A Proposal Worth Waiting For. Raye Morgan

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СКАЧАТЬ He didn’t smile back, but his eyes were warm and she was beginning to think they might have a tender moment, if she played her cards right. Her heart began to thump a bit harder.

      And then he pulled her right back into the maelstrom.

      “Have you decided what it is that Carl’s looking for yet?” he asked her.

      Carl. Her shoulders sagged and she felt a pang of guilt. He must be wondering where she was. But she knew he would want more than simple work on the map. He was going to insist she come with him to the caves and show him what she knew. She wanted to avoid this at all costs.

      “Uh...no,” she responded evasively. “Why? What’s your theory?”

      He shrugged and looked out at the hills. “I think he’s after the same thing most people who come nosing around here are after: the Don Carlos Treasure.”

      “But...” She hesitated, biting her lip. This was what really bothered her. “I thought your father sent it to the bottom of the sea when he sailed out that awful day. Wasn’t that the story? And then his boat capsized and he...he...”

      “He went down with the treasure. At least, that was what his suicide note said he was planning to do.”

      “Is there really any proof that he took the treasure out there with him? Does anyone know for sure if it’s really down there?”

      He didn’t answer. She watched as his handsome face turned to granite. Reaching out, she touched his arm.

      “I’m sorry, Marc. I know it brings up unhappy memories to talk about it.”

      He turned and stared down at her. “If we don’t talk about it, we’ll never get to the truth. And this may surprise you, but I want the truth as much as you do.”

      She searched his eyes. Was that really true? What do you know? Just as he had decided that, she was becoming more ambivalent. What if the truth only made things worse?

      But Marc seemed to be transitioning into a philosophical mood. He leaned out over the railing and looked toward the ocean in the distance and went on, almost as though to himself.

      “You know, I hadn’t thought about it all, the whole situation, for a long time. Years. I was sort of blocking it out.” He glanced sideways at her. “There were a lot of people at the time who asked the same questions you just asked. How did we know the treasure was truly gone? We had people coming here in droves, sneaking onto the property, digging up the rose garden, moving logs around, trying their best to find out where he’d actually hidden the treasure. It was like the California gold rush all over again.”

      “How awful.” She glanced away, wondering if he looked at her as one of those scavengers. Why not? In a way, she was like them. Only she already had a part of the treasure. He just didn’t know about that, and she hoped she was going to leave without him finding out. What she was after was the explanation. That was all.

      “It didn’t let up for a long time. Marge was always calling the police, and then there would be a confrontation. I didn’t have to deal with it, since I was overseas. But I sure heard a lot about it.”

      “From Marge?”

      “Yeah. She wanted to sell from the beginning. I kept trying to talk her out of it.”

      “But she kept things going around here.”

      He nodded. “I’ve got to give her that one. She did okay for a good long while. She kept writing me about these great offers she was getting, and then they always fell through. After awhile, she gave up. I hadn’t heard from her about selling for about five years now.” He ran his fingers through his thick, dark hair. “But this time she’s determined. This time, she’s going to sell.”

      “And this time, you want to stop her.”

      He was silent and she stood beside him, so close and yet so far. She could feel that he hated this, that he didn’t want his family estate going to strangers. She wasn’t sure how finding out the truth about the treasure would help him deal with that. A part of her wished she knew a way to help him. There was nothing she could do.

      “So you’re not in the military anymore,” she said, more to fill the silence than to find out anything new.

      “Not really. But when you’ve been in as long as I have, a part of you will always be in there. It gets in your blood.”

      She nodded. That made sense to her. The military could be a pretty intense experience, one that changed many people forever. She looked at him candidly. “What are you going to do with the rest of your life?”

      He laughed, leaning back with both elbows on the railing. “That’s what I like about you, Torie,” he said, his gaze ranging over her in a way that made her tingle. “You don’t play games and beat around the bush. If you want to know something, you just ask.”

      She gave him a quick smile. “You, on the other hand, try to change the subject and don’t give straight answers.”

      “You want an answer? Here goes.” He took a deep breath and gazed off at the horizon. “I got experience in a lot of things in the service. Security, business management, electronics, diplomacy, espionage.” He looked at her. “I even filled in as a wedding and bar mitzvah singer from time to time.”

      “You’re kidding.” The picture that conjured up made her laugh out loud.

      “No,” he protested, half laughing himself. “I was pretty popular at it.”

      “I’ll bet.” She could see the young girls swooning now.

      He rolled his eyes at her amusement, but he went on.

      “So when I got out, I started looking around at opportunities. But my mind kept going back to Shangri-La.”

      “Of course,” she murmured. Her mind did too. All the time.

      “I started wanting to come home. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to pull at me.” He turned to look at her more closely.

      “You know, this is a wonderful place. There are a lot of options right here on the land. My grandfather made his fortune as a breeder of racehorses. My father spent a few years developing a world-class vineyard, selling his grapes to the best wineries along the coast.”

      “I remember that.”

      He looked at her, one eyebrow raised. “What do you think of me putting in a winery right here?”

      “It would take a lot of start-up money, wouldn’t it?”

      He nodded. “Yes, it would.” He shrugged and the faraway expression was back in his eyes. “Aw, what the heck. No point living in dreamland. Marge is going to sell, come hell or high water. She’s got that look of determination in her eyes. She wants out of here. And I don’t have the resources to stop her.”

      There it was again, that note of pain the tore at her when she heard it. “Will she give you a part of the proceeds if she does sell?”

      “Why would she do that?”

      She shrugged. “Maybe because СКАЧАТЬ