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She nodded, sighed, took hold of his arm and tugged him inside. “I also know that Tilly is having Colleen and Anton do the unveiling while she, you and I are supposed to watch with teary-eyed anticipation. We’re to follow that up with more tears to show everyone how much we love Jack.”
That had been Anton’s version of the plan, too, and even though Tilly probably hadn’t told Anton about the details of Jack’s death, the man had clearly picked up on a bad vibe from Tilly.
“How’d you find out?” Alana asked.
“From Anton himself. He paid me a visit at the ranch just as I was leaving to come here.”
Her eyes widened, and her gaze combed over his face as if searching for any injuries. “I don’t see any bruises or open gashes.”
Egan managed a smile. “Nope. No bloodshed. Anton just wanted to explain that Tilly’s plans weren’t his idea and that he’d actually tried to talk her out of it. He says if she sticks to her guns, that he’ll feign some kind of stomach flu and skip the ceremony so she won’t be able to rub him in my face.”
Alana smiled, too. “Well, good for Anton.” She shut the door once they were both inside. “So, your meeting with him was civil?”
“Civil enough,” he clarified. “I doubt we’ll ever be best buds, but I didn’t want to break any bones when we shook hands.”
“Baby steps,” she muttered.
Alana leaned in and brushed her mouth over his. That stirred some fresh heat, but Egan put that heat on pause while he studied her eyes. Then, he studied the kitchen counter that was loaded with all sorts of junk food.
“Are you upset about Tilly’s interview?” he came out and asked.
“No,” she was quick to assure him. “Baby steps that it didn’t upset me. But there could be more to come. More that could require much bigger steps.”
On a sigh, she motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen where she got herself a Coke and offered him a beer, which he accepted. He didn’t question her about the junk food stash, or the bad news that had prompted her to buy it. Egan just sipped his beer and waited her out.
“I ran into Aunt Loralee at the grocery store,” Alana eventually continued, “and she seems to think with all these petty things Tilly has been doing, that she might have a big finale planned for the life celebration.”
Hell. He didn’t like the sound of that. “Is Tilly going to publicly out you for seeing me?”
Alana shook her head. “Loralee doesn’t know the specifics of Jack’s death but thinks that Tilly is planning something big. I figure Tilly will publicly try to outyoufor what she’ll say is you betraying your best friend by leading him to his death and then moving in on his wife.”
Egan mentally repeated hishelland added a few more curse words. It took him plenty of long moments to rein in his anger. More moments to try to figure out a way to counteract Tilly’s bombshell so that he could keep Alana out of it.
“Maybe I should make my own statement about being the reason Jack ended up where he was,” Egan threw out there.
This time, she didn’t hesitate. “If you do that, I’ll counter it with a statement about the ‘hell on wheels’ argument I had with him. And where would that get us, huh? It would get us talking publicly about things that are private and painful for us.”
Yeah, it would do that.
“It would punish us,” Alana went on, “and whether or not Tilly realizes it, it would punish her, too. Because people won’t be wearing their ‘see no wrong in Jack’ glasses and they will believe wholeheartedly that he cheated. That, in turn, will bring down Tilly’s illusions like a house of cards.”
Egan didn’t spell out that he’d always believe he should be punished since Alana no doubt felt the same way. Besides, just because they would always feel the guilt, it didn’t mean Tilly had a right to use it as a weapon. He almost wished for that “house of cards” effect, but he was afraid a truth like that wouldn’t end with Tilly slapping him again. It could end Tilly, period. It could take away the woman’s reasons for living, and Egan thought he owed it to Jack to make sure that didn’t happen.
“We could both come down with Anton’s stomach flu,” Alana suggested, forcing a smile.
Egan would go for it if he thought it would silence Tilly. But if the woman was truly hell-bent on doing a tell-all with her particular slant on things, then their absence wouldn’t stop her. The best Alana and he could do was try to weather the storm and make sure they all—including Tilly—got out of it alive.
Setting her Coke aside, she went to him and forced a smile. She fanned her hand over the bags of junk food. “I can offer you high caloric, zero nutritional options for working out your frustrations.”
“I see that,” he said, setting his own beer aside so he could take hold of her waist and ease her closer.
Because he thought they could both use it, he kissed her. Nothing scalding, but there was heat, of course. Heat was inevitable when it came to Alana and him.
“I also know a noncaloric way of working out our frustrations,” she muttered.
This time, her smile wasn’t forced. But it was short-lived because Egan put his mouth on hers and kissed that smile. She made a sound of pleasure, a purr that came from deep within her throat, and she melted against him.
Egan was glad about the melting because it put them body to body, and he felt his pulse rev up into the stratosphere. He’d braced himself for the kick of adrenaline and fire. Not enough, though.
