Page 73 of Her Boss, Her Rancher: Sunrise On The Ranch

She walked away from him, straightening her clothes. Then, with space between them, she turned to face him. “Let’s enjoy the conversation tonight. We can get to know each other.”

“You’re ending some of the sexiest kisses I’ve ever experienced. Or maybe you don’t find them so sexy.”

“I’m not answering that because you’re pushing me into more kisses.”

“It was just a statement—nothing more.”

“Do we sit and talk, or do we say good-night and I go to my suite?” she asked.

“We sit and talk,” he answered, taking a deep breath. “As a matter of fact, let’s get a cold drink. What would you like?”

“I’ll have iced tea,” she said, and watched him move to a bar and fix her drink. She crossed to perch on a barstool as he worked. She felt as if they both needed a moment to get away from the past few minutes. “So tell me more about who you see staying in these rooms in this new wing?”

He smiled, and she knew he guessed her efforts to shift their attention back to business. “I see myself staying there. It could become easy to see you staying if you wanted. Would you like that?”

She laughed softly. “I will not be staying in your new wing and you know it. If you don’t want to talk about that, tell me about your newest hotel.”

“A twenty-story tower in Orlando,” he said, opening a beer for himself and walking around to motion to her. “Let’s go sit where it’s comfortable. C’mon, we’ll go inside now. It’s chilly this evening.”

When she sat in a tall, brown leather chair, he pulled another closer to her. They had a small table between them. He took a sip of his beer. She drank some tea, and then turned slightly toward him.

“The hotel in New York that I was hired to do was close to one of your father’s hotels. I’m surprised to hear you don’t see or talk to him, because your hotels are so close. I figured you worked together, or even each owned a share of the other one’s chain. That must not be the case.”

“No, it definitely isn’t,” he said so quietly that a chill went down her spine. A subtle change came over him, giving him a hard, cold look.

“Your father’s hotel was older, so it was built first,” she said.

“Yes, it was.” As he gazed at her, she realized he had built near his father’s hotel on purpose.

“Do you have any other hotels close to your father’s?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. And yes, I’ve built by his hotels on purpose.”

Shocked, she stared at him. “That sounds as if you are competing. Is this a battle between the two of you? Does he ever build close to a hotel you already have?”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“So, it’s only you building where you will give him competition,” she said, looking at him intently. “He’s so successful—aren’t you making it more difficult for yourself? Competition goes both ways.”

“I hope I’ve done a better job than he has, and frankly, I hope I’ve made a dent in his hotel business. My hotels are bigger, newer, have more amenities and are more luxurious, so I’m sure you’ve got the picture—I intend to put my father out of the hotel business,” Blake said quietly. “I’m building an empire that I want to make larger than my father’s. It is a competition I intend to win.”

She stared at him. “You’re doing this because of the past—because he left you when you were a baby,” she said, unable to imagine that life mission. “You’re out for revenge.” He intended to get even with his father for old wrongs. The idea was so removed from her way of life, she could only stare at him as if she had never seen anyone like him.

“You’re bent on revenge—the absolute opposite of all that I hope to accomplish,” she whispered without realizing she had spoken aloud. “You’ll ruin your life, Blake.”

Four

“Nonsense,” Blake answered easily. “My father has billions. I won’t hurt him, because he has other endeavors and a fortune that I can’t possibly diminish significantly. Nor do I want to.”

“Then what’s the purpose? Why would you spend millions, your time and your energy in pursuit of something destructive that can’t possibly help you or him?” They viewed the world so differently. She realized again that she would never understand Blake.

“I want him to know that he has a son who exists, who is a good businessman and who can do a better job at some things than he can. Hotels are only one part of his fortune. My chain isn’t a big deal to him, though they are good business for me.”

“That makes it seem even more futile and a waste of your time.”

“No. My hotels are making a tidy sum for me. My hotels will pay your salary.”

“I’m glad there’s something besides revenge as a motivation,” she said, still shocked to discover his purpose.