The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

Carlisle, and then Moorcroft. Dominoes all lined up in a neat little row."

    "Why are you telling me this in advance? You're giving me time to maneuver. Why do that?"

    "Because I'm canceling my plans. I've changed my mind. I'm not going to topple my little row of dominoes after all. I just wanted you to know what almost happened." Rafe's mouth curved faintly. "It's about the only satisfaction I'm going to get."

    "To what do I owe this unexpected generosity of spirit?" Moorcroft looked more wary than ever.

    "My wife. She didn't like being the reason for the collapse of an empire the size of yours. She's a soft little creature in some ways." Rafe grinned and took a sip of Scotch. "Plenty of spirit, though. Feisty as hell. You haven't been through anything until you've been through a wedding night with a bride who wants to lecture you on business ethics."

    "We're talking about Margaret Lark, I take it? You've married her?" Moorcroft looked a little bewildered.

    "Day before yesterday."

    "Congratulations," Moorcroft said dryly. "You're a lucky man. I guess I am, too, if the reason you're calling off the revenge bit is on account of her. Looks like she saved my tail. So she was worried enough about me to make you change your whole battle plan. Interesting."

    "Don't get too excited," Rafe advised. "It wasn't you she was concerned about. It was all the other innocent people who would go down with you. There's always a lot of bloodletting in the case of an unfriendly takeover. You know that."

    "She wouldn't want that on her conscience."

    "No."

    "She's a real lady, isn't she?"

    "Yeah. She's a lady all right. You forgot that last year."

    Moorcroft nodded. "I shouldn't have said some of the things I did last year."

    "No," Rafe agreed, his eyes still on the view.

    "You know why I said them?"

    "Sure. You wanted her and you knew you'd never have her," Rafe said succinctly.

    "Never in a million years. She never gave me any sign of being interested in all the time she worked for me. Totally ignored every approach I tried to make. Then you appeared on the scene and she fell right into your hands."

    "Yeah, well, if it makes you feel any better, I had something going for me you didn't have."

    "What's that?" Moorcroft glanced in disgust at Rafe's hand-tooled boots.

    "I was the man of her dreams. Straight out of one of her books."

    "Women."

    "Yeah." Rafe put his glass down on the desk and smiled fleetingly. "Maggie says they're going to take over the business world one of these days and show us how to run things right."

    "I can't wait." Moorcroft looked at the Ellington file and then at Rafe. He frowned. "Is this business between us really over, Cassidy?"

    "Almost." Rafe slid his boots off the desk, got up and peeled off his jacket. Then he started to roll up his sleeves.

    "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Moorcroft got slowly to his feet.

    "Finishing it." Rafe smiled. "You get to keep your company but I can't let you get off scot-free after insulting my wife's honor. One way or another you've got to pay for that, Moorcroft. You know how it is. Code of the West and all that."

    "I suppose it won't do me any good to remind you she wasn't your wife at the time?"

    "Nope. Doesn't matter. She still belonged to me. She has since the day I met her, whether she knew it or not. You want to take off your jacket so it doesn't get messed up? Looks like nice material."

    Moorcroft eyed him for a long moment. Then he sighed again, shrugged off his jacket and unfastened the gold links on his cuffs.

    Rafe went over to the door and locked it.

    When he walked out of the office ten minutes later he paused briefly to tug his Stetson low over his eyes. He smiled brilliantly at the two secretaries. "Your boss won't be taking any more appointments today, ladies."

    "Y ou're married ? What the hell do you mean, you're married?" Connor Lark roared at his daughter as he climbed out of the car and went around to the passenger side to open the door for Bev. "We go away for a few days to give you and Cassidy a chance to work out your differences and you up and get hitched. Couldn't you at least have waited until we got back?"

    "Sorry, Dad, Rafe was in a hurry. Hello, Bev. How was Sedona?"

    "Just lovely." Bev gave her a quick hug and then stood back to look at her new daughter-in-law. "Did that son of mine really marry you while we were gone?"

    "It was real cheap and tacky, Bev. A Vegas wedding, no less. But it was for real."