Call It Destiny (11 page)

„Jim? It’s Heather.“

„Geez! Am I glad to hear from you. Is the bike okay?“

„Of course. I’m calling to tell you where you can pick it up. Sorry I’m not going to be able to return it myself, but I trust the fifty I gave you will pay for the inconvenience.“

„Miss Strand, everything’s in a mess here. Chef Richards is causing the biggest scene in the kitchen and everyone’s saying you split.“
 

„Everyone’s right. Jim, listen to me. It’s very important to me that no one knows where I am just now. Do you understand?“

„But what about my bike?“

„I’m going to leave your bike in the parking lot of a motel. The keys will be at the front desk.“

„What motel?“ he begged, clearly beginning to panic.

„One out by the airport. I’ll call you later and tell you exactly which one, okay?“

„But, Miss Strand…!“

„I’ll leave another fifty in an envelope along with the keys. Goodbye Jim, and thanks.“ Heather replaced the phone before the teenager could argue.

Then she threw herself back against the pillows, one booted leg drawn up heedlessly on the flower-patterned bedspread.
Cod in heaven, what a mess.
 

She didn’t even have the excuse of being eighteen this time. Heather covered her eyes with her arm and tried to think. All these years of taking care of herself, of growing and achieving and building a career. She had thrown all that away for the elusive promise of coming home.
 

She ought to have known it just wasn’t going to be that easy.

The hours stretched out ahead of her. Hours in which
to think about the disaster. The image of her mother’s appalled hurt gaze haunted her. This was the second time Heather had been responsible for putting that look in her mother’s eyes. Jim Connors’s fears for his precious bike elicited another wave of guilt. She’d used the poor boy, no doubt about it. And then there was her father, humiliated in front of all his friends. She knew in her heart of hearts Paul Strand had honestly convinced himself he was doing what was best for Heather by manipulating her into marriage with the new owner of the Hacienda Strand. Heather realized that her father had never actually lied to her. He had never told her she was inheriting the Hacienda. But there were such things as lies by omission and implication.
 

Nothing at all could excuse Jake Cavender. He had known exactly what he was doing and there had been no other motivation except sheer self-interest. He’d wanted to secure his position at the Hacienda and in the Strand family.
 

Depression welled up to take over the unnatural, somewhat savage high Heather had found herself riding. And with the depression came the hot stinging tears. Heather gave in to them, seeking the odd relief they offered. And when the scalding flow finally ceased, she lay staring at the ceiling, unable to slip into the temporary oblivion of sleep.
 

How long she lay that way, haunted by memories and guilt and seething anger, Heather didn’t know. Outside the afternoon thunderstorms formed, dropped their torrents of rain and slowly dissipated. In another couple of hours she would be able to call a cab to the airport.
 

There was no knock on her door. It simply swung open without any warning as a key was slipped into the outside lock. Heather’s startled eyes went to the doorway, even as some feminine instinct warned her who would be standing there.

„Jake.“

„We almost got through it without any hitches, didn’t we? I should have realized things were going a little too smoothly.“ He pocketed the motel-room key.

Some part of Heather’s disoriented brain insisted on noting that he was dressed in a manner quite different from his normal attire. Instead of the well-tailored slacks he usually wore, Jake had on a pair of jeans. A khaki shirt, worn leather belt and a pair of desert boots completed the outfit.

„What are you doing here?“ Heather whispered. „How did you find me?“

„I found you after the Connors kid began to panic over the fate of his bike. He told me he’d heard from you and that you said you’d be leaving the bike in one of the motel parking lots near the airport. That really pinned it down geographically. A few phone calls and I got lucky. The desk clerk thought you looked a bit suspicious. He didn’t hesitate at all when I asked him for the key to your room.“

„I see. I wasn’t thinking too clearly, I guess,“ she said bitterly, sitting up slowly on the bed. „But then I haven’t really been thinking clearly for the past month or I would have realized what a fool I was. You didn’t answer my first question, Jake. What are you doing here? If you’ve come to drag your errant bride home, you’re wasting your time.“

„Am I?“ He closed the door behind him with a final-sounding click.

Heather stood up, feeling too vulnerable in a sitting position. Standing didn’t help a great deal, she discovered. She still felt too vulnerable. There was something far too intimidating about Jake Cavender this evening. It was as if the careful remote mask he had always worn in her presence had disintegrated. The controlled savagery that had replaced it was far from reassuring.
 

„Be satisfied with what you’ve got, Jake,“ she mocked
harshly. „Take it from me, you don’t get everything you want in life.“
 

„Perhaps not, but I can take a damn good shot at it.“ He took a step toward her and halted.

„You don’t need me. You’ve got the Hacienda and you’ve got the goodwill and affection of my family. Believe me, after today they’ll probably cast me out of the family altogether and put you in my place. As long as you’re here, though, would you mind answer
ing a few questions?“
 

„Why not? I’m willing to talk before proceeding to the next step.“

„Bastard,“ she breathed tightly.

„Is that a question or a comment? Whichever it is, it happens to be true in a technical sense.“ Jake sank fluidly in the room’s only chair, stretching out his long jeaned legs. His gray eyes never wavered. „I didn’t have the advantage of growing up in a home where I really belonged, Heather. For me it was one foster home after another after my mother finally gave up trying to support me and a drinking habit, too. My father wasn’t in the picture long enough to worry about supporting anything or anyone.“
 

„I’m not in the mood for a sob story, Jake.“

„Because it makes you feel guilty? You can handle that, Heather. You’ve had to deal with guilt more than once in your life, haven’t you? To tell you the truth, though, I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty or even a little sorry for me. I was trying to explain why I’m capable of appreciating what you so blithely are willing to toss aside whenever things aren’t going exactly as you’d like them to go.“

„I have nothing left to blithely toss aside. You bought it, lock, stock and barrel six months ago!“

He eyed her thoughtfully for a long moment. „You found out last night, didn’t you? During that period when you disappeared from the staff party. What were you doing, Heather? Ransacking the office?“

„I was under the illusion that the office was mine. I thought I was merely going through my own files,“ she raged.

„The office and the files belong to us. You and me.“

„The hell they do,“ she muttered seethingly. „You own the Hacienda. And any rights I might have had to the place as your wife I signed away myself when I had that prenuptial agreement drawn up. How you must have laughed that night when you agreed to sign! My God, Jake. Just because I’ve been a complete fool for the past month, give me some credit for basic intelligence.“
 

„Your father fully intended for both of us to be running the Hacienda Strand when he sold out to me,“ Jake told her levelly.
 

„Oh, yes, I remember. The famous management team we’re supposed to make. It may sound lovely in theory but we both know there can never be two people sharing equally in that kind of control. In the final analysis there can only be one boss. And guess who that one boss will be?“
 

„We’re going to be a team, Heather.“

„Uh huh. You want an example of teamwork in action? Suppose I decide I definitely don’t want to put in that golf course. What will you do then?“ she challenged, beginning to pace restlessly in the confined space available.

There was silence from Jake’s chair. When she swung around to confront him he was watching her broodingly.

„Well?“ she prodded.

„I want the golf course built.“

„And in the end, because you own the place, you’ll go ahead and build it. Regardless of my decision. There wouldn’t be one single thing I could do to stop you. That’s the way the tough decisions would always go. You own Hacienda Strand and, in the final analysis, you’ll make the major choices for the hotel’s future. I’m
nothing if not realistic when it comes to business, Jake, so don’t try to con me.“ She wrapped her arms across her breasts, tensely rubbing her arms. „Heaven knows I’ve been conned enough recently.“
 

„I asked you more than once if running the Hacienda was all you came back here for. You told me there was a lot more to it than that. You said you wanted a home, roots, a sense of belonging. You said you wanted to be a part of the heritage of your father’s hotel. You can have all that, Heather. But there’s a price for everything.“

„An honest businessman would have told me the full price long before now,“ she murmured.

„You never asked. You just assumed you knew the full picture. Did you really think you could just come back to Tucson and take over? Did you think everything had been placed in a neat little time warp for you? That things have stood still awaiting the return of the queen? I arrived here two years ago because your father wanted some expert consulting advice. The Hacienda was in trouble, Heather.“

„I don’t believe you!“

„Believe what you want. I’m telling you the truth. I had recently pulled a couple of major hotels out of the red and put them back on their feet. Your father needed that kind of expertise and he needed it badly. He had the sense to listen to me. But advice wasn’t all he needed. The hotel needed an infusion of capital and I provided that.“

„My father was in your debt?“ she demanded incredulously.

„He could have repaid it once the hotel was back in smooth waters. That happened about eight months ago. But by then I knew I
wanted to be a part of the place. Somehow the Hacienda had become home. I knew your father was getting tired of the responsibility of running it and that he had always hoped you would take it over. But no one knew what you were going to do. And, to
tell you the truth, I personally didn’t think you deserved the place.“
 

„So you set yourself up as judge and jury. Talk about arrogance!“

„I wanted the Hacienda. And after I’d met you a couple of times, I realized that the hotel wasn’t all I wanted. Marrying you would satisfy your father’s longing to keep the place in the family. I wanted him to be completely happy with the deal, and I decided that marrying you would satisfy me, as well. By the time you proposed your little business bargain I was sure of it. I had told Paul when he agreed to sell me the Hacienda six months ago that I would make every effort to marry you. We agreed to keep our arrangement quiet until we could find out whether or not you and I would mesh.“
 

„Well, you have your answer on that issue now!“

„Yes, I think I do. We mesh very well, Heather Strand. The only glitch at the moment is your pride. Once you’ve had a chance to cool down I think you can be made to see that the deal between us is a good one.“

„Will you stop referring to our marriage as a business arrangement?“ she hissed.
 

„You’re the one who set it up that way. Prenuptial contract and all.“

„Why am I standing here arguing with you?“ she asked more or less of the ceiling. „I’ve got a plane to catch in an hour.“

„No you don’t. I canceled your reservation.“

„You what?“

„I called the airport before I called the motels. When I found out you had a reservation on the evening flight to San Francisco, r canceled it.“
 

„That changes nothing. I’ll stay here tonight and catch the morning flight.“
 

„You’re right about staying here tonight. We can discuss the morning flight tomorrow afternoon.“ He gave
her his slow, quietly amused smile, but the reckless fire in his gray gaze flared as he spoke.
 

„If you’re implying that you intend to spend the night with me, you can think again, Jake Cavender. You must be out of your mind if you really believe I’d let you stay here.“

„This was supposed to be our wedding night,“ he reminded her silkily.

„An interesting thought. When would you have bothered to tell me about the fact that you owned the hotel? Before you seduced me? Perhaps the next morning over breakfast? What a lovely wedding gift the news would have made.“

He exhaled slowly. „Paul and I knew that if you realized your father had sold the Hacienda, you would never come home.“
 

„How brilliantly astute of you!“

„I also realized, and Paul agreed, that you weren’t likely to give any relationship between you and me much of a chance if you thought I owned the Hacienda.“

„So the two of you set out to manipulate me,“ she concluded furiously.
 

„We let nature take its course. No one ever lied to you, Heather. You just made some assumptions and neither your father nor I corrected them. Partially because, to a large extent, they were valid. You and I are going to run that hotel together. And I know we can have a good marriage.“
 

„What do you know about good marriages?“ she raged, spinning around once more to face him.

„I know that we’ve got the ingredients. You yourself pointed them out. We’ve got some powerful business interests in common. We’ve got a mutual desire to make a home and a career out of Hacienda Strand. We both want to please your parents and, finally, we both want each other. That’s a better basis than most couples start out with!“