Read Online After Tex by Sherryl Woods - Free Book Online Page B

just chosen not to stir things up. He’d left that to Jake.
    As if just thinking about him had conjured him up, Jake appeared at the doorway behind her, his expression filled with concern.
    â€œYou okay?” he asked.
    â€œJust peachy,” she said without looking up.
    â€œI’m sorry for upsetting you earlier.”
    Megan started to lie, to protest that he wasn’t even capable of upsetting her, but she didn’t have the energy for the debate that would have inevitably followed. Instead, she just shrugged, as if it were of no consequence.
    â€œPeople are beginning to leave,” he said. “They’d like to say goodbye, if you’re up to it.”
    Because it was expected, she stood and brushed herself off, patted her cheeks to smooth out her makeup, and offered Jake a bright smile.
    â€œOf course I’m up to it. The O’Rourkes don’t indulge in self-pity.”
    â€œNo one would think any less of you today if you did,” Jake noted.
    â€œI would,” she muttered, and swept past him. In her business world, appearances mattered. In Wyoming, they mattered, too, though for very different reasons. Here it was important not to seem standoffish, to be the good neighbor that Tex had been, to show what O’Rourkes were made of.
    Megan kept that smile plastered on her face for the next hour as she accepted condolences from dozens of people she’d never met before and dozens more she hadn’t seen in years.
    When the last of them had left, she sank into a chair and breathed a sigh of relief. But she realized she’d done it a bit too soon when Jake settled into a chair opposite her. He’d shed the jacket of his black suit and loosened his tie, which gave him a rumpled, sexy look that would have been hard to resist if she hadn’t been so utterly exhausted.
    â€œI thought you’d gone,” she said.
    â€œSorry to disappoint you,” he said wryly. “But we have business to take care of, unless you’d rather come into town tomorrow.”
    She was sorely tempted to take him up on the delay, but that would be cowardly. “No,” she said finally. “Let’s just get it over with. I can see you won’t be happy until you’ve spilled whatever deep, dark secrets have been nagging at you ever since I got here.”
    He pulled a sheaf of papers from a briefcase. “Want me to do a formal reading of the will or would you rather scan it yourself?”
    She held out her hand for the papers. The document in a blue folder was the will, she concluded after a glance. An envelope held a letter from Tex. Her fingers trembled as she took out the pages and stared at his familiar scrawl.
    â€œDarling girl,” it began, as his letters always had, even when he’d been mad at her. Tears stung her eyes. She wouldn’t break down now, not in front of Jake. Swallowing hard, she lifted her gaze to his. “I’m not so sure I can do this right now, after all.”
    He took the papers. “Let me.” Putting the letter aside, he started with the will, reading through a lot of legal jargon that held no surprises. There were bequests for Mrs. Gomez and other employees, a trust fund for Tess, and the legal guardianship arrangement putting Megan in charge of Tess’s future.
    â€œIs that it?” she asked when Jake paused.
    â€œNot quite. On this last part, though, I think the letter spells out his wishes better than all the legalese that’s in the will. Maybe you’ll understand his reasoning better. If it’s too painful, I can read it aloud for you.”
    His words, his tone alerted her that what was to come wasn’t going to thrill her. Perhaps she could do a better job of concealing her reaction if she read the letter to herself, after all.
    â€œI’ll read it,” she said, taking the letter from Jake’s outstretched hand.
    It began with a plea for her understanding about Tess, an