Call It Destiny

Jake. What are you doing here? If you’ve come to drag your errant bride home, you’re wasting your time.“
    „Am I?“ He closed the door behind him with a final-sounding click.
    Heather stood up, feeling too vulnerable in a sitting position. Standing didn’t help a great deal, she discovered. She still felt too vulnerable. There was something far too intimidating about Jake Cavender this evening. It was as if the careful remote mask he had always worn in her presence had disintegrated. The controlled savagery that had replaced it was far from reassuring.
    „Be satisfied with what you’ve got, Jake,“ she mocked harshly. „Take it from me, you don’t get everything you want in life.“
    „Perhaps not, but I can take a damn good shot at it.“ He took a step toward her and halted.
    „You don’t need me. You’ve got the Hacienda and you’ve got the goodwill and affection of my family. Believe me, after today they’ll probably cast me out of the family altogether and put you in my place. As long as you’re here, though, would you mind answer ing a few questions?“
    „Why not? I’m willing to talk before proceeding to the next step.“
    „Bastard,“ she breathed tightly.
    „Is that a question or a comment? Whichever it is, it happens to be true in a technical sense.“ Jake sank fluidly in the room’s only chair, stretching out his long jeaned legs. His gray eyes never wavered. „I didn’t have the advantage of growing up in a home where I really belonged, Heather. For me it was one foster home after another after my mother finally gave up trying to support me and a drinking habit, too. My father wasn’t in the picture long enough to worry about supporting anything or anyone.“
    „I’m not in the mood for a sob story, Jake.“
    „Because it makes you feel guilty? You can handle that, Heather. You’ve had to deal with guilt more than once in your life, haven’t you? To tell you the truth, though, I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty or even a little sorry for me. I was trying to explain why I’m capable of appreciating what you so blithely are willing to toss aside whenever things aren’t going exactly as you’d like them to go.“
    „I have nothing left to blithely toss aside. You bought it, lock, stock and barrel six months ago!“
    He eyed her thoughtfully for a long moment. „You found out last night, didn’t you? During that period when you disappeared from the staff party. What were you doing, Heather? Ransacking the office?“
    „I was under the illusion that the office was mine. I thought I was merely going through my own files,“ she raged.
    „The office and the files belong to us. You and me.“
    „The hell they do,“ she muttered seethingly. „You own the Hacienda. And any rights I might have had to the place as your wife I signed away myself when I had that prenuptial agreement drawn up. How you must have laughed that night when you agreed to sign! My God, Jake. Just because I’ve been a complete fool for the past month, give me some credit for basic intelligence.“
    „Your father fully intended for both of us to be running the Hacienda Strand when he sold out to me,“ Jake told her levelly.
    „Oh, yes, I remember. The famous management team we’re supposed to make. It may sound lovely in theory but we both know there can never be two people sharing equally in that kind of control. In the final analysis there can only be one boss. And guess who that one boss will be?“
    „We’re going to be a team, Heather.“
    „Uh huh. You want an example of teamwork in action? Suppose I decide I definitely don’t want to put in that golf course. What will you do then?“ she challenged, beginning to pace restlessly in the confined space available.
    There was silence from Jake’s chair. When she swung around to confront him he was watching her broodingly.
    „Well?“ she prodded.
    „I want the golf course built.“
    „And in the end, because you own the place, you’ll go ahead and build it. Regardless of my decision. There wouldn’t be one single thing I could do to stop you. That’s the way the tough decisions would always go. You own Hacienda Strand and, in the final analysis, you’ll make the major choices for the hotel’s future. I’m nothing if not realistic when it comes to business, Jake, so don’t try to con me.“ She wrapped her arms across her breasts, tensely rubbing her arms. „Heaven knows I’ve been conned enough recently.“
    „I