The Parks Empire: Secrets, Lies and Loves. Marie Ferrarella

an animal looks after its own.”

      “I know. He’s my enemy and yet…” She shrugged.

      Tyler studied her for a few seconds, then rubbed his brow as if his head hurt. “Sometimes lightning strikes, and there you are, burned to the core.”

      The words were so startling, so much like a confession, that Sara was startled. “Tyler, have you met someone? Are you in love?”

      His brief laughter was tinged with bitterness. “Hardly. It was nothing. A one-night stand.”

      Sara was confused. “But if there’re feelings—”

      “Forget it,” he said. “The lady obviously did.”

      With very mixed emotions, Sara studied him. Tyler—who’d vowed he would never marry or have kids and “all that stuff” as he used to scornfully mutter—in love?

      Well, maybe not in love, but certainly a chord had been struck in him by someone. Unfortunately, it appeared the same thing hadn’t struck her.

      “Wait,” she requested when he opened the door. “Cade has invited me out to his ranch with him and Stacy this weekend. I told him I might be busy.”

      “Go,” Tyler said at once. “This could be a chance to pry some info out of him. See if you can find out how the Parks empire is faring money-wise. Maybe he knows of some new deals his father is putting together. Or what was in those packages the courier dropped off.”

      “Right, like he’s going to tell me they’re smuggling diamonds or something.”

      Her brother gave her a sardonic glance. “Men have been known to disclose a lot during a weak moment.”

      Her face flushed hotly in a sudden surge of guilt and remembered passion. Tyler touched her cheek. “Perhaps you and he have already had that moment?”

      She shook her head. “There is an attraction. That’s what worries me. I want to believe that Cade is decent and honorable, then I think of his father and what Mother told us. It gets me confused and angry and frustrated.”

      Tyler nodded. “I know the feeling. Maybe you’d better stay out of it, let me and Nick and Mark handle everything.”

      Sara shook her head. “I came here to help. I’ll stick it out. And do my part.”

      “No matter what it takes?” he asked.

      “No matter what it takes.”

      They agreed to meet Monday and discuss the weekend, then said goodnight. Sara locked the door and returned to the den. She cleaned up the dishes and went to bed, but not to sleep. Too many restless thoughts filled her head.

      “Miss Carlton, guess what?” Stacy demanded Friday morning when Sara stopped at the adjoining town house to pick up the youngster for the short walk to school.

      “What?”

      “Dad and I are going to the ranch tonight and you’re invited!”

      “Yes, your father kindly included me,” Sara admitted. She’d been over and over all the arguments about why she should go, but her conscience had bothered her all week. It seemed underhanded to take advantage of Cade’s and Stacy’s trust in her. “I don’t think I should intrude on your private time.”

      “Please, you have to come. You haven’t seen my pony. She’s so beautiful. She can do tricks, too.”

      “I think you’ve taken Miss Carlton by surprise,” Cade said, opening the door wider and handing his daughter a bright red lunchbox. “The invitation is still open. Can you join us?”

      Sara tried to think of a plausible excuse to refuse, but some willful part of her urged her to accept. “You’re spending the night?”

      “Yes. We’ll leave early Sunday afternoon. Stace and I have a family dinner at my father’s Sunday night.”

      Stacy wrinkled her nose. “Do we hafta?”

      “Yes,” her father said firmly.

      Stacy went back to the original question. “Can you come to the ranch? We got cows and everything. We can help milk.”

      “You have milk cows?” Sara asked, surprised.

      “Actually I lease the operation. The farmer also takes care of our five horses and two dogs. The ranch is a two-hour drive north of the city. We would really like for you to join us, if you haven’t made plans for the weekend.”

      “Uh, no—”

      “Please come,” Stacy urged.

      “Yes, do,” the father chimed in. “I would consider it a slight repayment for the help you’ve given me and Stace while Tai is unavailable.”

      This really was a chance to find out more about his family, she decided, then wondered if she was rationalizing her desire to go. “Okay. It sounds like fun.”

      “Yay, she’s going. I told you she would.” Stacy twirled around in delight. “We’re leaving right after school.”

      “You’re quitting work early?” Sara asked.

      “I thought we would try to beat the traffic, if that’s possible.”

      His smile made Sara’s heart do weird things—speed up, skip a couple of beats and generally act silly. “What clothing will I need?” she asked.

      “Jeans. A jacket. Boots, if you have them, otherwise sneakers will do. Do you ride?”

      “I’ve never been on a horse in my life.” She opened her eyes wide and gave them a horrified grimace.

      Stacy burst into giggles, which were underscored by his deeper chuckles. “It’s easy,” the girl assured her teacher.

      On the way to school, Sara wondered just how easy the weekend would be.

      “This is lovely,” Sara murmured that afternoon after they’d left the city and its traffic behind.

      Cade expertly followed the winding coast road north of San Francisco. Bay laurel grew profusely along narrow canyons that opened at frequent intervals to the side of the highway. On one curve, the road had recently been repaved.

      “There was a landslide during the March rains,” he told her. “They had to build a bridge-type understructure to make the repair. The highway department would like to close the road, I think, but people object. On nice weekends, this is a busy stretch.”

      “It’s very scenic,” she said.

      They left the highway and turned toward the west, passing through ranch land where cows grazed.

      “This is it,” Stacy said from the back seat. “This is our ranch.”

      Cade drove over a grate designed to prevent livestock from crossing it. Fences stretched to either side, but no gate barred the gravel road from access. Black-and-white cows stared at them with casual interest.

      “These are the milk cows,” Stacy told her.

      Cade drove past a large barn. “The milking parlor,” he explained. “It has the latest equipment.”

      A neat white house was set back from the road. Cade nodded toward it. “Roger and Candy Mendolson. They milk two hundred cows twice a day, every day of the year. No time off for good behavior. Fortunately they have help, so everyone gets a weekend off once a month.”

      “Gracious,” Sara said. “Teachers complain about only getting a month off during the summer when we’re on the all-year program.”

      “Roger and Candy say they wouldn’t have it any other way. Life in a town would drive them nuts.”

      “I can identify with that,” Sara muttered darkly, drawing a chuckle from him.

      The road sloped upward, then dropped over