Call It Destiny

asked you more than once if running the Hacienda was all you came back here for. You told me there was a lot more to it than that. You said you wanted a home, roots, a sense of belonging. You said you wanted to be a part of the heritage of your father’s hotel. You can have all that, Heather. But there’s a price for everything.“
    „An honest businessman would have told me the full price long before now,“ she murmured.
    „You never asked. You just assumed you knew the full picture. Did you really think you could just come back to Tucson and take over? Did you think everything had been placed in a neat little time warp for you? That things have stood still awaiting the return of the queen? I arrived here two years ago because your father wanted some expert consulting advice. The Hacienda was in trouble, Heather.“
    „I don’t believe you!“
    „Believe what you want. I’m telling you the truth. I had recently pulled a couple of major hotels out of the red and put them back on their feet. Your father needed that kind of expertise and he needed it badly. He had the sense to listen to me. But advice wasn’t all he needed. The hotel needed an infusion of capital and I provided that.“
    „My father was in your debt?“ she demanded incredulously.
    „He could have repaid it once the hotel was back in smooth waters. That happened about eight months ago. But by then I knew I wanted to be a part of the place. Somehow the Hacienda had become home. I knew your father was getting tired of the responsibility of running it and that he had always hoped you would take it over. But no one knew what you were going to do. And, to tell you the truth, I personally didn’t think you deserved the place.“
    „So you set yourself up as judge and jury. Talk about arrogance!“
    „I wanted the Hacienda. And after I’d met you a couple of times, I realized that the hotel wasn’t all I wanted. Marrying you would satisfy your father’s longing to keep the place in the family. I wanted him to be completely happy with the deal, and I decided that marrying you would satisfy me, as well. By the time you proposed your little business bargain I was sure of it. I had told Paul when he agreed to sell me the Hacienda six months ago that I would make every effort to marry you. We agreed to keep our arrangement quiet until we could find out whether or not you and I would mesh.“
    „Well, you have your answer on that issue now!“
    „Yes, I think I do. We mesh very well, Heather Strand. The only glitch at the moment is your pride. Once you’ve had a chance to cool down I think you can be made to see that the deal between us is a good one.“
    „Will you stop referring to our marriage as a business arrangement?“ she hissed.
    „You’re the one who set it up that way. Prenuptial contract and all.“
    „Why am I standing here arguing with you?“ she asked more or less of the ceiling. „I’ve got a plane to catch in an hour.“
    „No you don’t. I canceled your reservation.“
    „You what?“
    „I called the airport before I called the motels. When I found out you had a reservation on the evening flight to San Francisco, r canceled it.“
    „That changes nothing. I’ll stay here tonight and catch the morning flight.“
    „You’re right about staying here tonight. We can discuss the morning flight tomorrow afternoon.“ He gave her his slow, quietly amused smile, but the reckless fire in his gray gaze flared as he spoke.
    „If you’re implying that you intend to spend the night with me, you can think again, Jake Cavender. You must be out of your mind if you really believe I’d let you stay here.“
    „This was supposed to be our wedding night,“ he reminded her silkily.
    „An interesting thought. When would you have bothered to tell me about the fact that you owned the hotel? Before you seduced me? Perhaps the next morning over breakfast? What a lovely wedding gift the news would have made.“
    He exhaled slowly. „Paul and I knew that if you realized your father had sold the Hacienda, you would never come home.“
    „How brilliantly astute of you!“
    „I also realized, and Paul agreed, that you weren’t likely to give any relationship between you and me much of a chance if you thought I owned the Hacienda.“
    „So the two of you set out to manipulate me,“ she concluded furiously.
    „We let nature take its course. No one ever lied to you, Heather. You just made some assumptions and neither your father nor