his pride couldn’t take it. He’d told himself he was better off without a woman who didn’t need him or anything he had to offer.
She could stay married to her career as a policewoman and go to an early grave with nothing to show for it but a bullet in her back. He’d convinced himself that he didn’t care what she did.
For the last year he had immersed himself in work, expanding his company with a speed his board of directors could scarcely handle. Staying hellishly busy staved off the pain. Until he’d left for Salt Lake, Caroline had been there to provide a feminine distraction.
But now he realized she had been a mistake. He should never have gone out with her in the first place. Six months after his breakup with Annabelle, they’d met at a mutual friend’s pool party. She’d made it clear she’d like to see more of him. Though he found her attractive and interesting, he told her up front that he didn’t believe in love and had no intention of getting serious with any woman.
She immediately assured him that she wasn’t looking for commitment, only companionship. She, too, preferred an open-ended relationship. Both of them could go and come as they pleased, date other people at any time, no questions asked.
He’d taken her at a word and they’d started seeing each other casually.
But when he called Caroline from his Phoenix office and told her he was leaving for Salt Lake on business for an indefinite period, she’d treated him to the emotional side of her nature.
In a tearful outburst she admitted she was in love with him. Then she accused him of not loving her the way she loved him or he would have asked her to go to Salt Lake with him.
For some time his subconscious had sensed she was getting too involved. He should have done something about it sooner, but he’d been too driven by the pain of Annabelle’s rejection to act on those instincts.
At that point he confessed that he was in love with someone else and had been for a long time. He was sorry if he’d hurt Caroline. Under the circumstances this separation was for the best. He hoped she would be able to forgive him and get on with her life.
As for Rand, he could no longer deny the truth to himself or anyone else. Annabelle was his heart and soul. If the Fates were kind, he would get her back in his life for good.
On that note he gave his bike more gas, his thoughts flicking to the angry customers out there ready to vent their spleen on the powers that be at Dunbarton’s. After arriving in Salt Lake and talking to his manager, Rand had hired a local telephone engineer to hook up a phone line which could be patched through to the main office where he was working alone.
The service people on duty for Dunbarton’s had no idea he was in town, let alone what was going on. He could imagine their surprise at such a quiet night, especially when there would be no explanation for it.
So far he’d answered fifteen calls, eleven of them complaints about the wretched way they’d been treated on Dunbarton’s software lines within the last week. Naturally he wasn’t about to let any of those patrons know they weren’t alone in their frustration.
The criminal out there doing his best to ruin Rand’s company had already created minor havoc in the Salt Lake region. To Rand’s chagrin he wouldn’t be able to put out any fires, not until he had answers to several questions. Chief among them was whether the hacker worked independently or was part of a ring intent on infiltrating his company which had service centers from coast to coast.
He supposed the person responsible could have picked Dunbarton’s on a whim, but Rand couldn’t help wondering if it wasn’t a troubled former employee who had been let go from the Salt Lake service center at one time or other and was out for revenge.
That kind of retaliation was common enough. Just tonight the headlines in the Salt Lake Tribune had announced Utah Steel’s plan to lay off several hundred employees. Two hours later all the TV channels were covering a warehouse fire on Utah Steel’s property. So far an estimated million dollars in damage had been done by a pipe bomb.
As far as Rand knew, there had been no sign of trouble at any other Dunbarton plants in the country, but he wasn’t ruling out that possibility, and had his top people working on the problem right now.
Much as he hated to admit it, Salt Lake could be the first in a series of problems. That was one of the reasons he was here. To get a handle on what was going on and begin damage control.
But if the truth be known, he’d come for Annabelle. He’d never gotten her out of his system. When word came that the Salt Lake customer service center was having problems, Rand had leaped at the chance to fly here himself.
For the first time in a year he actually exulted over the trouble in his company because it provided him with a legitimate excuse to see her again.
Through a mutual friend on the Phoenix police force, he found out she’d gone to work in Salt Lake as a PI. While on the plane he came up with the plan to hire her to help solve the crisis. He was desperately in love with her and always would be. No matter how long it took, or what he had to go through, one day she would be his wife.
If she needed a dangerous career to make her happy, then so be it. That issue was no longer important as long as they could be together. Asking her to collaborate on his case would prove that he had changed, that he accepted her desire to work at a high-risk job because it made her happy.
But wanting her back and getting her back were two different things. She’d had a year to harden. Softening her up wasn’t going to be easy. Today would set the tone for the way things were going to go until she ran willingly into his arms once more.
He had no idea how long it would take, but he recognized that infinite patience would play the key role in obtaining his heart’s desire. Rand couldn’t afford to make one wrong move. Otherwise he’d lose the only thing that truly mattered to him...
He waited until she was out of sight, then headed toward the main highway. When he reached the turnoff, he opened up. Before long he was passing a lot of semitrucks and the occasional four-wheel drive full of teenagers anxious to get in some late spring skiing.
As his cycle ate up the miles, the cool mountain air cleared his lungs and his head. He experienced a feeling of well-being. Annabelle had the right idea. Nature had a way of putting things into perspective.
Whether. she liked it or not, she was part of that perspective.
At the thought, a sly smile broke out on his face and stayed there all the way to the old mining town of Park City which had been turned into a playground for the rich and famous.
The place seemed crowded, even for a weekday. Two blocks up the main street and he spied her BMW parked between two vans in front of the Dairy Freeze.
Rand rode around the corner and found a spot for his cycle. Wedging his helmet under his arm, he strode across the street. The local hamburger stand appeared to be a favorite retreat for teenagers.
After a cursory glance, he found her in the last booth and took the seat opposite her. “I ordered for both of us when I first came in,” she announced. “Two bacon deluxes, French fries and a chocolate malt. I hope that’s what you wanted.”
“I’m glad to see you still remember.”
Her head was bowed. “Rand? Shall we talk about your case? The only reason we’re together now is to try and figure out who is
