Call It Destiny (23 page)

„Don’t worry, Ruth,“ Jake said politely. „Heather will be at the wedding.“

Paul and Ruth Strand looked from Heather to Jake and back again, silently weighing their knowledge of their daughter’s stubborn pride against their knowledge of Jake’s uncompromising determination.
 

Heather didn’t care for the way either of her parents’ mouths relaxed into a satisfied smile.
 

Heather had dinner
with Jake and her parents that night. She helped her mother prepare the tacos and enchiladas, working in a companionable manner that was very soothing to Heather’s heightened state of tension. The readiness with which her parents seemed willing to forgive the scene with the motorcycle astonished her, but as Ruth kept saying, she fully sympathized with her daughter.
 

„Your note in the suitcase meant a lot, mom. I felt so terrible about that scene once I’d had a chance to cool down and think it all over.“

„I was astounded that those two would mislead you that way. I knew Paul intended to sell the Hacienda eventually but I thought he and Jake would strike a deal after the two of you were married.“ Ruth shook her head as she arranged the enchilada filling inside the tortillas. „Men. They always think they know what’s best. Paul told me that he thought everything was all right because Jake had assured him he would be marrying you.“ She cast a sidelong glance at her daughter who
was grating cheese. „Are you going to marry him in two weeks?“
 

„One way or another I’ll be with Jake here on the Hacienda. He needs me.“

„And you love him?“

„I love him. But I don’t know if we’ll be married in two weeks.“

„Are you trying to punish him for what he did to you?“ Ruth asked gently.

Heather firmly denied that with a shake of her head. „No. I’m trying to make him understand exactly how he feels about me. Jake doesn’t know much about love. He doesn’t trust it. He prefers to put his faith in other things like common interests and… and physical attraction.“

„There is that last item between you two, isn’t there?“ Ruth chuckled. „You can tell a mile away. The two of you are so… so
aware
of each other. I know the feeling because your father and I
have always had it.“
 

Heather blinked, eyeing her mother in astonishment. „You don’t seem particularly worried about the fact that that may be Jake’s only interest in me.“

„You’re not eighteen anymore,“ Ruth replied shrugging. „I’ve seen my very successful, very intelligent daughter in action. She’s an adult and she’s learned to take care of herself. You and I have stepped out of the mother-daughter relationship. We’re friends now, Heather. Good friends, I hope.“

„The best,“ Heather agreed huskily, throwing her arms around her parent. „The best of friends.“

The two women hugged each other in a silence that put the seal on the very special relationship that can only exist between mother and daughter.

After dinner Jake took Heather’s arm in an almost painfully firm grasp as they started back through the hotel gardens.

„Well, you’ve certainly managed to earn everyone’s forgiveness for standing me up at the wedding,“ he
observed as he led her through the quiet grounds. „How do you do it, Heather? Magic?“
 

„Nope, not this time. You did it and you know it. You had everyone so grateful that I was alive that they forgot to be angry at me for having caused that scene. I owe you one, Jake.“
 

He smiled. „Good. Maybe if I get you deep enough in debt you won’t cause me any trouble in a couple of weeks when it’s time to drag you to the altar.“

Heather paused, obliging him to stop beside her. Her mouth curved upward as she lifted her face in the moonlight. The desert skies were clear again and the sparkling night was warm and inviting.
 

„I love you, Jake.“

He groaned and pulled her close, crushing her mouth hungrily beneath his own. „Then don’t fight me,“ he urged against her lips. „Don’t fight me.“

„I won’t fight you tonight. Shall I come back to your cottage with you?“ She traced a pattern against the nape of his neck, her fingers moving tantalizingly there. Her body arched closer to his, full of invitation and responsive desire.

Jake lifted his head, eyes shadowed and gleaming in the night. „A week ago I’d have stumbled over my own feet accepting the offer.“

„Tired of me already?“

„You know very well that’s not the case. The way I feel I could put you down right here on the grass and take you,“ he grated.

She could feel the physical tension in his body and knew he was telling the truth. „I’m not fighting you, Jake. You’re fighting me.“

„Do you think that if you seduce me often enough I’ll give you what you want?“ he asked bitterly. „It won’t work, Heather. Stop playing your dramatic little games and act like the woman I know you are.“

Heather tried to hide the hurt she knew must be reflected in her eyes. She pulled her arms free from around his neck. „Good night, Jake. I’ll see you in the morning.“

Jake set his teeth angrily as she disappeared through the dimly lit garden. Then he grimly followed, watching from a discreet distance as she let herself safely into her cottage. He’d hurt her with that last crack about playing games, he realized. It was odd to have the power to hurt someone. He didn’t think he’d ever possessed that kind of power before and it made him uncomfortable.

He was made considerably more uncomfortable by the stark loneliness of his bed. Two nights of having Heather in his arms had apparently spoiled him completely.
 

„Cavender,“ he muttered savagely to himself as he lay staring at the ceiling, „you’re an idiot.“ The situation was ridiculous. They both wanted each other; they both intended to stay together. What the hell was he doing letting her play games with him like this? The fastest way out of the impasse would be to push her into realizing that she had no real choice in the matter. She’d never had any choice. Not since the first time he’d met her. She had been visiting her parents over the Christmas holidays and he’d looked at her and known he would have her and the Hacienda. Everything would be perfect. He’d have a complete home with a wife who understood him and wanted the same things out of life that he did.
 

A home. That thought lingered in his head for a tantalizing moment.
 

Everything had gone so well until that scene at the chapel. Even after that he thought he’d gotten matters back under control. She wanted him and she wanted the Hacienda. What could be simpler than marrying him?

Perhaps it was all his own fault for having freed the passionate side of her nature. He hadn’t intended to do that until after the wedding, but he’d pushed her too far
when he’d hidden the full truth
about ownership of the Hacienda from her. Discovering the way she had been deliberately misled had burst the bonds holding her basic nature in check. Making love to her afterward had only served to heighten the effect. Her surrender had been as deeply passionate as her anger. A formidable combination.
 

Jake had never felt so utterly determined in his life as he did in that moment. He would put a halt to Heather’s dramatic little fantasy of love and force her to accept the situation between them for what it was. After all, there was still that practical businesslike side of her nature to tap. He’d use it to resolve the conflict between them.

The decision made, Jake climbed out of bed, stepped into a pair of jeans and padded barefoot to his desk. Sitting down, he switched on the lamp and opened the drawer. He pulled out a copy of the prenuptial agreement he’d signed and began to study it in detail. Then he reached for another sheet of paper and a pen.

By the time he was finished with her, Heather was going to acknowledge that their relationship wasn’t a romantic fantasy built on froth and pink air. It was a solid unbreakable association based on sturdy unwavering grounds.
 

Heather could save the dramatic passionate side of her nature for the bedroom. Other than there, it had no place in the business of their marriage.

An hour later when he’d finished his task he was far too alert and restless to sleep. Jake put on some canvas shoes and slipped out into the silent gardens to have a late-night chat with security.

Heather felt unaccountably suspicious
of the dinner invitation from the moment she accepted it the following afternoon. But she dressed for the occasion that evening with panache. The dress she chose was one she had brought with her from San Francisco. It was a close-fitting white sheath, ornamented with dazzling sequined roses on the squared shoulders. With any luck, she told herself, the draped vee neckline was cut low enough to intrigue Jake’s attention but not so low as to earn her a lecture. Heather sighed inwardly as she turned away from the mirror. She certainly walked a fine line these days.
 

She knew a strange kind of tension lately, as if she was on a ragged edge between surrender and resistance. Logically she believed she was following the right course of action. Her whole future with Jake depended on maintaining it. But there was a deep need inside her to cease the struggle and simply throw herself into Jake’s
arms. She loved him. She didn’t want to do battle with him.
 

How long could this nerve-racking situation go on, she wondered bleakly. It was one thing to manage a male employee. Quite another to manage the man who held your heart in the palm of his hand.

So much depended on the groundwork she was trying to lay, she told herself again and again. She must be strong.

Jake was at her door promptly at six-thirty looking a little on the sober, restrained side. The dark aloofness in him ought to have been offset by the cream-colored sport coat he wore with the open-necked coffee-colored shirt and slacks. But as usual, his clothing didn’t affect the overall impression of self-imposed distance. Heather couldn’t stand it. She knew him too intimately to be put off by the impression.

The moment she opened the door she stepped forward, rose on tiptoe and brushed her mouth across his with sweet warmth. „I hear we’ll be able to go in the Mercedes tonight,“ she said lightly, stepping away before Jake could respond. „Dad says you and he and someone from the grounds-keeping staff drove up into the canyon to rescue the cars.“
 

„They were both covered with mud but otherwise okay.“ Jake’s eyes lingered for a moment on the vee of the white sheath. „That dress is cut a bit low, isn’t it?“

„No.“ Heather smiled brightly and closed the front door behind her. „Any sign of the jeeps Rick and his friend drove?“

„None,“ he answered as they walked toward the parking lot. „It looks as though they made it out of the canyon. With any luck the authorities will nab them at the border.“

„I hope so,“ Heather agreed fervently. „Where are we going tonight?“
 

„Someplace we can talk.“

„Well, that’s encouraging. Talk about us, you mean?“ she tried for a cheerful note, anxious not to let any of her trepidation show.

„About us,“ he confirmed.

He drove to an elegant restaurant in the hills overlooking the city, saying little en route. Heather sensed that he was involved with his own musings and she longed to be able to read his mind. Had he thought about their untenable situation? she wondered nervously. Perhaps he had reached the decision she wanted him to reach. Perhaps he had accepted the fact that he was in love with her. The jumbled hopes and fears in her own head kept her unusually silent on
the drive. It was after Jake had parked the Mercedes in the lot of the restaurant and guided her firmly indoors into the elegant Spanish-colonial decor that she realized matters were not going to end rosily that evening.
 

„Let’s have a drink first,“ he ordered, taking her into the darkened, quiet lounge and leading her to a small table for two. „A glass of burgundy?“
 

„You know me so well,“ she murmured, trying for a small joke.

„Better than you know yourself,“ he agreed far too
seriously. He ordered a Scotch for himself and watched her in silence as the drinks were delivered.
 

Heather moved uneasily under the intent regard and then forced herself to sit coolly still. When the wine arrived she was grateful, however, to have something to do with her restless hands. Jake was in a dangerous mood tonight and she knew it. There was a hard relentless determination in the depths of those gray eyes that disturbed her. In this mood he was virtually unmanageable.
 

„Now, then,“ he began after letting the silence between them grow to huge dimensions, „I think it’s time we got down to business.“
 

„Business?“ She heard the wariness in her own voice and knew he must have heard it too.

„Business. You don’t want to be my wife – “

„I never said that,“ she protested urgently.

„Let me rephrase that. You insist that any marriage between us be on your terms. Terms I find unacceptable.“

Heather’s mouth went dry.

„Since marriage is therefore out of the question, we are left with another sort of situation entirely. You are willing to work for the Hacienda and perform the functions of being my mistress. I never have anyone working for me who doesn’t have a clear concept of his or her responsibilities. I find it saves a lot of trouble if the position is clearly understood right from the beginning. I have therefore drawn up a contract that covers your chosen job duties.“

Heather’s fingers closed too tightly around the stem of her wineglass. Without a word she took a deep swallow of burgundy and watched in morbid fascination as Jake withdrew a folded document from inside his cream-colored jacket. When he handed it to her she was forced to lower the wineglass and accept it.
 

A horrible sense of deja vu struck her as her hand
closed over the
document. Memories of the prenuptial agreement she had insisted Jake sign were burning in her head, and she knew her eyes probably gave away her thoughts. Quickly she lowered her lashes to hide the humiliation and chagrin.