Page 52 of Big Bad Wolfe

“No time like the present. Hit it.”

“He or she will make a surprise visit to check out the house and interview you and Jillian and Casey. Be prepared, stay on your toes, and no matter where you are, don’t appear to be anything other than a devoted couple. Even when you think nobody could be watching.”

Jillian’s frozen fingers gripped her napkin beneath the table.In other words, pretend to enjoy spending time with me.

Not exactly the romantic tete-a-tete she’d imagined sharing with her groom during her wedding reception.

She rose. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.” She’d better get a firm grip on her precarious equilibrium, or risk bursting into humiliating tears.

Mia sent her a glance, silently asking if she wanted accompaniment. Jillian shook her head and hurried inside to the ladies’ room.

She finished her business and lingered, washing her hands and repairing her smudged makeup.

It’s over. Done. So freaking deal with it, already.

She inhaled a series of meditation breaths before heading back toward the patio. For better or for worse.

Until impending divorce do we part.

Dallas, Mia, and Zane were leaning in toward one another, heads bent in intent conversation as Jillian walked up behind them.

“Holy crap, Wolfe,” Mia gritted. “What do you mean you didn’t tell her?”

“Why? I have no intention of us sleeping together.”

“You need to sleep with your wife, not only on your honeymoon tonight, but every night.”

Zane scowled. “No way inhellam I going to have sex withher!”

Jillian froze, shards of ice stabbing her insides.

“You do realize I meant share a bed, right?” Mia clarified. “You never know who’s observing. Hotel staff notices things, and since we suspect Richard hired someone to watch her, you need to be careful. And you’d better tell hereverything,pronto.”

“Need to know basis. For which there’s no need.”

“Wrong.The court will expect your wife to know that you’ve had a vasectomy.”

Chapter 9

The words exploded inside Jillian with the force of a nuclear bomb. A small gasp leaked from between her numb lips.

When Zane’s head jerked up, she locked her stunned gaze on his. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.

Regret shadowed his chiseled features as he rose from his chair.“Shit,”he muttered. “Jillian—”

She spun and ran.

Tearing across the patio and into the woods, she sprinted uphill along the moon-stippled forested pathway, not caring where she was going.

Got to get away.

Chest painfully tight, muscles screaming, strangling on burning, jagged breaths, she lurched as fast as possible uphill along the rising, uneven trail. Moonlight punched through the narrow, winding incline, blurry patches of light fracturing impenetrable pockets of darkness.

Escape. As far away as possible.

Panting, she finally broke into a bright clearing at the crest of the hill. A sturdy peeled log fence barricaded the edge of a steep cliff overlooking the lake and mountains beyond. She staggered to a stop.

What have I done?

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