Call It Destiny

nice guy. But then, I never was. If I had been, you wouldn’t have wanted to run off with me when you were eighteen.“
    „I wanted to run off with you because I thought you were a lot like me,“ Heather whispered, walking tensely to the window. The Fiat and its driver were long gone. Heather felt more alone than she had ever felt in her life. She could only hope and pray that she’d managed to communicate to Jake the fact that something was drastically wrong. But even if he’d picked up her message there wasn’t much time for him to drive all the way back into town and call for help. The rain was pounding down into the canyon at a steadily increasing rate. The force of this evening’s storms was bound to make driving all but impossible for long stretches.
    Then there was the other, more probable situation. Jake might not have realized she was in any kind of trouble at all. Perhaps he really had taken his rejection like a gentleman.
    No matter how hard Heather tried to convince herself that was the case, she couldn’t quite do it. A man who had schemed to get her to the altar so that he could lock in everything in life that was important to him; a man who hadn’t taken the rejection of being abandoned at that altar and had chased down his bride to claim his wedding night; a man like that wouldn’t just meekly walk out of a situation like this. Surely he wouldn’t simply abandon the woman he’d worked so hard to possess.
    Unless he’d come to the conclusion that he didn’t want her after last night.
    „Why don’t you fix us some coffee, Heather? And feed that fire a bit. It’s getting cool in here. Geez, there’s a lot of water coming down out there.“
    „What will you do if your business partner can’t make it up that road?“ Almost grateful for a task to give her something to do, Heather set about making coffee in an old pot. Her father had taught her how to do it over a cook stove. His recipe made for a brew that would probably float spoons.
    As she searched through the drawers; looking for old dishes, she was surprised to come across a cabinet full of reasonably new mugs, canned coffee and other miscellaneous items.
    „I put all that stuff in there,“ Rick commented as he saw her looking at the contents of the cabinet. „I told you I use this place a lot.“
    „Where did you go after you took the bike and left me standing alongside the highway, Rick?“ She would try to keep matters as casual as possible; pretend they really were old friends rehashing the past. And perhaps while she worked she’d find some item that could be used as a weapon.
    „Let’s see,“ the man mused, never taking his eyes off her. „I went on to Los Angeles. A bright guy with an expensive bike to sell can get a good start in a city like that. I used that motorcycle as capital, you might say. Made some investments.“
    „Investments!“ She looked up, startled.
    „Drugs, babe.“ He grinned at her naiveté, shaking his head. „For all your free-spirited talk back in the old days, you were real straight, weren’t you?“
    „I didn’t realize it bothered you,“ she retorted caustically. „You sure made it a point to hang around me a lot.“
    He shrugged, his fingers idly toying with the handle of the gun he’d recovered from under the cushion and thrust back into his belt. It was another small gesture of nervous tension and it made Heather more nervous.
    „I figured that what I’d be able to collect from your old man would make it worth putting up with your crazy notions of right and wrong. You couldn’t have been more off base in thinking that you and I had a lot in common,“ he taunted.
    „I found that out as soon as I made it clear I would not be contacting my father for money the day we left town.“
    „You made such a scene that day.“ Rick shook his head in sarcastic humor. „You’re good at scenes, though, aren’t you? That was a hell of an interesting one you played out for that dude you’ve been sleeping with. He bought the whole story, too. But maybe that’s because there was a lot of truth in it. I’ll bet he really had begun to bore you. After all, we both know your taste in men runs more toward guys like me.“
    „Eleven years ago I had lamentably poor taste in men.“
    „Better watch that tongue, babe. I’m not in a mood to take any of your sass this evening.“
    „Yes, I know. You’re here to conduct business.“ Heather concentrated on the coffee she was