Call It Destiny (14 page)

„How much time?“ he asked harshly.

„I don’t know. A few days. Maybe longer. Maybe much longer.“

„Heather, you belong to me now. You know that.“

„Do I?“ she challenged huskily, unwilling to give him that final verbal victory.

He hesitated as if deciding how to deal with her and then he ignored the challenge and asked softly, „Where will you go?“
 

„Into the hills, I think. My father has an old hunting cabin up in one of the canyons. It’s isolated; totally away from everything. When I come back I’ll know what I’m going to do.“

„I don’t want you to go, Heather.“ There was a thread of command in the words.
 

„I have to go,“ she told him flatly. „I have to think it all through.“

„Trust me, honey. Everything’s going to be fine.“

„At the moment I can’t even trust myself,“ she murmured.

Jake watched her shadowed face and knew that he would have to let her go for the moment. He’d taken her world apart and he told himself she had a right to figure out whether or not she wanted the new one he was offering.

It was a gamble. The biggest risk he’d taken in a lifetime full of risks. Separated from him she might succeed in arguing away the bonds that he had tried to put in place tonight. Given enough time she might be able to tell herself that she didn’t need him or the Hacienda or her family’s approval. After all, she’d survived without any of those factors for years. But he’d taken so much. He owed some respect to the proud spirit he’d tried to chain.
 

„In the morning, Heather. I’ll let you go in the morning,“ he grated roughly. „Grant me what’s left of my wedding night!“ He pulled her into his arms and she came to him in soft sensual obedience.
 

„You
can take the car,“
Jake said quietly the next morning after they had risen and dressed and shared a cup of coffee in the motel restaurant. He dug the keys out of his pocket.
 

Heather accepted them uncertainly. „How will you get home… I mean, how will you get back to the Hacienda?“

„I’ll drive poor Jim’s motorcycle.“ Jake’s mouth slanted wryly. „The kid must be out of his mind with worry by now.“

„The bike?“ She eyed him in surprise. „Do you… that is, can you, uh, ride it?“

„I’ll manage.“

„I see. Well, I guess I’ll have to stop and get a few things when the stores open,“ Heather went on uneasily. She felt tense and high-strung this morning. Jake seemed to be overflowing with understanding. For some reason that irritated her.
 

„If you’re talking about clothing, there’s a suitcase in the back of the Mercedes. Your mother packed it for you so it should have everything you need.“
 

She stared at him in astonishment. „I see,“ she finally said again.

„I doubt it but I’m hoping you will after you’ve had your time alone.“ He stood up and negligently threw some cash onto the table. „We’d better get going.“

Fifteen minutes later Heather turned the key in the Mercedes, watching through the side window as Jake expertly fired up the motorcycle and swung his booted foot over the seat. He gave her a sidelong glance as he stood bracing the growling monster with one foot on the ground.
 

„A few days, Heather,“ he reminded her over the muted roar. „That’s all.“

She nodded and put the Mercedes in gear. As she did so, Jake let the motorcycle have its way, guiding it out of the parking lot with a touch that spoke volumes in
terms of experience. The man definitely knew what he was doing on a motorcycle and that thought intrigued Heather. She wanted to know where and when he’d learned to ride with that kind of casual expertise.
 

As he disappeared down the road she noticed something and frowned in sudden consternation. „Jake, the helmet! You forgot to put on the helmet!“

But he was well out of earshot.

And this was the man who had given Jim Connors a safety lecture, she remembered in disgust. Then Heather grinned. Perhaps he was the kind of rider who would stop as soon as he was out of sight and put on the helmet, just as she always did. It was one thing to leave an impression of reckless grit and glory on one’s audience, quite another to actually tempt suicide!
 

The small grin stayed with Heather as she automatically tuned in a country-and-western channel on the Mercedes’s radio. It was strange how she was so certain that Jake would put on the helmet after he’d ridden out of sight. It was as if she knew how he would react this morning because she knew he was similar to her in many ways.

That thought wiped away the smile. What an idiotic assumption to make on the basis of one night together. She must be out of her mind.

She wasn’t out of her mind; she was in love. A much more serious state of affairs. A steel guitar and the laconic complaint of a cowboy who was drinking to get a woman out of his mind echoed around the front seat of the Mercedes. Heather found herself wonder
ing if Jake could ever be reduced to such a condition.
 

Stretching a little in the driver’s seat, Heather became wryly aware of the small sensual aches in her body. Jake’s lovemaking had left her vividly aware of him in several places, Heather reflected grimly. But the unanswered question had to do with the effect she’d had on Jake.

He wanted her. In some sense he needed her. She was the key to making his carefully constructed home perfect. By marrying her, Jake would be securing his position in the minds and hearts of both the Strand family and the Hacienda staff. He would become a genuine part of the crowd of successful businesspeople Paul Strand had mingled with here in Tucson. He would preserve the heritage of having a Strand intimately involved with the running of the hotel. That would please Heather’s father greatly.
 

Yes, Jake needed her, Heather thought. And he wanted her. He had proven that beyond a doubt last night. Furthermore, it had been as much her idea to marry for convenience as it had been his. What was the matter with her this morning? Nothing had really changed. It was true that it had been a shock to discover she was not going to inherit the Hacienda, but she had adjusted to that yesterday.

Perhaps what she hadn’t adjusted to was the sense of betrayal. Yet she knew Jake was offering her a position almost identical to the one she had thought lost. Not quite identical, of course. Jake Cavender would always have final responsibility for the fate of the Hacienda. But she could be a part of it if she wished. All she had to do was marry him. Her goals of coming home to make things „right“; to settle back into the life-style of the Hacienda Strand and its environs, could still be obtained.
 

All she had to do was marry Jake Cavender – just as she had planned.

It was with a sense of astonishment that Heather finally acknowledged the real problem this morning. She had fallen in love with Jake and quite suddenly she no longer wanted to be married for business reasons. Heather shook her head wryly as she guided the Mercedes along the highway that led into the hills where her father’s cabin was located. Jake had done more than compel her physical and emotional surrender last night.
 

He had succeeded in reviving the passionate outlook on life that she had subdued so successfully for the past few years. Marrying for convenience or for business reasons, no matter how satisfactory to all parties concerned, was simply no longer good enough.

When she turned off the road it was to take the much narrower, less-used trail that led into the canyon Heather remembered so well. The desert terrain gave way a bit to scruffy shrubs and trees. The stately saguaro cacti were prevalent, their candelabra configurations lending elegance to the surroundings. The road was not paved and Heather slowed the Mercedes to avoid raising any more dust than was necessary.

It was going to be hot at the cabin. There was no air conditioning and not much else in the way of amenities. Heather wondered what her mother had thought when Paul had brought her up here on their honeymoon. At least Ruth had known she was being married for love and not for convenience. Heather sighed, slowing the car still further.

The cabin was showing its years and lack of attention. It sat perched several yards from a stream that cascaded down out of the mountains, its wood gray with age. The roof tilted rather precariously and one of the front windows had been broken. Heather parked the Mercedes and climbed out to survey the scene of some of her childhood memories. Even though Paul Strand had given up hunting years ago, the family had continued to use the cabin for picnics in the summer. The cool stream, swollen from the recent rains, was an inviting place in which to swim, and the canyon had provided fascinating places to explore. There were even some caves tucked into the walls upstream, Heather remembered.
 

The cabin didn’t have electricity, but there was running water. Heather, when she tested the rusty faucet in the small kitchen area, was astonished to find that it still
worked. With any luck the bathroom facilities would, also. No hot water, of course, but she could live without it for a couple of days.
 

A couple of days. As she prowled the environs of the one-room cabin, Heather considered the time factor Jake had placed on this retreat. He had seemed to sense that she needed the time to collect her thoughts and come to her own decisions. He’d let her go this morning with hardly any argument.

For some reason that lack of argument was making her uneasy. It didn’t seem to fit his character. He must have known how thorough her surrender had been last night. Indeed, he’d reveled in it. Heather grimaced.

But knowing that, and knowing him, it seemed far more likely that he would be the kind of man to press the advantage. Yet this morning he’d casually bought her a cup of coffee and waved her on her way.

Not like him at all.

Heather prodded the dusty, half-collapsed couch under the broken window. It was damp from rain that had made its way down the inside wall of the cabin. There were some floorboards loose, too. Experimentally she stepped on one, listening to the protesting squeak.
 

Visions of Jake changing his mind and coming after her danced through Heather’s head. The romantic passionate side of her that had been freed by the emotional trauma of the past twenty-four hours longed for such an event. The realistic side of her nature warned her that nothing would be changed by such an occurrence. She would still be faced with the decision she faced now.

She must decide what she truly wanted out of life, and that decision could not be made the way she had made it when she was eighteen. It had to be made logically and realistically. Unfortunately it was difficult to think logically and realistically when you knew you were in love.
 

She ought to be thinking about the manner in which
she’d lost her right to the Hacienda, Heather told herself grimly as she went out to the Mercedes and removed the suitcase her mother had packed. She ought to be concentrating on the sense of betrayal she had felt yesterday. But that red-hot emotion was no longer one she could tap into easily. Jake had cooled it, replacing it with his claim on her. The desire to satisfy his physical and emotional needs had quickly become paramount last night.
 

She had her own needs, however, Heather reminded herself as she carried the suitcase into the cabin and opened it. A piece of her mother’s stationery lay on top of the neatly arranged pile of underwear and assorted clothing.
 

My dearest Heather,

As usual, our best-laid plans for you have gone awry. But this time you have my full backing. The nerve of those two men keeping the news about the sale of the Hacienda from us! I was furious on your behalf. I have no objections to Jake owning the place. And I’m glad Paul has finally decided to retire. But you should have been told exactly what the situation was! I know you and Jake will eventually work out your problems. He’s a good man, dear. But I think you have every right to marry him on your own terms.

All my love, Mother.

Tears burned for a few seconds behind Heather’s eyes. Hastily she dashed them away with the back of her hand. And then she carefully folded the note. Her mother’s understanding only succeeded in making her feel worse about the scene she had caused yesterday.
 

On the other hand, Heather told herself unhappily, there weren’t a great many polite ways to leave a man standing alone at the altar. She swallowed a sigh and
rummaged around in the suitcase until she found some fresh underwear and a persimmon-colored shirt. Her mother had thoughtfully packed a pair of rubber-soled shoes, too, which would be cooler than the leather boots she was wearing.
 

Heather quickly changed clothes and refastened the designer jeans. Then she set about taking her mind off her problems by concentrating on the business of starting a fire in the old cook stove. Having stopped to pick up some canned goods before leaving Tucson, she knew she wasn’t going to starve.
 

Overhead the clouds began to form for the afternoon thunderstorms. Huge billowing masses of unstable air whirled in the sky, darkening vast areas of desert and mountain. Her father, Heather remembered, had said the rains were unusually heavy this year. She hoped the cabin didn’t have too many holes in its old roof.
 

The distant sounds of approaching thunder hid the noise of the car until it was already in the cabin’s driveway. When the engine growl did register, Heather leaped to her feet, torn between anticipation and uncertainty.
 

Jake had come after her.

In that moment of tension and excitement Heather told herself that she had known all along he would change his mind. He wasn’t the kind of man to risk having her talk herself out of the commitment she had made last night.

Right, wrong or impossible, Heather knew a fierce gladness as she threw open the cabin door.