McKettrick's Heart by Linda Lael Miller Page B

need another.”
    Psyche held out a hand. After a moment’s hesitation, spent feeling like an idiot for spilling his emotional guts the way he had, and to a dying woman, for God’s sake, Keegan took the hand.
    â€œI always thought Shelley was a real bitch,” she said.
    â€œFrankly, I wondered what you saw in her.”
    Keegan chuckled. He’d expected something different from Psyche, though he didn’t know exactly what. “I had similar thoughts about you and Thayer,” he said.
    She squeezed his hand, then released it—an ordinary gesture, and yet Keegan felt it as a precursor to the permanent parting yawning up ahead like the mouth of a dark cave.
    â€œThey dated, you know,” Psyche said. “Thayer and Shelley, I mean. While they were in college. I think it was pretty hot and heavy.”
    Keegan remembered. It was, he had to admit, if only to himself, one of the reasons he’d never liked Psyche’s husband. “Yeah,” he said. “I know. It would have saved us a lot of grief if they’d married each other, and left you and me out of the equation.”
    â€œBut they didn’t,” Psyche reflected. Her gaze fell on Lucas, his little body covered by part of the blanket he was lying on. “I called Travis this afternoon, about the documents—the adoption, and your appointment as my executor—and he said he’ll have everything ready by Monday.”
    Travis and Sierra were away in Scottsdale, with Sierra’s seven-year-old son, Liam, shopping for furniture for the new house they’d just built on the other end of town.
    â€œThere’s still time to change your mind,” Keegan said.
    â€œI’m not going to change my mind, Keegan,” Psyche told him pointedly, “so stop nagging me about it. I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I want everything in order before I—well—before. I need your cooperation, damn it.”
    Just then, Jesse reappeared with Cheyenne.
    Keegan stood.
    Jesse introduced the two women.
    Marital bliss looked good on Cheyenne, Keegan thought, but then, just about anything would. She was a beauty—dark haired and slender, and smart as hell.
    After she and Psyche had exchanged pleasantries and Jesse started chatting Psyche up just as if everything were normal, Cheyenne turned to Keegan and pulled him aside. “You’re ready for the meeting on Monday morning?” she asked.
    â€œWhat meeting?” He’d left his cell phone in the car and hadn’t been to the office at all that day.
    â€œEve and Meg are coming in from San Antonio,” Cheyenne told him quietly. Eve McKettrick was Meg and Sierra’s mother, as well as president and CEO of McKettrickCo. “Along with most of the board of directors. This is it, Keegan. They want a final vote on the decision to go public.”
    Of course they did. Eve, actually a distant cousin, had been like a mother to him, but when it came to company business, she was a force of nature.
    Keegan swore under his breath. “What’s going to happen to your job?” he asked, trying to get some kind of foothold.
    Cheyenne touched his arm. “I’ll be all right,” she said. “I might stay on, or go into business for myself. It’s you I’m worried about.”
    He sighed. “Has Jesse said anything about how he plans to vote?”
    â€œYou’ll have to talk to him about that,” Cheyenne said reasonably.
    Alarm coursed through Keegan, like a shock from a live wire. He glanced Jesse’s way, and in that moment he knew. “Damn,” he rasped.
    Cheyenne’s voice went soft. “He’s tired of all the fighting,” she said.
    Keegan took a step toward Jesse, who was looking at him now, and stopped. This was no time for a confrontation, but Keegan felt betrayed just the same. Jesse had had plenty of time to tell him what he’d decided while they were loading Spud into