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“Looks like I can’t trust anything you say,” Caleb growled in disgust. He took a long swallow of Scotch. Some of his anger had cooled, but his fertile mind was working fast. His fingers twitched nervously around his glass. “Just what the hell right do you have to snoop in my files?”
“As much right as you have to try and swindle Dani out of her land.”
“Swindle?” Caleb sneered. “I just wanted a fair price.”
“Do you call a hundred thousand under market fair?”
“That land’s worthless.”
“Not to you—or her.” Chase’s eyes cut through Caleb’s anger. “She seems to think you’ve tried to sabotage her.”
Caleb had the audacity to grin, as if Chase’s anger amused him. “Sabotage? Don’t tell me you believe her.”
“I don’t know what to believe.”
“Sabotage,” Caleb snorted again, his lips twisting sarcastically. “Sounds like somethin’ she’d say. I know she’s had a run of bad luck, but I don’t see how she can blame me.”
Chase ran his fingers through his hair, stretched his tense shoulders and sighed. “I’d just like to know where you get off trying to buy off everyone who gets in your way!”
“Business is business,” Caleb retorted, refilling his glass. “Maybe someday you’ll learn.” He pointed a condemning finger at the younger man. “And you’d better hope it’s soon, before a traitor like Eric Conway tries to steal all of your business again. He almost did it once before and I might not be around to bail you out again.”
Chase didn’t flinch even though the thought of Eric Conway’s betrayal still bothered him. “I didn’t ask for your help.”
“But you certainly took it, didn’t you? And now you’ve got to help me get the Hawthorne place.”
“I don’t see how that’s possible.”
“Convince Dani. There must be a way to get to her.”
“Forget it.” Chase reached onto the windowsill and grabbed his hat. With a grimace, he forced the old felt Stetson onto his head.
Caleb snorted when he saw the determined set of Chase’s jaw. “Going somewhere?” he mocked.
“Out.” Chase reached for the door but the old man’s voice stopped him.
“To find Dani Summers?”
Chase hesitated. “Weren’t you the one who suggested I get to know her better—use my imagination?”
Caleb’s eyes became slits. “She really got to you, didn’t she? So much in fact that you’re willing to hack off your nose to spite your face.”
Chase lifted his chin a fraction and regarded Caleb with cold eyes. “Don’t wait up.”
Taking a sip from the drink he was cradling in his hands, Caleb said, “I wasn’t planning on it. I was waiting to hear just how you think you can handle Dani Summers.”
“Handle her?” Chase repeated, his back stiffening. “Look, not that it’s your business, but as far as I’m concerned I’m not dealing with Dani about her land. Not anymore. Face it, Johnson, the lady doesn’t want to sell. Not you, or me, or anyone else on God’s green earth can get her to change her mind!”
With the intention of letting Caleb stew in his own juices, Chase stormed to the door of the study.
Instead of ranting and raving as Chase had expected, Caleb just smiled smugly to himself and said in a voice loud enough so that Chase would hear, “Well, we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?”
Chase walked out of the house and slammed the door behind him. God, he’d had enough of Caleb Johnson to last him a lifetime, he thought as he jumped into his Jeep.
Through the open window, Caleb watched as Chase ground the gears of his sorry-looking vehicle and roared down the tree-lined lane. Then Caleb put on his reading glasses and searched for a telephone number he’d written on a scrap of paper only two days before. Finding the hastily scratched note, he reached for the phone and dialed, looking distractedly at the cloud of dust Chase was leaving behind him.
Angry with Chase, but knowing be still held the trump card, Caleb balanced the receiver between his ear and shoulder, poured himself another stiff shot and waited impatiently as the long-distance call connected.
* * *
