50

Thinking of what Tony had said earlier, Rafe told her, “I know I accused you of lousy judgment in going into a partnership with him, but what happened isn’t your fault. You saw what he wanted you to see, a charming man who was good at getting people to trust him, good at finding backers for the restaurant. You’re not the only person he took in, sweetheart. My mother is older and should be wiser, but she trusted him. So did many others, many of them supposedly savvy businessmen.”

His words didn’t seem to console her. She stared at him bleakly. “What do I do, Rafe?”

“Do you want Café Tuscany?” “Yes,” she said at once.

“Enough to go back right now and fight for it?”

Her expression faltered at that. “I can’t. Karen, Tony, they’re depending on me.”

“They would understand,” he said, knowing it was true of Tony and just as certain that Karen, whom he barely knew, would feel the same way because she loved Cara, as did all her other friends.

“I suppose. But this trip is so important to Francesca. I can’t go back on my word.”

He studied her intently. “And there’s a part of you that’s happy here, isn’t there?” he asked with sudden insight. “There’s a part of you that is glad to have the chance to cook for friends and family, rather than anonymous strangers.”

“I hadn’t really thought about it, but yes,” she said slowly. “I’m looking forward to being back in Tony’s kitchen, to having time, even on a busy night, to sit for a minute with my friends while they try some recipe I’ve been experimenting with.”

“Do you think that feeling is just temporary?” he asked with an astonishing sense of dread.

“I honestly don’t know. I only know that right now this is where I want to be, where I have to be.”

“And Rinaldi?”

“Tell your man to find him. No matter what I decide for myself, the investors and our vendors need to be paid. We owe them that.”

Rafe nodded. “I’ll call the investigator right now.”

He woke the man from a sound sleep, told him to book that trip to the Cayman Islands, but to leave his scuba gear at home. “You won’t have time for it. Find Rinaldi. See if he still has any of the money. Then we’ll see where we go next.”

“If Bobby is there, can you force him to come back?” Cara asked after he’d hung up. “Isn’t that one of the places with no extradition agreement with the United States?”

“Yes, but I’m sure he can be enticed back, one way or another. First things first. Let’s make sure that’s where he is.”

“Will you stay here while you wait or will you go back to New York?”

He ought to go straight back to New York. There was no real reason to keep Cara under surveillance, certainly no reason he had to do it himself. But for a

whole lot of very confusing and conflicting reasons, he wanted to stay right here. “What do you want me to do?” he asked, unhappy about this unexpected

reluctance to leave. He’d come here a driven workaholic. He’d changed and he wasn’t at all certain it was for the better.

Again Cara seemed startled that he was asking her preference. Then a smile spread slowly across her face. “Right now, I want you to forget about going anywhere and to come over here.”

His heartbeat kicked up at the invitation in her eyes. “Oh? What did you have in mind?”

“If you don’t know, then you’re not half as brilliant as people think you are.”

Rafe didn’t hesitate. He took a few steps in her direction, but she met him halfway. When it came to being brilliant and clever, it turned out that Cara was no slouch herself. Her plans for the rest of the evening were far more innovative and satisfying than discussing the pros and cons of a return to New York. It also gave him a whole lot more to consider the next time the prospect of leaving Wyoming came up.

Cara was still half-asleep in Rafe’s arms when the phone in her room rang.

She leaped and ran to answer it. The sound of Bobby’s voice snapped her awake. “Bobby, where the hell are you?”

“If you think I’m going to tell you that, now that I know you’ve aligned yourself with the enemy, you’re crazy.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re at the same hotel. Your parents told me where to find you. Are you sleeping with him?” he asked.

She ignored the question. “Why are you calling?”

“To tell you that chasing me down won’t do you a bit of good. I’m safe.” “In the Caymans?” she asked.

From the other room she heard Rafe groan. She realized she had just given away their tactical advantage in finding Bobby.

“Why would you think I’m in the Caymans?” Bobby asked suspiciously. “You’ve got someone following me, haven’t you?”

“Well, what did you expect?” she retorted, losing patience with him, with all of it. “You took off with the company money, ripped off our suppliers and investors. Of course you’re being followed. If you have a grain of sense left in that pea brain of yours, you’ll come home on your own and face the music before this gets any worse.”

“It can’t get any worse,” he said. “Not back there, anyway. Down here I can

live like a king.”

She figured that was the final admission that they’d guessed right about where he was.

“Only if you can ignore your conscience,” she said. He laughed at that. “Not a problem.”

“Just tell me one thing,” she said. “Why did you do it? I thought we were friends.”

“We were, doll. But friendship has its limits. In the end you have to look out for number one.”

“That’s a terrible way to live.”

“No, that’s the only way to live. Survival,” he said succinctly. “That’s what it’s all about. Now, do me a favor.”

“What? After everything you’ve done, you expect me to do you a favor?” “Let’s just say it’s in your own best interests.”

“Why is that?”

“If you call off whoever’s tailing me, then I’ll send you a little something to help pay off the debts. If business is still booming, you ought to be able to survive this little bump in the road. One day you might even thank me for turning a thriving business over to you.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You won’t get a dime, and whoever shows up looking for me will run into some serious trouble down here. Gotta go, girl. You take care of yourself,” he said, then laughed. “And I mean that sincerely. Nobody else will do it for you.”

He hung up before she could respond. She was trembling when Rafe appeared and took the receiver from her hand. He replaced it, then took her in his arms.