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millions!"
Meg started, and then burst out laughing. "Oh, for heaven's sake, pull the other one!"
"It's true! He's got a Rolls at home!"
Meg set the tray down. "There, there, they were putting you on. Why, Todd's no millionaire!"
"He is," Jane insisted. "Cherry didn't want to agree with what her mother told the, but she did. Her
mother might lie to the. Cherry never would."
Meg was less certain now. She frowned. "If he's a millionaire, why's he down here keeping your
books?"
"Because I'm a poor cripple," Jane said huskily. "And he felt sorry for the. He's spending his vacation
getting the out of the hole." She put her face in her hands and shook her head. "Now I don't have to
wonder why the bank let the have the loan, either. I'm sure he stood good for it. I'l owe him my soul!"
Meg wiped her hands on her apron, hovering nervously. "Jane, you mustn't get upset like this. Wait
until Todd gets back and talk to him about it."
"What will I tell him?"
"That you didn't know..."
"And now that I do?" she asked openly. "I'll tell him I know he's rich, and then he'l never be sure if I
care for him or his wallet, will he? He might think I knew all along. His ex-wife said that he's been
featured in al the business magazines. I don't read them, but he doesn't know that"
"I see what you mean."
Jane got up from the sofa. "Well, I'm going to set his mind at ease, with a little help."
"From whom?"
"Copper, of course," Jane said. "He's already said that Copper and I seemed to be an item. Why
shouldn't we be? Copper said he'd marry the in a minute if I was willing."
"That's no reason to get married! Copper deserves better!"
Jane stared at her housekeeper. "Of course he does, and it won't be for real. I'm going to ask an old
friend for a favor, that's all."
Meg relaxed. "As long as he doesn't get hurt."
"He won't." She didn't add that she would. She'd already been hurt. But Todd wasn't going to know. She
was going to turn the tables on him and save her pride. It was the only thing she had left to protect
herself with now.
As she'd guessed, Copper was wil ing to help her out by coming over to supper. He was on cal ,
though, so he brought his beeper with him.
They sat down to an early supper of fried chicken and vegetables. Jane was wearing a white dress and
her hair was immaculately brushed back and secured with white combs. She looked elegant and very
beautiful, except for the hol ow expression in her eyes.
"Does it matter so much that he's got money?" Copper asked her over coffee.
"It would to him, if he thought it was the reason I was attracted to him," she said.
"He'll know better."
"How?"
"He loves you, you idiot," Copper said curtly. "He'll be furious, and not at you. I don't doubt he'l have
some choice words for his ex-wife."
"Maybe he'll thank her," she returned lightly. "After all, he was in a bit of a muddle here. He'd backed
himself into a corner playing the part of a working man with no prospects."
"It probably meant more to him that you loved him in his disguise."
"How would he know that I hadn't been in on the secret all along?"
Copper nodded; it was a logical question. But he was smiling when he put down his napkin. "Because
Cherry wil tel him how shocked you were."
"Maybe I'm a good actress. Cherry's mother said that plenty of women had wanted him for his bank
account."
"And don't you think he'd know the difference between a woman who wanted money and a woman
who wanted him?"
"I don't know," Jane said honestly.
"Listen..."
The front door opened without even a knock and Todd stalked into the dining room. He was wearing
a gray business suit with a spotless white shirt and a silk tie. His boots were hand-tooled leather. He
was wearing a Rolex watch on his left wrist and a signet ring with a diamond that would have blinded
a horse. For the first time, Jane saw him as he real y was: an authority figure bristling with money and
power.
He didn't smile as he stared at her, and his gaze didn't waver. "When Miss Emory finally got to the
with Marie's message, I canceled a meeting. I was waiting for Marie when she got back home. I've had
her version of what she said. Let's have yours."
Copper cleared his throat, to make sure that Todd knew he was sitting mere.
Todd glanced at him with cold gray eyes. "I haven't missed the cozy supper scenario," he told the
doctor. "But I know why it's being played out. Do you?"
"Oh, I have a dandy idea," Copper replied. "Wouldn't it have been easier al around to just tel the truth
in the first place? Or were you having fun at Jane's expense?"
Todd laughed without mirth. He stuck his hands into his slacks pockets and stared at Jane from his
superior, elegant height. "Fun. I've got merger negotiations stacked one on another, international
contracts waiting for consideration, stockholders telephoning twice a day... No, I haven't been having
fun. I've put my life on hold trying to get this horse ranch out of bankruptcy so that Jane would at least
have a roof over her head. It was an impulse. Once I started the charade, I couldn't find a way to stop
it."
"You could have told the the truth," Jane said stiffly.
"What truth?" he asked pleasantly. "That I felt sorry for you, because you were hurt and such a fighter
lose everything you owned just for lack of an
despite your injuries? And that you stood to
accountant? I couldn't walk away."
"Well thanks for all you did" Jane replied averting her
eyes. "But now that you've got the on my feet, I can stay there all by myself."
"Sure you can," he agreed. "You've got a licensing contract and some decent stock to breed. You'll
make it. You would have anyway, if Tim had been a little sharper in the math department. This is a
first-class operation. Al I did was pul the loose ends together. You're a born rancher.
You've got what it takes to make this place pay, with a little help from Tim and Meg."
The praise unsettled her, even as it thrilled her. At least he didn't think she was an idiot. That was
something. But the distance between them was more apparent than ever now that she knew the truth
about him.
She clasped her hands tightly out of sight in her lap. "And you?"
"I've got a business of my own to run," he said. "Cherry wil start back to school soon. We'd have had
to leave anyway, a little later than this, perhaps. Cherry owes you a lot for what you've taught her. She
has a chance in rodeo now."
"Cherry is my friend. I hope she always will be."
"Cherry. But not the?"
She looked up into his eyes. "I'm grateful for what you did. But you must surely see that we live in
different worlds." She sighed wearily. "I'm not cut out for yours, any more than you're cut out for
mine. It's just as wel that it worked out this way."
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