Chapter Thirteen

Sooner or later they would have to talk about it. But let it be later. After a fantastic day trekking, they’d come across a family of bears playing in the woods. The dark shadows cast by the huge trees added to the feeling of unreality as Melo clutched Cade’s hand, holding her breath at the wonderful sight.

Everything was so different here. And for the next few days they would be totally alone. The thought sent shivers of anticipation through her as the guide left them at the remote cabin. A large black jeep was parked out front, so they could return to the hotel whenever they wanted. They were alone, with no distractions, except each other. With all nature as their playground.

Melo stretched her legs out on the sofa and covered them with the knitted throw in dark jewel colors from the sofa’s back. The fire Cade made flickered in the fireplace, filling the tiny room with warmth and light. The interior of the cabin was unlike anything she’d ever seen, thick logs stacked on top of one another formed the walls. The floor echoed the wooden theme with heavy honeyed planks covered in native Indian throws.

She’d thought herself in love with him once. In love with a confused, troubled boy. And maybe the girl she’d been had loved him. But she was different now. And so was he. The schoolgirl infatuation which had been part of her for so many years was gone, replaced with something much more dangerous.

The door creaked. “Are you ready for dinner?”

“Yeah.” Melo stood and walked outside. He’d been battling with the barbeque for an hour while she made a selection of salads and placed them on a mosaic-topped table on the deck. Her heart clenched at the sight that met her eyes.

It was stupid how the sight of lit candles on the table and Cade carrying a platter of steaks to the table turned her to mush. Maybe it was the half smile teasing his lips, or the gleam in his eyes promising more once the meal was done. Whatever it was, it had her weak at the knees.

Her mouth watered, “Those look great.”

He poured two glasses of wine. “Let’s eat.”

“So, do you reckon your sister will manage without you on the end of the phone for a couple of days?” Cade asked, as they settled under the starlit sky for dinner.

“She’ll have to,” Melo answered. “She has a husband now.”

“I know you, you’ll still be there for her.” Cade helped himself to tomato salad. “You’re a pushover for your family, you know that, right?”

A hint of censure lit Cade’s tone. As if there was something wrong with caring for the people you love. His words about her being a pushover stung. She’d never feel bad about wanting to help her family, but she sure felt bad about being taken advantage of. Her tone was harsher than intended. “I care about them. I don’t know how to care without being taken advantage of.”

Surely he understood? He’d helped Margie, helped the receptionist’s younger brother. Why did it seem as though he was in control, and she was spiraling into confusion?

She crossed her arms. “You care about people too, Cade. Why doesn’t that make you a pushover?”

Cade chewed a mouthful of steak slowly. He seemed to be carefully considering her question before answering. “Sometimes people need money to be safe, or to fulfill their potential, I have plenty.” His mouth tilted in a tight smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’ve been burned before, but when I make the decision to help someone out, I’ve usually calculated the risks.”

“But your mother, your sisters…” Melo asked.

“They need my support, and they have it. They’ll never need for anything.” Cade swallowed a mouthful of red wine.

“Money can’t solve every problem.” Pain burned in Melo’s chest as she gazed at him, barely able to comprehend his attitude. “What about just being there, a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen to their worries?”

He’d been there for her when she was younger. They’d shared their worries and their fears for the future. Melo’s mind stumbled over the past few days. They’d shared teasing passion, but they hadn’t really talked, had they? Cold fingers clutched her heart and squeezed tight. She glanced over at his set face, the tight jaw.

“We should talk,” she said, finality in her tone. If Cade wasn’t the man she’d thought him, she needed to know. Right now.

****

She didn’t understand. Just like his mother and his bloody sisters, Melo was throwing some sort of crazy, female logic into the mix. As Cade watched her over the flickering light of the candle, his skin prickled with irritation. He was trying, dammit. Trying to come to terms with the fact she’d recklessly risked her family’s home. Just like his father.

With any other woman, he’d have walked away. Called time on whatever nascent relationship was bursting to life. But with Melo… Cade rubbed a hand over his eyes. He was in way too deep. She needed his financial help, and she was going to get it, whether she liked it or not.

He pulled in a deep breath.

“Okay. Do you want to start, or will I?”

Melo crossed her arms across her chest and her eyebrows raised. “Well, you started it when you called me a pushover, so I reckon you should do the honors.”

“Fine.” There was no point in getting angry, so Cade considered carefully before he continued. “In this instance, you are in the wrong. You know that, and so do I.”

Melo’s eyes widened. “I…”

Cade held up a hand. “Let me finish. You advised your father to invest in a dangerous opportunity you should have been more careful about. As a result, you’ve risked your family’s home. Their heritage. I know you don’t want to lose the beach, but it’s your responsibility to put things right. To provide for your family.”

The look of hurt in her eyes almost caused him to pause, but he couldn’t fall prey to sentiment, laying out the truth in all its darkness was too important. “Offering your family a shoulder to cry on isn’t enough. You need to offer money. I care about you, Melo. I care about you enough to provide the way out.”

“With your checkbook?” she whispered. “You’ve got it all wrong, Cade. So badly wrong.”

“You have to face your responsibility. Selling to me is by far a safer option than selling to someone else.” A frown wrinkled the skin between her eyebrows. “Yes, your father told me if I don’t buy the beach he’s going to offer it to a shark in man’s clothing.”

Cade’s voice softened, and he reached out to her, pulling her hand into his. “You made a mistake. Gambled with the family’s future. It was a mistake I’ve never forgiven my father for, but one I’m trying to forgive you for.” Because I love you. The thought ran through Cade’s mind and his muscles seized in shock. He couldn’t be in love with Melo. Couldn’t. But as her eyes misted over he realized he was.

“You’re not listening,” Melo said in a strong, clear voice. She pulled her hand away. “I am not responsible for gambling with my family’s future, my father is. He made the decision to invest without consulting me. If he had, I would have given him the same advice I give all my clients, to avoid them like the plague.”

“It’s big of you to try to forgive me,” she continued in an icy voice. “But I’m not the one in need of your forgiveness. My family needs my inheritance to pay for my father’s mistake. And that’s where me being a doormat comes in, because I’m not going to block the sale of Paradise Beach to you. Because I care more for my family than I do for money. If that makes me a fool, so be it.”

Confusion dulled Cade’s mind as he tried to follow Melo’s words. She wasn’t responsible? His throat was dry, and he swallowed.

Hurt blazed in her eyes, and her body was stiff, as if holding herself together by mere force of will.

“Why wouldn’t he—”

Her voice was bitter. “I told you. My father has no interest in taking advice from his daughter, not when it matters anyway.”

“And yet he expects you to sort out the problem,” Cade finished.

“Yes.” Melo’s shoulders drooped, and she looked down at the table, defeated.

“It isn’t your mess to sort out. The beach means something to you. If it’s yours, you shouldn’t give it up for anyone.” Cade walked around the table and pulled her up into his arms. “Perhaps I can organize bridging finance, invest in the winery as a silent partner…”

Melo pulled away from him. Her eyes widened. “Why would you? It’s more my problem than it is yours. Just because we slept together doesn’t make you responsible any more than it does me. The winery is a family business; Marco would never agree to take on a partner who wasn’t related.”

“I care about you,” Cade answered, feeling like a broken record saying the same thing over and over. “I want to help.”

Melo folded her arms across her chest. Her voice was so quiet he could barely hear what she said. “That’s not a good enough reason, Cade. You’re a family friend, not family.”

“I could be family.” The words came out before Cade could think them through, tumbling out like dry grains of sand trickling through fingers. “You could marry me.”

Melo looked so shocked, he stilled. The idea had obviously never crossed her mind, but as he said the words he realized it was the perfect solution to both their problems. He couldn’t see a future without Melo in it. Adam had found happiness, was it such a reach to think he could find happiness too? “Listen, I know it’s sudden, but I love being with you and we’re good together, you know we are. And we have to stop Felix Mezzuti from getting his hands on the beach, he’d destroy it.”

“We’ll talk about it in the morning.” Melo avoided his eyes as she took a step further away. “I need time alone.” With a wavering smile that didn’t reach as far as her vivid blue eyes, she crossed her arms. “Tomorrow,” she whispered, walking to the cabin.

****

As Cade suggested marriage, something inside Melo shriveled and died. She’d wanted to cry, wanted to rage at the world, but instead she put it all off, needing to escape more than anything else at that moment.

She’d dreamed of Cade proposing. For years as a dreamy teenager she fantasized about them falling in love, and one day standing on the beach with Cade holding her hand and asking her to be his wife. The difference between her childish dream and the brutal reality was so intense pain burned in her throat. Guilt at suspecting her of being responsible for the whole disaster had propelled him into making that ridiculous suggestion, one he first tried to justify by “caring about her” and then revealed his true intention, to stop Felix Mezzuti gaining control of the beach. He was still thinking money could solve every problem. But without love, what would their marriage be but an empty sham? How long before they settled on an amicable divorce? Marco would have no problem with being in business with her ex husband after all.

A black well of pain and disappointment settled in the region of her heart. She closed her eyes and gave in to it for a moment, then one remembered word floated up from the blackness.

Mezzuti? Her head swam with the realization she’d missed a vital piece of the puzzle. If Cade didn’t take up his offer, her father intended to sell to Felix Mezzuti, the head of Mezzuti Investments, the same man who’d been after land on Isola dei Fiori for years. The man her father resolutely refused to sell to in the past.

This could be no coincidence. Mezzuti would be much more interested in getting a lien on land than he ever would in her father’s money. He must have engineered things to ensure Marco would have no option but to sell to him. Must have carefully manipulated the older man, under the guise of a solid gold investment opportunity.

Melo glanced out of the window, making out Cade’s shadowy form sitting at the table. She pushed back her hair with a shaking hand. She couldn’t think about him now. Couldn’t shred her heart any longer. He was an honorable man, determined to see her as a damsel in distress in need of saving.

Melo went into the bedroom where she’d left her bags, and closed the door firmly. She unzipped her carry-on bag and pulled out her laptop and the sheaf of files she’d brought with her from the Bellucci villa.

She’d been mourning the loss of Paradise Beach as if it were a done deal, instead of focusing her attention on this new, intriguing possibility. That the man who had conned a raft of hapless investors out of their life savings might have slipped up somewhere along the way. Might have thought he was dealing with one old, ill man, and in his greed, been careless.

She set up the laptop on a desk in the corner of the room and powered it up. There was plenty of room on the heavy oak desk, so she opened the sheaf of papers, and copies of the documents her father had signed. Felix Mezzuti may have thought her stubborn father wouldn’t seek her opinion before making the deal, but if he thought for one moment she wouldn’t search through the paperwork, examining every word looking for a solution, he was dead wrong.

She was a damsel in distress all right. But damned determined to rescue herself.