Sherryl Woods - After Tex

Tess retreated into scowling silence. Megan didn’t have the strength or the ingenuity just then to try to coax her out of it. Besides, Tess’s distrust was justified. Megan hadn’t done much to prove she intended to stick it out in Wyoming. How could she when she didn’t know herself what decision she would finally reach? Maybe her actions today would help give them both some breathing room, though.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Megan said, pushing her chair back, “I have to go into town for a few things today. I’m going into Tex’s office to make a list.”

“A trip into town will do you good,” Mrs. Gomez agreed a little too enthusiastically. Then she added slyly, “Why not take Tess along?”

“No way,” Tess blurted, just as Megan was about to protest as well.

Mrs. Gomez went on as if their reactions had been more positive. “Tess can show you where things are. There are new stores since the last time you were here.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Megan conceded grudgingly. “Tess, would you like to come along?”

“Not really,” the girl grumbled, but at a sharp glance from the housekeeper, she shrugged. “Might as well. I ain’t got nothing else to do.”

“Working on your grammar might be one alternative,” Megan muttered, but she forced a smile. “Terrific. We’ll leave in an hour.”

But in an hour, there was no sign of Tess. If it had been up to Megan, she would have left without her, but Mrs. Gomez seemed to be determined to send the two of them off on some sort of bonding experience.

“She will be in the barn,” she told Megan. “There are kittens there. They seem to give her some comfort.”

Thinking of Tess turning to a litter of helpless kittens for consolation shamed Megan sufficiently that she walked to the barn in search of the girl. Sure enough, she was hunkered down with kittens scrambling all around her.

“They’re cute,” Megan said, drawn to them despite herself.

“I’m not giving them away,” Tess stated defiantly.

“Did I ask you to?”

“No, but you will.”

Megan imagined that was what Tex had insisted on. He’d always allowed a single cat to wander the barn in search of mice, but no more, and never one in the house as a pet. She had longed for one of her own, a warm ball of fluff who would curl up in her lap and sleep on her bed, but she had dared to ask only once. Tex’s curt refusal had kept her silent about wanting a pet from then on.

“You could bring them up to the house, if you like,” Megan suggested casually. “When they’re a little bigger and the mother won’t mind.”

Tess stared at her with wide eyes. “I could?”

The longing in her voice brought a lump to Megan’s throat. She nodded. “I don’t see why not.”

“Jake thought it might be okay, too, but I figured you’d never go for it.”

“I will on one condition,” Megan said.

Tess frowned. “I knew it! I knew there’d be a catch.”

“No catch, just a condition. I want one of the kittens for my own.”

Tess simply stared, clearly too shocked for words.

“Is it a deal?” Megan asked.

“Yeah!” Tess said excitedly, then caught herself. “I mean, I suppose that would be okay.”

Megan held back a grin. It wasn’t much, she concluded as they walked to the car, but it was a start. If only the next ten years or so would go as easily, maybe they would survive them.

Jake was at loose ends. With his biggest—okay, his only—client dead and buried, his workload was back to zip. That was exactly the way he wanted it, or so he’d thought. Rather than relaxing, maybe going off on a long horseback ride through the countryside, however, he was restless. He knew exactly where to lay the blame for that: Megan.

He’d pushed aside a lot of old resentments the past few days. He wanted to go on hating her for thinking the worst of him all those years ago. He wanted to steal Tex’s ranch right out from under her just to get even. But for some reason, he couldn’t work up much enthusiasm for the all-out war he’d once envisioned. It was probably because of that sad, lost look in her eyes. He’d always been a real sucker for vulnerability, especially in a woman normally as tough as Meggie.

The smart thing would be to steer clear of her. Even if she made a halfhearted attempt to comply with Tex’s wishes, it wouldn’t be long before she found some way around the terms of the will and hauled Tess back to New York with her. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that was what she desperately wanted to do. He’d seen the wheels clicking away the instant she’d realized what Tex’s will meant.

Somehow Megan had turned into a city girl. Maybe she’d always been one, though how that had happened living in the middle of nowhere with Tex was beyond him.

As for Jake, his foray into the urban thing had been pure rebellion. He’d had something to prove to himself and to Tex and to all the judgmental people of Whispering Wind.

He’d been damned good at it for a time, but in the end he’d accepted the fact that he was happier right here in Whispering Wind. The pace was slow, the demands and expectations were few. And he had enough money now to enjoy the spectacular scenery at his leisure without anyone being able to label him that “no-account Landers kid.”

He glanced around his office, took stock of the fancy artwork on the walls, the bronze of a bucking bronco on his credenza, the thick carpeting and well-cushioned leather sofa and chairs, the wall of bookcases filled with leather-bound legal volumes, the state-of-the-art computer setup.

Unlike his home, which could best be described as a fixer-upper, he’d taken pleasure in designing his office to impress. Of course, he hadn’t bothered to hire a secretary or to solicit new clients. As restless as he felt this morning, he regretted that. Maybe if he’d had a few cases to sink his teeth into, Meggie’s image wouldn’t be popping into his head with such annoying regularity.

He heard a commotion on the street, then a howl of protest. He was on his feet and dashing for the door before it registered that that howl was distressingly familiar.

He found Tess outside, her expression indignant, the fist of the red-faced sheriff, Bryce Davis, clamped tightly over her shoulder. Lyle Perkins was standing in the doorway of his mama’s general store with a smug expression on his face.

Jake had been exactly where Tess was a few times himself, though Lyle had been a boy back then, but no less of a bully. Apparently he hadn’t outgrown the tendency. Jake’s hackles rose as he strode toward the group. He couldn’t wait to tangle with Lyle and Emma Perkins now that he was on equal footing with them in the community.

The instant Tess caught sight of Jake, she broke free and ran straight for him, then turned and shot a defiant look at the sheriff that would have withered a less confident man. She didn’t look at Lyle at all. Fortunately, Jake supposed, Bryce Davis wasn’t lacking in ego. Jake had tangled with the sheriff a time or two himself. It would take more than a fiery eight-year-old to intimidate Davis.

“Okay, what’s the problem here?” Jake asked, directing the question at the beefy sheriff, while ignoring Lyle.

“I need a lawyer,” Tess announced before Bryce could open his mouth. She slapped a quarter in Jake’s hand. “Here’s your retainer. It ain’t much, but it’s all I’ve got. I want to sue him for false arrest, police brutality and whatever else you can come up with.” She jerked a thumb toward Lyle. “Sue him while you’re at it.”

Jake hid a grin at her riled-up declaration. “You’ve been watching too much TV, kiddo. I don’t think you’re under arrest yet.”