“I can’t believe you called me,” Ryan said. “Your phone call warmed my heart.”
Megan noticed his shining eyes and forced a smile. “You knew I would. Admit it.”
Ryan chuckled. “I hoped you would.” He tilted his head. “What made you change your mind?”
He has an oversized ego, Megan thought, crossing her legs. She swallowed the regret of her impulsive decision to call Ryan Oakes. “I felt bad about how I treated you.” That wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the complete truth, either. “I should have at least listened to what you had to say.”
He eyed her with suspicion. “You did listen. You listened to me beg you to take seven million dollars. You listened to my proposal before throwing me out of your house. Why the sudden change of heart? What happened?”
Megan looked down at her shoe. She fought the urge to lie and say she had felt an instant attraction. There was no way Ryan would buy that story. He would question her motive. She would give him a part of the truth. She lifted her head. “I had a visit from Kyle Manchester. Do you know him?” She watched his every move.
Ryan nodded. “He’s your husband’s attorney and a cocky son of a bum. What did he want?”
Ryan had the nerve to call Kyle cocky? “He wanted me to pursue you.” Megan didn’t want to specify what Kyle had meant by pursue.
“Why can’t he let this go?” Ryan fumed. His nostrils flared. “He lost. Jackson’s gone and he lost. I wish he would back off.”
Megan gasped.
Ryan’s face paled.
Megan clenched her fists. “This was a mistake. Please leave.”
Ryan stood. “I didn’t mean to come across as being insensitive about your husband’s death.”
“But you were. His life means nothing to you and everything to me.” Her voice broke. “I’m sorry I called you. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She closed her eyes and an image of Jackson’s lifeless body hanging in her closet taunted her.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched. “Don’t touch me.”
“I’m sorry,” Ryan said. His minty breath fanned her cheek.
“Because of you, my son will grow up without a father. Cooper won’t have someone to teach him how to be a man.” Her shoulders shook as her grief overtook her.
Ryan pulled her into his arms.
For a brief moment, she allowed her husband’s killer to comfort her before she pulled away. “Please go.”
“I hate seeing you like this,” Ryan whispered. He wiped her face with a handkerchief. “Watching you cry is tearing me apart. I wish you’d consider my proposition.”
Megan flung his hands off her. “You expect me to marry the man responsible for my husband’s death? Are you deranged?”
“There’s no proof I caused Jackson’s death.”
“A lack of proof doesn’t mean a lack of guilt.” She walked to the door and opened it. “Inviting you here was a bad idea. I thought… I was insane to think…” Her chest heaved. “Just get out before I call the cops.”
Ryan picked up his jacket from the back of the chair and sauntered to the door. He reached out to touch her hair.
Megan turned so his hand never made contact with her skin.
“I love you,” Ryan said.
“You’re crazy,” she spat.
“I’m going to marry you.”
“Not if I can help it.” Her heart pounded at the surety in his tone. “You can’t force me to marry you.”
He laughed. “I have my ways. Trust me, Megan soon-to-be Oakes. You will be my bride.”
His voice held an edge of steel determination. Megan gritted her teeth to keep from shuddering. “I was already a bride for a man who loved me.”
“Then consider yourself fortunate that you will be a bride for another man who loves you.”
Her mouth dropped open at his audacity. Goose bumps rose on her flesh. She thought of Cooper asleep upstairs and realized she was alone with a lunatic. A fly buzzed past her ear. She made a mental note to get the screen door repaired. “Get out and take your friends, the mosquitoes and flies, with you.”
Ryan laughed and opened the screen door. “I love your sharp tongue. I’ll find better uses for it.”
Megan felt her lips curl. “You’re disgusting.”
“I believe nasty is a better word,” he said with a wink.
“Leave me alone!” she yelled. Megan didn’t consider herself a violent woman, but she wanted to punch that smirk off Ryan’s face.
Ryan went out the door and closed the screen door. “I’ll send someone over to repair this door. Make a list of anything else you need done. I want this house sold for top dollar, and it needs a total overhaul.”
Her temper flared. “You pompous jerk. Jackson poured all his heart into designing our dream home. How dare you look down your nose on his efforts!”
“By the looks of it, he didn’t have much heart. Lucky for you, mine’s bigger and better. And, I intend to put you up in style.”
Megan slammed the door. She heard Ryan whistling through the door and held back a scream. Ryan Oakes was a tornado. She could see that now. She needed to take shelter and hope that storm passed her by. She felt a chill and wrapped her arms about her. The buffoon meant to have her even if it created havoc in her prior peaceful existence. He wouldn’t stop until he got his way.
She swallowed.
But how far would he go?
And, would she survive?