The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

those. No, you shouldn't expect an apology. I did what I had to do." He put the Mercedes in gear and pulled smoothly out of the lot. "I had to get you down here, Maggie. There wasn't any other way to do it."

    "You're wasting your time, Rafe. And please stop calling me Maggie. You gave me your word you'd remember to call me Margaret."

    "I said I'd try to remember."

    "Try, Rafe," she murmured, mimicking his earlier words. "Try real hard."

    Rafe gave her an amused look as he stopped to hand some cash to the gate attendant. "But I've got a lot on my mind these days and the small stuff tends to slip through the cracks."

    Her hands clenched in her lap. "That's all I ever was to you, wasn't it, Rafe? Small stuff. Unimportant stuff."

    "You're small, all right." His voice had an affectionate, teasing edge to it now as he pulled away from the gate. "But no way are you going to slip through the cracks. Not this time."

    "You don't want me back, Rafe."

    "No? Why would I go to all the bother of blackmail to get you here if I didn't want you back?"

    She frowned. "I've been thinking about that. The only conclusion I can come up with is that in your mind I'm the one who got away. It's true you kicked me out of your life, but when I went without a backward glance and stayed out, your ego took a beating, didn't it?"

    "You did a number on my ego, all right," he agreed dryly. "It hasn't been the same since."

    "Is that what this is all about? Revenge?" She shivered, remembering what Jack Moorcroft had said.
Cassidy is out for blood
.

    "I would do a lot of things for revenge under certain circumstances," Rafe said, "but getting married isn't one of them. I'm not masochistic. Don't make any mistake about it, Maggie. I brought you down here to give myself some time to undue the damage that got done last year."

    "The damage is irreparable."

    "No, it's not. We're going to put that mess behind us and get on with our lives."

    "I have been getting on with my life," she pointed out. "Very nicely, thank you. I've been quite happy this past year."

    "Lucky you. I've been to hell and back."

    She sucked in her breath. "Rafe, please, don't say things like that. We both know you're not the type to pine for a woman, especially one you think betrayed you. You're far more likely to look for a way to reap some vengeance against her. And I suspect that's exactly what you're doing by going after my father's firm."

    "I'm not going after it. Your dad wants to sell to me. It's a profitable operation that will fit in well with the other businesses Cassidy and Company runs, so I'm taking a serious look at it. That's all there is to it."

    "I don't believe that."

    "I know. That's why you're here, isn't it? To rescue Connor from my clutches. You might be able to do that, Maggie, but I doubt you'll get him out of my mother's hands. Wait until you see them together. They're made for each other."

    "It's all part of some plot you've cooked up, Rafe. Why don't you tell me what you're really after?"

    "You're beginning to sound paranoid, honey."

    "I'm not paranoid, I'm careful."

    He smiled fleetingly at that. "No, Maggie, you're not careful. If you were careful, you wouldn't be here."

    Margaret took refuge in silence for the next several miles. She folded her arms beneath her breasts and stared out the window at the arid landscape as she tried desperately to think. She had been struggling to put together some sort of battle plan ever since she had accepted the inevitability of this trip. But she was still very uncertain of what to do now that she was here. Part of the problem was that she could not be sure of what Rafe was really up to.

    She did not believe for a moment that he wanted to marry her. But it was entirely possible he wanted to seduce her so that he could have the satisfaction of punishing her for her so-called betrayal.

    Then, too, there was Moorcroft to consider. She didn't care what happened to Jack or his firm but she had to wonder if Rafe intended to use her in some scheme to get even with his rival.

    Finally there was the business of her father getting involved with Beverly Cassidy and planning to sell Lark Engineering to Rafe.

    No doubt about it, the situation was complicated and potentially dangerous.

    A typical Rafe Cassidy operation
, Margaret thought.

3

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    "T his your home, Rafe?" Margaret watched in amazement as the main buildings of the Cassidy Ranch came into view.

    Set in the foothills with a sweeping view