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you satisfied with the terms? Do you feel you’re entitled to a larger split?”
“I’m not objecting to the terms. It’s the use of the land I don’t like. There isn’t going to be any strip-mining on Calder property.” Ty made his announcement and glanced at Strick-lin standing in the doorway, listening and letting Dyson do all the talking. “I suggest we dissolve this partnership amicably and forget it.”
“She had something to do with this, didn’t she?” Tara accused. “You were in favor of it until she came to see you this afternoon.”
“Let’s leave Jessy out of this discussion.” It was a quiet warning. He refused to let her name be dragged through a family argument. “She may have opened my eyes to a few things, but the decision was mine.”
“We have a deal, Ty,” Dyson reminded him, dropping his cajoling attitude. “It’s all signed and legal.”
“And I’m telling you I’m breaking it. Now, we can either do it amicably or not. It’s up to you.” His gaze leveled on the man, offering the opportunity to avoid an unpleasant confrontation.
“You’re not thinking straight, boy,” Dyson insisted. “In my business, a deal’s a deal. It’s a little late to change your mind now.”
“It’s never too late,” Ty corrected. “Maybe I need to make myself clear. You have twenty-four hours to get your surveyors off my land. There will be no road. There will be no strip mine. There will be no coal plant.”
“And I’m telling you we have a legal agreement,” Dyson tersely reminded him.
“Then you’d better sue me for breach of contract!” Ty snapped.
“You’re forgetting something. I hold the mineral rights to that land. I don’t need you for a partner. I made the deal with you because I thought it was the honorable thing to do so we could all share in the wealth. But if you’re going to welsh on the deal, you don’t deserve any of the money. There’s a fortune out there, and if you’re too dumb to see it, I’m not.” It was almost a threatening tone, advising Ty that he was going ahead with the plans with or without him. “I thought you had some smarts, boy. But this is a dumb move. We’re going to take that coal out of that ground. And the way it stands now, you aren’t going to get a dime.”
“Now it’s you who’s forgetting something,” Ty replied in a deadly level voice. “That chunk of ground you’re talking about is landlocked. And you’ll play hell crossing Calder property to get to it.”
“I’ve done my best to avoid a fight with you—for Tara Lee’s sake—but you’ve backed me into a corner,” Dyson warned. “Whatever happens, it’s your doing—you started it.” Stiff with anger, he turned to his daughter, a turbulent figure of contained fury at his side. “I’m sorry, Tara Leee but you see how it is.” He threw another dark look at Ty, then swung to his partner. “Come on, Stricklin, let’s get out of here.”
As the two men left the study, Ty watched Tara struggling with her temper, all the volatile emotions enriching the vibrancy of her dark beauty. Slowly she crossed the room to him, the reluctance in her body showing that it went against her pride to plead with him.
“How can you do this?” Then suddenly, unexpectedly, she was pressing her body against him, her fingers curling into his shirt with a kind of desperation. “Don’t do it, Ty. Please.”
His arms went around her as he bent and kissed her silky black hair. “Try to understand, Tara. It’s not what I want to do. It’s what I have to do . . . for the ranch ... for the heritage of the land.”
With a negative swaying of her head that brushed his chin, she resisted the finality of his words. She lifted her determined, insistent dark eyes to his face while her hands came up to stroke his jaw in frantic little caresses.
“It isn’t too late to change your mind, Ty,” Tara urged. “I can talk to Daddy and smooth it all out. I’ll just explain to him that you were confused for a little while.” Her hands tugged at his head to force it down while her hot, eager lips rushed onto his mouth, kissing him in a wildly anxious way. “He’ll understand.” Between bites, she breathed the words into his mouth. “I know he will.” Her heated lips worked on him, awakening the heavy impulses that made him tighten his arms around her. “Everything will be all right. You’ll see.” Confidence ran through her.
“Tara, no.” The rasping pitch in his voice showed his level of disturbance while he roughly trailed his mouth across her cheek. “I’m not going to change my mind.”
Her hands pushed at his chest to arch her body away from him. “But you made an agreement with him. You gave him your word on it. I thought your promise was supposed to mean something.”
“I have a prior commitment that’s in direct conflict with the deal I made with your father.” His voice was still husky as he tried to convince her. “It has to take precedence.”
“How can you be such a fool?” Tara broke out of his arms, angry and disgusted with him again. “Do you realize how rich we could be? There’s a fortune lying out there.”
“And that’s where it’s going to stay.”
“No, it won’t. Daddy’s company will take it—all of it. And half of it can be yours if you’ll only listen to me.”
“No.” Ty was adamant, unswayed by her appeals or demands.
“If you can throw away a chance like this, then our marriage obviously means very little to you.” She stood indignantly erect, proud and strong-willed. “You’re willing to sacrifice our future, which means you don’t care if we have one. I think you’ve made that very plain.”
“Tara—” A heavy sigh broke from him.
“When my father walks out of this house, I’m going with him.”
It irritated him that she was using this issue to test his love. “Don’t make idle threats, Tara,” he snapped.
It was the wrong thing to say. He had called her bluff and forced her into playing out her hand. Ultimately, they both would be losers in the game. With an anger that was almost regal, Tara walked from the room. Ty couldn’t call her back, because neither of them had left room for compromise.
