Call It Destiny (16 page)

„Rick and I used to spend a lot of time up here at this old cabin,“ she said hastily, knowing she had to get him out of here for his sake.

„A lot of time,“ Rick concurred. „A lot of interesting time. We didn’t especially appreciate visitors then and we don’t like ‘em any better now, do we, babe?“

„No. No, we don’t. Jake, I told you in Tucson that everything was over between us. Why did you follow me? Can’t you see that it makes things a little awkward, to say the least?“

Jake swung around to confront her, turning his back to Monroe. „Suppose you explain this awkward little situation a bit more clearly,“ he bit out. „I’d like to hear the details.“

Heather lifted her head instinctively at the sound of the cold demand in him. Vaguely astonished that even in this extreme sort of situation her rebelliousness could surface, Heather glared at him. She could use that natural reaction to save his arrogant neck, she told herself. „Oh, come now, Jake. I’m sure you don’t want to hear all the details. Take my word for it, Rick and I have a lot to discuss. It’s
been a long time, hasn’t it, Rick?“
 

„Yeah.“

„And we’re rather anxious to get on with the, uh, reunion.“

„You expect me to just walk out that door and drive back to Tucson?“ Jake inquired far too softly.
 

Heather shivered and moved a little restlessly, but she
kept her eyes level and her chin arrogantly high. „That’s just exactly what I expect. I’m really not into the ménage a trois scene.“
 

Jake’s mouth tightened and his eyes blazed for an instant. In that moment Heather was desperately afraid he would give way to the fury that she sensed was eating him alive. Frantically she sought for further words. Anything to get rid of him.

„Hey, let’s skip the foreign lingo unless it’s Spanish,“ Rick warned from across the room. His hand hovered just above the cushion concealing the gun.
 

„Jake, will you please go?“ Heather muttered, wrenching her gaze away from his accusing eyes. „Just get out of here. Can’t you see you’re not wanted? Rick and I go back a long way together. We were always attracted to each other.“ She stumbled awkwardly over the word
attracted.
She should have said that she and Rick had been lovers, but it had been impossible to get the lie out of her mouth.
 

„Yeah, we got this strong mutual
attraction,“
Rick mocked. „In other words, we’re real compatible in bed.“
 

Jake ignored him. Heather was the whole focus of his shatteringly intent regard. „And what about us?“ he asked her quietly. „What about last night?“
 

It was then Heather realized she could never make him believe a complete lie. If she was now able to read him more accurately, then she had to assume the relationship worked both ways. He would be able to perceive that she was lying. Perhaps she could make him understand the situation was highly dangerous by the very fact that she was forced to such extremes. He was brilliant in business. It remained to be seen just how brilliant he was at reading her mind. She dug her nails into her arms as she continued to hold herself.

„Last night was amusing, Jake.“ She managed a fleeting wry smile. „Or at least it was from my point of view. I hope you didn’t make any more out of it than an
interesting toss in the hay. I thought I made my own feelings toward you quite clear at the time. I was under the impression you understood exactly how I felt.“
 

„And I thought you understood exactly how I felt,“ he countered evenly.

„Yes, well, men often say things they don’t mean in the heat of passion. So do women. Let’s just call the whole thing a learning experience, shall we? Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to go.“ She continued looking at him, her gaze unwavering. She did want him to go, for his own sake. „Please go away and leave me alone. I’m tired of the way you’ve been pestering me for the past few weeks. I’m tired of discussing business with you. Always business. That’s all you ever want to talk about. You know I couldn’t care less about that damn hotel. Or about you.“

„I didn’t realize how completely bored you were in my company,“ Jake said silkily.
 

„Yes, well, I tried to be polite for my parents’ sake, but to tell you the truth, I get incredibly tired of hearing about nothing except plans for the Hacienda every time I come home to visit. You’re as bad as dad is about that place. No wonder I left for California when I was eighteen. The thought of taking over dad’s position was very unpleasant.“

„I’m the one she left town with that day,“ Monroe said pleasantly.
 

Jake glanced at him over his shoulder, his scorn barely under control. „Were you?“

„Yup. So you can see just how far back Heather and I go. A real close attachment.“

For a second Heather thought Rick’s brash need to assert himself in front of the other man had pushed Jake too far. But then Jake turned back to her, gray eyes quite unreadable.

„It looks like you’ve made your choice, Heather.“

„Yes.“ She tried to keep her face expressionless. „I’m
sorry if you’re a bit disappointed, but I’m sure you’ve learned to accept rejection before. I’m really not interested in what you’re offering, Jake. I couldn’t care less about creating a home and putting down roots. I’ve been living in California for the past few years, remember? You get used to being on the cutting edge out there. It gets in your blood. The idea of settling down in Tucson for the rest of my life is enough to scare the daylights out of me. I appreciate your nice offer but I really can’t accept. Go find yourself some nice female who wants to bake bread and make babies. I’m sure you’ll be much happier with someone like that than you’d ever be with me. I’d drive you crazy and we both know it.“
 

To her surprise he nodded in agreement. „You may be right. About driving me crazy, I mean. Well, I can see when I’m not wanted. I’m sorry I bothered you, Heather. I really thought we had found something together. Something important.“ He stopped as if inviting her to change her mind.

„Nothing I can’t live without,“ she said flippantly, although her heart was breaking. It seemed that only as she went through the charade of rejecting him did she realize just how much he meant to her.
 

„Goodbye, Heather. I won’t annoy you and your
friend
any further. You know I’m not the kind of man who hangs around when he’s not wanted. I like to think I’m a gentleman.“
 

Heather blinked. A gentleman? No gentleman would have tracked her down to that motel and seduced her the way Jake had done last night. No gentleman would have deliberately lured her into marriage by concealing the true financial facts of the situation. It occurred to Heather that Jake Cavender was definitely not a gentleman. He was a street fighter.
 

But he was handling this situation as if he was an impeccably behaved, well-mannered gentleman struggling to rise above an embarrassing event.
 

„You know I have no doubts on that score,“ Heather murmured coolly. „It’s just that true gentlemen tend to be so dull.“

Jake stood very still, and then without glancing back at a sneering Rick Monroe, he strode to the door. Flinging it open he stalked out into the rain and went to the car. A moment later the Fiat roared to life. Heather stood at the window, watching as the man she loved drove off into the storm.

„Well, well, well. You’ve really gotten to be a tough little broad over the past few years, haven’t you?“ Monroe got to his feet, ambling over to where Heather stood staring out into the gathering darkness. He lifted a hand and traced a line down her cheek and along her shoulder. The sickening sensuality of the gesture made Heather flinch.
 

She covered the reaction by stepping away. „What happens now, Rick?“

„We wait.“

„For what?“

„The arrival of my partner. It’s going to be a while. I got here early because I’ve found that partners in my line of work have a nasty habit of double-crossing each other. Safest to arrive early at the scene of a meeting. Not that I have any reason to be suspicious of Joe. He’s a pretty good guy, all things considered. And we’ve worked together before.“

„Doing what?“

„You really want to know?“ he drawled.

„No, I don’t think so,“ Heather gritted. „Something tells me that the less I know the better.“

„You sure kept that joker in the Fiat from guessing anything at all. I was impressed. Like I said, you’re tough. Had a lot of experience tossing men aside?“
 

Something new in the tone of his voice warned Heather that matters had taken a turn toward the more dangerous. Assuming it was possible for things to get worse.
 

„I don’t imagine you’re particularly interested in the status of my love life,“ she tried mildly.

„Oh. I don’t know. The way you handled that guy a few minutes ago reminded me a little of the way you told me to go to hell that day we left Tucson. And he went. Just like I did.“

„At least he didn’t steal my transportation in the process!“

„Maybe not, but he sure managed to leave you stranded, didn’t he?“ Rick retorted in savage amusement. „You must have really wanted to get rid of him. Why was that, Heather? Because he is as dull as you told him he was or because you were trying to protect him?“

„Both. He’s a nice guy, Rick. I don’t want him involved.“

„A nice guy,“ Monroe repeated. „You know what they say about nice guys.“

„You don’t seem to have had much experience along that line yourself.“

„Nah, I’m not a nice guy. But then, I never was. If I had been, you wouldn’t have wanted to run off with me when you were eighteen.“
 

„I wanted to run off with you because I thought you were a lot like me,“ Heather whispered, walking tensely to the window. The Fiat and its driver were long gone. Heather felt more alone than she had ever felt in her life. She could only hope and pray that she’d managed to communicate to Jake the fact that something was drastically wrong. But even if he’d picked up her message there wasn’t much time for him to drive all the way back into town and call for
help. The rain was pounding down into the canyon at a steadily increasing rate. The force of this evening’s storms was bound to make driving all but impossible for long stretches.
 

Then there was the other, more probable situation. Jake might not have realized she was in any kind of
trouble at all. Perhaps he really had taken his rejection like a gentleman.
 

No matter how hard Heather tried to convince herself that was the case, she couldn’t quite do it. A man who had schemed to get her to the altar so that he could lock in everything in life that was important to him; a man who hadn’t taken the rejection of being abandoned at that altar and had chased down his bride to claim his wedding night; a man like that wouldn’t just meekly walk out of a situation like this. Surely he wouldn’t simply abandon the woman he’d worked so hard to possess.
 

Unless he’d come to the conclusion that he didn’t want her after last night.

„Why don’t you fix us some coffee, Heather? And feed that fire a bit. It’s getting cool in here. Geez, there’s a lot of water coming down out there.“

„What will you do if your business partner can’t make it up that road?“ Almost grateful for a task to give her something to do, Heather set about making coffee in an old pot. Her father had taught her how to do it over a cook stove. His recipe made for a brew that would probably float spoons.

As she searched through the drawers; looking for old dishes, she was surprised to come across a cabinet full of reasonably new mugs, canned coffee and other miscellaneous items.

„I put all that stuff in there,“ Rick commented as he saw her looking at the contents of the cabinet. „I told you I use this place a lot.“
 

„Where did you go after you took the bike and left me standing alongside the highway, Rick?“ She would try to keep matters as casual as possible; pretend they really were old friends rehashing the past. And perhaps while she worked she’d find some item that could be used as a weapon.

„Let’s see,“ the man mused, never taking his eyes off
her. „I went on to Los Angeles. A bright guy with an expensive bike to sell can get a good start in a city like that. I used that motorcycle as capital, you might say. Made some investments.“
 

„Investments!“ She looked up, startled.

„Drugs, babe.“ He grinned at her naiveté, shaking his head. „For all your free-spirited talk back in the old days, you were real straight, weren’t you?“

„I didn’t realize it bothered you,“ she retorted caustically. „You sure made it a point to hang around me a lot.“

He shrugged, his fingers idly toying with the handle of the gun he’d recovered from under the cushion and thrust back into his belt. It was another small gesture of nervous tension and it made Heather more nervous.

„I figured that what I’d be able to collect from your old man would make it worth putting up with your crazy notions of right and wrong. You couldn’t have been more off base in thinking that you and I had a lot in common,“ he taunted.

„I found that out as soon as I made it clear I would not be contacting my father for money the day we left town.“
 

„You made such a scene that day.“ Rick shook his head in sarcastic humor. „You’re good at scenes, though, aren’t you? That was a hell of an interesting one you played out for that dude you’ve been sleeping with. He bought the whole story, too. But maybe that’s because there was a lot of truth in it. I’ll bet he really had begun to bore you. After all, we both know your taste in men runs more toward guys like me.“
 

„Eleven years ago I had lamentably poor taste in men.“

„Better watch that tongue, babe. I’m not in a mood to take any of your sass this evening.“