Call It Destiny

the hotel business. Neither of my sisters wanted any part of running the Hacienda, so dad was stuck trying to groom me. But we seemed to clash on almost everything. Even now I doubt a partnership would work. He knows that or else he wouldn’t have made it clear that he intends to stay out of the business entirely now.“
    Heather looked approvingly down at the delicate veal-and-mushroom dish being placed in front of her. Cavender had ordered the lamb, and from the deferential manner in which the entree was placed in front of him, she knew the waiter recognized him. Heather understood perfectly, of course. For the past two years Jake Cavender had been Paul Strand’s right-hand man. Cavender was, according to Heather’s father, a genius with numbers. The Hacienda Strand had never been in better shape financially, and Paul was quick to credit Cavender for the sound financial strength of the resort.
    And since everyone in the hotel-and-restaurant business in Tucson knew and respected Paul Strand, it followed that Strand’s right-hand man was also recognized when he chose to dine out. It wasn’t at all odd, Heather reflected in silent amusement, that no one recognized her. She had changed since she had left Tucson.
    „You must know that your parents are delighted you’ve decided to return,“ Jake remarked casually. „They’re proud of what you’ve accomplished in California, naturally, but they’ve been hoping for a long time that you’d make the decision to come back to the Hacienda.“
    „I could never have returned unless I had managed to achieve something for myself in California.“ Heather smiled, her hazel eyes deliberately bland and unreadable. „I left Tucson under something resembling a > cloud.“
    „I’ve heard the story,“ Jake remarked sardonically. „You were last seen heading west on the back of a black Yamaha motorcycle. I believe your sister Liz said you had vowed to marry the guy who was driving the bike before you reached California.“
    Heather felt a distasteful chill. Jake Cavender, it seemed, had indeed been adopted into the family circle. „Rick and I planned to detour through Nevada for a quick ceremony before we headed on to California,“ she explained crisply. Not that it was any of Jake’s business. It was just that he appeared to know so much already it didn’t seem to matter if he knew some of the rest.
    „Rick?“
    „That was the name of the guy driving the Yamaha.“ Heather re garded her companion. „Didn’t Liz tell you that little detail? His full name was Rick Monroe and he was every adolescent’s fantasy of a cool, handsome, reckless boyfriend. I was eighteen at the time and he was twenty-four. And he looked terrific in biker leather,“ Heather concluded with a quick grin.
    „A real leader of the pack, hmm?“ Cavender didn’t appear either amused or indulgent. Instead there was a faint shadow of disgust in his gray gaze.
    That shadow was enough to ignite some of the old spirit of rebellion in Heather, much to her surprise. She had assumed that element of her nature was well and truly buried in her past. Why did this man have the power to stir the ashes? Her berry-tinted nails drummed restlessly on the white tablecloth. When Jake’s eyes dropped to her hand she ceased the action abruptly and quickly regained her aloof poise.
    „No, Rick was not a ‘leader of the pack.’ He was a loner. Much like me, I thought at the time.“
    „You were hardly a loner,“ Jake said. „You had the full protection and support of a loving family. Two sisters, your mother and father and several aunts and uncles and cousins. No, you didn’t qualify as a loner at eighteen, Heather.“
    Heather blinked uneasily, her long lashes sweeping down to hide the annoyed reaction that surely would be reflected in her eyes. Jake Cavender could be a trifle blunt at times. Magnanimously she assumed it was one of the reasons he had been so useful to her father and would continue to be useful to her. A good executive did not want to surround herself with yes-men. On the other hand, there was such a thing as tact, especially in a man who has just agreed to marriage.
    „Whatever happened when I was eighteen really doesn’t concern you, does it?“ She put him in his place with a quelling little smile and delicately took a bite of the minted artichoke hearts that accompanied her veal.
    „I beg your pardon,“ he said quietly. „Did I stray over the line?“
    „Yes. Do you make a