“Jesse, hello,” Megan said. She was a pretty woman with bright blue eyes, brown and gold hair, and she always looked like she’d stepped out of a magazine. Her clothes, shoes and purse always matched. Jesse had no idea how women did that.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt,” Jesse said.
“You’re not,” Will told him. “We were just talking. Megan was showing me pictures of her wedding to—well, me, I guess.”
Megan sighed. “Not you. I know that now. Wish I had known then.”
Jesse nodded. “We’re all feeling that way, Megan.”
“You’re being very nice.”
“None of this is your fault,” Will told her.
Jesse thought that Will looked more relaxed than Jesse had seen him in the last several weeks and for that, the Sanders family owed Megan.
To Jesse, Will said, “I was just telling Megan that I have to put up with house arrest and she has to keep up the pretense of our marriage if we want to catch Rich and throw him into the deepest, dankest cell the law can find.”
“I don’t think that’s a word, but I’m with you. And yeah,” Jesse said, shifting to look at Megan. “I’m sorry about that. Got to be hard on you pretending to care about the man who lied to you.”
She smoothed her palms over the black knee-length skirt she wore. “It’s not, really. Rich is gone and I don’t know if he even intends to come back this time. Don’t know how he could, really, since everyone thinks Will Sanders is dead. But either way,” she added, looking at Will, “everyone I know was used to you—I mean him—being gone on business a lot, so I just smile and nod when people ask about my husband.”
“You’re being really great about all of this,” Will said.
“If I throw a fit, will it help?”
He grinned. “No.”
“Well, then, why bother, right?” Megan rose and picked up her purse from the table. “I’ve really got to get going now. But if it’s all right with you, I’d like to come back. Talk with you again, Will. About Rich and well…just all of it.”
He stood up and took her hand. “I’d like that, too. Feels like the two of us are sharing a leaky canoe. I think teamwork is required.”
Megan smiled at him. Jesse noticed the sparkle in her eyes and wondered if Will had seen it, too.
“If it’s okay, I’ll come back tomorrow and we can talk about what the plan is going forward.”
“Sure. That’s great.” Will walked her to the door, the two of them passing close to Jesse.
“It was nice to see you,” Megan said.
“You, too, Megan,” Jesse answered.
“Be right back,” Will said.
Jesse wandered toward the cold stone hearth and waited for his brother to see Megan off. So the two of them had been looking at a wedding album. Damn. That had to have hit Will like a truck. He couldn’t even imagine what it was like for him to look at wedding pictures featuring the man who’d tried to kill him pretending to be him.
And what must Megan be feeling about all of this? She’d married a man who’d turned out to be nothing but smoke and mirrors. Now she was married to a different man with the same name. Jesse was beginning to think Royal, Texas, was the playground of some really annoying gods.
“Man, that was rough,” Will said as he walked back into the room. He dropped down into a chair and stared up at Jesse. “I took your suggestion. This morning, I called Megan, invited her out to the ranch and when she got here, I shut up and let her talk. She told me everything from her point of view. I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but now I want to beat Rich senseless even more than I did before.”
Jesse perched on the arm of a chair opposite his brother. “How’s she doing?”
“Oh, great.” Sarcasm colored his tone. “She’s married to a stranger, just like I am. What’s that old TV show we used to watch in marathons?”
“Twilight Zone,” Jesse provided.
“That’s it. And that’s where I’m living.” Will shook his head, then scrubbed one hand across his eyes. “What’s life like in the real world?”
“Confusing as hell.”
Will’s eyebrows arched. “Good. Tell me. Give me something to focus on that’s not me.”
* * *
Jesse snorted and pushed up from the chair. Stalking to the fireplace, he laid one hand on the mantel and leaned in, wishing it was cold enough to have a damn fire. There was something soothing about the snap and hiss of flames over logs. “Apparently, I’m not only going to back Jillian in a pie shop, but I’m taking her to the TCC gala.”