"Spindler, Erica - See Jane Die" - читать интересную книгу автора (Spindler Erica)

And worse, Stacy had dated Ian first.

Jane pressed her lips together, hurting for her only sibling. Wishing she could change the way she and Ian had met. Even though Stacy and Ian had only dated briefly, Jane felt as if she had stolen him from her sibling.

Jane pictured her sister the day she and Ian had shared their plans to many: tall, fair-haired and built like a female Nordic warrior. But Stacy's strength had been belied by her expression. Soft. Heart-broken.

Ian had mattered to Stacy. Mattered deeply.

Ian tightened his arm around Jane. "I know there's history there. A lifetime of hurt feelings. But give her a little credit, okay?"

Stacy's father had been a police officer, killed in the line of duty when Stacy was only three months old. Her mother had remarried quickly and conceived Jane almost before the ink had dried on their marriage certificate.

Jane had been born. And although their father had raised Stacy as his own, never showing favoritism, his snooty Highland Park family hadn't accepted Stacy and had shown Jane preferential treatment at every turn. Particularly his mother, the family matriarch. Jane shared their blood, the woman had been fond of saying. Stacy did not.

It had been easier when their parents had been alive. Stacy hadn't needed Grandmother Killian's support or love. She had been able to ignore the woman's snubs. But when both parents passed a half dozen years agoЧone taken by a sudden, massive heart attack, the other a strokeЧJane and Stacy had been left with no one but each other and Grandmother Killian.

Of course, now her sister had twenty million reasons to resent JaneЧthe dollar amount of Grandmother Killian's estate, which she had left to Jane when she died a year ago.

Stacy had gotten nothing, not even a family memento of the man who had been her father in every way but one.

If only they could put it all behind them, Jane thought, aching for the closeness most sisters shared. If only she could find a way. Offering to share her inheritance had only infuriated the other woman. Grandmother Killian hadn't loved her, Stacy had spat at Jane's offer, she didn't want anything that had been hers. Not a nickel.

"Stop it," Ian said softly.

"What?"

"Blaming yourself for your grandmother's prejudices."

"You think you can read my mind?"

"I know I can." He laughed softly and bent his forehead to hers. "I know all your secrets, my love."

"All?"

"Every last one."

"And how do you intend to use that knowledge?"

He lowered his mouth until it hovered above hers. "Mmm...that would be for me to know. And you to find out."

It wasn't until much later, as Ian slept beside her on the bed, that she realized she had never asked him why he'd been outside so late that night.



TWO

Monday, October 20, 2003
12:20 p.m.