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‘’You mean—you mean, you’re taking the company away from me?”
“Angel, you know that’s what I came here to do.”
“But—but you just said—you said you were sorry, that I was right, that it was men like you who were keeping me from getting a feel for the business—”
Cade frowned. “I never said anything like that.”
“You did, Cade! You said you’d help me learn—”
“Hell, you’re twisting everything.” His frown deepened. “I said I shouldn’t have let you go into that meeting thinking you were still in charge of Gordon Oil, that I should have told you—”
“You mean—you mean, you’d already reached a decision this morning?”
“Angel, you aren’t listening. I’ve just told you, I knew all along you had to be lying about that verbal agreement.” He smiled. “Oh, I was willing to figure there might be a chance in a million that it was real, but—”
“But instead of telling me that,” Angelica said, “you decided to play games.” Her voice shook. “You—you held out hope when there wasn’t any, you—you seduced me…”
“Will you stop this?” Cade’s eyes darkened with anger; he grabbed her by the arms and shook her. “Forget Gordon Oil, dammit! I love you, Angelica. Do you hear me? I love you, and you don’t need Gordon Oil anymore. I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life.”
For a fraction of a second, the admission that he loved her seemed to shimmer in the air between them. But then it was swept aside, made meaningless by reality.
“You mean—you mean, you’ll do what you did today, Cade, you’ll—you’ll treat me like—like some poor little soul who’s incapable of thinking for herself.”
“No!” His fingers bit into her flesh. “I’ll treat you like the woman you really are. I’ll cherish you and protect you—”
“And think for me, and speak for me…” The breath sobbed from Angelica’s throat. She gave an anguished cry as she twisted free of his grasp. “I’d sooner die than live my life like that!”
Cade’s mouth thinned. “Let me be sure we understand each other,” he said. “If I gave you the choice between running Gordon Oil and marrying me—”
“This hasn’t anything to do with Gordon Oil! Don’t you see? I need to be my own person, Cade, I need to have the right to—to make my own decisions.”
“Then make one,” he said, his eyes fixed to hers. “Marry me and give up all this crap—or I’ll walk out of your life forever and give you your precious company as a parting gift.”
Angelica stared at him, her eyes wide with anguish. “Cade,” she whispered, “I love you. You can’t mean—”
“I do mean,” he said grimly, even while a little voice deep within him whispered that this scene had been played before, that he was like a man caught in a time warp, doomed to repeat history with only a change in the cast of characters. “I mean every word. Now, make a decision, and make it fast.”
She spun away from him, hoping that he was only testing her, waiting for some word from him to soften the cruel choice he’d given her.
But the moments slipped away, leaving only silence behind.
At last she turned and looked at him. Tears trembled on her lashes.
“Cade,” she said, her voice anguished, “Cade, please…”
His face turned to stone. “I’ll have the papers drawn up,” he said. “Goodbye, Angelica.”
He walked to the bedroom, shut the door after him, and just that quickly, it was over.
CHAPTER TEN
SOMEWHERE in the skies halfway to London, Cade calmed down enough to realize that the moment of high drama he’d created in that Dallas hotel suite had really been an exercise in low comedy.
He couldn’t give Angelica Gordon that damned oil company.
It wasn’t his to give.
But he’d sooner have burned in the fires of hell than pull back from that stupid pledge. It was a matter of pride, and pride was about all he had left right now.
What a fool he’d made of himself. And what an ass he’d been to have ever imagined himself in love with Angelica.
Him? In love with a woman like that? Cade almost laughed out loud. That he’d thought such a thing only proved he’d spent too many of the past months in the world’s backwaters. The women of Dumai were gorgeous—but evidently he’d missed the homegrown variety more than he’d realized.
Angelica had been the first long-legged American female he’d seen in months. And, he had to admit, her initial coldness had been a challenge.
Yes sir, he thought as he sipped his third bourbon and water, it had definitely been a surefire recipe for disaster.
Thank God he was safely out of it!
Cade smiled to himself. London was going to be terrific. He loved the place, all that up-to-date energy mixed with the still-majestic reminders of a glowing past. And the women—ah, the women were special, with their English-rose complexions and their joy in their femininity.
It would take him all of an hour to forget the Dallas mess, once he was on English soil—if he could just figure a way to hand that damned directorship to Angelica Gordon. Then he’d never have to think about her again.
He took another sip of his drink. He could always come clean with his brothers, tell them what had happened….
No. Grant and Zach would cackle with laughter at his idiocy. Besides, why should they take the fall for him? Landon Enterprises was worth less on the market with Gordon Oil dragging it down. Why should his brothers lose money because he—
Of course! Cade began to grin. The solution was painfully simple.
He would buy Gordon’s from Landon Enterprises; the directorship would be his to give away then—and his accountant might even love him for having come up with a tax loss.
The flight attendant came hurrying as soon as he pressed the call button.
“Yes, Mr. Landon,” she said, smiling prettily. “May I get you something? Another drink, perhaps?”
Her smile suggested that she might happily do more, if he only asked.
Cade looked at her. She was very pretty, he thought, very pretty indeed—if you liked hazel eyes and straight, blond hair. But he didn’t. He preferred eyes the color of emeralds, hair that was touched with fire….
Dammit, he thought, and he scowled so darkly that the flight attendant drew back.
“I want a telephone,” he said brusquely, “and fast.”
His first call was to Grant in New York. His older brother heard him out, then laughed.
“Are you nuts? You can’t buy Gordon Oil. We already own it.”
“You’re not listening,” Cade said impatiently. “I want to buy it from Landon Enterprises. Is that possible?”
“Anything’s possible. But why? The company’s a dog.”
“I have my reasons,” Cade said—and waited for the practical Grant to demand, and be denied, a list of those reasons.
But Grant only muttered something about insanity evidently running in the family, and said that if that was what Cade wanted, he’d start working on it.
Cade frowned. “That’s it? You’re not going to give me a hard time?”
Grant gave a choked laugh. “I’m not up to giving anybody a hard time lately,” he said. “Call Zach. Ask him what he needs to work up an idea of what we should charge you for Gordon Oil. I’ll get back to you.”
Cade’s call to Hollywood took Zach out of a meeting.
“I’ve got something important going on here,” he growled. “So make it fast.”
Cade explained what he wanted.
“Are you crazy?” Zach said. “Why in hell would you buy that company?”
“That’s my business. You just tell me what you need to work up a purchase price.”
Zach gave a harsh laugh. “I bet it’s got something to do with that woman who’s running it.”
Cade frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would you say that?”
His brother’s sigh was deep enough to cross t
he Atlantic on its own.
“No reason,” he said hollowly, “no reason at all. OK, get in touch with Denver. Have them phone me and I’ll tell them what I need.”
“Can you do this quickly?”
“Sure, assuming Denver holds up its end. But without Bayliss—”
Cade’s mouth thinned. “Yeah,” he said, and hung up. He sat motionless for a moment, then rang for the flight attendant again.
“Did you need something else, sir?” she said with a hopeful smile.
Cade didn’t smile at all. “Yes,” he said grimly. “I need to know how fast I can get from London to Denver.”
* * *
He was exhausted by the time he reached Denver, working on a fine edge of airline coffee, lack of sleep and a simmering anger that had overtaken him on the endless flight home.
He climbed into a taxi, told the driver where to take him and lay his head back.
He was supposed to be in London. Instead, he was back in the States.
He was supposed to be finalizing plans for a North Sea drilling expedition. Instead, he was arranging to buy a dying oil firm—and if his brothers or anybody else ever found out the reason, he’d never live it down.
Angelica, he thought, Angelica was to blame for all of this.
How could one woman have messed up his life so thoroughly in so short a time?
Cade’s jaw tightened. The sooner he closed the books on this brief and not-so-shining episode in his life, the better.
Kyra was surprised to see him, and pleased—but Cade sensed a kind of removal, just as he had with Grant and Zach.
“Squirt?” he said as he was heading to his bedroom. “Are you OK?”
