by Abby Gaines
“We’ll give you a ride home,” she told Gina, as if they had mere blocks to travel, rather than nearly two hundred miles.
The back doors of the chapel burst open.
Megan whirled around to see two dark-haired men striding down the aisle. Their resemblance to Travis was unmistakable.
“Hey, guys, what took you so long?” Travis asked.
The leaner of the two brothers came charging at Gina much the way Travis had.
“Take it easy, Clay,” Travis said. “Let me introduce you to the woman who convinced Gina it’s better to wait a while for marriage.” He tugged Megan forward. “Megan Merritt, Clay Jamieson.”
Though Clay smiled in greeting, his face seemed strained. Bitterness lessened the impact of his good looks. He was the unhappily divorced one, Megan remembered as she shook his hand. He must have been worried sick about Gina making a mistake with a hasty marriage.
“And this is Brent,” Travis said.
Brent was about her own age. But despite his resemblance to Travis, and despite the open appreciation in his eyes, she felt none of the electricity that surged between her and his older brother. Brent stood fractionally closer to her than courtesy dictated, and she knew she wasn’t mistaken in her suspicion that he found her attractive.
“Sounds like we’re in your debt,” he said. “How can I thank you? Dinner? Maybe some dancing?”
“Back off,” Travis warned.
“Whoa, just saying thank you to the lady.” Brent held up both hands, but he was grinning with a mischief that Megan would bet had led to a few fistfights when they were kids.
She laughed, and found Travis’s scowl directed at her.
“Mom and Dad were about ten minutes behind us,” Clay said. “They should be here anytime now.”
Gina shrieked. “Mom and Dad are coming?”
Scott paled, and he darted a glance at the door.
“What do you think they’re going to do when their teenage daughter runs off to get married?” Travis demanded.
Gina bit her lip, so Megan said, “Travis will help you talk to your parents.”
“Sure will.” Travis put an arm around Gina’s slender shoulders. She leaned into him.
The door opened at the back of the chapel; Hugh Jamieson walked in, a diminutive, dark-haired woman at his side.
“All under control, Dad,” Travis called, as his father broke into a trot at the sight of Gina.
“Travis’s girlfriend talked Gina out of it.” Brent’s emphasis was clearly a back-at-you to Travis for his overreaction; he grinned at Megan.
“Megan.” Hugh did a double take, quickly masked, then introduced her to his wife, Ellie.
The older woman ignored the hand Megan extended. Instead, she stepped forward and planted a firm kiss on her cheek. “Thank you,” she said. “For your help.”
Briefly, Travis summarized for his parents what had transpired tonight. He gave Megan all the credit.
“I don’t know about you all—” Hugh cracked his knuckles “—but I need a beer before we start for home. You can drive, Ellie.”
Good grief, he sounded just like Travis, ordering the poor woman around. Imagine putting up with that for forty-odd years.
Ellie gave her husband a loving smile. “I’m afraid I’m in desperate need of a glass of wine, dearest. You’d better stick with coffee.”
Hugh was all instant concern. “You okay, darlin’? This has been a big day.”
“Nothing a nice Riesling won’t fix.” She took Clay’s arm. “Take me to the bar.”
Clay patted her hand. “Right this way, Mama.”
In the bar, Hugh ordered white wine for Ellie and Megan, coffee for himself and Gina, and light beers for his sons. Megan found herself the center of attention, a place she never sought to be, except perhaps with her father. But it seemed Travis didn’t often introduce women to his family, because the first question out of Ellie’s mouth was, “Are you married?”
“I told you she’s not, darlin’,” Hugh said.
“Seeing anyone?” Ellie cocked her head to one side.
Beside her, Travis stiffened. Megan wanted to say yes. But when she’d kissed Travis back tonight, she’d known she could never feel anything for kind, nice Nick Stanton. “No,” she said. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
She glanced at Travis and caught a bright, hungry look in his eyes. Don’t bother, she telegraphed. I already turned down your best offer.
“You’re not at all what I expected.” Ellie patted Megan’s hand on the table, a motherly gesture that struck a chord in her memory. “Tell me about your family.”
“Mom, don’t hassle Megan,” Travis said.
Ellie ignored him and squeezed Megan’s fingers, a clear instruction to continue. Megan wondered what Ellie had been told about her, and by whom. She gave Travis’s mom the condensed version of her family, but she must have waxed on a bit much about her father and her sisters, because Ellie said, “Your family is important to you. Good.”
She clinked glasses with Megan, then pushed her glass away.
“Uh-oh, Mom’s getting down to business,” Brent scoffed.
“I hear you’re a lawyer, Megan?”
Yikes, Brent was right. It was as if Megan passed an elimination round of questions and had made it to the semifinals of some contest whose rules she was pretty sure would not work in her favor. “That’s right,” she said.
“What else do you want from life?” Ellie asked, and Travis cringed in sympathy. “A pretty young thing like you must have more in mind than just work. Marriage…a family of your own.”
Megan sent him a desperate look, and no wonder. His family wanted to know everything about her, short of her cup size. Actually, Brent looked as if he’d be pretty interested in her cup size.
Travis had studied her curves enough to be confident he knew.
“Megan’s an amazing lawyer, Mom,” he said. “She’s totally dedicated to her career. Aren’t you?”
“Well, yes.” She didn’t sound as if she appreciated him answering for her.
“I hear you don’t want kids,” Clay said.
Travis glared at his brother. All the while the word compromise ran through his head. Megan had used it.
“And I hear you’re divorced with two kids and a lousy attitude,” Megan said.
Brent snickered; Clay’s color rose.
Ellie smacked him across the head. Lightly, to be sure, but with clear disapproval.
“Sorry,” Clay muttered.
Travis rubbed his ear. Had his mom really just defended a woman who didn’t want kids? Brent obviously liked Megan, too. And Gina. And she’d probably be good for Clay.
His mom was beaming at him, totally not subtle. He shook his head. He’d already hinted that he might love Megan, and she’d made it clear that what he was offering wasn’t good enough.
Restlessness made him itch all over. He closed his eyes, tipped his head back and let the bar conversation flow around him. He needed to finish off the Hoskins divorce, then put this thing with Megan behind them. Then wait for Jonah’s decision.
Only a few more days. By Christmas, it would all be over.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ONE MORE DAY. That was all Megan had to survive. There might be meetings after today, though hopefully she could send Mark, her associate. But there would be no more of this intense, one-on-one interaction with Travis.
She yawned as she set her laptop bag down on Travis’s dining table, remembering just in time to put a hand over her mouth.
“Thanks again for what you did last night,” Travis said. They’d arrived back from Gatlinburg at two in the morning. Megan had set her alarm for five, and arrived at Travis’s house before six to find him already working.
“We’re going to nail this today, right?” she said. Nail the divorce. Nail the end of our whatever-it-was we had.
“You bet.” He pulled a chair out for her.
Yesterday, they’d argued every point, haggled, harangue
d, and as a last resort negotiated. Today, the hours flew by in eerie calm as they agreed on one point after another. The prenup, a custody proposal, the works.
At six o’clock, they were done.
“That is the best damn divorce settlement I ever saw.” Megan straightened the edges of the document, still warm from Travis’s laser printer.
“Modest and brilliant.” Travis sobered. “Theo would be a fool not to make Merritt, Merritt & Finch his main law firm.”
“Oh.” She stared at him, wide-eyed.
“That’s what this weekend was all about, remember?” he said. “Giving you the ammunition you need to convince your father.”
“I’ll ask Theo for his business tomorrow,” she said. “But, Travis, you get as much credit for this as I do.”
“I’ll get it from my client,” he said. “Each to their own.”
She packed her copy of the settlement in her briefcase.
“I might visit Dad on the way home,” she warned him. “Do some last-minute lobbying.”
He nodded.
As always, he confused her. Did he want this job, or didn’t he? “Are you planning on any last-minute schmoozing of my father?”
“That’s not the way we tough guys do it,” he said. “The manly way is to lay it out there, then we pretend we don’t care if we get chosen or not.”
She searched his face. “You care.”
He nodded. “Don’t tell your dad.”
She smiled and shook her head. “Good luck, Travis.”
“That’s generous of you, Megs.”
“The past two days you’ve made up for your despicable behavior,” she said. “If anything will convince Theo to hire Merritt, Merritt & Finch, this document is it.”
“Does that mean you forgive me?” he said, startled.
“I guess it does.”
He swallowed. “Thank you.”
He took her laptop out to the car and held the door open for her, waited until she’d buzzed down her window before he closed it. Megan adjusted her mirrors, which they didn’t need, aware that this moment, right now, was the end of her association with Travis. Unless he showed up as her new boss. She fastened her seat belt. At last, she looked at him.
Travis appeared hazy…she realized there was moisture in her eyes. She glanced down, turned the key in the ignition. The engine purred to life.
“Goodbye,” he said.
“Thanks for your help.” She patted her briefcase on the seat beside her.
“Thanks for coming to Gatlinburg with me, too.” Travis put his hands on the window opening, as if he could stop the car leaving.
“Glad to help. You have a wonderful family.”
Travis realized they were both repeating nothings to delay her departure. “You know,” he said on a moment’s madness, “some women do combine career and family.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“Or so I hear,” he said.
A smile touched her lips. “That’s progress, I guess.” She put her hands on the steering wheel and looked straight ahead. “But I couldn’t be one of those women, Travis. I wouldn’t leave my kids with a nanny—kids need to know they’re your priority. It would be a mistake to have them to please a husband whose career is just as demanding as mine.” She took a deep breath. “So if the best offer still involves compulsory childbearing as a prerequisite for your love…”
He let go of the car.
Megan released the hand brake. She was leaving. He wasn’t going to stop her.
“Do you like ‘Unchained Melody’?” he said suddenly.
“I hate that song!”
“Me, too,” he said.
“Oh.” It seemed to strike her how odd the question was. “Well…goodbye, Travis.” Unconsciously, she tilted her face toward him.
He leaned in, kissed her on the lips. It wasn’t much more than that first, accidental kiss at Salt. Once again, it burned him. This time it hurt.
She was miserable, too, he realized, her eyes downcast, her skin drawn with tension.
This is crazy, it’s not happening. Stepping back took more strength than he could have imagined. “Goodbye, Megan.”
It wasn’t until she’d disappeared from view that he noticed the huge hole where his heart used to be.
“Oh, man,” he groaned, and began jogging down the driveway. There was no sign of her car on the street. How stupid was he? How could he only just have figured out he loved Megan the way he’d always hoped to love a woman—the way his parents loved each other. A giving love, not just about him and what he wanted. A love that wanted her happiness above all else.
He loved her for her humor and her seriousness, her caution and her courage, her inner beauty and her outer sheer damned sexiness. I love her.
And he’d just let her go.
Oh, yeah, he’d nailed it all right. TRAVIS PRESENTED the draft settlement to Barbara Hoskins on Monday morning. She loved it. In fact, she kissed him. Strictly platonically. Travis wondered if Theo would kiss Megan too, and tried not to worry about it. He asked his assistant to e-mail Megan’s assistant with some minor alterations. Doubtless they’d receive similar amendments in return. But his staff could deal with that.
He sat down at his desk and called his parents. His mom answered the phone, so he had to listen to her going on about how great Megan was for ten minutes before he could insert a request to talk to his dad.
“Morning, son,” Hugh said.
“Dad, there’s something I need to tell you.” He hurried on before his father could launch into a pro-Megan monologue. “It’s not your responsibility to defend me. I don’t want you arguing with your friends.”
“I don’t care what a bunch of old coots around here think about that firm of yours,” Hugh retorted. “All I want is for you to be happy. That’s what I get defensive about, son. The suggestion that you’ve worked so hard, but it didn’t bring you what you want.”
“Things are about to look up on that front,” Travis said.
“Now you’re talking,” Hugh said. Then, innocently, “Your mother and I took a liking to that Megan.”
“Me too, Dad. Me too.”
Travis didn’t bother replacing the handset in the receiver after he finished with his dad. He punched in Jonah Merritt’s number.
“You were the last candidate I thought would try to butter me up at this late stage,” the older man said.
“I’m calling to withdraw my application.”
Silence.
“Whatever game you’re playing, it won’t force my hand,” Jonah warned.
“No game,” Travis said. “Sir, I appreciate you taking me seriously as a candidate, but I’ve realized the job won’t give me what I want most.”
“I thought you wanted the respect of your peers. If you don’t think Merritt, Merritt & Finch will give you that—”
“It would, but what’s more important is that I…” No, those words weren’t for Jonah to hear. Not first, anyway. “Sir, have you decided who will get the job?”
“Almost.” Jonah paused. “I have to admit you had me excited at the prospect of some of your changes.”
Travis felt a pang for what he might be missing out on. He forged ahead. “Give the job to Megan.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“She’s the best lawyer I know, and you’ll never find anyone more loyal to you and your vision for the firm,” Travis said. “She might lack experience in some sectors, but there’s no perfect candidate. Hell, if there was, I’d never have made it onto your list.”
Jonah gave that Megan-like snort. “That’s true.”
Just like there was no perfect candidate for marriage, Travis thought. You had to go with the one you loved. He could only hope Megan would overlook his imperfections. He’d told her weeks ago that the woman he married would have a husband who always put her and their family ahead of his career. He’d come dangerously close to breaking that promise already. Never again.
“You’re a smart man, by all account
s,” Travis said to Jonah. “Be smart now.”
After he ended the call, he felt strangely flat. He knew what he had to say to Megan, knew what he wanted from her. But he had to give her a chance to hear Jonah’s decision, whatever that would be. So she could make an informed choice, the way she’d told Gina to.
THEO WAS THRILLED with the settlement Megan proposed. Both the Hoskinses agreed to drop their contentious grounds for divorce, and after a couple of tweaks, agreed to by Barbara, they were done. On Tuesday, when Theo told her for the fourth time that she was brilliant, she asked him to give Merritt, Merritt & Finch a larger share of his business. He said yes, and immediately set in motion the transfer of a further twenty percent of his legal work. Enough to make him Merritt, Merritt & Finch’s largest client.
Megan called her father with the good news. He sounded distracted, and it was impossible to tell what effect the news had on him.
What if twenty-five percent of Theo’s business wasn’t enough? What if she didn’t get the job? And what if Travis did? They would be colleagues, in different divisions, but attending the same important meetings. Then one day he would find that woman who wanted to mother his children. He’d settle down, and as a senior partner Megan would be invited to his wedding, the christenings of his half-dozen children…Her mind ran rampant into a future filled with events celebrating Travis’s happiness with some other woman.
Already, she felt sick to her stomach.
It was time to admit what she’d known, she realized now, from the moment Travis had stood up to her father on her behalf. She’d fallen in love with a chauvinistic, overprotective, bossy…sexy, charming, funny man who made her feel unique and cherished and special. With Travis.
“Hello, sweetheart.” Her father stuck his head around her office door, startling her.
“Dad, hi, come in…” She was as distracted as she’d been that day she’d first seen Travis in The Jury Room, when she’d been waiting to hear her father’s views on her application. She collected her thoughts, though with no real urgency.
Jonah closed the door behind him. Megan couldn’t read his face. He would come in person whether it was good news or bad, she knew. If he had to hurt her, he would want to comfort her in his own inadequate way.