engagement there had been no lack of "friends" to tell Kalinda who’d taken her place.
Arleen was the daughter of a wealthy Colorado rancher. She’d brought money to the marriage,
according to Kalinda’s acquaintances, and she was reputed to be a very beautiful woman. She was also a few years younger than Kalinda.
It had been easy not to think about her, especially since Kalinda had no intention of actually trying to steal her husband away. But more and more frequently during the past week an insistent image had come to mind. The image of an innocent wife discovering her husband was meeting a woman at a
remote mountain retreat.
Kalinda, blessed with an empathy she could have done well without in the business world, couldn’t help wondering how she’d feel if she were that wife. And now Rand had systematically demolished all the reasons for revenge, leaving only the face of the unknown wife to haunt Kalinda’s conscience.
Damn the man! She turned furiously over in bed, pounding the pillow with a disgusted fist. His talents truly had been wasted in life! With that sort of single-minded strength of purpose, he could have done just about anything he wanted in the world! But, she supposed thoughtfully, perhaps that’s exactly what he had done. Perhaps he was quite content to fish and ski and make lovely pieces of pottery. And date rich tourists!
She lay staring at the ceiling for a long time after that, trying to recall the hurt and humiliation she’d felt two years ago. A hurt and humiliation that had come in the wake of the tragedy of her father’s death and had, therefore, been all the more devastating. Kalinda’s parents had been divorced several years previously and her mother had moved to Europe with her new husband the year Kalinda had gone off to college. Kalinda had faced both the tragedy and the humiliation quite alone.
But it was difficult tonight to resurrect those old feelings. The habit of wanting revenge was still there in her mind, but the emotions driving those feelings were gone. If she were completely honest with herself, Kalinda thought wonderingly, she’d realize they had been missing for some time. Two years of hard work and success had killed them rather effectively.
It had been only the habit that had made her jump at the opportunity of paying back David Hutton.
Now, a combination of her conscience and the relentless arguments of a man she had only known for two days seemed to have succeeded in killing even the habit of wanting revenge. Kalinda thought once again of the unknown wife and of her own stupidity in wanting revenge on a man who wasn’t worth the time of day.
She made up her mind about what to do in the morning and went very soundly to sleep.
She dialed the private line number of David Hutton’s office promptly at eight o’clock the next morning.
He was there, just as she had expected him to be. Whatever else could be said of the man, he was a hard worker. It was one of the things she had admired about him in the beginning….
"David, this is Kalinda…" she began firmly, coolly.
"Getting impatient, darling?" he chuckled knowingly. "It won’t be much longer now. I’m taking off around twelve. I’ll be in the mountains by the middle of the afternoon. Enjoying yourself? Your office said you’d taken off a couple of extra days."
"I left that message in case you tried to get in touch with me," she affirmed. "But, David…"
"I can’t wait to see you again, Kali. God, it’s been a long time! I keep wondering what happened to us two years ago. We had so much going for us," he murmured deeply into the phone.
Kalinda gritted her teeth. He knew very well what had happened to them two years ago! He’d caused it to happen! But the momentary anger died quickly, leaving once again her newfound determination.
"David," she said calmly, "it’s no good. I’m not going to meet you up here. I’m calling so you won’t make the drive for nothing."
There was a fragment of
Arleen was the daughter of a wealthy Colorado rancher. She’d brought money to the marriage,
according to Kalinda’s acquaintances, and she was reputed to be a very beautiful woman. She was also a few years younger than Kalinda.
It had been easy not to think about her, especially since Kalinda had no intention of actually trying to steal her husband away. But more and more frequently during the past week an insistent image had come to mind. The image of an innocent wife discovering her husband was meeting a woman at a
remote mountain retreat.
Kalinda, blessed with an empathy she could have done well without in the business world, couldn’t help wondering how she’d feel if she were that wife. And now Rand had systematically demolished all the reasons for revenge, leaving only the face of the unknown wife to haunt Kalinda’s conscience.
Damn the man! She turned furiously over in bed, pounding the pillow with a disgusted fist. His talents truly had been wasted in life! With that sort of single-minded strength of purpose, he could have done just about anything he wanted in the world! But, she supposed thoughtfully, perhaps that’s exactly what he had done. Perhaps he was quite content to fish and ski and make lovely pieces of pottery. And date rich tourists!
She lay staring at the ceiling for a long time after that, trying to recall the hurt and humiliation she’d felt two years ago. A hurt and humiliation that had come in the wake of the tragedy of her father’s death and had, therefore, been all the more devastating. Kalinda’s parents had been divorced several years previously and her mother had moved to Europe with her new husband the year Kalinda had gone off to college. Kalinda had faced both the tragedy and the humiliation quite alone.
But it was difficult tonight to resurrect those old feelings. The habit of wanting revenge was still there in her mind, but the emotions driving those feelings were gone. If she were completely honest with herself, Kalinda thought wonderingly, she’d realize they had been missing for some time. Two years of hard work and success had killed them rather effectively.
It had been only the habit that had made her jump at the opportunity of paying back David Hutton.
Now, a combination of her conscience and the relentless arguments of a man she had only known for two days seemed to have succeeded in killing even the habit of wanting revenge. Kalinda thought once again of the unknown wife and of her own stupidity in wanting revenge on a man who wasn’t worth the time of day.
She made up her mind about what to do in the morning and went very soundly to sleep.
She dialed the private line number of David Hutton’s office promptly at eight o’clock the next morning.
He was there, just as she had expected him to be. Whatever else could be said of the man, he was a hard worker. It was one of the things she had admired about him in the beginning….
"David, this is Kalinda…" she began firmly, coolly.
"Getting impatient, darling?" he chuckled knowingly. "It won’t be much longer now. I’m taking off around twelve. I’ll be in the mountains by the middle of the afternoon. Enjoying yourself? Your office said you’d taken off a couple of extra days."
"I left that message in case you tried to get in touch with me," she affirmed. "But, David…"
"I can’t wait to see you again, Kali. God, it’s been a long time! I keep wondering what happened to us two years ago. We had so much going for us," he murmured deeply into the phone.
Kalinda gritted her teeth. He knew very well what had happened to them two years ago! He’d caused it to happen! But the momentary anger died quickly, leaving once again her newfound determination.
"David," she said calmly, "it’s no good. I’m not going to meet you up here. I’m calling so you won’t make the drive for nothing."
There was a fragment of
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