Tears of the Renegade Read online

  Despite everything, when the grapevine informed her that Cord had returned, she didn’t feel the dread that should have overwhelmed her. For a sweet moment of insanity she was simply glad that he’d returned, that he was once more close by geographically, if not emotionally. Somehow she felt that if he was at least in Mississippi, then it wasn’t all over. When it was finished for good, he’d leave for good.

  If she hadn’t been so tired, so desperate, pushed beyond common sense, she’d never have considered the idea. But late one afternoon she thought again of the ridges. She hadn’t slept at all the night before, with her thoughts whirling around in her mind like a rabid squirrel in a cage, until she felt as if her very skull were sore from being banged from within. The air conditioner couldn’t handle the heat and humidity, and her lightweight tan suit clung to her sticky skin. She’d already shed the jacket, since it was late and everyone else had already gone home, but even the thin cotton camisole top she’d worn with the suit seemed to be restricting her. A distant rumble of thunder held out the hope of rain to a parched region, but Susan had ceased believing in the thunder’s promise. It had proved to be deceptive too often lately.

  She had done everything she could think of, and still she hadn’t managed to scrape together enough cash to pay off the loan. She’d liquidated a large portion of her stock in Blackstone Corporation, all her stock in everything else, and had disposed of all of the property Vance had accumulated for her…all of it except for the land the house stood on, and the ridges.

  The ridges. The thought of them was like a jolt of electricity, straightening her in her chair. The ridges! With their promise of oil or natural gas, they were a gold mine, and she’d had it under her nose all the time. The money she could get from leasing them would be enough to finish covering the loan, and in her exhaustion she thought that it would be only fitting that the money from the ridges be used to defeat Cord; after all, it had been the ridges that had brought him back to Mississippi in the first place.

  In the back of her mind she knew it was odd that Cord hadn’t pressed her about signing the lease, but she simply couldn’t follow his reasoning. She loved him, but even after weeks of agonized wondering, she couldn’t understand him.

  The thought of the ridges gave her a spurt of strength, rather like a marathon runner’s last desperate burst of speed. She would drive out to the cabin and offer the lease to Cord, and he could take it right now or leave it. If he didn’t take it, then she’d lease the land to the first oil company she could interest in it, but she was going to give him the first chance at it. She knew that her excuse was flimsy, but suddenly she had to see him. Even if he were an enemy now, she had to see him.

  Without giving herself time to reconsider, she locked the office and left the building. If she thought about it, she’d begin to worry, and she’d let the doubts change her mind. Her hands were trembling as she guided the Audi out of Biloxi. A distracted glance at the fuel gauge warned her to stop for gas, but even that small interruption in her progress was too much to tolerate. She thought she’d have enough gas to get home, and that was all she cared about at the moment. She’d worry about getting to work later.

  The radio volume was low, but even the background noise was rasping on her nerves, and she snapped the radio off with a quick, irritable movement. It was so hot, and she felt so weak! A moment of dizziness alarmed her, and she turned the air-conditioning vents so the cold air was blowing right on her face. After a moment she felt better, and she urged the Audi to greater speeds.

  The Blazer was parked under one of the giant oak trees that kept the fierce sun away from the front of the cabin, and the front door stood open. Susan guided the Audi to a hard stop in front of the porch, and as she opened the door to get out, Cord strolled lazily out of the cabin to lean against one of the posts that supported the porch roof. He had on boots, and jeans so old that one of the pockets was missing, and that was all. She looked up at him and her heart stopped for a moment. He’d begun to let his beard grow again, and the several days’ growth of whiskers on his jaw made him look like an outlaw out of a Western. His hard, muscled torso was darkly tanned, his hair longer, and if anything, his pale eyes were even more compelling than she’d remembered. Her mouth went dry, and her legs wobbled as she went up the steps, clinging with all her strength to the rough railing.

  She’d tried to imagine what his first words would be, and her imagination had supplied any number of brutal things that would wound her. She braced herself for them as his narrowed gaze went over her from head to foot.

  “Come on in and have a glass of iced tea,” he invited, his rough, callused hand closing on her elbow and urging her inside the cabin. “You look like you’re about to melt.”

  Was that it? She had to swallow an almost hysterical giggle. After all her panic, he calmly invited her in for iced tea!

  Somehow she found herself sitting at his table while he moved around the kitchen. “I was just about to eat,” he said easily. “Nothing hot in this weather, just a ham sandwich and a tossed salad, but there’s plenty for two.”

  She started. He wanted her to eat? “Oh, no, thank you—”

  He interrupted her refusal by sliding a plate in front of her. She stared down at the ham sandwich, wondering if she could possibly swallow a bite of it, and his hand entered her field of vision again, this time placing a chilled bowl of salad beside the plate. A napkin and cutlery were placed by her hand, and a big glass of beautiful, amber tea over ice finished her instant meal. When she lifted her stunned gaze, she saw that he’d set the same for himself, and he draped his tall frame into the chair across from her.

  “Eat,” he said gently. “You’ll feel better after you do.”

  When had she last had a meal, a real meal? The days had merged into one long, steamy nightmare, and she couldn’t recall her last meal. Half-eaten sandwiches, coffee, and an occasional candy bar had constituted her diet since Preston had left. She began to eat slowly, and the crisp, fresh flavor of the salad, only lightly coated with tart dressing, was suddenly the best thing she could imagine eating. She savored every bite of it, and the cold tea seemed to cool her from the inside out. Because she’d been eating so little she was unable to eat all of the sandwich, but Cord made no comment on the half left on her plate. Instead he swiftly cleared the table, placing the dishes in the sink before coming back to the table and refilling her glass with tea.

  “Now,” he said, dropping into his chair again, “you don’t look like you’re going to pass out at my feet, so I’ll listen to whatever you came to say.”

  Susan held the frosty glass between both hands, feeling the refreshing chill on her hot palms. “I want to talk to you about the ridges,” she said, but her mind wasn’t on her words. She was staring at him, her eyes tracing the lines of his features as if etching them permanently on her memory.

  “So talk. What about them?” He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back, bringing his booted feet up and propping them on the chair beside him.

  “Do you still want to lease them?”

  His lids dropped down to hood his eyes. “Get to the point, Susan.”

  Nervously, she took a sip of tea, then fidgeted for a moment with the glass, returning it to precisely the same spot where it had been before, making certain that it matched the ring of water that marked its position. “If you want them, then lease them now. I’ve decided not to wait for the report from the survey. If you don’t want the lease any longer, I’m going to lease them to some other company.”

  “Oh, I still want them,” he said softly, “but I’m not going to give you any money on them right now. You’d run all the way to Biloxi to give the money to Preston, and I’ll be damned if I’ll give you a penny until this is all over. The money from the ridges is for you, to keep you in your accustomed style after Preston doesn’t have a penny left.” He gave her a cynical grin, one full of wry amusement at himself. “I’ll keep you in silk underwear, honey.”

  Susan choke