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A baby monitor sat on the bedside table, so they’d easily hear if the babies woke. Juliette leaned up and unhooked the bra she was barely wearing anyway, and rolled into Wilhelm’s arms.
“That would have been embarrassing,” she said, still laughing softly.
Wilhelm shrugged. “I’ve been caught naked a number of times. I hated wearing clothes as a kid, and would traipse through at all hours. Sometimes we’d have a guest who’d get a surprise, but it never bothered me. I think I might have done it because it seriously pissed off my father.” He chuckled softly and rubbed his cheek against her hair.
Juliette drew a figure eight on Wilhelm’s firm, muscled chest. “Didn’t get along with your dad?”
“We got along all right. I was just a little shit.” He didn’t say anything for a moment, but then added, “It was my brother I never got along with.”
That made her sad. She knew they’d been estranged, but hearing it again drove home the tragedy of the situation.
“I always thought we’d get past it one day. I mean, we always argued. I was nothing like him, and to Halgar that meant I was wrong and needed to be fixed. I let that roll off my back for years, until our father became ill. My brother convinced him to take my name off the property because he felt he was the better son. The more proper son.”
“I’m so sorry.” Juliette had assumed their estrangement was over a misunderstanding of some type, but getting Wilhelm’s name taken off property he would have inherited was a dirty blow. “That’s terrible.”
“It was. And the hell of it is I never wanted the mansion anyway. I wanted my own place, one that I had built on my own. It was the point that he’d undermine me like that because he desperately wanted it and didn’t want to have to sell it to split the estate, or have me lay claim to part of it as my own.”
Wilhelm blinked quickly, moisture gathering in the corner of his eye. “After our father died, if he’d simply asked me, I’d have given him my half. But he chose to manipulate our father when he was half out of his mind with dementia. I made the mistake of threatening to take it to court, to prove that he’d done so, and take the whole thing away from him.”
He stroked a hand down Juliette’s back to rest on her hip. “I wouldn’t have. But I was angry, called him a thief, and said other things I regret.”
Juliette was angry on Wilhelm’s behalf. Yes, those were rough things to say, but the situation seemed to warrant it. “Considering he had stolen it from you, it’s a bit hypocritical of him to judge you so harshly for saying those things.”
“That wasn’t all I said.” Wilhelm sighed heavily. “My brother was never as good at running a business as I was. His own equity was dropping rapidly, while mine was going up. Without our father’s estate mostly going to him, he was looking at some financial trouble. And in my anger, I crossed the line.”
He cleared his throat. “I pointed out that he’d be broke without the inheritance, and he screwed me out of part of it to ensure that wouldn’t happen, because his wife, Carol, had only married him for the lifestyle he afforded her. I flatly accused him of betraying his brother to keep supporting a gold-digging wife.”
Juliette didn’t know what to say to that. It was probably true if Wilhelm had said it, but since she was unfamiliar with the situation, she couldn’t judge. “And?”
“I’d always suspected Carol was out for the money. When you have money, you get a vibe from certain people. I always got that from Carol. I shouldn’t have said it, even if I suspected it. If I’d let it go, we’d have still been on decent terms … and I wouldn’t have to face the fact that I can never apologize. I can never make it right.”
Juliette leaned up on her elbow to meet his eyes. “You can’t. And neither can he. He had plenty of opportunities to talk to you, Wilhelm. This kind of thing, it takes two, and I don’t think you should put the blame for all this on your own shoulders.” She stroked his cheek. “And I don’t think the whole bad situation started with you, so you shouldn’t feel bad that you couldn’t end it.”
He leaned up and caught her mouth in a kiss, then rolled so that she was beneath him. “See why I’m falling in love with you? Sexy and smart.”
She laughed into the kiss, but pushed him away enough to speak. “I’m serious, though. Maybe you said harsh things, but he did a rotten thing to you. I’m sorry it can never be resolved, but that’s his fault too. Please don’t beat yourself up over it.”
It hurt her heart to think that Wilhelm might blame himself, and if it took reminding him that it wasn’t all his fault from time to time, she intended to do that.
“Okay. I’ll try not to.”
A squeak came from the baby monitor, just one of the babies probably making noises during sleep. They both held their breath and watched for the little light to shoot to the top, but within moments the monitor was quiet again.
“We probably have a little more time before they wake,” Wilhelm said, his fingertip drawing a line from her shoulder, down her breast, over h
er nipple. “And I can think of a way I’d really, really like to spend that time.”
He pressed a kiss between her breasts and nuzzled there before moving up to kiss her face. “I’ve waited so long for this, I think every free moment between now and when I leave for Aspen should be spent right here with me kissing every inch of you.”
Juliette arched her neck against his lips when he lapped at her throat greedily. “Oh, Wilhelm, you’ve read my mind.”
Chapter Thirteen
Aspen was only a short flight, but it felt like it took a week. Wilhelm took Sven, his gamma, because he’d left Gunther to keep an eye on Juliette and the twins. He spent the flight listening to Sven hum softly along with whatever music he played on his iPhone. Wilhelm went over everything he knew about the accident, and every question he had for the detective when he arrived. And he couldn’t help thinking of the possibilities—an accident, or a murder. But why? Why kill his brother and Carol? For what?
By the time they reached Aspen, Wilhelm was edgy and wished they’d come at night instead of early morning. He wanted to find a wooded area to strip down and run, pound his paws against the ground until his bones jarred and rattled inside his body. He needed to work out the aggression and stress he felt before having to deal with unpleasant things like the sight of his brother’s car.
Detective Frasier assured him that it wasn’t necessary for him to view his brother’s body. The crash had been high-speed, there’d been a fire after impact, and visual identification was impossible. He didn’t tell the detective he didn’t need to recognize his brother’s face to know who he was. Even if he was burnt almost to nothing, Wilhelm would recognize his scent.
