After Tex (28 page)

“Yes. He was the first one I told. I think he was relieved, to tell you the truth. I believe he's already
called the airlines and made arrangements to go back to New York tonight.”

“You've probably broken his heart.”

“I seriously doubt that. He's a nice man. I think I was a novelty for him and I happened along just when you'd dumped him. I'm pretty sure that deep down he was terrified he might have to buy a whole new wardrobe of jeans.”

“Since we're finished for the day, I'd better go and find him,” Megan said. “I'd hate to lose a good accountant and financial adviser over this.”

“I doubt there's a chance of that. He seems pretty confident you'd be heading straight for financial ruin without him.”

Megan laughed. “Yes, now that you mention it, Peter does have a fairly strong ego. He'll survive.”

Back at her ranch, she found him inside with his bags packed and his cell phone in his hand. He certainly didn't look especially distraught. She sat down opposite him and waited. When he'd hung up, she said, “Business as usual, I see.”

“The market doesn't wait for every little blip out here in the hinterlands,” he said briskly.

“You okay?”

“Of course. Why wouldn't I be?”

“Because, despite what you may have told Peggy, I think you actually cared for her. Jake thought so, too.”

“Let's not give Jake too much credit for being insightful,” he grumbled. “He had his own reasons for wanting me to be otherwise occupied, romantically speaking.”

“Peter, seriously, are you okay?”

“Let's just say between the cows and getting dumped twice in less than a week, this hasn't been the vacation of my dreams.” He chuckled. “Then again, I will have a story to tell my grandchildren.”

“If you're counting on grandchildren, you can't be too distraught.”

“Distraught, no. The men in the Davis family always muster up the courage to move on in spite of adversity. This was nothing more than a minor setback.”

Megan wasn't quite sure how she ought to feel about being dismissed so easily. “Why do I get the feeling that someone's waiting in the wings back in New York?”

“Because, despite that tough facade, you're a romantic at heart and you're looking for happy endings?” he suggested.

“Maybe, but it's that glint in your eye that really does it. You look as if you're heading out on a mission. Who have you been keeping on hold for too long now?”

“What makes you think I've been keeping anyone on hold?” he asked stiffly.

“For one thing, you're actually blushing. Peter Davis, I think you've been keeping secrets.”

“Maybe I have. Maybe I haven't.” He winked as he picked up his bags and headed for the door. “Maybe I'm just discovering the value of being a man of mystery.”

At the door he paused. “I'll be in touch about the budget. If you let Kenny have his way with that studio, you'll go broke. And tell Todd he's to rein in
expenses. The crew needs to fly coach, not first-class.”

“And you?” she asked, regarding him with amusement.

“First-class, of course. Not to worry, though, this trip was on me.” He gave her a wink. “Personal business.”

He was either a master of the quick recovery or of sheer bravado. Megan couldn't really tell which. “I'll see you soon.”

“In New York,” he said firmly.

“Right. In New York.”

Why, Megan wondered as he drove away, didn't the thought of going back fill her with as much excitement as it once had? She spotted the churning dust at the end of the drive long after Peter's car had disappeared and guessed that it was Jake. Could that be it? Was Jake the reason why, after all these years, Whispering Wind was finally beginning to feel like home?

A couple of minutes later, when he stepped onto the porch, her heart did its predictable lurch, and she knew. For better or worse, she was going to be stuck with these feelings she had for him. Time, distance, Tex's maneuverings—nothing had killed the love she'd felt for Jake most of her life.

“Everything okay?” he asked, studying her curiously.

“I suppose that depends.”

“On?”

She wasn't ready to discuss her feelings with him, much less a still very uncertain future. “How you feel about potluck for dinner? Mrs. Gomez has gone
home. Johnny has taken Peggy out for dinner in Laramie and all the kids are on a sleep-over with a friend from school.”

“Peter?”

“On his way back to New York.”

“Very promising. Todd?”

“At the new studio with Kenny and the techs. They'll be there most of the night.”

“Fascinating.” His expression brightened. “It's just you and me then?”

“And whatever leftovers I can whip into a meal.”

“I'm not worried. After all, you are reputed to be a whiz with leftovers.”

Megan laughed. “You are about to discover that I've been duping the world. You'll be lucky if you don't get food poisoning.”

“I'll take my chances.” He beckoned to her. “First, come here.”

“Why?”

“If I'm going to die, I at least deserve a kiss before I go.”

Megan stepped into his waiting arms. Jake's mouth claimed hers with an urgency that scrambled her thoughts. The man surely did have a wicked way with a kiss.

“Jake?” she whispered, when she could finally summon breath to speak.

“Hmm?” he murmured, scattering kisses down her neck.

“Since dinner's not likely to be much to write home about, how about we put it off?”

He pulled back and gazed into hers. “And do what instead?”

“If you can't figure that out, you deserve my cooking.”

His expression sobered. “Meggie, are you sure?”

She nodded.

“Because once I've had you, I won't let you go, not ever again.”

“I know,” she whispered solemnly. Caught up in the moment, she pushed aside the consequences of making such a rash statement and added, “I don't want you to.”

He scooped her into his arms and carried her up the stairs, as he had on another night recently. This time, though, there was no teasing undercurrent, just pure anticipation. Her body was humming with it.

As they reached her bedroom, night was already falling outside, filling the room with shadows. In the remaining light, she stood silently before him, then slowly, deliberately began to remove her clothes. The brightness in his eyes was enough to guide her. He swallowed hard when she stood naked before him.

“Do you have any idea how long I've dreamed of this?” he asked. “How many times I've wondered if it would ever happen or if we'd simply missed our chance?”

“I wondered that, too,” she confessed.

She reached for the buttons on his shirt, then took her time undoing them, pausing to rake her fingernails along his chest with each new exposure of skin. Touching Jake made her brazen. Nothing in her past—no man she had made love with—had prepared her for the utterly feminine, totally sensual way she felt as she caressed him, watched the flare of fire in
his eyes that matched the rush of heat building inside her.

When Jake bent his head and took the tip of her breast in his mouth, shock waves rippled through her. Every touch stirred unmatched excitement. They fell onto the bed in a tangle of arms and legs and throbbing need.

His gaze locked with hers. “I swear to you that next time will be slow and lovely, but right now I want you too desperately to wait.”

“Me, too,” she whispered back, thrusting her hips up to complete the joining. Only when he was deep inside her did she sigh at the sheer joy of it, the sense of rightness and completion she'd craved. “Make love to me, Jake. No man has ever done that before.”

He stared at her, obviously startled. “No man?”

She smiled. “I've had sex. I've never made love. I don't think I knew that before.”

“Then let me show you,” he said, starting a slow tide of sensations that rolled over her as gently as waves at first, then rocked her with the passion of a stormy sea. When the last glorious waves crashed over her—through her—she almost wept with the wonder of it.

And even then there was more. Jake carried her back to the edge, sent her over it with a flick of his tongue against her most sensitive, intimate nub of desire. Then, when she was still trembling, he entered her again, and this time when they reached the top they took the frantic, joyous leap into sensual oblivion together.

Afterward, slick with perspiration and the musky scent of sex, they curled against each other and slept.

Megan woke first, bemused by the tender ache between her legs and the weight of Jake's arm across her middle. Her breasts were as sensitive as they had been when Jake's teeth had raked the peaks. She skimmed her hand over one and felt the nipple harden, felt yet another sharp tug of desire stirring low in her belly.

When she glanced at Jake, she saw his gaze fixed on her hand. “Let me,” he whispered, his voice raw.

His touch on her breasts alone was enough to send her reeling again.

“Sweet heaven, if we keep this up, I think I'll die from it,” she said.

Jake's hand found its way between her legs. “Let's see,” he taunted.

She was still shuddering from his touch when she rose to her knees, straddled him, then took him inside. “If I'm going, you're going with me,” she said, drawing him into the passionate madness.

Only later, after they had slept again, did the thought of dinner intrude.

“I'm starving,” Jake announced.

“Then you'd better cook. My skills are better suited to hors d'oeuvres than rack of lamb.”

“I'll settle for scrambled eggs and bacon. I'll even make toast.”

“All this and you can cook, too,” she said in wonder.

“Given your international reputation, that should have been my line.”

“I've allowed you to know my darkest secret,” Megan told him. “Will you ruin me?”

Jake gave her an impudent grin as he pulled on his
jeans. “As long as you keep up the sex, your secret is safe with me.”

“Deal,” she said, holding out her hand.

He took it and pulled her to her feet. When she was toe-to-toe with him, he looked into her eyes. “Megan, this is for keeps. You know that, don't you?”

“So you've said.”

“I won't lose you a second time.”

“Tex isn't here to keep us apart,” she reminded him.

“Tex couldn't have kept us apart back then if you hadn't been so ready to believe the worst of me.” Jake regarded her with grim determination. “This time there's even more at stake. I'll fight harder to keep you.”

Megan could have told him that it wouldn't be much of a struggle, but it would have been a lie. Her career was between them now, and it was as much a worthy adversary as Tex had ever been.

T
odd's expression was pure doom and gloom as he handed the phone to Megan when she walked into Tex's office the next morning. “Dean Whicker,” he announced, then mouthed, “he sounds weird.”

Megan's heart thudded dully. “Dean, how are you?” she said brightly.

“I've been better.”

She recognized that tone. No wonder Todd had picked up on it. It usually spelled trouble. “Okay, what is it? You've seen the tapes and you hate them, right?”

“No, the tapes are fine. I actually think that little friend of yours—what's her name? Peggy?—I think she'll go over big with the audience.”

“Then I don't see the problem.”

“Okay, I'm going to lay it out straight. I think you're terrific. I think you have incredible potential.” He used the word as if it weren't quite enough.

“I thought you invested in potential,” she said quietly.

“I do, but I also know when to cut my losses.”

Megan gripped the phone tighter. “Excuse me? When did
Megan's World
become a losing proposition?”

“It's not,” he agreed. “Yet. But I'm in a business that necessitates quick calls, and I don't see your show going anywhere, not with your attention divided the way it has been.”

“You know the circumstances,” she protested, feeling as if she were suddenly in an uphill battle for her life. “It's been a few rough weeks. We'll get past it. The new studio out here will be ready in another week or so.”

“Not soon enough. A few weeks can turn the tide in television. Audiences drift away and then it's all but impossible to get them back.”

“Are the ratings down?” she asked, even though she'd seen them herself not an hour earlier and they'd been as strong as ever.

“No,” he admitted.

“Then there's something else going on here and I want to know what it is. I think I have a right to know if you intend to pull the plug on me.”

“I just don't see it working out,” he said again. “I'm sorry. I like you, Megan. It's nothing personal.”

“That really means a lot,” she said with a biting edge of sarcasm. “No doubt you'll be hearing from my lawyer.”

She hung up before she could say things she'd never be able to take back. Todd was staring at her sympathetically.

“Don't you dare say it,” she warned.

“Say what?”

“That you told me so. Or that you're sorry. Or anything else, for that matter.”

“How about I tell you what's really going on, then?”

She stared at him blankly for a full minute. “You know?”

“Oh, yeah. I heard the buzz from a friend in New York this morning, about an hour before Dean called to break the news.”

“Tell me.”

“It seems that a few of your staffers in New York got tired of being out of the loop while you've been here. They've staged a little coup. They told your buddy Dean that they were the real brains behind
Megan's World
and they proved it with a week's worth of sample tapes that reportedly knocked his socks off.”

Megan stared at him in shock. “They did this on my time?”

“Actually, they did it at night, since you weren't minding the store. Used your studio, too, since it was paid for.”

Megan saw red. “Who's behind it? I'll sue them and Dean Whicker. They'll be tied up in legal red tape for so long they'll never get a show on the air. And who the hell is hosting this new show?”

Todd's expression faltered.

“Who, dammit?”

“Micah.”

Micah, the woman she'd trusted almost as much as she'd trusted Todd. Micah, who'd bailed out on them a few days earlier. Micah, whom Todd had fallen for the minute she'd come to work for them. It appeared they'd both been betrayed. Megan could see from his shattered look that it had hit him just as hard as it had hit her.

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't say it,” he said grimly. “Whatever I thought of her once doesn't matter. She's slime. I say we go back to New York and rip her into tiny little bits.”

“I'm delighted to see you haven't been affected by this news,” she said wryly.

“Who was it that said don't get mad, get even? One of the Kennedys, I think.”

“Revenge does hold a certain appeal,” Megan agreed. “Any ideas?”

“There are other syndicators,” Todd pointed out. “Or you could force Dean's hand. I went over the contract earlier. It's airtight. I'd get Jake to take a preliminary look at it, then call the entertainment guy who drew it up. We haven't defaulted on a single term, even as rough as the last few weeks have been. Dean has no legal grounds for pulling the plug. He can't even use the age-old creative differences, since he doesn't have the documentation for a single creative dispute, unless Micah's been busy helping him trump up some paperwork.”

Megan nodded. “Perfect. Get Jake out here. I think he's got really good instincts about going for the jugular.”

Todd hesitated. “He also has really good reasons for wanting you to stay right here. How hard can we count on him to fight, if it means you'll end up back in New York?”

Megan wasn't sure. Maybe this was going to put him—and their love—to the ultimate test even sooner than she'd anticipated.

“Call him,” she said again. “I guess we're about to find out just where he stands.”

 

Jake listened to Megan's recital of the morning's events with mounting indignation on her behalf. He glanced at Todd.

“How sure are you of your facts, that this so-called coup is behind Dean Whicker's decision to cancel Megan's show?”

“A hundred percent.”

“Then I say we nail the sucker,” he said grimly.

Megan met his gaze evenly. “Jake, it could mean I'd have to go back to New York, at least for a while, to prove I'm on top of things.”

“We'll talk about that later,” he said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. “If it happens, we'll figure something out. In the meantime, nobody messes with you without taking on me, too. Remember what I told you yesterday. Chicago trained me for fighting down and dirty.”

“Damned if he isn't straight out of a Western,” Todd said, grinning at them. “The good guys always win, right? Heck, I might even buy me a big ol' white Stetson.”

“Doggone straight we do,” Jake said. “Now get me the contract.”

“Done,” Todd said, and handed it to him.

“Latest ratings,” Jake suggested. They were in front of him before he'd finished the request. He glanced at Todd. “Does she pay you enough?”

“Not nearly,” Todd said. “But life around her is fascinating, which is its own reward.”

Megan chuckled. “I'll remember that when you want to negotiate a raise.”

Jake glanced over the papers, then looked at the
two of them. “We're going to need proof that Micah used your studio time to make her demo tapes.”

“Done,” Todd said. “I'll have the studio sign-in sheets faxed out here. And there will be the bills for the crews. I doubt she footed those herself. She probably used people we bring in as backup and figured she could slide the invoices past Peter, since he was out here with you.”

“Oh, I hope she did,” Megan said fervently. “Suing her personally for fraud and misuse of corporate funds or whatever else we can get her for will be the icing on the cake. I should have known she was up to something when she left after the first day of taping.”

“Get the documentation first,” Jake warned. “And do it before anyone back there gets wind that we're onto them.”

For the next hour, he watched with a certain amount of awe as Todd worked the phone with the skill of a military tactician or a political strategist. Faxes spewed in, each one more damning than the next. He even got ahold of long distance phone records logging calls between Micah's line and Dean Whicker's office. She could have been making those calls on Megan's behalf, but under the circumstances it was doubtful any jury would see it that way.

Jake sat back with a sigh of satisfaction after studying the material. “This is a great start. Think we can get anyone to appear as a friendly witness to testify to what's been going on? Or has everyone in New York gone over to the other side?”

Megan glanced at Todd. “Why don't you go back
to New York? Take stock of things firsthand. See exactly who's acting guilty and who's still on our side.”

Todd nodded. “I'll book the flight now.”

“Charter one if the connections are terrible,” Megan said. “We can't afford to waste time. Once the news of the cancellation hits the trade papers and the mainstream media, it'll be all over. We have to try to force Dean's hand before that.”

Jake could see that it was killing her to let Todd go back and do the sleuthing and battling she was itching to do herself. “Meggie, why don't you go with him? I'll stay out here with Tess. Peggy and the kids are here, too.”

Her hesitation cut straight through him.

“Still don't trust me not to use it against you, do you?” he said quietly.

Todd glanced up from the notes he was taking on his travel arrangements. He grabbed the notebook, switched to the portable phone and left the room without a word.

“I'm sorry,” Megan said. “That's not it. Really.”

“What then?”

“I just don't feel right about going. Tess is just beginning to feel secure. Peggy's marriage is on uncertain ground. And there's Barbara Sue.”

“She's doing fine with Henrietta,” Jake assured her.

“But Lyle could get out of the hospital any day now. Who knows what he'll try.”

Jake barely resisted the urge to smile. “What are you planning to do to stop him?”

She frowned at him. “Okay, maybe there's nothing I can do, but I should be here.”

He moved closer and took her hands in his. “Look, nobody wants you to stick close to Whispering Wind more than I do, but this is a critical time for your career. If you don't jump in and do everything you can to save it, you'll never forgive yourself or me.”

“I suppose you're right.”

“Darlin', I am always right. Now go. Tell Todd to book another seat. Pack.”

In the doorway, she hesitated again, her expression thoughtful. After a moment, she came back to lean against the side of the desk beside him. “Maybe you should come, too,” she said. “When we act, we'll have to act quickly. It'll be faster if you're there.”

He considered the suggestion. He could certainly see its advantages. And a few days alone with Megan in New York might cement their relationship. He shook off the idea. This was no time to be contemplating a romantic getaway. There was business to take care of.

“No,” he said at last. “I'll do you more good if I'm right here drawing up legal briefs. Todd can fax me whatever I need.” He pulled her down in his lap.

“Besides, you'd be too big a distraction. We're both going to need to stay focused.”

He gave her a long, mind-numbing kiss. “Too many of those and we'll never get any work done.”

She grinned. “I see your point.”

“By the way, you're going to need to contact your New York lawyer and get him involved. He knows the ins and outs of this deal better than I do. He'll probably need to be the attorney of record, too, since I'm not a member of the New York Bar. How's he
going to feel about me being in the middle of things?”

“He'll be fine with it,” Megan assured him. “Evan Porter's a great man and he knows the entertainment business inside out, but he's a gentleman. Given the way Dean's going about this, I think he'll be glad to have someone who can play down and dirty.”

Jake wasn't entirely sure he shouldn't be insulted. “Thanks, I think.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

She touched his cheek. “Don't look like that. I trust you, okay? That's what counts.”

Yes, Jake thought when she'd left the room, trust counted for quite a lot. Love would have counted for more.

 

Megan waited until ten o'clock to walk into her New York office. She wanted Todd to have time to do his own sleuthing before her unanticipated arrival.

“Good morning, Ms. O'Rourke.”

“Hey, Ms. O'Rourke.”

“Hi, ya, sweetheart. Long time no see,” the newspaper vendor called out to her as she crossed the lobby. “You need a copy of the competition?”

“Not today,” she told him. “I grabbed one at the airport.”

“How was your trip? I'll bet you picked up a lot of new ideas while you were out West.”