The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

true your father and I are thinking of doing a little business together."

    "Good Lord. What kind of business?"

    "I'm going to buy Lark Engineering."

    It was the final bombshell as far as Margaret was concerned. She leaped to her feet. She wanted to call him a liar again, but even as the words crossed her mind, she was terribly, coldly afraid. "My father would never sell the firm to you. He built it from the ground up. It's his whole life. If he's thinking of selling out, it's because you're forcing his hand. What have you done, Rafe? What kind of leverage are you using against him?"

    Rafe rose slowly to his feet, looming over her. He dominated the elegant room—a dark, dangerous intruder who threatened Margaret's hard-won peace of mind as nothing else ever had. She looked up at him, feeling small and very vulnerable. But she refused to step back out of reach. She would not give him the satisfaction.

    "You really don't think very much of me, do you?" Rafe's mouth was taut with his rigidly controlled anger. "It's a good thing I learned something about handling my own pride this past year because the look in your eyes right now is enough to make a man feel about two inches tall."

    "Really?" Her voice was scathing. "And do you feel two inches tall?"

    "No, ma'am," he admitted. "But I probably would if I were guilty of whatever it is you think I'm doing to your father. Lucky for me I'm as innocent as a new foal."

    "Are you saying you're not forcing him to sell out to you?"

    "Nope. Ask him."

    "I will, damn you."

    "You'll have to come down to the ranch to do that," Rafe said. "Because that's where he is and he won't reassure you on the phone."

    "Why not?"

    "Because he knows I want some time with you down there and he's agreed to act as the bait. You'll have to fly to Arizona if you want to convince yourself that I'm not pulling a fast one."

    "And if I don't go?"

    "Then I reckon you'll sit here in Seattle and worry a lot."

    She shook her head, dazed. "I don't believe any of this. Why are you doing it?"

    "I've told you why I'm doing it. I want another chance with you. This is the only way I know to get it."

    "Even if that disaster last year didn't stand between us, we have no business thinking about getting involved again. I've told you that. I could never marry you, Rafe. Not for long, at any rate."

    "I'll make you change your mind."

    "Impossible. I know you too well now. The truth is, I knew you too well last year. That's the reason I didn't give you an answer the first time you asked. Or the second or the third. Your first love is business and your overriding passion in life is for making money, not making love."

    Rafe contrived to look hurt. "I don't recall you complaining too loud in bed."

    Margaret clenched her fists. "On the rare occasions you managed to find time to take me to bed you performed just fine."

    "Why, thank you, honey. It's real sweet of you to remember."

    "You're missing the point," she hissed.

    "Yeah?"

    "The point is, you don't have a lot of time in your life for a relationship of any kind. During the two months we were dating you were always flying into Seattle for a weekend and then flying out again Monday morning. Or you would show up on my doorstep at midnight on a Wednesday, take me to bed and then disappear at six the next day to get to a business conference in L.A."

    "I admit I used to do a fair amount of traveling, but I've cut back lately."

    "And when you weren't traveling, you were tied up at the office. Remember all those times you called from Tucson and told me you wouldn't be able to make it up here to Seattle? I was expected to rearrange all my plans to accommodate you. Or else you'd arrive with a briefcase full of work and Doug Hatcher in tow and the two of you would take over my living room for a full day."

    "Now, honey, there was a lot going on at the time."

    "With you there always will be a lot going on. It's your nature. Your mother was kind enough to point that out to me. Said you were just like your father. You thrive on your work. Beating the competition to the draw is the most important thing in your life."

    "You're getting carried away now, Maggie, love. Just take it easy, honey. I'm dead serious about this. I want to get married."

    "Oh, I believe you. You'd find a wife useful. You want a wife who will be a convenience for you—someone to handle your entertaining, your home, your social life. Someone who will warm your bed when you want it warmed