Marrying Cade(28)

A black well of pain and disappointment settled in the region of her  heart. She closed her eyes and gave in to it for a moment, then one  remembered word floated up from the blackness.

Mezzuti? Her head swam with the realization she'd missed a vital piece  of the puzzle. If Cade didn't take up his offer, her father intended to  sell to Felix Mezzuti, the head of Mezzuti Investments, the same man  who'd been after land on Isola dei Fiori for years. The man her father  resolutely refused to sell to in the past.

This could be no coincidence. Mezzuti would be much more interested in  getting a lien on land than he ever would in her father's money. He must  have engineered things to ensure Marco would have no option but to sell  to him. Must have carefully manipulated the older man, under the guise  of a solid gold investment opportunity.

Melo glanced out of the window, making out Cade's shadowy form sitting  at the table. She pushed back her hair with a shaking hand. She couldn't  think about him now. Couldn't shred her heart any longer. He was an  honorable man, determined to see her as a damsel in distress in need of  saving.

Melo went into the bedroom where she'd left her bags, and closed the  door firmly. She unzipped her carry-on bag and pulled out her laptop and  the sheaf of files she'd brought with her from the Bellucci villa.

She'd been mourning the loss of Paradise Beach as if it were a done  deal, instead of focusing her attention on this new, intriguing  possibility. That the man who had conned a raft of hapless investors out  of their life savings might have slipped up somewhere along the way.  Might have thought he was dealing with one old, ill man, and in his  greed, been careless.

She set up the laptop on a desk in the corner of the room and powered it  up. There was plenty of room on the heavy oak desk, so she opened the  sheaf of papers, and copies of the documents her father had signed.  Felix Mezzuti may have thought her stubborn father wouldn't seek her  opinion before making the deal, but if he thought for one moment she  wouldn't search through the paperwork, examining every word looking for a  solution, he was dead wrong.                       
       
           



       

She was a damsel in distress all right. But damned determined to rescue herself.





Chapter Fourteen



It wasn't exactly a love seat, but it wasn't a full length sofa either,  and every inch of Cade's long frame ached as he swung his legs onto the  rug and levered himself up to sitting. He kneaded his neck and stretched  it side to side to ease out the kinks. Sleeping on the sofa had never  been part of the plan. He hadn't exactly slept either. Part of him  waited for the bedroom door to open, and for Melo to come out and talk  to him. Maybe even take him back to bed with her. Fat chance.

With a groan, Cade stood, his leg muscles protesting as he stretched  them out and headed in to the kitchen area to put on a pot of strong  coffee.

While he waited for the coffee machine to do its job, he pushed open the  door and strode down toward the lake. The sun was coming up accompanied  by birdsong in the early dawn. The foreshore was covered in pebbles  washed smooth by the clear lake water, and the glasslike surface was  broken by spreading circles as fish snapped up insects dipping too  close. Cade ran a hand through his hair, and stooped to pick up a flat  stone, weighing it in his hands and caressing the smooth surface for a  moment before skipping it along the surface.

Everything had changed, and for the life of him he couldn't work out  where the hell it had all gone so wrong. After his proposal the shock in  Melo's eyes had cut him to the core. For the first time in a long time  he'd felt raw, exposed, vulnerable. Dammit, he should have told her he  loved her, not just cared for her, but thank God he hadn't.

She obviously didn't feel the same. After all, what had she told him the  night they'd fallen into bed at the hotel? Let's enjoy the time we have  together. His hands clenched into fists. She wasn't looking for a  long-term thing. And why should she be? He'd made his aversion to a  permanent relationship more than clear. The fact the world had shifted  on its axis in the time they'd been together was immaterial.

She wanted him; she couldn't hide her body's reaction or the desire  flickering in her eyes every time they met his. But wanting someone  short-term was a very different prospect to loving someone.

She hadn't been able to get away from him quickly enough.

Cade's chest felt tight and he strode along the lakeshore away from the  cabin, breathing in deep lungfuls of the frigid air. She'd smiled,  obviously not wanting to hurt his feelings, but she'd run all the same.  And this morning they would "talk," and the fact she hadn't at any stage  left the bedroom last night was an ominous sign.

Whatever happened next would be her decision. If she didn't want him,  he'd make sure she took his money, anyway. After all, he could afford to  buy the beach without building on it. Cade bent to pick up a branch of  twisted wood, bleached white in the sun, and ran his fingers over its  knotted surface before flinging it into the undergrowth fringing the  water.

Once all this was behind them, maybe he could show her how he felt. Show  her by being there that they could build a future together. A thought  weaved through his mind but he pushed it away firmly. He wouldn't think  that it was over. It could never be over.

****

The smell of fragrant coffee hung in the air as Melo pushed open the  door of the bedroom, and glanced around. The room was empty, the  discarded blanket on the sofa the only sign Cade had been there. She  padded across the floor in her socks, and pulled down a cup from the  cupboard, filling it with coffee and adding a splash of milk from the  fridge.

She'd stayed up practically all night, searching through the paperwork.  Eventually she found what she was looking for. The investment contract  was with The Bellucci Winery, not her father. Melo felt sure that since  he was chairman, not a sole proprietor, the entire deal had been  illegal. Now, she urgently needed to get to Rome to see Aldo Renda, the  lawyer Cade had engaged to investigate the veracity of her claim.

The thought of talking to Cade had her stomach in knots. She strode to  the door, jerked it open, and settled down on the chair by the table.  There was no sign of Cade. Calm settled in her by degrees as she gazed  out over the lake, glistening where the sun hit it. It was so beautiful  here, so completely untouched. Nature in all its glory. The cabin was  the only addition to the unspoiled environment and was so skillfully  made it seemed a perfectly natural addition. As she'd always dreamed the  house she'd build on Paradise Beach would be. A complement rather than  an eyesore.

She swallowed a mouthful of coffee. Closed her eyes, letting the sun  warm her eyelids as she tuned out her own thoughts and surrendered to  the sounds of the forest. The breeze brushed the high branches of the  trees, rustling the leaves. Somewhere, far away, an animal bellowed,  perhaps a cow, or a moose. The sound was indistinct, and Melo let her  mind drift over the possibilities. A thud, then another. Muffled but  regular. Coming from behind the cabin. Melo opened her eyes to the blue  sky. She would miss being here. Their time in Canada had been too short,  but she needed to get back to Italy to meet with Mr. Renda. And there  was no time to spare.                       
       
           



       

Rising from the chair with a reluctant sigh, Melo swallowed the last mouthful of coffee and set off to investigate.

The thudding got louder as she came into the clearing and paused, hidden  by the trees that ringed it. Melo pulled in a deep breath, and stared.

A shirtless Cade was splitting logs cleanly with a single stroke of an  axe. His skin gleamed with a faint sheen of perspiration, and the  muscles in his back and shoulders flexed powerfully as he took aim and  brought the heavy axe down again and again.

Melo couldn't tear her eyes away.

It wasn't fair. All she wanted to do was walk over, touch him. Reach up  and bring his mouth down to hers, and tumble into bed with him for the  rest of the day. His jeans rode low on his hips. She knew the front view  of his rock-hard body would be just as spectacular. She took one step  forward, her body acting on automatic in response to her thoughts. Drawn  toward him like a moth to a flame.

A twig cracked underfoot, and Cade hesitated mid-swing, the axe lowering  to hang at his side. He turned and saw her, then slammed the axe into  the tree trunk he'd been chopping on, and ran his hands over his thighs.

"Good morning," Melo croaked, cursing the fact her voice was  misbehaving, when she so desperately wanted to sound strong and capable.  She strode across the clearing, relief blooming inside as he smiled.  "Are you coming in for coffee?"