After Tex

by Sherryl Woods

  “A lot of other people have known about Lyle and have turned their back on her,” Jake said.

  “Probably because they didn’t know what to do. Neither do I, not really. But at least I can offer her a safe place to stay.”

  “But to accept your offer, she has to disrupt her life and move hundreds of miles away.”

  “So you think I’m wrong?”

  “Not wrong. I just think you can’t make Barbara Sue do something she’s not comfortable with, any more than I could make her take legal action against Lyle before this happened.”

  Megan heard the genuine regret in his voice. “You saw it coming, didn’t you? That must have been frustrating.”

  “Infuriating,” Jake agreed. His touch gentled, became more of a caress. “Almost as infuriating as wanting you right this second and knowing that the odds of having you are slim to none.”

  Her breath caught in her throat. “Maybe not as much of a long shot as you think,” she murmured, then turned to gaze up at him.

  “You seem to be forgetting all the company in the other room.”

  “You seem to be forgetting this house has a back staircase.”

  Surprise registered on his face, along with smoldering desire.

  “Right over there,” she said, indicating the doorway to the pantry. “Hidden away for quick escapes, I suspect.”

  “Well, I’ll be,” Jake murmured, then sighed. “But I think we’ll have to test it out another time. Those kids of Barbara Sue’s are sneaky little devils. If they think we’ve disappeared, they’re liable to come searching for us.”

  “The threat of discovery could add to the excitement, don’t you think?”

  He grinned. “You’re deliberately taunting me, aren’t you?”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because you figure it’s safe enough and you enjoy driving me crazy.”

  “Well—”

  Before she could complete the admission, Jake scooped her out of her chair and headed for the hidden staircase. Megan’s whoop of astonishment gave way to laughter, then protests as he headed straight up the stairs and unerringly toward her room.

  “Jake, wait. We can’t do this. You know we can’t.”

  “Hey, darlin’, it was your idea. I heard you plain as day all but begging me to bring you up here so I could ravish you,” he said. He nudged the door open and carried her inside, pausing only to kick the door closed behind him.

  She got the distinct impression that the game had gotten out of hand. “But I was…” The protest died on her lips.

  He gazed down into her eyes. “You were what? Teasing? Testing me?”

  “Something like that.”

  He dropped her unceremoniously on her bed, then knelt over her. His eyes darkened with desire. “Bad idea,” he murmured huskily before his lips met hers.

  Megan arched into the kiss, then moaned as Jake’s hand skimmed lightly from hip to waist to breast, where it lingered. Her skin burned, her nipples peaked into sensitive buds. There was nothing even remotely amusing about the speed with which her body responded to his touch. Within seconds she’d forgotten all about teasing him, all about the noisy gathering downstairs. Heck, she’d pretty much forgotten her name.

  And then he was standing beside the bed, a complacent smirk firmly in place.

  “In the future, don’t start something you can’t possibly win,” he warned lightly. “Now let’s get back downstairs before we’re missed.”

  The sensual stupor she’d been in evaporated in a heartbeat, replaced by a flash fire of temper. Even though her legs were unsteady, she was on her feet before he could take a single step. She blocked his path, then gave him a shove that took him by surprise. He stumbled back. Another push had him landing on the bed. She scrambled on top of him and pinned him down. She had little doubt he could have flipped her over with practically no effort, but he didn’t even try. A momentary flicker of astonishment in his eyes had given way to amused acceptance.

  “Now what?” he inquired. “Planning to turn the tables and have your way with me?”

  She stared at him. “Have my way with you? Where do you get these ideas?”

  “Well, you must have had something in mind when you got me back into your bed.”

  “Teaching you a lesson, for starters.”

  “And the lesson would be?”

  “That I can finish any game I start.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yes,” she said emphatically, then considered the houseful of people. “Just not here and not now.”

  He grinned. “That means I get a rain check?”

  She stood up and smoothed out her clothes. “If you’re lucky,” she retorted, and headed for the door. “On the other hand, you might have blown it by not taking advantage of your one and only chance to get into bed with me.”

  He reached for her and spun her around just as she got to the door. His mouth claimed hers with a kiss that was totally, thoroughly devastating.

  “We’ll see,” he said mildly, then trotted down the stairs ahead of her.

  Megan touched her tender, swollen lips and shuddered. Maybe she was in way over her head.

  Maybe, when it came to Jake, she always had been.

  24

  “Where have you guys been?” Tess demanded when Jake walked into the living room, with Megan trailing distantly behind him after their fascinating little tussle upstairs.

  “Megan was just relaxing a little,” he said, noting the flush on Megan’s cheeks as she came in and overheard him. “She’s had a long day.”

  Tess studied Megan. “Are you sick? Your face is all pink.”

  “Just overheated,” Megan said, giving Jake a sour look.

  “But it’s freezing out,” Tess said. “How could—”

  “Never mind,” Flo said, giving both of them a knowing look as she steered Tess away. “You ask way too many questions.”

  “But how am I going to learn anything if I don’t ask?” Tess argued, using a familiar refrain.

  “Never mind,” Flo said. “There are some things you don’t need to know.”

  Megan stared after them worriedly. “You don’t think Flo will try to use what just happened here to try to get Tess back, do you?”

  “Nothing happened,” Jake pointed out. “You came into a room with some color in your cheeks. Big deal. Flo can’t make too much of that. For all she knows we could have been arguing about the price of livestock on the futures market.”

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “It was your idea to let Flo hang around and be a part of Tess’s life,” he reminded her. “Are you going to be looking over your shoulder every second? Are you going to panic every time she makes a remark about something you do?”

  “No, of course not. It’s just that—”

  “It’s just that you’re feeling guilty,” he said, then grinned. “And maybe a little grumpy because you’re sexually deprived.”

  “Oh, go suck an egg,” she retorted as Henrietta joined them.

  “Am I interrupting?” she said, her face alight with curiosity.

  “No, of course not,” Megan said.

  “I think I’d better be getting those kids back into town. I want them to go off to school in the morning. They need to get things back to normal.” She regarded Jake worriedly. “You don’t think you’re going to have to bring Sissy in to testify about what happened, do you?”

  “I hope not. I’ll do my damnedest to avoid it.”

  “I’ll come to court, if you need me,” she offered. “I can testify about all the times Barbara Sue came to work battered and bruised. I’d like to hear Lyle come up with an explanation for that.”

  “I’d appreciate that,” Jake said. “If things go the way I’m hoping they will, the judge will agree to the plea bargain without calling any witnesses, but it’ll be good to have you there, just in case.”

  “Right,” Henrietta said briskly. “I’ll see you in the morning, then. You let me know wh
at time. Good night, Megan. Your granddaddy would have been proud of the way you’ve pitched in with everything that’s been going on around town. He’d be especially proud of the way you’re handling Tess.”

  “I hope so,” she said wistfully.

  Megan and Jake stood on the front porch and watched as Henrietta, Flo and Barbara Sue’s kids left for town. The taillights of Henrietta’s car were still flickering in the distance when Jake spotted headlights turning in off the highway.

  “Who do you suppose this could be?” he asked.

  “Probably Todd coming back from town, or maybe Peter,” Megan suggested.

  “Peter’s still hanging around?” Jake asked irritably. “I assumed he’d gone back to New York today.”

  “I believe that was his plan, until he met Peggy and had dinner with her last night.”

  Just then Peggy’s car pulled to a stop in front of the house. Not only did Peter get out, but so did Peggy and her kids. She stood hesitantly beside the car.

  “Megan, could I speak to you a minute?” she asked, twisting her hands nervously.

  “Oh, boy,” Jake murmured under his breath. Something told him Peggy hadn’t dropped by to compare notes on the recipes for tomorrow’s taping.

  “Hush,” Megan retorted as she left to join her friend.

  “What’s up?” Jake asked Peter, who hadn’t taken his gaze off Peggy since they got out of the car.

  “She’s leaving her husband. I believe she’s hoping to spend the night here.”

  “This place is turning into a blasted hotel,” Jake grumbled. As annoying as the crowds were, he had to admit—to himself, anyway—that Megan’s renewed involvement with old friends in Whispering Wind was reassuring. Maybe she was finally realizing that she really did fit in here, that there was a place for her in this community that was every bit as important and rewarding as being in New York. He’d been discovering the same thing himself for months now.

  He glanced at Peter. “Just how much did you have to do with Peggy’s decision? You didn’t make any promises you don’t intend to keep, did you?”

  “My relationship with Peggy is none of your concern,” Peter said in that stiff, uptight way that grated on Jake’s nerves. “Not any more than yours with Megan is mine.”

  “It is if you intend to break up her marriage and then dump her,” Jake countered. “She’s a friend, and out here, friends look out for friends. We make their troubles our business.”

  “She’s a grown woman who’s been living in an untenable situation for far too long,” Peter retorted. “I just made her realize that she has options.”

  “Nothing personal?”

  Even in the silvery glow of moonlight, Jake could see Peter flush.

  “She’s a lovely woman,” the accountant conceded.

  “But…?”

  “She lives in Wyoming, for God’s sake. I would find that…impossible.”

  “Did you mention that to her? Or did you allow her to believe that you intended to sweep her away from all her problems?”

  “I really don’t see—”

  Jake moved until he was in the other man’s face. “I’d like an answer.”

  Peter sighed. “Okay, she might have gotten the idea that I’m interested in pursuing a relationship with her.”

  “But you’re not,” Jake said curtly.

  “I didn’t say that.” Mr. Polish and Perfection actually looked flustered. “I don’t know what will happen. It’s…confusing.”

  Jake almost felt sorry for the man. He really did look a bit as if he’d been run over by a bus. And Jake doubted he’d ever come so close to stuttering before. As Peggy and Megan approached, Peter’s gaze sought Peggy’s and held it as if he were a drowning man and she were his lifeline. Fascinating, Jake concluded. Maybe Megan had been on to something, instead of dangerously ill advised, when she introduced them.

  Peggy brushed past Jake without meeting his eyes, then hurried the kids inside. Peter followed. When they were out of earshot, Jake turned to Megan.

  “Well?”

  “She’s left Johnny.”

  “I got that much. Now what?”

  “Now we’d better get the studio up and running in a hurry, because she refuses to set foot in her own kitchen ever again.” She gave Jake a worried look. “Did I set something in motion I shouldn’t have? You talked to Peter. What’s he thinking?”

  “It’s a little late to be having second thoughts,” Jake said. “Your friend Peter is a mite confused at the moment. Every instinct is telling him to hightail it back to New York and his nice, tidy life-style.”

  “But?”

  Jake regarded her with amusement. “You sense a but in there?”

  “There’d better be one,” she said grimly.

  “Okay, here it is. He seems to have hit a snag. Whether he’s recognized it or not, the man is falling in love. With a woman in Wyoming, yet.” Jake grinned. “I love it. You come back to town and the whole place goes topsy-turvy.”

  “You’re not blaming everything that’s happened on me, are you?” she demanded indignantly. “Blame Tex. If it hadn’t been for him and that cockamamie will he had you draw up, I wouldn’t have been back here.”

  “Sure, lay it all on a poor dead man who can’t defend himself,” he teased. “Face it, Megan. Wherever you go, things happen.”

  “Don’t you mean disaster strikes?”

  “Is that how you see the breakup of Peggy’s marriage? I thought you wanted her to dump Johnny.”

  “I wanted her to want to dump Johnny,” she corrected.

  “Isn’t that the same thing?”

  “I suppose,” she said. “My version just leaves me out of the middle.”

  “Well, now, with or without your influence, she has.”

  “And now she’s here,” Megan pointed out. “What am I supposed to do with her?”

  “Go right on being her friend,” Jake suggested. “Especially since the road ahead with Peter could be a bumpy one till he realizes how he feels. I suppose I can’t really blame him for being confused. After all, he flew out here thinking he was in love with you.”

  “He was never in love with me,” Megan protested, dismissing the possibility. “He’d ticked off my qualifications on some list and figured I’d do.”

  Jake stared. “You’re kidding me.”

  “Oh, no. Peter is very methodical.”

  “And Peggy is very impulsive,” Jake said thoughtfully. He met Megan’s uneasy gaze. “You are a very diabolical woman.”

  “Probably,” she agreed unhappily.

  “Fortunately for you, I am a man who really gets off on diabolical schemes. That’s why I forgave Tex for keeping us apart. He was so damned clever about it. Just tucked those cattle up on the side of a mountain until the dust settled and you were safely gone.”

  “I don’t understand you,” she murmured as he pulled her into his arms.

  “Then isn’t it lucky that we’re going to have a lifetime for you to figure me out.”

  Her gaze shot up and clashed with his. “What?”

  He pressed her cheek back against his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it now.”

  “But you said—”

  “Just a little offhand remark. Nothing for you to get excited about.”

  One of these days he’d repeat what he’d said. He’d do it right, with a diamond and flowers and nobody within a hundred miles to slow down what would come after.

  “Soon,” he murmured, mostly to himself.

  “What?”

  “Nothing, darlin’. Let’s settle down in that swing the way we used to and count the stars.”

  When she didn’t object that it was too late or too cold, he led the way across the porch and settled down with his arms tucked tightly around her. He kept the swing in motion with a gentle push every now and again. Megan sighed, her breath fanning across his cheek.

  “How many?” he asked eventually.

  “How many what?”

  “Stars?”<
br />
  “Way too many to count,” she said, just as she had so many times in the past, and would again in the years to come, if he had his way.

  “Did you pick one to wish on?”

  He caught the slow curve of her lips in the moonlight.

  “The brightest one,” she said. “But I won’t tell you what I wished for.”

  “No need, darlin’. I think I already know.”

  “You don’t know everything, Jake.”

  “Maybe not everything,” he agreed. “But when it comes to what’s in your heart, sometimes I think I know it better than you do.”

  At least he prayed that he did, because he was counting on her making the right choices when the time came.

  Megan awoke to the sound of pounding on the front door and a stream of high-pitched Spanish from Mrs. Gomez, who’d apparently turned up right on schedule to protect the stomachs of her charges from Megan’s cooking. Since only a crisis of monumental proportions could make the housekeeper revert to her native tongue, Megan was anticipating the worst when she ran downstairs. She found a drunken Johnny Barkley weaving around in the foyer.

  “Go. Shoo,” Mrs. Gomez shouted, as if he were a stray cat that had wandered in.

  “I’ll handle this,” Megan said.

  “Are you sure, niña? The man does not listen to reason.”

  “The man has had too much to drink,” Megan corrected, assessing whether Johnny could actually stand up, much less inflict any harm. She concluded the odds were in her favor. In his present condition, a gentle nudge would have him on the floor.

  “All the more reason for me to call for help,” Mrs. Gomez said, clearly having reached a different conclusion.

  “No, it’s okay. We’ll be fine,” Megan assured her.

  “You might bring in a pot of black coffee as soon as you have some made.”

  Megan latched on to Johnny’s arm and steered him into the living room. He didn’t seem to be inclined to resist, even when she gave him a gentle shove that left him sprawling on the sofa. He gazed up at her with bleary eyes. Somewhere in there was a glimmer of the sweet, shy boy he had once been.