Call It Destiny

not exactly marrying me for my looks, are you?“ he asked with a wry slanting smile.
    No, Heather thought, she wasn’t marrying him for his looks. After her experience with Rick Monroe she was unlikely to make the mistake of being attracted to any man on the basis of physical appearance. But even if she hadn’t learned the hard way that you couldn’t judge a man on that level, would she, in all honesty, have been attracted to Jake Cavender? He wasn’t a handsome man.
    It was not, however, his bluntly carved face that caught one’s attention. It was the cool assessing intelligence in those gray eyes that demanded first notice. Later a woman saw the heavy pelt of teak-shaded hair, noted the solid lean body and wondered about the grim brackets around his mouth. But it was the gray gaze that made one stop and think. He was not the kind of man a woman wanted for an enemy. His anger would not be loud and flamboyant. It would be cold and merciless. Just as well, Heather decided, that she was going to be the ranking partner in this marriage of convenience. Her status as the one in charge of the luxurious resort hotel her father had founded would insulate her from whatever masculine temperament and ego Jake Cavender indulged.
    It was one thing to yell at one’s wife; quite another to yell at one’s boss!
    „I don’t think either of us is entering this marriage with any ridiculous romantic illusions,“ Heather said softly. „I know I certainly have no interest in a marriage based on the traditional fantasies. I’ve learned to be a realist in the past few years. I think you probably are one, too. I see no reason why we shouldn’t get along very well together.“
    „You expect us to function as a team?“ Jake concentrated on the beautifully prepared lamb.
    „I expect us to function very much as the kind of team you and my father made.“ With me, of course, being the one in charge, Heather added silently. That part was very important. No need to stress it aloud to Jake, however. He knew his position in the hierarchy. Presumably he knew his position in the marriage, too. But just in case he didn’t, she’d spelled it all out in black and white in the prenuptial agreement she had handed to him earlier.
    „Your father and I weren’t exactly married to each other.“
    „Our being married shouldn’t make any difference in how the hotel is run.“
    Jake watched her for a few seconds. She could almost feel the way he was adding up the information he had about her and was putting it through the computer he called a brain. „You’re right,“ he finally said. „Our being married won’t make the slightest bit of difference in how the Hacienda Strand is run. More wine?“
    Heather brushed aside an odd sensation of unease and smiled her most charming smile. „Thank you.“ She held out her glass, her eyes softening above the rim as she relaxed again. „I have great hopes for this marriage, actually,“ she confided lightly. „It’s based on all the right things. We have the unifying interest of the hotel, for example. In the past few years I’ve come to realize just how sound an idea it is for husbands and wives to be able to share their work interests. Such ties seem much more durable than bonds based on romantic fluff, don’t you think? I’ve witnessed several divorces in which the man left his wife to marry his secretary simply because the work he had shared with the ‘other woman’ had built a stronger relationship than the marriage he had shared with his wife.“
    Jake gave her an odd glance. „In other words, you feel we have a basis for companionship?“
    „Exactly.“ Heather took another sip of wine and reflected on the subject she herself had brought up. „This marriage will also be very comfortable in a lot of other ways. My parents love you.“
    „That’s important to you?“
    „It wasn’t when I was eighteen but now, yes, it’s more important. It will just make things so much easier.“
    „When your father told me he had suggested the idea of us getting married, I half expected to hear you’d gone through the roof. Based on what I’d been told of your character I assumed a more or less arranged marriage would bring out all the old spirit of rebellion. I told Paul he’d made one hell of a mistake. That’s when he informed me that you were a changed woman.“
    „You sound as if you don’t believe in the change,“ she returned, mildly irritated by his skepticism. She’d seen