For Love of Charley (3 page)

Why was he back? It had taken a while, but
she had finally managed to make a life for herself that didn’t revolve around
Cole Jordan. She had accepted the fact that she would never see him again, that
she would spend her life alone. There were even days when she didn’t think
about him. At least, not more than once or twice.

Dating Cole had been a constant battle
between her hormones and her morals. He had been persistent and persuasive in
his attempts to make love to her. But when she’d told him that she would only
make love to one man in her lifetime, she had meant it. Her mother’s
promiscuity and misery had taught her well. For Charley, there could only be
room for one man in her heart. That man was Cole Jordan. He had been her first
and last lover. There would be no more. She had given him more than just her
body that night. She had given him her soul, and when he’d left, he’d taken it
with him.

Undoing the band around her ponytail, she
let her hair loose and shook her head to free the mass. Even through her hurt
and anger tonight, she hadn’t failed to notice how good he looked. The thin,
lanky frame of the young boy she remembered had filled out into the
well-defined shape of manhood. He had no right to look even better now than he
had ten years ago, she thought indignantly. If there was any justice in the
world, he should have been fat, bald and ugly.

Slipping back around the bar, she washed
her glass and returned it to the shelf. When she had finally accepted that he
wasn’t coming back all those years ago, she had taken all the pain and anger
and buried them way down inside. The shock of seeing him tonight had blown the
tightly sealed lid right off those emotions.

Her reaction had been involuntary, no more
stoppable than a force of nature. If she’d had any warning, her reaction would
have been much different, more civilized and ladylike. And, she decided, that’s
just what it would be from now on. Strictly business. She wasn’t the same
innocent girl that he’d taken advantage of before. Now she was a hell of a lot
smarter, especially where Cole Jordan was concerned.

As a matter of fact, she might as well
start acting businesslike now. With the shot of whiskey bolstering her courage,
Charley picked up the telephone. She’d just call him and apologize for the way
she’d reacted earlier, and find out what time he’d like to meet tomorrow. There
was only one motel in town, and if he’d been here for very long, she’d have
heard about it.

“Tanya? This is Charley Hart. Can you
connect me to Cole Jordan’s room, please?” She could hear paper rustling in the
background.

“Charley? We have no one registered under
that name.”

“Well, how about under CJE, Inc. or Jordan
Enterprises?”

“Nope, sorry.”

This was silly. Where else could he be
staying? “Has
anyone
checked in over the last twenty-four hours?”

“A mother with two screaming kids, and a
salesman.”

“What does the salesman look like?”

“About sixty, gray hair, kind of chubby.”

“Okay, thanks Tanya. That’s not who I’m
looking for.”

She dropped the phone into the cradle and
stared at it in perplexity. So much for that plan. She’d just have to do it
tomorrow, face-to-face. The idea didn’t thrill her. It would have been much
easier to apologize if she didn’t have to see his expression when she did it.

Pulling her purse from under the counter,
she headed toward the door. She’d have to be sure to set her alarm when she got
home. Only rarely did she make it to work before eleven, but tomorrow she
wanted to be sure she was here well ahead of Cole. The reasoning behind this
decision escaped her at the moment, but she didn’t really care. With a final
glance around to make sure everything was in order, Charley locked the doors
and climbed into her Chevy pickup.

The grinding of the starter made her hold
her breath, and she didn’t let it out until the motor finally caught. Uncle
Victor had offered to buy her a new truck but she had refused. This one might
not be pretty, and it might not be the most reliable transportation in the
world, but it was paid for and she’d done it all by herself. Most importantly,
it would get her back here in the morning for her next confrontation with Cole
Jordan.

In spite of her intentions to be
businesslike, a chill ran over Charley. Dear God. He was back, and tomorrow she
would have to face him knowing that he was going to break her heart all over
again.

The sun was just beginning to emerge from
hiding when Cole stepped out of the shower, his mind on the coming day. A whole
day to spend with Charley. If she showed up, that is. He couldn’t keep from
smiling. He had expected her to be upset over his sudden reappearance in her
life, but never in his wildest fantasies had he expected her to go ballistic as
she had last night. It gave him more hope than he’d had in years. If some part
of her didn’t still care, there would have been no need for a reaction like
that.

Again, he dressed in jeans and a shirt,
then headed out to the Jag. He wanted some time at the Red Dog before Charley
got there. When he’d bought into the saloon, he’d received a set of keys, so
getting in would be no problem. The only real problem he could see would be
keeping his hands off Charley. But he had to, and as much as he hated the
deception, he had to make her think that this was just business for him. He had
to give her a chance to get to know him again, and hopefully, to love him. Everything
he had—the money, the businesses—were worth nothing to him without her. For
Charley, he would give away every penny he’d earned the last few years, and do
it with a smile on his face.

Full daylight had finally pushed its way
across the sky when he stopped the car behind the Red Dog. The parking lot was
empty, just as he’d hoped it would be. He let himself in, turning on lights as
he went. Charley’s office was easy to find. It was the only one in the
building. Her desk was neat, as though she rarely used it, and he suspected she
probably didn’t. Charley had always been more the hands-on type, preferring to
do the physical work herself. Last night had shown him how good she was at it.
Her customers loved her. She must hate the paperwork that went with running a
business.

The books were in plain sight, but he
ignored them for now, choosing instead to explore the rest of the building. The
hall was long and lined with doors. He went through each room methodically.
Several were cavernous storage areas, full to the rafters with boxes and
supplies, but at least three rooms would be suitable for offices when they were
cleaned out. The one directly across from Charley’s would be his. It wasn’t the
largest, but he liked the location, and it would fit his needs perfectly. At
the moment it only contained one long table with several folding chairs. They
would need the table before the day was over.

After making a trip to the Jag to get his
briefcase, Cole returned to Charley’s office, taking long enough to start
coffee brewing in the pot that sat on a side table. With the books spread out
in front of him, he went to work, periodically jotting notes on the paper next
to him. Charley had created her own system for keeping books, it seemed. He
smiled slightly. It was going to take an accountant a solid week of hard work
to get them straightened out again.

The first inkling he had of Charley’s
arrival was the loud backfiring of a vehicle from somewhere nearby. The
sputtering of a motor that sounded like it was making its last bid for life
echoed from the back of the building and then stopped completely. Relief flowed
though him. She had decided to show up.

Listening to the back door open, and the
sound of her footsteps down the hall, he went back to staring at the books,
trying his best to look uninterested in her arrival. He didn’t even look up
when she stopped in the doorway. The silence extended until Cole was on the
verge of checking to see if he’d only imagined she was there.

“How long have you been here?” She sounded
edgy and nervous, but no longer mad.

“Long enough.” He still didn’t look up.
“Who does your books, Attila the Hun?”

Instantly, she bristled. “I do my own
books, and the system works just fine for me. If you don’t understand it,
that’s your problem.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t understand it. But
the way they are now, if you were ever audited, they’d probably throw you in
jail just on general principle.” He finally looked up, his gaze sweeping her
rapidly before returning to her face. She had obviously dressed with care.
Nothing too fancy, of course. Just a pair of khaki pants and a golden-brown,
silk blouse, but she looked like an angel in them. “That’s the first change
we’re making. I’m going to hire an accountant to take care of them, if you
don’t mind.”

“Do I have a choice?” Sarcasm dripped from
her words.

“No. Not in this area.” He leaned back in
the chair. “Maybe we should get a few things straight right up front, Charley.
I bought into the saloon because I happen to have some plans for this area of
the county. It was a good investment, and it has the potential to make us both
quite a bit of money. I don’t intend to take the management of the Red Dog away
from you. For one thing, I don’t have time to do it myself. For another, you
seem to be good at it and I don’t believe in fixing what isn’t broken. On the
other hand, I have no intention of fighting with you over every improvement I
want to make. So you can either work with me and have a say in what’s
happening, or you can stay out of my way. What’s it going to be?”

Charley stared at him. He knew the exact
moment when it finally dawned on her that this wasn’t a short business trip for
him. He was back to stay. Cole watched as emotions flashed across her face too
rapidly to read.

“Why didn’t you let me know you were the
one buying into the saloon, Cole? Why the big mystery?”

He toyed with an ink pen. “If you’d
bothered to read the contract carefully, you might have known.”

“My lawyer handled it. She’s competent. I
was mainly concerned with the financial details.”

“Maybe you should take another look at it.
It says very plainly that CJE, Inc. is a subsidiary of Jordan Enterprises.”

“Oh, believe me, I will.” She took another
step into the room. “I tried to call you at the motel last night.”

Cole leaned forward and pulled a pad of
paper closer. “I’m not at the motel.” He jotted two numbers down. “You can
reach me at one of these if you need to. The second one is my cell phone. Don’t
lose them. They’re unlisted.” He handed her the paper, his fingers just barely
skimming hers. A tingle shot all the way up his arm, and he saw with amusement
that she flinched. “What did you want?”

Charley looked down at the numbers, then
folded the paper and stuck it in her pocket. “Two things, really. I wanted to
find out what time you were planning to be here, and I wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?” It was hard not to smile, but
he managed to keep his expression only mildly interested.

“Yes. For the way I acted last night. It
was uncalled for and rude. My only excuse is that you surprised me. There’s
really no reason we can’t be civilized about this. After all, the past is
past.”

“Is it? That’s an interesting philosophy.”
He gave her a bland stare. “But don’t worry about it. I’ve been called a lot
worse than bastard in my life. I suspect I will be again.”

She hesitated. “Business is really the only
reason you’re back?”

Cole arched an eyebrow. “What else would it
be?”

She gave a slight shrug of her shoulders.
“I don’t know. It’s just that the Red Dog doesn’t really seem important enough
for you to be this interested in it. Not when you’ve got your company in
California to take care of.”

“I didn’t say I was here just to make
changes to the saloon. It’s actually a very small part of the business that’s
brought me back. I need a base of operation. The Red Dog is in the perfect spot
to provide me with one.”

“What other business could you have in
Canyon Bend? There’s nothing here.”

“I remember.” He gave her a half smile and
gestured. “You may as well sit down and I’ll tell you about it. You’ll find out
soon anyway. I’ve asked for a special meeting of the City Council Monday
night.”

Charley sat down on the edge of a chair and
wiped the palms of her hands surreptitiously on her legs. “I don’t understand.”

“I bought Duncan Mills. By the middle of
next week an entire crew of construction workers will begin renovations on the
ghost town. The projected time to completion is six months. When they’re done,
Duncan Mills will be restored to what it once was and become a major tourist
attraction.”

In spite of herself, Charley felt a tingle
of excitement. “You’re serious? Do you know what this means?” She leaped to her
feet and began pacing. “More jobs, higher wages. Canyon Bend will become a boom
town!” She waved her hands in the air. “This is fantastic! There will be so
many opportunities. And the Red Dog! There’s so much I need to do. Six months,
you say?” Reality hit hard, and she sank back down in the chair, groaning. “I
can’t. We’re making money, but not that much.”

Cole stood and picked up his briefcase.
“Come on, let’s go across the hall.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to show you something, and
I need more room.”

Charley followed him, watching his broad
shoulders move under his shirt. This man in front of her had made love to her,
and there was hardly a night since then that she hadn’t felt him touching her,
driving her into a frenzy of need. She shook her head, trying to push the
memory away. He was also, she reminded herself fiercely, the man who had left
her without a word. She wouldn’t allow it to happen again.

Before she had time to brace herself, he
turned with his back to the door and their gazes met as he pushed it open.
Charley could feel the heat creeping into her cheeks and willed herself to look
away.

“Charley, is working with me going to be a
problem for you?”

The heat flared higher as she brushed by
him. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“You seem kind of uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable? Why would I be
uncomfortable?” Anger shot through her again. “I mean, you ask me to marry you
one night, and then disappear for ten years. Now, you suddenly waltz back into
town and act as though nothing happened. You want to know why I seem
uncomfortable? Think about it!”

He dropped the briefcase onto a chair and
leaned back against the table, watching her. “Sometimes, Charley, circumstances
are out of our control. One of these days, maybe we’ll talk about it.” He
turned and pulled out a set of blueprints. “Unfortunately for you, you’re stuck
with me. There are only so many things I can delegate before I have to step in
and do the work myself.”

Was it her imagination, or had his voice
softened for a moment? And what circumstances was he talking about? Could it be
that he hadn’t wanted to leave her? An unidentified emotion began to slowly
unfurl inside her, but she squashed it like a bug. Whatever excuse he came up
with would be a lie. She knew Cole well enough to realize that nothing could
have made him leave if he hadn’t wanted to. Steeling herself to a calm dignity,
she moved to the table. “What’s that?”

Cole glanced at her. “Blueprints for the
Red Dog.” Anchoring one end of the roll with his briefcase, he spread the plans
on the table. “See? This is the building as it exists now. When Duncan Mills is
fully operational, there are going to be some things that are desperately
needed. A restaurant is one of them. What I’d like to do is add one on to this
side of the saloon.”

Charley leaned over the table, scanning the
plans rapidly. “Are these to scale?”

“Yes.”

“Then we have a problem. As much as I’d
love to see it happen, this restaurant would take up most of our parking space
and quite a bit of the land bordering our property. Even if I had the money to
build it, which I don’t, I doubt the owner of that lot would approve of us
building on it.”

“I own the land. As a matter of fact, I own
all the land between here and Duncan Mills. Another one of my projects is going
to be a hotel. It will be built halfway between Duncan Mills and the
restaurant. Money will be no problem. I’m paying for the restaurant.”

“No.” Charley stepped back. “That wouldn’t
be fair. I own half of the Red Dog, I should be able to pay half the cost of
improvements.”

“Can you?” he asked bluntly.

Charley wilted. “No. My house is mortgaged
to the hilt and there’s no way the bank will loan me any more.”

Cole ran a hand though his hair, glanced
down at the plans and then looked back at her. “If we don’t move on this now,
someone else will. How about if I loan you the money? You start paying it back
after all the work is done and the tourists start to arrive. Say, one year from
now.”

“If you own all that land, why don’t you
just build it there? You don’t need it to be part of the Red Dog.”

“Yes, I do. I’ve had feasibility studies
done, public opinion studies done, marketing studies, and two dozen more that I
won’t go into. They all agree that the best place for it is right here.”

“How long have you been planning this?”
Charley asked, surprise running through her.

“Two years. It took that long to buy the
land and get the preliminary work out of the way.”

“So when you bought half of the Red Dog,
you already knew?”

“Yes.”

Charley chewed on her bottom lip, thinking.
“I want a contract of repayment, and I want the payments to reflect the current
interest rate. Also, I expect an accounting of every cent spent on the construction,
and I want a clause that doesn’t penalize me for early payoff of the loan.”

Smiling, Cole stuck out his hand. “Deal.”

She stared at his hand for a second, every
nerve in her body screaming. Hesitantly, she raised her own and felt it
enfolded in his warm grip. Instead of shaking it, he held it, his gaze meeting
hers again.

“Your lawyers or mine?” The tone of his
voice seemed huskier than it had been and Charley felt heat curl in the center
of her body.

“What?” She couldn’t seem to take her eyes
from his.