After the cat securing in the back of the Land Rover, Kirk picked one of the men to accompany him to the vet while the other two returned to the ranch.
Although the hunt was over, and Kirk should have been happy with the way things had ended, but he wasn’t. In fact, he felt somewhat akin to the cougar—tied on a limb and unsure of when he’d be released, if ever.
The one thing he did know, was that when he got back to the ranch, he would have a talk with Cassandra—a very serious talk. He was no longer willing to play this game she and her father were involved in.
Cassandra would have to make up her mind, one way or the other. It was either Cassandra and Kirk, or Cassandra and her money. Kirk refused to accept having his emotions decided on by a profit and loss statement.
Chapter Fourteen
Kirk pulled up to the main house, shut off the engine, and climbed out of the Rover. His timing couldn’t have been better: the office staff would be eating lunch in the dining hall and Cassandra, he hoped, would be alone.
The moment he’d dropped the cougar off, he’d driven straight back to the ranch, his mind set purposefully on the confrontation with Cassandra. The long hours spent deep in thought had set his mind on a single purpose. Kirk had to know what was happening with his life: he had to know the truth about Cassandra’s feelings.
He had watched her change dramatically over the past eleven months. He loved and wanted her but did not know if she would be willing to give up everything that had been hers all her life.
Taking long bold strides, Kirk entered the house and went straight into Cassandra’s office, which was empty.
Jane had told him she’d gone to Phoenix yesterday because of some banking problems, but he’d fully expected her back today. Maybe she’s at the dining hall. As he started to leave, he glanced at her desk and saw the stack of messages sitting on it.
That wasn’t at all like Cassandra. She had always been extremely efficient about answering her messages. The large stack denied that fact.
Walking to the desk, Kirk glanced at the top memo. It was from the Blackstone Dude Ranch, inquiring about a horse and dated yesterday, at three p.m.
Cassandra would never hold off returning the call—it meant profits. Sensing something wrong, Kirk leafed through the stack of messages until one caught his eye.
His muscles tensed, and his blood ran cold when he read the name. Somner Barwell. The message, dated two days ago, had come the same day he’d gone after the cat. The message was simple: call me soon, important.
“What’s important?” he asked, suddenly suspicious and angry. He knew he had no reason to be angry, but as he put the messages down, he couldn’t squelch this new uneasy feeling. The message was a reminder to Kirk of just how tenuous he felt his hold on Cassandra was.
Kirk left the offices and walked across to the dining hall, hoping to find Cassandra there and to find out also why Somner Barwell was calling her. Even as he thought of this, he paused.
Slow down, he ordered himself. Barwell was a part of her life before Twin Rivers. She can talk to whomever she wants. Trying to make himself accept the thought, he went into the dining hall. When he stepped into the dining hall, he saw she wasn’t there. He spotted Jane off to one side and joined her at the table.
“Hey, boss man, welcome home. Catch your cat?” she asked with a smile.
“She’s at Doc Mason’s,” he said. “Hasn’t Cassandra gotten back from Phoenix yet?”
Jane took a sip of coffee as she decided how to answer him. “I haven’t seen her today,” she replied truthfully. “Tell me about the cat.”
Kirk was about to beg off, but instead he took a deep breath and nodded. “She’s a beauty,” he began.
~~~~
Cassandra returned to Arizona and Twin Rivers, and as soon as she stepped out of the Land Rover, she knew she was home. Under the heat of the midday sun, she realized that she had not enjoyed her time in New York. She’d disliked the grayness, the chilly air, and the frowning, tense faces surrounding her.
Shaking her head at this new revelation, Cassandra walked into the house and up to her suite. She was glad to be back and anxious to tell Kirk about the things she’d learned. She’d done a lot of thinking on the plane, trying to figure a way out of the sinister trap her father had conjured.
In the apartment, Cassandra unpacked her small bag before changing out of one of the two designer dresses she’d worn on the trip. Then she changed into a pair of jeans, a top, and her now well-broken-in boots. Twenty-five minutes after arriving at the ranch, Cassandra went into her office, just as Thelma returned from lunch.
“Thelma,” Cassandra called. “Has Kirk gotten back yet?”
“He just got back. He’s at the dining hall,” Thelma informed her.
“Thank you,” Cassandra said as she went into her office, where she saw the large stack of waiting messages. When she neared the bottom of the pile, she found the message from Somner, marked important.
Staring at it brought back the memory of that long-ago day and the unsuspected anger that had come over him. “Nothing’s that important,” she said, balling up the note and throwing it in the trash can.
Sitting back, Cassandra closed her eyes and thought of how different she was from the woman who had dined with Somner eleven months before.
She was so lost in her thoughts she didn’t hear the footsteps approaching her desk. Yet she sensed that someone was staring at her.
Opening her eyes, she found Kirk gazing down at her. “Hi,” she said in a throaty voice. A warm feeling spread through her at the sight of his handsome face. “Did you have good hunting?”
Kirk gazed at her for a few seconds. “I would have rather had no hunting at all. How are you?”
“Good, Kirk, now.” she said honestly. Then she sat straighter in the chair. She wanted to go to him, to be in his strong arms, but she saw the office door was open. Instead, she spoke to him. “Kirk, I may have found out what my father’s plan is.”
Kirk remained silent and waited for her to continue. Standing, Cassandra went to the door and closed it. When she turned back to face Kirk, she saw he was scrutinizing her intently.
Kirk drank in her beauty, amazed that after all this time she looked even more beautiful than when he’d first seen her. He wanted to talk to her, to find out once and for all what their future would be. He held himself back.
“I was in New York yesterday,” she began. When she saw the surprised look on his face, she raced on. “I flew out when you went after the cat. I just got back.”
Kirk’s gaze hardened, but she didn’t notice it as she went on. “I went there to talk to my father.”
“And?” The single word was loud and harsh, but he didn’t care.
“He wasn’t there; neither was Mr. Charter. So I decided to take the opportunity to use the computer, and I found out why we sell our cattle only to Carway Distributors.” Cassandra paused to take a breath and to study Kirk’s face, which had grown very tense while she’d spoken.
“Leeds International owns Carway Distributors. The reason the price is so low is Twin Rivers’ losses offset the Carway profits. Tax-wise, Leeds actually makes more after tax profit.”
Kirk nodded. “Your father’s a devious man.”
“He’s also a good businessman. What he’s doing makes sense in the overall picture for Leeds International.”
“And Twin Rivers is only a small cog in a big wheel,” Kirk stated as more of the pieces of the elusive puzzle fell into place.
Kirk couldn’t think logically, however. He was still hearing her say that she had gone to New York; he was remembering the message from Somner Barwell, dated the same day she’d left. Jane had told him she was in Phoenix. Why the lie?
“There’s more,” Cassandra said.
“What else could there be? Your father’s taken care of everything.”
Misinterpreting the angry tones in Kirk’s voice, Cassandra went to her desk and picked up the computer printout. “You
never talk about your past, never,” she began when she was facing him again. “Not about growing up, not about the time you were in the army. You were in intelligence, weren’t you?”
“You read my personnel file,” he stated flatly.
“Yes. Kirk, why would Father have had a geological survey done on Twin Rivers?”
Kirk’s brow wrinkled, caught off guard by Cassandra’s twisting conversation. “Just routine—no real reason.”
“There has to be one. Father doesn’t do anything without a reason,” she stated as she handed him the sheet of paper. “I found that in one of the files.”
Kirk looked at the paper and then at Cassandra. “And?”
“It means something, Kirk. It’s important, and I think it has something to do with what’s going on here.”
“What do you want me to do about it?”
“I don’t know. When I remembered you were in military intelligence in the Army, I thought maybe you could figure out the password and we could find out what the geological survey was for.”
Kirk shook his head. “Cassandra, you need an expert to break into a computer security system. That wasn’t my specialty. Besides,” he said with a shrug, “what difference will it make now? Your father’s won—Carway was the deciding factor.”
Cassandra stared at him in disbelief. “What are you saying?”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet? You came up with a way to show a profit. You almost beat your father by using future sales on the horses. Nevertheless, your father came up with a way to defeat the profits by having Carway lower the price for the cattle. As you said, you ‘never break your promises.’ When is the wedding?”
Cassandra shook her head violently, denying his words with every beat of her heart. “There has to be a way,” she whispered as the truth of his words struck with the sharpness of a knife.
“I thought we were working together,” Kirk said suddenly, unable to stop himself from venting his bitterness.
Cassandra, taken aback by the angry tone in his voice, replied hesitantly. “We are.”
“Are we? Why did you lie to Jane about going to Phoenix when you actually went to New York?” With that question, Kirk knew he had drawn the battle lines.
Cassandra’s anger caused her to think irrationally. She was bone tired, and everything she’d learned in the past two days had dulled her usually sharp perceptions. Her father’s deception had saddened her, and the possible defeat at his hands hurt her deeply. Kirk’s tone, along with his accusatory glare, were the final straws.
“What I did, I did for us! I don’t know what happened while I was gone, but you have no right to say those things. I went to New York to find answers. Answers you’ve been looking for!” With that, Cassandra took a deep breath and stared at Kirk’s tight features.
Intuitively she knew it wasn’t her trip to New York, something else was bothering Kirk.
“What, Kirk? What are you trying to say?”
Kirk shook his head. He almost laughed aloud, but he didn’t. He had come here to talk to her. To ask her to spend, her life with him on a ranch. Now he knew better. He had finally come to the realization that his hopes for the future were nothing more than pointless fantasies; Cassandra Leeds was indeed a different breed than he.
“The game’s over. For a while, I thought I had a chance; for a while, I believed it. I see how wrong I was. Cassandra, those silken threads that attach you to your father are too strong for you to break.” With that, Kirk walked stiffly past her and reached for the doorknob, the computer printout clutched, forgotten, in his hand.
“Kirk,” Cassandra whispered.
Kirk stopped, his shoulders stiff. He turned only his head.
“Don’t shut me out again! Stay and talk to me.”
“I don’t think I will…not this time.” He opened the door and left.
Behind him, staring helplessly at his retreating back, Cassandra drooped, her numbed mind refusing to accept what had just happened.
~~~~
Cassandra pulled back on Suzi’s reins just as she crested the low rise. When the horse stopped, Cassandra turned in the saddle to look at the golden-hued glory surrounding her. Next to her, Jane Paulson did the same.
Gazing at the sunset, she thought about the two weeks following the strange scene in her office. Each day since Kirk had walked out of the office had passed with the speed of a century. For Cassandra, each day was endless.
Nights were the worst, filled with dark and sleepless hours caused by her inability to understand what had happened between her and Kirk.
She’d tried to speak to him several times, but whenever she mentioned anything about the two of them, he’d stop her cold, refusing to discuss anything but business.
“Ready to talk yet?” Jane asked as she studied Cassandra’s face.
“Talk?” Cassandra asked innocently.
Jane laughed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you grew up out here. Silent cowboy and all that stuff. Come on, Cassandra, you haven’t been yourself for weeks. What happened?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered.
“Of course not. That’s why you’ve kept yourself locked up in the main house since you got back from New York.”
“Jane…”
“No, ma’am, I remember when you first got here. You were a frightened woman, pretending you weren’t. You pretended so well you ended up making everyone at Twin Rivers dislike you. You were strong enough to change their minds and your own. Why revert now?”
“Why not?” she asked bitterly. “What difference does anything make anymore?”
“You mean you’re giving up?” Jane snapped harshly.
Cassandra stared at her, her mind unaffected by her friend’s words. “If you want to call it that. Or maybe someone gave up on me.”
Grasping the reins tightly, Cassandra started to turn Suzi. Jane, seeing this, reached out and stopped her. “Wait!”
“Jane—”
“Cassandra, I thought we were friends?”
“We are.”
“Are we? Do you always turn your back on your friends?”
“I…” Cassandra began but stopped. She looked into Jane’s eyes, and suddenly the wall she had erected tumbled. Words poured from her like a waterfall. She told Jane the story of her father’s deception with the meat distribution and of Kirk’s sudden rejection. When she was finished, she stared at helplessly Jane.
“There’s nothing you can do about your father, but do you remember what you said to me when you left for New York?”
Cassandra shrugged.
“You said you didn’t want Kirk to know yet, because of his pride. What else is this all about?”
Cassandra considered Jane’s question, and slowly shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think it’s something else. Something he won’t discuss.”
“Ask him!”
“He won’t listen to anything except business.”
“Make him,” Jane stated. “Make him listen to you!”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“Getting a person to listen to you is easy. Getting him to hear you is the hard part,” Jane said.
“Ah…a quote from one of your psychology text books,” Cassandra responded sarcastically.
Jane shook her head. “It’s one of my cousin’s sayings.” Cassandra smiled.
“I really do want to meet him one day.”
“You will; I promise you. But talk to Kirk.”
“I’ll try,” Cassandra said, relenting.
~~~~
The music barked loudly in Kirk’s ears, but he didn’t care. He lifted his drink and stared at himself in the barroom mirror. He didn’t like what he saw. His eyes had a vacant faraway look. His mouth was tight and his jaw was stiff.
During the last weeks he’d become a loner, speaking only when spoken to and answering in monosyllabic replies. He was growing more distant from his work, and from caring what happened at Twin Rivers.
Only once
had he thought about the ranch with any real concern, and that had been on the very afternoon Cassandra had given him the computer printout. Not even knowing why he was bothering, late on the night of their argument, he’d called a friend of his, a man he’d worked with in the Middle East. Darren Hawks had been a computer expert in army intelligence during the war. As a civilian, he worked with the State Department.
When Kirk had reached him, he’d explained what a little about the situation and asked if there was a way to break into the system to find the password. Darren had been noncommittal but had promised to look into it.
“I haven’t seen you drinking alone since—” Jane’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“You were twelve,” Kirk finished for her.
“Fourteen actually. You came home on leave.”
“What?”
“Can we talk?”
“Are you asking if I’m sober?”
“Can we talk?” Jane reiterated.
Kirk nodded his head. “Go on.”
“Why are you treating her this way?”
“Why not? I got seduced into playing rich people’s games for stakes that are too high.”
“Are they?”
“They were.”
“You’re in love with her,” Jane stated with finality.
“So what? She’ll be marrying the very rich Somner Barwell after the end of the fiscal year.”
“If you let her.”
“Wrong. It’s her…game.”
“I don’t think it is a game. I think you’re making it into one so your own bruised ego can survive.”
Kirk turned and stared at Jane, his eyes hard and flat. “Don’t give me a lecture about myself,” he warned, his voice a low growl.
“Don’t try to scare me. I’m not your ten-year-old cousin anymore. Kirk, Cassandra loves you. She’s terribly hurt by whatever it is you’ve done to her.”
“Me? I think you’ve got things backward.”
“Do I Kirk? Do I really?”
“Really!” Kirk snapped.
Jane gazed at her cousin, the man she respected and loved above any other person in the world, and found herself unable to accept the changes she saw in him.
Silken Threads Page 18
