Free Angel Mine by Sherryl Woods Page A

so many back-to-back meetings for himself and Megan since they’d moved the company’s headquarters from Manhattan to Whispering Wind. He was determined to fill every waking minute with work. Since paperwork left his mind free to wander, he’d concluded that meetings that forced him to focus on the subject at hand were safer. So far everyone was tolerating the shift in routine without comment, but both Megan and Peggy had started giving him speculative looks every time they walked through his office door. Right this second, Peggy was doing it again.
    “What?” he snapped finally.
    “Something’s up with you,” she said. “Want to talk about it? I know when things were real bad for me and Johnny, talking helped.”
    That almost drew a full-fledged smile. The woman was a chatterbox. “I’m not surprised,” he said wryly.
    “Okay, I know I babble sometimes, but I’m talking about real serious talk, you know? The heart-to-heart kind. Megan let me go on and on till I worked things out in my head. I’d be happy to listen to you.”
    “The only thing I want to talk about is Megan’s idea for this cooking show,” he said adamantly. “Are you sure you’re up for it?”
    She regarded him with obvious disappointment, but finally shrugged. “Okay, let’s talk about the show. I think the better question is whether you think I can do it. You’re the expert.”
    “Peggy, there is not a doubt in my mind that you could handle this and be wildly successful. The real question is do you want to?”
    “You’re worried that Johnny’s going to have a cow, aren’t you? Well, the truth is, he might, but you know what? That’s okay, because it’s something I want to do. For a long time, he expected me to get used to his running around with other women. That may be over, but it’s my turn now. He’ll have to get used to this.”
    Todd barely resisted the urge to chuckle at her defiant tone. “It’s hardly the same thing.”
    “No, but since I never wanted to run around with other men, it will have to do.”
    He regarded her worriedly. “Peggy, if this is some sort of payback, if you’re not going into it with wholehearted enthusiasm, it’s a bad idea.”
    “To tell you the truth, it scares me to death. The whole idea of carrying a nationally syndicated show all on my own, who would have thought it? I am so grateful to you and Megan for giving me this kind of an opportunity. I won’t let you down. I promise.”
    “You can give it a hundred percent?”
    “Whatever it takes,” she said firmly. “I’m not afraid of long hours or hard work.” She grinned. “Besides, it won’t hurt Johnny to spend a little more time looking after the kids. It’ll keep him out of trouble.”
    “An interesting marital philosophy,” Todd observed.
    “I’m learning as I go,” she admitted. “A year ago I wouldn’t have given you two cents for our chances to turn our marriage around, but we have. Almost, anyway. I think the biggest lesson we both learned is that you can’t take a relationship for granted. You have to work at it, especially when it hits the rough patches.”
    “Something tells me you and Johnny will make it,” Todd said, all too aware that Heather had bolted at the first sign of difficulty. Now he was about to do the same thing.
    “If we do, maybe we ought to launch a marriage-counseling program. Goodness knows I could have used some down-to-earth practical advice the first time I found out he was cheating on me.”
    Todd chuckled.
    “You think I’m joking, don’t you? I’m serious,” Peggy declared.
    “If you keep this up, you’ll be the one with the media empire,” Todd told her.
    “Not me. I’m just an average Wyoming housewife.”
    “Peggy, there is nothing average about you,” Todd said, wishing he had the nerve to let her take a shot at counseling him. But he wasn’t prepared to let the world—or even this one kind, decent person—know about the situation in which he’d suddenly found