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“No, you didn’t. You said he was sweet, harmless.”

“Which is true.”

“True? That sweet, harmless man drank so much he reduced himself to a blithering idiot before the evening was half over. By the time I drove him home, he was snoring in the passenger seat and I could hardly get him to wake up.”

Sheridan pushed her door open. Skye suspected she was hiding a smile. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out. Maybe this time you should ask someone you might actually be interested in.”

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Skye called after her. “There is no one.”

Her friend pivoted to face her. “Yes, there is.”

Skye waved an irritated hand. “He’s married.”

“He’s divorced.”

“Doesn’t matter. He’ll get back with her. He always does. He stays with her as long as he can take the tension, then he leaves. But he sees divorce as an admission of failure, and he’s too stubborn to let himself fail.”

“There is that,” Sheridan agreed.

“And she’s got the one thing he really cares about,” Skye said.

Sheridan’s expression grew serious. “He cares about you, Skye.”

Skye stepped into her office. “Not as much as he cares about his son.”

“It’s Oliver!” Noah Burke snapped, his blue eyes revealing his dismay.

Knowing her husband was on the phone made Jane’s limbs go heavy and cold. She’d just spent an hour making love to his older brother and was lying naked in bed. Whenever her mother-in-law took Kate for the weekend, Noah dropped by. He always came under the guise of fixing a leaky faucet or mowing her lawn—so his wife wouldn’t suspect—but it still wasn’t good that Oliver had caught him at the house.

“Yes, I’ll accept the charges,” she heard him say, then he raked his fingers through his thick sandy hair.

“He never calls on Saturday mornings,” she whispered apologetically. The cloud of euphoria that had engulfed her moments before disappeared as she sat up. Noah hadn’t intended to answer the phone. He’d been hoping to find a pizza place that was open now that it was nearly noon—only to be surprised by an operator, who had Oliver on the line and promptly announced what Jane had heard hundreds of times herself: This recorded call is from an inmate at a California state correctional facility.

What lousy timing. According to Oliver, there was one telephone per tier at San Quentin, which meant fifty-four guys were constantly vying for a turn. But he always managed to contact her when she least wanted to speak with him….

Of course, lately she hardly ever wanted to speak with him. He acted as if she should be excited about his parole, but what made him think he deserved a happy homecoming after everything he’d put her through? Maybe he wasn’t guilty of attempted rape, but he’d broken their marriage vows long before she had. And that had led to the biggest heartache Jane could imagine. She’d lost everything and her dignity, too. No one else in her circle of acquaintances had to live with the shame of having a spouse in prison. It would’ve been bad enough had he been accused of embezzling or some other white-collar crime. But attempted rape reflected on her as much as it did him. The experts claimed it was about power, not sex—God, how many times had she heard that?—but it still held a stigma, made her seem incapable of satisfying her man. If he’s getting what he needs at home, why does he have to look elsewhere? No one had actually asked her that, but she could tell by the way they watched her that they wondered.

She wished they could see her with Noah. Much taller than his brother, Noah had a construction business that kept him in great physical shape, and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on her.

Not that she felt good about what they were doing. Her zealously religious aunt, who’d finished raising her when her own parents were killed in an automobile accident, was probably rolling over in her grave. Besides, Jane loved her sister-in-law and Oliver’s parents, all of whom would be hurt if they knew.

Covering the mouthpiece, Noah motioned to her, as if to ask, What the hell am I going to tell him?

Desperate for an immediate response, she resorted to the excuse she’d given her mother-in-law when Betty Burke had visited unexpectedly last week and found Noah standing in the kitchen. “Tell him my toilet’s stopped up and you came over to take care of it,” she murmured. “He knows you help me occasionally. He’s grateful.”

He rolled his eyes at “grateful,” and hung his head, which tempted her to take the phone. Sometimes Noah’s guilt weighed on him even more heavily than Jane’s weighed on her. She feared it might drag the truth out of him someday. But Oliver had no doubt heard Noah’s voice. It’d seem odd if he didn’t say a few words before putting her on the line.

Sending her a helpless glance, Noah rubbed his left temple as he spoke into the receiver. “Yes…that’s right, it’s me. How are you?…Fine. What’s been happening down there since my last visit?…No kidding? I’m glad you’re getting out…Sorry I didn’t come more often this past year…I know. Business has been crazy…Still, I should’ve found the time….”

Jane got up and crossed the room to sit at Noah’s feet, oddly tempted to moan or make some other noise that would give them away. Oliver deserved the pain that knowing about their involvement would bring. If he hadn’t allowed Skye Kellerman to lure him to her house, they wouldn’t be where they were now.

But Jane knew she’d never tell him or anyone else about Noah. She couldn’t. Letting that secret out would destroy too many relationships, impact too many lives—including her daughter’s. Then there was Wendy. Jane didn’t want to repay her sister-in-law’s many kindnesses by revealing such a betrayal.

“So you’ll have a parole officer for a few years?” Noah was saying. “What’ll that be like?”

Jane imagined her and Noah in the room from a bird’s-eye perspective and was sickened by what she saw. She, who’d once been a model wife and mother, was having sex with her husband’s older brother. She was a terrible person….

“Mom and Dad are looking forward to seeing you, too.” Noah gave her a sad smile. Maybe that was why she was so addicted to him. He treated her as if she was important, a priority. As if her feelings mattered. Besides, the affair wasn’t all her fault. She wouldn’t have fallen in love with Noah if he hadn’t come over so often, trying to help her with the house and with Kate. Oliver had left her drowning in a sea of pain and loss, and she’d been grabbing for something, anything to cling to until she could right her world.


Tags: Brenda Novak Last Stand Thriller