Paradise Burning by Blair Bancroft

confidentiality, “I’m told— not by Brad—that his grandfather grazed cattle
for sixty years on the land Brad turned into Amber Run. According
to local gossip, the land was Brad’s grandmother’s dowry, and it
was a big shock to old Wade when she left it to her grandson
instead of her husband.”
    “ How can there be cattle across the
river?” Mandy demanded. “It’s just one big jungle.”
    “ The jungle is only along the river,”
Peter explained patiently. “The land behind it gets a bit soggy
during the rainy season, but it’s prime cattle country for miles
and miles. Wade Whitlaw is a genuine cattle baron, and his son and
heir, Garrett, is a big wheel on the County Commission.”
    My second husband is in politics and prefers
to have his name as prominent and wide-spread as possible.
    Mandy was nothing if not an expert at
assimilating random pieces of information. “Then Phil Whitlaw, the
real estate broker, is Wade Whitlaw’s daughter-in-law?”
    “ She was also once his
granddaughter-in-law,” Peter returned smoothly. “She used to be
married to Brad Blue.”
    “ What is this, General Hospital ?” Mandy shot back, failing to
suppress an incredulous grin.
    “ More like a twenty-first
century Dallas ,” Peter
countered, his lips quirking up in an answering smile.
    It was too much like their old rapport.
Ruthlessly, Mandy steered herself back on track. “Okay, we’ve got
some houses three or four miles upriver from here. Where’s the
ranch house?”
    “ You mean where does Wade Whitlaw live?
Damned if I know. But your girl had better watch her step. Rumor
has it old Wade patrols his land with a shotgun and isn’t above
taking pot shots at trespassers.”
    Mandy’s eyes widened, but in typical Armitage
fashion, she stuck stubbornly to the subject. “Then how could I
have seen a girl sitting on the riverbank this morning?”
    “ Easy. She must have had a boat. And
Wade hasn’t seen her yet.”
    “ I didn’t see a boat.”
    “ How far away was she?” Peter
challenged.
    “ Maybe as much as the length of a
football field.”
    “ You’re near-sighted, Mouse. Add fifty
or sixty feet for the width of the river, and practically anything
could have been hidden behind the brush along the bank. She had to
have had a boat.”
    “ The woman I saw had long blond hair
and an odd-looking dress. She seemed to be young, but I have to
admit she was pretty far away.”
    “ Bud’s Fish Camp, a couple miles
upriver, rents canoes. Face it, Mouse, your girl had a boat tucked
away somewhere.”
    Mouse . She
ought to resent it—it wasn’t exactly flattering—but somehow the old
pet name made her feel cherished. A wife instead of a research
assistant.
    “ I don’t think so,” she replied far
less firmly than she’d intended. “Is Brad Blue around every day?
I’d like to talk to him.”
    “ I don’t know why you’re so interested
in some strange girl,” Peter muttered, every nerve tingling at the
sight of Mandy in the bedroom he had furnished just for her. Until
he could convince her to make the switch to his. Keep on topic. Don’t scare her! “But
Brad’s always around. His wife can locate him for you. She runs the
model center. You must have seen the sign on your way in. Her
name’s Claire, and I think you’ll like her.” Good thought, Pennington . A friend at Amber Run
would help Mandy feel more at home . Home is
where the heart is . Whoever said that surely had it
right.
    So far, he’d managed Step One. Mandy was in
Golden Beach. Now he needed to maneuver her out of her hideaway on
wheels and into this room.
    And then up the hallway to his room. His
bed.
    Their bed.
    3-D chess. Complex. Tricky. With dangers
coming at you from every direction.
    He wasn’t Pete Rodcyzk any more. He was Peter
Pennington. Older, wiser, more experienced. This time his Mouse
wasn’t going to skitter away.
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    The next morning Mandy set the alarm for the
crack of dawn and dragged