Owed: One Wedding Night. Nancy Holland

offered in Silicon Valley. She and her mother could get an apartment together down there…

      And her mother would be miserable. The humiliation of having her husband die in another woman’s bed, then all the stress of learning that they might have to close Dartmoor had already aged Dana Ellsworth ten years in the last two months. She’d had lived a mockery of a marriage for as long as Madison could remember and even that might not have been enough to keep Dartmoor in the family.

      Which is why Madison was sitting here, face hot with humiliation, damp hands once again knotted in her lap.

      She let out a long, slow breath. “If you would loan my mother…” She couldn’t finish.

      He raised his eyebrows in a way she’d once thought the sexiest thing in the world. Right now the gesture made her look for a waste basket, in case her stomach betrayed her completely.

      “How much?”

      She named a figure that made Jake’s eyes open wide.

      “How much of that is for Dartmoor and how much is to support your mother’s lifestyle? Not to mention yours?”

      Madison was tempted to tell him her lifestyle, as bare-bones as it had become lately, was none of his business. But that wouldn’t help her mother.

      “All the money will be used to implement my plan to revitalize Dartmoor.”

      Both his eyebrows went up. “Your plan?”

      This was the opening she needed. She lifted the briefcase to her lap and opened it.

      “Yes. If you look at the some of my ideas, you'll see…”

      He held up his hand. “Spare me. I don't think I can sit through another of your amateur sales pitches.”

      She started to protest that her MBA in marketing made her far from an amateur, but the look on his face, somewhere between amusement and rage, stopped her. Instead she set the case down again and tried to ignore the memories that kept flooding back and threatened to make it impossible for her to continue.

      “So, the money would all go to Dartmoor.”

      She nodded.

      “And what will you two live on in the meantime?”

      What should she tell him? The whole truth wasn’t an option.

      “I've had several job offers.”

      Something dark crossed his face, then evaporated.

      “Jobs that will pay enough to support your mother’s current lifestyle?”

      “No.” That was true enough. “But with my trust fund, we’ll manage.”

      He leaned forward in his chair, arms on the desk. With an effort she managed not to draw back, away from the masculine energy of his body.

      “And how to you plan to pay back this loan? Out of Dartmoor’s profits? Unlikely, any time soon. Out of your salary? I don’t think so.”

      “Jake, I have a photo of you at my christening.” He flinched, probably at the image of himself as a bored, but adorable four-year-old in a stiff black suit. “If you loan us the money, you know I’ll pay you back, no matter what happens.”

      “I doubt either of us will live long enough for you to pay me back that kind of money out of your paychecks.”

      Somehow Jake must have missed the news that she’d finished her MBA at the top of her class. She sat up a little straighter. She might not have made much in the short term if she’d taken any of those jobs, but in a year, ten years, she’d have been earning the money to pay him back several times over. A man as smart as he was could figure that out. Maybe he wasn’t ready to accept that he’d been wrong when he tried to veto her plan to go to business school.

      The impulse to run away that had lurked at the back of her mind ever since she entered the building took over. She set both feet on the floor, ready to stand up, when she remembered that this time it wasn’t about her. It was about her mother and saving the family legacy.

      She sat back and crossed her legs. If she had to stay, the best defense might be a good offense.

      “If you’re worried I might stiff you for the money by dying, I could take out a life- insurance policy for the full amount and make you the beneficiary. If I pay you back most of it and something happens to me, you’d make a nice profit on the deal.”

      He scowled. “That’s not the point. The point is that a loan implies an ability to repay the money. Frankly, I can’t see how that’s supposed to happen. Maybe your MBA will take you right to the executive suite.” She flinched, but he didn’t notice. “Or maybe you’ll get laid off or have an employer fail on you, and then where would I be?”

      “Still filthy rich.” Not exactly the right attitude when she was asking him for such a big favor, but the man knew how to push her buttons. All of them.

      “So you want me to give you the money for old times’ sake?” He leaned back in his chair and looked her straight in the eye.

      She shook off the shattering impact of his gaze, impatient at her inability to keep the past behind her.

      Apparently he couldn’t forget what they’d shared either. But she couldn’t believe he’d refuse to help because their wedding plans had fallen through. That didn’t sound like the Jake she’d once adored. She searched for that Jake in the face of the stranger in front of her.

      “Is that what you would have said if it was my mother sitting here?”

      “Not in those words, no, but whatever I said to her would have led to the same outcome – no loan.”

      “What about half that amount?” It was better than nothing.

      He shook his head.

      The clang of a cable-car bell found its way up from the street below. She took a calming breath against the anger that simmered just below the surface.

      “I expected better of you, Jake. I expected you to at least look at my plan to turn Dartmoor around.”

      “Because?”

      “Because you’re a fair man. And you know I will repay you, no matter what.”

      He shrugged and picked up a pen from his desk with a this-conversation-is-over gesture.

      “I think we all learned a long time ago that I am the last person to predict what you will or will not do.”

      She leaned forward, hands on the edge of his desk. “I’m not asking you to do this for me.” No power on earth could make her stoop that low. “I’m asking you to do it for my mother.”

      “I won’t be doing it at all. I was always fond of your mother, but this is business.”

      She sank back. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected from Jake, but certainly more than that icy dismissal. When he didn’t say anything more, she reluctantly gathered her purse and briefcase to leave, mind already searching for other ways to get the money.

      She was halfway out of the chair when he said, “Madison.”

      She sat back down and lifted her head.

      “Tell your mother I’m sorry.”

      “I'm sure she’ll find that a great comfort when they liquidate her family business because you refused to help.”

      His eyes narrowed as he stood. “You never do know when to shut up, do you?”

      Anger propelled her to her feet. She would not let him loom over her like a predator over its prey.

      “Maybe not, but I do know refusing to marry you was the smartest thing I ever did.”

      On that blatant lie, she turned to walk out.

      “Madi.” The old nickname came unwanted to Jake’s lips.