Call It Destiny

beneficial a marriage between herself and Jake would be for all concerned. Oh, the matchmaking had begun almost two years ago. Whenever she happened to return to Tucson for the holidays her mother had always tried to pair her with Jake. But it had been only recently that the suggestions of marriage had become so definite.
    A perfect team, her father had said. A perfect management team.
    No one had bothered to tell her that she was not going to be the ranking member of that team. No one had spelled out that her birthright had been sold to the man she was to marry.
    Fury, intense and passionate beyond anything she had ever known, began to uncoil in her. For long moments she sat very still in the huge leather chair, not trusting her coordination. Then, very slowly she got shakily to her feet.
    She had been manipulated. Cheated of her inheritance. Lured home by false promises. It had all been an elaborate illusion spun by masters. And she had fallen neatly into the trap Jake and her father had woven.
    She could not believe her mother knew of the change of ownership. Her gentle mother could never have maintained such a lie. No, this was the work of hard tough businessmen. Men like Jake and Paul.
    The overwhelming sense of betrayal made her momentarily dizzy. She clutched at the desk to steady herself. What a fool she had been!
    No wonder Jake hadn’t seriously objected to signing the prenuptial agreement. He had changed the only clause that might conceivably cause him some frustration. Everything else he had agreed to had merely been protecting his own financial interests! He was the one who was entering the marriage with control of the Hacienda, and he was the one who would retain possession of it in the event the marriage was dissolved.
    Calling herself a fool and an idiot in a hundred different ways, Heather managed to let herself out of the office. She returned the key to the puzzled desk clerk who wondered why he wasn’t getting the customary brilliant smile he had come to expect from Heather. Then she made her way out into the comforting darkness of the gardens.
    The music on her parents’ terrace drifted through the balmy night air along with the distant hubbub of the crowd. Jake would be standing there, a remote island in the stream, knowing he owned all he surveyed. And tomorrow morning at ten he was scheduled to acquire the last item on his shopping list. At ten he would have secured not only the physical property of the Hacienda but the intangible sensation of really belonging to it. He would be marrying the daughter of the man who had created the Hacienda Strand out of the desert. He would be joining the family.
    Rage and a violent sense of betrayal battled with an even stronger feeling of utter stupidity within Heather. How could she have been so incredibly blind? All that talk about not letting her get into the business end of the Hacienda until after the wedding. What a fool she had been.
    She had allowed herself to be manipulated and used; controlled and driven in the direction Jake had determined. It might have been interesting to see how and when he would finally have broken the truth to her, Heather thought in chilled fury.
    „Hello, Heather. I’ve been looking for you.“
    Her head snapped around. Jake was standing nearby, his face in deep shadow. It was as if her enraged imagination had conjured him up out of the darkness. A devil who had come to buy her soul. And she had almost sold it. More than almost, Heather was forced to acknowledge. By owning the Hacienda, he already owned a large chunk of it.
    „Good evening, Jake. Have you been enjoying yourself?“ From out of nowhere an icy calm settled on her.
    „Not particularly. But everyone else seems to be having a good time.“ He was still standing in darkness. She could barely see the narrowed gleam of his eyes, let alone read those unfathomable gray depths.
    „You’ll have to start learning how to have a good time too, won’t you? After all, you’re making the resort life a career, aren’t you?“
    His face hardened as she began to step past him, and he reached out to catch her wrist. „Heather? Are you all right?“
    Frantically she summoned a bright smile. „Of course. Why shouldn’t I be?“
    „You’ve never left one of these parties early. You always seem to enjoy playing hostess.“
    „I needed a little time to myself.“ She let her glance slide away from his implacably concerned expression.
    „Bridal jitters?“ he