, but honestly…I kind of
think this is the way Grandpa would have liked it. He gave my parents a place
to live—oh, that’s right. I forgot about that one. The Alameda house where I
was born. It’s a little place. He liked his kids to start out small. Jeff is
older. He’s running the company. And he already put in his time in a small
place.”
    Jane held up both hands. “I surrender. You are
very rich. All of my pull-myself-up-by-my-own-bootstraps drive is wasted in
this relationship. I could never bring anything into this family.” She forced a
bright smile. It would be ridiculous, foolish even, to pretend that she hadn’t
just won all of the lotteries ever. But it did kind of break her heart, a
little. Of all the things she had ever wanted in her life, the number one was
to prove to the world that she could make it without her parents’ money. Money
that was nothing compared to Jake’s, well, hers, now.
    “That’s not true, sweetie. You’re an only child.
There’s no one else to inherit your dad’s very smart investments.” Jake cleared
his throat. “Your dad knows you pretty well and asked me to be the one to tell
you.”
    “Tell me what?” Jane’s parents had spent the
last five years trying to shower her with money, and she had held them at bay,
except the car, a little tuition, apartment-moving expenses—oh, never mind. Any
sense of independence she had ever had, had been false.
    “They put your grandma’s Mount Rainer house in
your name and gave it to us as a wedding present.”
    Jane laughed—it started small, a little snort.
Then shook her shoulders silently. She opened her mouth and the sound that came
out made the patrons at the next table turn her way. “Are you kidding? I love
that house.”
    “He said they never go anymore, and none of the
other grandkids thought they could afford to maintain it. He told me he bought it
from your grandma a few years ago.”
    “I don’t know about the other places, but the
cabin on Rainier is the best. I love it so much.” Jane pulled herself together.
“I think I’m going crazy. This is nuts, isn’t it? People don’t start out like
this. Not at our age. Not people who want to give up everything they have to
follow God around the world.”
    “It’s handy to have a place to stay anywhere God
sends us…” He lifted both eyebrows endearingly.
    “Give the Paris place to Phoebe.” A pinch of
regret tugged Jane’s heart. Paris! “If we ask nicely, she’ll probably
let us stay there.”
    “How about a different one instead. That’s the
only one with a payment still. Kind of a white elephant.”
    Jane took a deep breath. “We can figure it out
with the money guy, I