Tasmanian Tangle (20 page)

put the record straight where Lloyd was concerned.

The rest of the morning was spent in
good humoured
argument, with Tanya trying to distract Lloyd from buying various gifts, but she lost out when they passed an elegant-looking jewellers which Lloyd practically dragged her into, and insisted on buying her a delicately engraved gold chain.

It was as if Lloyd had been given a new lease of life, it was in his step, and in his smile, and Tanya found herself wishing that they could just take off for Oregon there and then, thus avoiding the obnoxious task of saying goodbye to Kade and Connie, not to mention the forthcoming discussion with Kade that loomed more menacingly over her as the morning hours slipped away and approached midday.

They returned to the same restaurant for lunch and Tanya found it almost impossible to work up an appetite. Her whole being was centred on what would be her last meeting with Kade, and she only hoped there would be no side issues. She didn't think she could bear it if he adopted the familiar mocking approach that he had so often tormented her with whenever they were alone together. She laid her knife and fork down on her half-finished lobster salad. It was no use, another morsel would choke her.

'Seems we'll have to do something about your appetite,' commented Lloyd, looking at her half-finished meal. 'It used to rival mine, in spite of that sylph-like figure of yours,' he added in mock sorrow, making Tanya respond with a weak grin, but no comment.

Having refused dessert, she was longing to be off. She wanted to get the next hurdle over with as quickly

as possible, and, with luck, painlessly.

She was so quiet on the return journey that Lloyd became anxious about her. 'Feeling okay?' he asked her, giving her a quick glance before turning his attention to the road again.

'I was just wondering if I've packed everything,' she lied. 'Most of it's done, and I suppose Connie will remember whatever I've forgotten.'

'I've been thinking of inviting Connie for a visit,' Lloyd said, shrewdly guessing that packing wasn't the only thing on Tanya's mind. 'She told me she'd some relations in Dallas, so she could make it a round trip.'

Tanya gave him a surprised look. 'Has she?' she said. 'She didn't tell me that.'

Lloyd gave a grin at this. 'Well, I guess she was angling for an invite. All she really wants to do is to check up on you. I'm certainly not arguing with those sentiments. Besides,' he added thoughtfully, 'I took to Connie. She's going to be kinda lost now in that big place, isn't she? I think we'll leave it for a few weeks, then invite her over.' He gave Tanya a quick look before he added, 'Then we'll ask her to make the stay permanent. I trust you'll be in favour of such a move?' he asked with a smile.

Tanya gave a quick nod of assent. She hadn't let her thoughts linger on what would happen to Connie after she had gone. She had many friends in the valley, but as Connie herself would have said, they weren't family. It would be nice to have her with her, almost home from home, she thought, and felt a rush of gratitude towards Lloyd for his thoughtfulness.

When they arrived back at Orchard House, Tanya's courage almost deserted her when she saw Kade's sleek

Mercedes drawn up beside the house. At Lloyd's cheerful, 'See you at dinner,' as he started up the Land Rover, she was tempted to ask him to stay and give her moral support, but knew that such a move would infuriate Kade, so she just stood there and watched the tail lights disappear round the bend in the drive.

She found Kade in her father's study, seated at the desk and immersed in paper work. Her heart ached with love for him as she walked slowly towards the desk awaiting an acknowledgement of her arrival. Didn't he care one iota for her? She clenched her hands on the thought. He didn't, and she knew it, but didn't seem able to accept it.

'So you're off tomorrow?' he said abruptly, as if she was going on a cruise, and not right out of his life.

His bright blue stare met her veiled grey-green eyes. Not for worlds would she let him know that he was breaking her heart by his casual approach to what was the end of the line for her.

Kade's eye's travelled down her face slowly and rested on Lloyd's gift, gleaming brightly against the dark blue of her dress. 'Present from Lloyd?' he asked, in a matter-of-fact voice, and before she could answer he went on, 'Seems you're going to be spoilt.'

There was a touch of irony in his voice that did not escape Tanya. 'I still think it would have been better if you'd applied yourself to the task I set you,' he added harshly. 'Work never hurt anyone. It's idleness that causes mischief.'

Tanya's eyes opened wide. Was he accusing her of idleness? 'You didn't give me a chance ' she replied hotly. 'I was quite willing to pull my weight.'

'Were you?' he said scathingly. 'I wonder just how

much you took in about the business during the first few weeks. Very little, unless I miss my guess. It was all a game to you, wasn't it? You'd made your mind up right from the start, hadn't you? In spite of our bargain. And don't tell me I'm wrong,' he shot out at her as she was about to deny this. 'Give me a little credit for some intelligence!'

Tanya sat down weakly on the chair beside the desk. All he had said was true, and there was no point now in denying it. For the first time she saw how it must have been for Kade, who had still tried to keep his end of the bargain. Of the patient lectures he had given her, and the time spent in the offices to give her a good grounding.

She ought to have known she couldn't fool him, and she hadn't really tried to. Half the time she had been so furious with him that she hadn't bothered to hide her indifference.

No wonder he had acted as he had! Taking his revenge on her as compensation for her wilful behaviour. It was small wonder that he hadn't strangled her! She swallowed. In his eyes she still was a child, and a very spoilt one at that. Her attitude had been the same as that of a child determined to have its own way, come what may.

It was a little too late to say that she was sorry now; he wouldn't believe her, and she couldn't blame him. It wouldn't make any difference either way, for now she could see what he had meant when he had said that there was no possibility of them starting afresh. She knew that she would continually annoy him and in doing so, bring out the worst in him. Sooner or

later, the inevitable would happen, and this they would both regret.

A cold shiver ran down her back as she envisaged the possible consequences that would follow. Kade would marry her, of that she had no doubt. His sense of honour would ensure this, because she was John Hume's daughter, and only for that reason would he make an honest woman of her. She swallowed. No matter how much she loved him, she didn't want him on those terms.

He had known this, she thought wearily as she looked back at him. He was experienced enough to see the way they were heading. It wouldn't have mattered with anyone else, but not her. Her soft lips firmed; and she had dared to think that he cared for her! All that he had cared about was protecting himself from an embroilment with a young upstart of a girl who happened to bear the name of Hume.

'Isn't it time we got down to business?' she asked quietly, wanting to get it over with in the quickest possible time.

'When I'm good and ready,' growled Kade, and gave her a mocking look. 'In a hurry to be off, are you?' he said jeeringly. 'Looking forward to all those parties your wealthy host is bound to throw in your honour, are you? Well, I haven't finished with you yet. You're not getting off that lightly.'

Tanya stared back at him. Now what? she thought wearily; was he about to deliver a lecture on how she ought to behave once she had cut loose from his restraining hold? Remembering a few of the things she had said at their last meeting, this was not altogether surprising, and she waited for the lecture.

'What kind of a settlement were you hoping for?' he shot out at her.

Tanya blinked. She was taken completely off her guard, and when she had recovered she hated Kade for his insensibility, and for his casual attitude towards her inward misery. 'What do you want me to say?' she replied quietly, wondering how much a broken heart was worth. She couldn't look at him but stared down at her hands twisted together in her lap. 'Only you know what's mine, and what's yours. I only know my share is not very much,' she added on a weary note, `so you needn't worry about my feeling cheated.'

'For once you're right!' he replied grimly.

Her hands clenched tighter together. She couldn't love him, she thought bewilderedly. He was a brute! Not content with making her fall in love with him he was now twisting the knife in her heart, exacting every ounce of revenge while she was still within reach, and she had to take it, she had no choice. One thing she did know and that was that she'd never let him know how much he had hurt her.

'There's this house, of course,' he went on casually, in a way that invited her comment and made her glance up at him swiftly. 'I'm thinking of moving in,' he added.

Once again his abrupt change of conversation startled her. When he had bought her out he could do what he liked with the property, it was no concern of hers. It would be nice for Connie though, she thought, knowing how much she would welcome such an arrangement. 'Of course,' she murmured politely, showing that she had no objection to such a plan.

Kade's blue eyes pierced through her. 'Is that all you

can say?' he demanded harshly. 'You were born here, remember?'

Tanya swallowed hard. What was she supposed to do? Get down on her knees and plead with him not to send her away? Tell him how much she loved him and that she would do anything he asked of her if only she could stay?

Only the thought of how much he would enjoy watching her squirm prevented her from giving way to these thoughts and throwing caution to the winds. It was just another gambit of his to get his own back on her.

Her resolve hardened when she recalled the way he had accused her of playing a game of pretence when learning the business. He was now indulging in the same kind of game and thoroughly enjoying himself at her expense. 'It's your property now,' she said coldly. 'I didn't think you'd let it remain empty.'

Kade gave her another long searching look that she met with a touch of defiance in hers. The look plainly said, 'You're wasting your time if you're trying to rile me, Kade Player!'

She saw his lips thin, and his strong jaw harden. 'Real little home bird, aren't you?' he said, biting out the words with a viciousness that frightened Tanya. 'I'll get a cheque made out. No doubt you're in a hurry to finish packing,' he added sarcastically, 'so I won't detain you.'

Tanya's mind was in a whirl as she made her way to her room after Kade's abrupt dismissal. She knew she ought to be grateful that she had come out of the meeting relatively unscathed, physically anyway, if not mentally.

Whatever she had imagined would take place at that meeting she had never envisaged it ending with a furious Kade. She shook her head dumbly. It was all wrong, he should have congratulated her on making the right decision, and tried not to smile too heartily as he waved her out of the office and out of his life.

She sat down shakily on the bed. Was it because it hadn't gone exactly as he planned it? He had tried to rile her and he hadn't succeeded, was that why he was so furious?

It was when she recalled something that Connie had said that she thought that she had the answer. Connie had said that she owed Kade a lot for what he'd done for her family. Tanya gulped on the thought. She hadn't said one word of thanks to him, and she ought to have done. If she brought out the worst in Kade, then he had the same effect upon her. When she was with him she couldn't seem to say the right things, only the wrong ones.

They went together like fire and water, she thought sadly, and it wasn't altogether her fault. It was becoming a vicious circle and she was better out of it.

Mechanically, she started finishing her packing. If only things could have been different, she thought miserably, as she closed the case and put it down on the floor beside her other cases. Love was supposed to be a wonderful thing, but it had brought her nothing but misery. When she was away from Kade her heart ached for him, and when she was with him she invariably found herself resenting his highhanded methods.

She heard the slam of the front door and knew that Kade had left the house for his quarters. Her chin came

up in a resolute action. She had one last chance to make her peace with him, and she was determined not to be put off this time. There would be an opportunity after dinner, she told herself, for she was certain that Lloyd would take himself off early in order to leave Kade and Tanya to make their final arrangements over the share-out of the business, and if this thought didn't occur to him, then she would ask to see Kade alone.

Tanya made a special point of dressing for dinner that night. She chose her favourite silk dress of ice blue, and knew that it brought out the green lights in her eyes. Her hair came in for special attention too, and she went so far as to touch up her lips with an orange-tinted lipstick that enhanced her honey-coloured tan, that she had still retained even though she had done very little sunbathing since her return to Tasmania.