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  “Maybe they just saw that Gregory and his dear mother would try to do to them what they have done to you.”

  “No one has done anything to me! I’m very happy and Gregory and I are getting married because we love each other. You don’t know how wonderful he is. He has courted me like something out of a novel, with roses and champagne, concerts and plays and—”

  “But he hasn’t shelled out for a new stove, has he? And what kind of a buggy does he drive?”

  “Not that you will know anything about it, but he drives a new red Porsche that he bought last year.”

  “And what is your buggy like?”

  “A ten-year-old Ford Escort. Stop it! I didn’t get into cooking to make money. And are you saying that no man could possibly love me for myself, that if he loves me it must be for some reason other than love?”

  “I’m just saying that this man you think you love is making money off of you and that if you marry him, you’ll be stuck behind that broken stove for the rest of your life. He’ll be the big shot in the restaurant, wearing the nice clothes, glad-handing everyone, and you’ll be in the back doing the work. And you’ve already told me he has political ambitions. I’ll bet he could meet some pretty important people through your talent.”

  “Stop it,” Kady whispered. “I don’t want to hear this.”

  But Cole wouldn’t stop. “Tell me, does your wedding contract include that you own half the business?”

  She glared at him. “My wedding contract will say that we promise to love each other always.”

  Cole acted as though he hadn’t heard her. “It seems to me that he has very cleverly fixed it so that if you leave, no one will know your name. You’ve not made a name for yourself but a name for his restaurant. And you’ve made the place so great in these five years that it’s my guess if you left he’d be able to get another chef to carry on where you left off. If he buys a new stove, that is. And you would be left with no money to open your own place, and all you could do would be get a job working for another cook, and that’s hard to do once you’ve been your own boss.”

  “You’re wrong! Gregory and I are getting married. I’ll be half owner of everything.”

  “Oh? I think any sane man would do what I did and get that ring on your finger in seconds. Or is he holding on to his freedom because he has everything he could possibly want right now? For the price of an engagement ring he can keep you hanging on. And you don’t even demand a new stove!!”

  “Stop it! Stop it!” Kady shouted. Maybe the anger that raced through her was out of proportion to his questions, but he had hit too close to home, and she couldn’t forget the words of her friend Jane. Just because Jane was an accountant, she thought she had the right to ask about everyone’s finances. She was hardly off the plane before she’d asked Kady what the profits of the restaurant were and how much Kady’s share was. Jane had been appalled to find that Kady received what Jane considered an inadequate salary, was not a partner, was not sharing financially in the success that her cooking was bringing to Onions, and actually had no idea how well Onions was doing. Kady had dismissed Jane’s words with a laugh, saying she’d get it all if she married the boss’s son. “Kady, I don’t mean to be a cynic,” Jane had said, “but if you two divorced, you could be left with nothing. You would have put years of work into that restaurant, yet your home, including the contents, would be in his name because everything was purchased before you were married. If there was a divorce, you’d be left with absolutely nothing. You’d receive what you brought into the marriage, which is exactly nothing.”

  Kady had dismissed her friend’s words, but Jane had planted a seed of doubt in Kady’s head.

  “Stop it!” Kady said again to Cole, this time in a whisper as she buried her face in her hands. “I don’t want to hear any more from anyone about how I should put a price on my love for Gregory.”

  With a contrite look, Cole moved to put his arm around her. “You’re my wife, and I want to take care of you, to protect you. Don’t husbands do that in your time?”

  Kady pushed his arm off her shoulders. “You are not my husband!”

  “Yes I am,” Cole said calmly and pulled her into his arms again, this time not allowing her to pull away. “I may not be when you go back to that man; I’ll be dead then, but I most certainly am your husband now.”

  He clasped her to him tightly. “Kady, can’t I make you see that I love you? Can’t I make you see that I hate this man you say you love? I’ll say anything, do anything to discredit him. I’m sure you’re right, that he does love you with all his heart, how could he not? But can’t I at least please try to make you dislike him? Please?”

  For a few moments Kady’s head whirled with her thoughts and emotions. She’d never been one of those girls who had men trying to impress her, falling all over themselves to invite her out. She’d always been plump and shy, and she’d had very little contact with men outside a kitchen.

  “He does love me,” she said softly, her head pressed against Cole’s strong chest. “And he’d buy a new stove if I insisted, but we’re spending a lot of money on the new house and—”

  “Whose name is the house in?”

  Kady couldn’t prevent a laugh. “You are a wicked, horrible man,” she said.

  He tipped her face up to look at him. “No, I’m a man who is in love with a woman who loves another.” Gently, sweetly, he kissed her. “You should be glad your Gaylard isn’t here or I’m afraid I’d waylay him some dark night and put him out of his misery.”

  “Then they would hang you,” she said, looking up at him, feeling his soft breath on her lips. At this precise moment she couldn’t seem to remember who Gregory was.

  And it was that thought that made her push herself out of his arms. “My goodness,” she said brightly. “It’s stopped raining, so we’ll have to leave. And just when I was enjoying myself so much.”

  As Cole laughed, he made a lunge to grab Kady’s arm, but she eluded him and crawled out from under the tarp.

  “Could we go now, please?” she asked as she stared down at him, hands on hips.

  “Yes, of course,” Cole answered innocently as he began to repack. “I live only to grant your every desire.”

  Minutes later they were packed and ready to start walking, but as Cole bent to shoulder his pack, Kady was almost sure she heard the word “coward.” She thought about defending herself, but instead, she put her nose into the air and looked at the scenery as though Cole Jordan weren’t anywhere on the planet.

  Chapter 10

  AS THEY WALKED, KADY BEHIND COLE, SHE KEPT DELAYING him as she paused frequently to pick plants, examining each one, searching her memory to recall all that she’d learned in school about plants that grew wild. While training to be a chef during the day, she’d often taken courses in botany at a local university during the night. The origin of foods and eating “off the land” had always fascinated her. She also had a deep belief that for every illness on earth, there was also a cure; someone just had to find the source of that cure.

  Suddenly, she stopped walking and stared at some plants by the side of the trail: tall, some nearly six feet, with pretty, slender leaves. “Holy smokes!” she said under her breath, blinking, then shaking her head a couple of times to clear it.

  “What are you staring at?” Cole asked, coming to stand behind her and seeing nothing but everyday weeds.

  “About twenty years in a Turkish prison,” she said, eyes wide. When Cole looked at her in question, she turned to him. “Hemp,” she said. “Cannabis.” She smiled. “Ever hear of marijuana?”

  “Can’t say as I have. Is it another of your weeds that you plan to try to feed me?”

  “No, I think I’ll pass on this one.”

  Cole started walking again, with Kady following him. “Why don’t you tell me about this cannabis of yours?” he said over his shoulder. “And exactly what is it good for?”

  Laughing, Kady talked as they walked down a trail flanked by the ta