Wrangled and Tangled (44 page)

He patted her hand, in a pseudo-fatherly gesture that turned her stomach. “I won’t keep you from your work. But I’d like to have dinner, if you’re free tonight.”

Another bogus offer. Her father seriously underestimated what she knew about his business practices. He had no intention of being here tonight. He’d said his piece to her and set everything in motion. She smiled and lied again. “Of course I’m free. I’ll ask Dodie to create something special just for us.”

Renner wasn’t looking forward to telling Tierney he had to leave again because Pritchett needed his help. Funny, the idea of Pritchett needing help with the business Renner owned. A business he’d sadly neglected in the last year when he’d been building the resort.

Chances were high he wouldn’t end up owning the Split Rock when the chips started to fall. The smartest thing he’d done was to keep his stock contracting business out of financial dealings with PFG. So he wouldn’t lose everything.

But no doubt in his mind he stood to lose a lot. The worst was the thought of losing Tierney.

Goddammit, he loved her. Loved her in that all-consuming way that scared the living hell out of him because he’d never ever felt that way before. She’d barged into his life, into his bed, into his heart, attaching herself to every part of him and he couldn’t fathom being without her.

The door banged open. A shadow solidified. The man strolled into the barn like he wasn’t wearing tasseled loafers.

Good thing Renner had a shovel nearby to dig the pile of shit this man was about to unload on him. He smiled, resting his forearm on the top of the corral. “If you’re lookin’ for me, I’m back here.”

“Yes, I was looking for you.” Pratt paused. Probably wanting to mimic Renner’s posture, but not willing to soil his snappy suit to prove he was the type of guy who hung out in barns.

“You and your daughter have one thing in common.”

“What’s that?”

“You don’t have a freakin’ clue about what type of shoes to wear in here. Be mindful of the piles of shit.”

Gene’s eyes narrowed and he managed a terse, “Thanks for the warning.”

“No problem. So, whatcha need?”

“I thought we should touch base. I’m pleased that the revenues are on par with initial expectations.”

“That’s happy news for you financial types.” Renner cocked his head. “But you’re not pleased I’m involved with Tierney. You here to warn me off?”

“In a manner of speaking. I don’t know how you feel about Tierney—to some extent it doesn’t matter.”

Wrong. It mattered a whole helluva lot. But he wanted to see where Pratt was going with this.

“My daughter is stubborn. If I said red, she’d say blue. Then she’d change her answer to red. Tierney wants to be an independent thinker. But in the end she always sees things my way.”

Renner whistled. “That’s harsh. That’s also making a pretty broad assumption about her.”

Pratt adjusted his tie. “I know her better than she thinks I do.”

The cocky statement pissed him off, because it was a total lie. “Well, Daddy-o, I’ll go out on a limb to say I know Tierney on a completely different level than you do. A level you ought not discount if this conversation is goin’ where I think it is.”

“Lust fades. As a man who’s been married as many times as you, I know of what I speak.”

“You think I’m surprised you know my marital history? Wrong. Ain’t something I hide.”

“But you did hide that your first wife’s daddy paid you off.”

“She wanted out of the marriage. Daddy made it happen and decided to compensate me for the hell I endured. I sure didn’t argue.” Renner allowed the man a once over. “Is that why you’re here? To see if I’m still that kind of guy?”

Pratt gave him an equally measured look. “That’s the question of the day, isn’t it?”

“So be a man about it and get to the fucking point.”

“I’m willing to sign over the Split Rock in its entirety to you and stamp the loan paid in full.”

“What’s the catch?”

Pratt smiled tightly. “Really. You need me to spell it out for you?”

“I’m betting all’s I have to do is tell Tierney she was a fling and I want her out of my life for good.”

“Simple, but effective.”

“Oh, and let me guess.
You
get to tell her that I’d rather have a chunk of dirt than her. That I am the same moneygrubbing piece of shit I’ve always been because I could be bought off. And she’s better off without me.”

“In a nutshell: yes.”

Renner laughed scathingly. “In a nutshell: no.
Fuck
no.”

“Did I mention this is not a negotiation?”

“I don’t give two shits about your assumption that there’s even room to negotiate when it comes to how I feel about Tierney.”

“Is this supposed to prove you love her?” Pratt mocked.

“I do love her. I don’t have to prove a goddamned thing to
you
. And that’s what gets you, doesn’t it? Not only that Tierney loves me enough to walk away from Daddy’s purse strings, but she’s been done jumping through your hoops since the moment she stepped on this property.”

“She’s a brilliant girl and she’d be throwing away her life here with you.”

Renner pointed at Pratt. “There’s your problem. Tierney is not a girl. She’s a woman, hell, she’s all woman, and she’s making an adult decision that you have no part of. She’s out of your reach. Done being under your thumb. She’s taken control of her own life for a change and I applaud her for that.

“You only see her as another asset. Another thing you own. I know she’s smart. Yeah, she’s probably too smart for the likes of me. But her brain ain’t the best part of her. Her heart is the best part of her. And I can’t believe I’m the lucky guy she’s decided to give it to.”

“Pretty words,” Pratt sneered. “Think she’ll stick with you when all you’ve got to offer her is your twice-divorced heart?”

“At least it’s honest. And I ain’t putting conditions on it.”

“You’ll lose. You’ll both lose.” It appeared Daddy-o was losing his cool. He bit off, “Take the offer, Jackson.”

“Take your offer and shove it, Pratt. We’re done.”

“We’re not done. Not by a long shot. You’ll be hearing from me.” He turned and walked out.

Renner was half tempted to shout something juvenile like,
bring it on, motherfucker
. He’d let that bastard foreclose on the Split Rock before he’d ever turn on Tierney. But the bastard was her father. Although Gene Pratt didn’t have an issue making Tierney choose between Renner and him, Renner would not do the same thing to her.

This was all kinds of fucked up. But what sucked the most? He couldn’t stick around and hash it out. He needed to be on the road in an hour. He walked to his truck so he could talk to Tierney before he left.

Ten minutes later Renner burst into the office, demanding, “Did you know?”

Tierney’s hands froze on the keyboard. “Know what?”

He threw the sheaf of papers at her. “That PFG has a clause in the contract that can force me to pay back one hundred percent of the loan before the year is up? Or I default on everything?”

By the guilty look on Tierney’s face, she’d known. Maybe she’d even put the damn clause in.

Fuck.

Had he been played for the fool again?

“How did you find out?” she asked quietly.

“After your father”—he started to say,
used you as the currency to buy me off
, but amended—“had a chat with me, he oh-so-thoughtfully left a copy of the contract on the seat of my truck with the clause in question circled.” Renner clenched his hands into fists. Gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached.

“What did my father say to you?”

Renner laughed bitterly. “As if you don’t know.”

“I don’t. I swear.” Tierney came around to rest her backside on the front edge of her desk.

“I’ve let you deal with all the financials regarding the Split Rock. I didn’t question you. Not like you questioned
me
on every goddamned thing about this place.” Anger burned up his throat and heated his face. “Did you get a big fuckin’ chuckle out of that? The dumb cowboy so desperate that he’d believe everything you told him?”

“It wasn’t like that, Renner, not at all.”

“So when I came to you needing more cash, where did that money come from?”

Tierney averted her eyes.

Not good. “Answer me, dammit.”

“From my personal account.”

Renner’s mouth dropped open. “What? Why? Just to maintain the fucking lie? Or to have something to hold over my head? So you could own me too?”

“No. I did it because I believe in this place. I expected it’d be successful given the chance. But I also knew unforeseen expenses in the first year of operation for a new business can wipe out any financial reserves. So I covered it and kept track of the cash outlay.”

“Yeah? You’ve gotta have a lot of cash outlay available to ‘cover’ those expenses. Since I know little about your personal financial situation, I wanna know where you got the money.”

“I earned it.”

“How?”

Tierney dropped her gaze again and he recognized she was still keeping something from him.

“Tell me.”

“When you saw me working after I first arrived? Ninety-nine point nine percent of what I was doing had nothing to do with the Split Rock. Ninety-nine point nine percent of it was . . . killing time.”

“That’s why you could piss with me endlessly about every aspect of it? You had nothin’ better to do?”

She nodded.

“Jesus. When did that change?”

“When you needed money from the escrow account and that account was already empty. I lent my available cash reserve to the Split Rock general fund. Then I was broke. I have stocks and other investments, but no ready cash. So I did freelance work for PFG. But I earned it. Every penny of it.”

“Not willing to ask PFG for a loan because the price of selling your soul is a little high?” Cheap shot, but he took it anyway.

Tierney’s back snapped straight. “I absolutely do not ask my father for money. Ever.”

“It ain’t like he doesn’t have enough to go around,” Renner pointed out.

“True. But if you think he treats me any differently because I’m his daughter? Then you’ve underestimated him. You overestimated his faith in me too.” She closed her eyes. “That stung whenever you called me a spoiled daddy’s girl. You even assumed he paid for my cabin. He didn’t. I did. He didn’t give me a dime for my education. What I didn’t earn in academic scholarships, I paid for out of my own pocket. The only thing my father has ever provided is a rent-free place to live in Chicago. That’s only because the condo is in the office building he owns and he expects me to work damn near twenty-four hours a day for the privilege of living there.”

Renner stared at her with absolute incredulity. His head spinning, his stomach in knots. His heart aching.

“What?”

“I feel like I don’t even know you.”

“You know me better than anyone ever has, Renner.”

“Wrong. The Tierney I thought I knew didn’t play games. She was straightforward. This”—he gestured to nothing in particular—“is far from honest.”