Her Texas Renegade
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Joanne Rock
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15,1K
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14
Prologue
Miranda Dupree Blackwood took deep breaths before the meeting with her ex-stepchildren where they would learn the contents of Buckley Blackwood’s last will and testament. Miranda had flown from her home in New York City to Royal, Texas, because of Buck’s highly unorthodox last wishes. Knowing what her wily ex-husband had planned for today made her ill, but she understood the role he wanted her to play, and she wasn’t going to turn her back on it.
“Are you sure you want to be there for this?” Kace LeBlanc, Buckley’s lawyer, asked her as the hour drew near for the meeting that she imagined would be like facing a firing squad. “You don’t have to attend in person.”
Miranda was upstairs in her former marital home, Blackwood Hollow, where she was trying to make herself comfortable again after a three-year absence. Kace had been kind to stop by early to check in with her. She’d received the attorney in the upstairs den, the space she’d used as her office during her marriage to the wealthy finance mogul. So much had changed since she’d left Royal after her divorce. One thing that remained the same, however, was the animosity of her adult stepchildren, who would soon hate her more than ever once they understood the terms of their father’s will.
“I’m committed,” she assured herself as much as Kace, knowing that behind Buckley’s unconventional strategy, his heart had been in the right place when he set up his terms. “I just wish he didn’t have to be so damned secretive about his motives.”
Kace shook his head, pacing in front of one of the windows overlooking the front gates of the sprawling ranch estate. “I urged him to make peace with his kids before his death, but he insisted this was the only way. You know how tough it was to argue with him.”
How well she remembered. Miranda hugged herself tighter, bracing for the role she would have to play over the next few months until Buck’s real motives made themselves apparent.
She’d had zero interaction with the Blackwood family since leaving Royal. Which, no doubt, was how of all three of Buck’s grown children preferred it. Their combined venom toward Miranda for marrying their wealthy father in the first place hadn’t subsided, not even when she left the marriage behind without taking anything of the Blackwood estate with her. She’d walked away with the same assets that she’d entered into the union, thanks to an ironclad prenup that they’d both wanted. Miranda did just fine for herself, and she preferred it that way.
“It’s going to be a rough few months,” she murmured, seeing a glint through the front window and guessing that the guests were already starting to arrive for the meeting. “I’ll do my best to support Buckley’s wishes, but you know there may be an uprising in the office once you tell them what the will says.”
“I’m aware,” Kace told her grimly, turning away from the window. “Just remember that Buckley believed in you. He saw what you were doing with Goddess and he was impressed. He knew you’d be a good steward for his estate until his kids are ready to take over.”
She nodded, taking some comfort from that, at least. If only the family knew that they would receive their inheritances eventually. That one day, Miranda would hand everything back to the Blackwoods once each of his children was more settled. From the bank to the house, none of it would remain hers, although Buckley had donated an incredibly generous sum to her charity, Girl to the Nth Power, for her time and trouble in overseeing the distribution of his estate. She was humbled by the trust he’d placed in her, even if she hated that he was being so secretive with his true heirs.
Buckley may not have been the best husband, but he’d always supported her efforts to build her own business and their split had been amicable. Without his encouragement, she might not have driven her Goddess line of health and lifestyle centers into the level of nationwide success they now experienced. She’d pushed her way onto the Forbes list last year.
Now that she would be staying in Royal for at least the next several months, she had told her producer she couldn’t be in New York when filming started for a new season of Secret Lives of NYC Ex-Wives, a reality show that had spurred the Goddess brand to huge new heights.
But Nigel had told her not to worry. She had a feeling he was making plans to film the show down here if he could talk her castmates into making the move. Which would bring a whole other level of chaos to an already complicated time in her life.
Still, she was going to forge ahead. First she just needed to get through today. Buckley Blackwood was about to deliver a devastating blow to his offspring, robbing them of everything he’d promised since they were children.
A cold sweat dotted Miranda’s head. Buckley’s children had called her the “step-witch” when she’d joined the family. What would they think of her today when they learned their father had left every shred of their inheritance to her?
