Barbara McCauley - Seduction Of The Reluctant Bride

“Jerk.” She pushed on his chest and shoved him back. When she started to stand, he laughed and took hold of her arms.

“Lighten up, Faith. I’m teasing. Now finish telling me what happened in Boston with Digger.”

With a sigh, she settled back, her demeanor subdued. “He left one day, supposedly on a trip to Texas. But he never came back. He gave all his recipes to Parnell Grayson, his manager, and told him to run the shop. Parnell was a brilliant businessman. Before long there were several sandwich shops, all successful. Then one year later, the first Elijah Jane Restaurant. Digger held onto ownership, managed the financial end from Texas, worked out new recipes and items for the menus, but he also gave Parnell exclusive control. The rest, as they say, is history.”

It was possible. He’d only been a kid at the time, but Sam remembered some talk about Digger living in Boston for a few months. “What happens now, with Digger gone?”

Faith shook her head. “No one really knows. Parnell is retiring as president, the board is in an upheaval and all new projects are being shelved for the time being. Until Digger’s death is official and his will is read, everything is on hold.”

“So the wolves are all waiting to see how Digger’s millions get split up,” he said tightly. “How much do you expect to get, Miss Courtland?”

“There’s a lot more at stake here than money, Mr. McCants.” Fire sparked in her cool blue eyes. “I’ve worked at Elijah Jane since I was sixteen. Weekends, nights, summer vacations. After I graduated, sixty-hour weeks were short hours for me. I’m the one who started the frozen food line, who brought advertising to TV, who personally opened ten restaurants in three states.”

Sam raised a brow. “You’re an ambitious woman, Faith. Or should I say Madam President?”

Her cheeks turned pink and that cute little chin of hers lifted. “I’ve worked for it, I was next in line. But only Digger had the power to appoint a new president. If the board votes, my chances are somewhere between slim and none.”

“If you’ve worked as hard as you say, earned the position, why wouldn’t they vote you in?”

The look she gave him was indulgent, and more than a little patronizing. “In case you haven’t noticed, and I do believe you have, I’m a woman, and I’m young. Even on a ranch, I’m sure that would be a disadvantage.”

Not for what he had in mind, Sam thought, but was smart enough to keep that thought to himself.

She was holding something back, playing some kind of game here. He was certain of it. He accepted that she thought him a country bumpkin, a cowboy who thought the term stock meant cattle and marketing meant buying groceries. He didn’t much give a damn what Faith Courtland thought about his business acumen, but he sure as hell didn’t like being made to look like a fool.

“None of this really answers why you’re here,” he said evenly. “Wills are legal documents. It would have made more sense if one of Elijah Jane’s lawyers had met with me. So tell me what made you, a busy woman with a lot of responsibility, decide to come all the way out here?”

She stared at the computer for a long moment, then sighed and leaned back in the chair. “Without a body, Digger can’t be declared legally dead until the State approves the petition. The company will be in chaos, the board will battle for control, stock prices will plummet. I intend to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Evening had veiled the room in near darkness now. The light from the computer screen cast a golden glow on Faith’s soft features. Sam could see the exhaustion in her eyes, but there was an underlying determination. “And just how do you intend to do that, Miss Courtland?”

Determination overcame exhaustion as she leaned forward and looked up at him. “I intend to find Digger’s body.”

Three

“You intend to do what?”

“He’s out there somewhere.” She pulled off her glasses, dropped them back in her purse. “I intend to find him.”

Based on the serious tone in her voice and that stubborn little tilt of her chin he’d already come to recognize, Sam thought it best not to laugh. “A search team already combed the area. Twice. The force of a flash flood in a canyon is without mercy. It takes everything in its path. Digger’s camp was directly in that path, almost entirely washed away. There was no sign of him or his horse. His body could be miles away, under dirt and rocks.”

Faith’s face went pale. He hadn’t meant to be so blunt, but under the absurdity of what she was suggesting, there seemed to be no other way.

“Could be miles away,” she repeated his words with a catch in her voice. “But you don’t know for sure, do you?”

“Of course we don’t know for sure. We’ll never know anything about what happened for sure. Life’s like that sometimes. You just accept it and go on.”

She shook her head. “I can’t accept it.”

“Darlin’, you don’t have any choice.”

“There are always choices,” she said firmly. “Some people are simply more active in their decisions.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I was down in that canyon for six days straight with two different search-and-rescue teams. Nobody knows the Lonesome Rock area better than me.”

“Then you take me in.”

Startled at her suggestion, all he could do was stare She was serious. She wanted to go into Lonesome Rock Canyon, and she wanted him to take her.

“I’ve been riding since I was five,” she went on. “I know how to handle a horse. Please, Sam, take me into the canyon.”

His name on her lips was a quiet plea. When she leaned in close to him, her eyes imploring, he felt his insides twist. It would be absolutely ridiculous, foolish even, to waste his time, or hers. But then—he thought of those long legs and curvy hips—he realized there could certainly be worse ways to spend a few days.

“I’ll pay you anything you want.”

She might as well have poured ice water down his pants. Money. Everything with Faith Courtland seemed to be about money or business. He mentally kicked himself to think he had nearly lost his sanity to those blue eyes.

“Sorry, Ms. Courtland.” He almost felt a touch of regret. Almost. “Not interested. You’re just going to have to learn how to deal with your business problems some other way.”

Her shoulders went as rigid as her voice. “If you won’t take me, I’ll just hire someone else.”

He shrugged. “It’s your money. Waste it any way you choose. I suggest you don’t try to hire anyone from these parts, though. You tell anyone that you’re going into the mountains to look for Digger’s body because his twohundred-million-dollar business is in trouble and they’ll put you in a padded cell.”

“You can’t stop me from looking for him,” she said coolly.

“Who said anything about stopping you?” He felt unreasonably angry. “That’s your unofficial fiancé’s job. And speaking of him, I’d like to know what kind of a man would let his wife-to-be go traipsing off into the mountains with a strange guy?”

Imperceptibly, her chin rose higher. “Harold is extremely understanding. He would never presume to tell me what to do. Our relationship is based on mutual trust and respect.”

“Mutual stupidity, is more like it.” He grabbed both arms of the chair she sat in, effectively caging her in. “That would be the day I’d let the woman I loved go off with another man.”

She held her calm gaze level with his, but Sam could have sworn the pulse at the base of her neck was trembling. He felt strangely torn between wringing that gorgeous neck and kissing it.

“I’m not ‘going off with anyone.” Icicles hung from her words. “And fortunately, your antiquated attitude toward the modern woman has nothing to do with me. I don’t like loose ends, Mr. McCants. Especially where Elijah Jane is concerned. Once this matter can be put to rest, the company can proceed smoothly and effectively. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a great deal of paperwork I’ve brought with me and several phone calls to make.”