Loe raamatut: «Blackhawk's Sweet Revenge»

One

The town of Wolf River never expected to see the likes of Lucas Blackhawk again. Bad blood, that’s what everyone whispered, and half-Indian blood, at that. They all knew that the boy would never amount to anything. After all, hadn’t his daddy been a convict, and hadn’t Lucas himself spent almost two years at the Wolf River County Home for Boys? Not much good could come of that now, could it? Lucas Blackhawk had left Wolf River, Texas, more than ten years ago, and as far as the town was concerned, good riddance.

Lucas couldn’t wait to see the faces of the good folks in Wolf River when word spread that he was back. And word would spread, all right, Lucas thought with a slow grin. With all the intensity, and all the welcome, of a winter virus.

“May I help you, sir?”

The maid who’d answered the massive, polished oak door at the Double H Ranch estate was hardly more than a girl. Her mousy brown hair matched her nervous eyes, and her gray-and-white uniform hung loose on her rail-thin body. She didn’t know it yet, but she’d be seeking employment after today.

“I’m here to see Mr. Hadley.”

“Mr. Hadley went into town with his daughter, sir.” Even her voice was small, and Lucas had to lean forward to catch her words. “I’m afraid he won’t be back until three, and he has an appointment at three-thirty. I’ll be happy to take your name and number and have his secretary call you.”

Off to town with the dutiful daughter, was he? Lucas thought dryly. Julianna Hadley, with her pale blond hair and smoke-blue eyes. The untouchable Ice Princess, especially to a half-breed hoodlum like himself. He still remembered the last time he saw her. He’d been twenty-two, working at Hansen’s Feed and Grain. He’d caught her watching him while he’d been loading bales of hay on a truck. She’d turned quickly away, but not before he’d seen the look in her beautiful eyes.

Pity.

He’d quit his job an hour later, packed his meager bag and left Wolf River, carrying that look with him for ten years. It fed his anger, his determination, when he was tired or wanted to give up.

She didn’t know it, but Julianna Hadley had been his inspiration.

Lucas removed his sunglasses and tucked them into the jacket pocket of his Armani suit, then tipped back his black Stetson to give the maid a full view of his eyes. Wolf eyes, as one of his female companions had commented once. Eyes the color of a moonless night. He’d used those eyes to his advantage more than once. To intimidate or to seduce. Or in this case, with the timid young woman, to charm.

Lucas Blackhawk was a man who knew how to get what he wanted.

He smiled at the maid. “Actually, Miss...” He drew the word out, waiting for her to fill in the blank.

“Grayson.” Her cheeks colored. “Heather Grayson.”

“Heather.” He repeated her name with just the right dash of intimacy to make her entire face flush. “Actually, Heather, I am Mr. Hadley’s three-thirty.”

“Oh, dear.” Frowning, Heather bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, sir. I was expecting a Mr. Cantrell. He was here last week and I just assumed—”

“Mr. Cantrell was called out of town at the last minute.” Lucas had given his top CEO a trip to the Bahamas as a bonus for a job well done. A job very well done.

“I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.” He handed her a business card for First Mutual Financial, one of Blackhawk Enterprises many subsidiaries. Lucas’s name was intentionally absent from the card.

The maid stared at the card, then back at him. Lucas turned up the smile, and the woman’s blush deepened. Flustered, she stuck the card into her pocket and stepped aside. “I’m sorry, sir. Please, come into Mr. Hadley’s office and make yourself comfortable. He shouldn’t be too much longer.”

Lucas had only been in the Hadley mansion once before. He hadn’t been welcome then, either. But his mission had been the same: revenge. He’d only been twelve at the time. Angry, out for blood, furiously waving a knife. Impulsive, with no plan.

It had taken him twenty years, but he’d learned to control his anger. He was no longer impulsive, and this time he definitely had a plan.

Everything about the house was as he’d remembered it. The hunter-green marble floor, the sweeping walnut staircase and high, paneled walls, the gaudy antique entry table and oversize gilded mirror above it. Dark. As cold and as lifeless as a corpse.

There were ghosts here, Lucas knew. He felt them shiver up his spine. They needed to be put to rest.

“This way, sir.”

He could have told the maid that he knew the way to her employer’s office. That he’d been there before, that he’d tried to kill the man in that very room. He wondered if that would distress the young woman. Knowing how Hadley treated his servants, hell, how he treated everyone, the woman would probably be grateful.

It was when he stepped into Mason’s office, when he saw his portrait over the large oak desk, that he felt it. The rage he’d struggled with all these years. It poured through him, threatened to explode, but he forced it back down, corralled it deep inside of him and stepped away from it.

“Are you all right, Mr.—” She hesitated, realized she hadn’t asked his name.

“I’m fine, Heather.” Lucas had no intention of giving her his name. He wanted to see the surprise on Hadley’s face, the shock, when he recognized his visitor.

Every risk, every gamble, every back-breaking hour of every eighteen-hour day for the past ten years had brought him here, to this very moment. He’d imagined it a thousand times: what he’d feel, what he’d think, what he’d say. What Hadley would do.

At the sound of a car door slam from the driveway outside, Lucas realized he was about to find out.

Julianna Hadley had heard all about the stranger who had come into town. All there was to hear, anyway, which hadn’t been much more than a whisper in the dark. At the drugstore she’d been standing in line behind Roberta Brown, who was arguing with the clerk, Millie Woods, about whether the car the man drove was a Porsche or a Ferrari. The one thing the two women had agreed on was that the car was black and had roared down Main Street and into the parking lot of the Four Winds Inn like a shiny bat out of hell.

Noses had been pressed up to every window within sight of the town’s newest and biggest hotel—a whopping twelve stories high with a fancy restaurant and bar inside. But other than hair as black as his car, no one could make out the man’s features as he unfolded his long body out of the sleek foreign frame, whistled, then handed the keys to Bobby John Gibson, a teenage bellboy whose status amongst his peers was about to rise substantially. After all, no teenager in Wolf River had ever stood within spitting distance of a Porsche or Ferrari, let alone driven one. This was horse and cattle country. Trucks and four-wheeldrives were the vehicles of choice, and of necessity, in Wolf River.

But a black Porsche. Now that was something to set tongues wagging faster than a thirsty dog. Lord knew, a little excitement in Wolf River was just what the town needed.

“What the hell—?”

At the sound of her father’s sudden growl, Julianna pulled herself out of her musing and glanced up.

In their driveway, its chrome gleaming brightly in the late-afternoon sun, its long, sleek body black as polished onyx, sat a brand-new sports car.

A Ferrari.

Her breath hitched, then slowly slid over her parted lips. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“It’s damned foreign,” her father snapped and slammed out of the truck to head for the house.

That makes it no less beautiful, she thought, but knew better than to argue the issue with him. Anything different, anything Mason Hadley didn’t understand, was useless to him.

Packages in hand, Julianna followed her father into the house. Heather stood in the entryway, arms laden with a silver coffee server. The cups rattled from her nervous shaking as Mason hotly berated her for letting a stranger into the house.

“He’s your three-thirty, sir. Said Mr. Cantrell was called out of town.” Eyes downcast, the young woman struggled to steady her hands. “I was bringing him some coffee while he waited.”

“Damn it all to hell,” Mason hissed through his teeth. “That Cantrell fella might have been an idiot when it came to business, but at least I had his number. Smooth brandy and a Cuban cigar and that boy was eating out of my hand. Makes no difference now, I suppose. It’s a done deal. This must be some errand boy, delivering the papers I signed last week.”

An errand boy in a Ferrari? Julianna glanced at the closed office door. Highly unlikely.

“What the hell you standing around for, girl?” Mason shrugged out of his denim jacket. “Go take the boy some coffee.”

“Let me have that, Heather.” Julianna set her packages down and took the tray. “Why don’t you take my things and put them away?”

Thankful for the opportunity to be anywhere but around her employer in a foul mood, Heather smiled at Julianna. “Thank you, ma‘am.”

Julianna sighed at Heather’s formal address. At twenty-nine, Julianna didn’t want to be a ma‘am. It made her feel so old. But then, a lot of things were making her feel old these days. A couple walking hand in hand, pictures of brides and babies, the sound of cheers from the Little League field at the edge of town.

All the things she would never have.

Shrugging off the thought, she followed her father to his office. He’d been negotiating with First Mutual Financial for the past two months and had been gloating ever since he’d finally signed the papers, puffed up with self-admiration that he’d finagled such a low interest rate. What First Mutual hadn’t known was that he’d been so anxious for the deal to go through he would have signed anything. After the drop in value of some stocks, and the rise in price of grain and the fall in beef, he’d desperately needed the loan to cover losses and raise operating capital. She knew that he’d also been quite full of himself at his successful manipulation of figures and falsified statements, had even laughed that Adam Cantrell, the loan representative, was too stupid to find his way out of a corral, let alone find a discrepancy in a profit-andloss.

Which was strange, because she hadn’t thought the man stupid at all, even though she’d only spoken with him a few minutes once or twice. If anything, he’d seemed extremely sharp.

It made no difference to her either way. The only thing that mattered, that had ever mattered, was her own five acres of land and house on the south edge of the Double H property. That was the one thing, the only thing, her mother had left to her when she’d died that her father hadn’t gotten his hands on. It had been almost a year since the funeral, and he’d managed to stonewall her from repairing and moving into the old house, but he hadn’t gained title. And she would do anything to ensure he never would.

Mason turned sharply at the door of his office and looked at Julianna. “Just serve the damn coffee, then leave us alone. Last thing I need is a woman underfoot when I’m trying to do business.”

Jaw tightly clenched, Julianna followed her father into his office. A man stood in front of the double French doors that led to the redwood deck stretching across the back of the house. He was tall, very tall, with broad shoulders. His black neatly trimmed hair touched the collar of his expensive tailored suit.

This was no errand boy.

She had no idea why she suddenly couldn’t breathe. She felt an energy in the room; so strong it nearly hummed. Frozen, she simply stared at the man, but she couldn’t see his face.

“Julianna.” Her father’s voice was low and sharp. Shaken, she turned away, moved to the bar in the far corner of the office to set down the tray... to remind herself to breathe.

She forced her attention to the coffee as her father boomed a cheerful, good-old-boy greeting and strode heavily across the shiny hardwood floor to shake the man’s hand.

“Sit, sit.” Mason gestured across the massive oak desk to a smaller version of his own burgundy leather chair, and the man settled across from him.

“So what can I do for you, young man?” With a creak of leather, Mason leaned back. “By the way, that fool maid of mine didn’t get your name.”

“Actually, Mr. Hadley, it’s what I’m going to do for you.”

His voice. Julianna’s hand tightened on the coffeepot. Once again, she couldn’t breathe. Not because she’d forgotten, but because she couldn’t That voice. Deep, rough, edged with deadly calm. Familiar, so familiar. The hum in the room increased with the tension.

“How’s that, son?” Mason, delighted at the prospect of a new offer, grinned.

“You have forty-eight hours to repay your loan to First Financial or vacate the property.”

Julianna, with the coffeepot still in her hand and the cup in midair, turned abruptly. The man sat comfortably, one elbow resting casually over the arm of the chair. To look at him, she’d have thought he’d been discussing a football game.

Had he actually said what she thought he’d said? First Financial was calling the loan?

Her father’s grin froze. His gray eyes narrowed in his coarsely lined face. “What the hell kind of a joke is this?”

“No joke at all. The loan is being called. The land, the house and contents, the cattle. Quite literally, Mr. Hadley, every single asset you own will be sold as collateral.”

“You’re insane.” Fists clenched, Mason rose slowly. “On what grounds would they call a loan where the ink hasn’t even dried on the damn paper?”

“I’ll start with fraud, based on the fact that the information supplied by you to obtain the loan was intentionally falsified. It not only invalidates the loan, it also happens to be illegal.”

That voice. She knew that voice. But her legs wouldn’t move, couldn’t walk the few feet across the room to see the man’s face clearly. She stood frozen, with the silver coffeepot in one hand, a white bone china coffee cup in the other.

“Just who the hell are you?” Mason roared, his face red with fury.

“You remember Thomas Blackhawk, don’t you?” The man stood, looked directly down at her father. “You stole the Circle B from him, all ten thousand acres, then had him falsely sent to prison. I’m Lucas, Mr. Hadley. Lucas Blackhawk.”

In the second before the coffee cup slipped from her hand, the second before the coffeepot followed, tune stood still....

She was nine years old. Standing in this very room, behind the drapes, terrified, watching her father and Thomas Blackhawk. The nightmare had been with her for twenty years. The loud voices... the gun... the explosion...

“Are you all right?”

She felt his hand on her arm, realized that he’d moved beside her. How had he done that, so quickly, so quietly? Breath held, she raised her gaze to his. Those eyes, eyes that could see not through a person, but into them, into the darkness, into the truth.

She couldn’t find her voice, couldn’t find the words to answer him. They stood there, eyes locked, her heart pounding so fiercely she knew he could hear it.

Lucas Blackhawk. Here. In Wolf River.

“Get the hell away from my daughter.”

Her father’s shout brought her back. Spilled coffee, still steaming, pooled around her feet, stained her khaki pants and leather pumps. She bent down, reached for a piece of broken china. His hand was still on her arm as he bent down, as well, and righted the coffeepot.

“I said get the hell away from her, you half-breed bastard,” Mason continued to rant. “Your kind ain’t fit to be in the same room with civilized people.”

Shamed and humiliated by her father’s outburst, Julianna looked away.

“You’re hurt,” Lucas said quietly, ignoring her father’s continued verbal assault. “Let go, Julianna.”

She glanced at her fisted hand, saw that it was bleeding. Lucas gently pried her fingers open, removed the jagged piece of china she’d clutched tightly in her palm. His fingers were long, his hands large and callused. She shuddered at his touch, then quickly drew her hand from his.

“Keep away from me, Lucas.”

A hard, cold glint shone in his eyes. The strong, square line of his jaw tightened. Though it was less than a fraction of a second, she felt and saw the intensity of his anger and rage. It terrified her, and yet at the same time she welcomed it.

She deserved it.

Then, just as quickly, his expression was blank, replaced by indifference. “Still the Ice Princess, Julianna, or is it Queen now?”

His words cut more sharply than the broken china, but she deserved that, too. She’d earned her title well, had sacrificed and struggled to maintain it all these years. How else could she survive? How else could she manage to live through the nightmare, other than to pretend she didn’t care, when the truth was she did care. She cared too much. Too damned much.

Lucas rose and turned to face her father again. “As I said, Hadley, you have forty-eight hours to pay off the loan or clear out. And since we both know you haven’t a snowball’s chance in hell of coming up with that kind of money, you may as well start packing.”

“You can’t just come in here and make ultimatums, boy. I have a reputation in this community, I know people.” Mason slammed both fists on his desk, rattling his phone and knocking over his silver pencil holder. “I’ll see you fired from First Financial before this day is through. You‘ ll never work again.”

“Your reputation does precede you, Hadley,” Lucas said coldly. “As does the stink from a skunk. And the only people you’re going to know from now on are creditors, lawyers and the district attorney’s office. Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention it, First Financial is one of several subsidiaries owned by Blackhawk Industries, which just happens to be my company. We’ll be bulldozing this house and the house by the creek. Maybe build a resort or a business center.”

The house by the creek? Dread curled in Julianna’s stomach, then tightened her chest.

“The house by the creek is mine.” She struggled to keep the panic out of her voice. “My mother willed it to me.”

Lucas turned to her, his black eyes dispassionate. “Your father’s name is on the title. That makes it mine.”

She looked at her father, and even through the rage on his face, she saw the truth. He’d taken her house. Somehow he’d stolen the one thing, the only thing, that had ever mattered to her.

An icy chill seeped through her, and she clutched the neck of her sweater, not caring that blood still dripped from the cut on her palm. She wanted to scream at her father, knew that she should, but all she felt was numb. Defeated.

A business center? Dear God, she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. When she opened them again, Lucas was watching her, his mouth a hard, thin line.

She couldn’t let him see her like this. Couldn’t let him know that in his thirst for revenge he’d not only destroyed her father, but herself, as well.

And why would it matter to him, anyway? Mason Hadley had taken Lucas’s father from him, had murdered Thomas Blackhawk as surely as if he’d put a gun to his head. He’d destroyed a young boy’s childhood, his family, his dreams.

And she’d done nothing to help.

Dimly, she knew that her father was shouting obscenities at Lucas, but Lucas ignored the insults. Instead he kept his eyes on her, staring at her, into her, as if he knew the truth.

“Put something on that hand, Julianna,” he said without emotion, then turned and walked out of the room.

Her father was shouting into the phone now, as the Ferrari’s engine roared to life, then shot out of the driveway.

Lucas Blackhawk had risen from the past like a demon from hell. Full of hatred and vengeance, he’d come to even an old score. He had every right, and deep in her heart, no matter what the cost to her, she was glad. Because she admired him, because she respected him.

Because she loved him.