Ryder spun.“Get out.”
Nola Sue gave Casey a wild, helpless glance and left at Casey’s quick nod.
Ryder was so hurt, so betrayed by what she had done that he didn’t trust himself to touch her.When she reached for him, he shoved her hand aside.“Well?Did you find what you were looking for?”
Panic-stricken, she wanted to throw herself into his arms and beg his forgiveness.But she couldn’t weaken now, not when their future was at stake.
“I didn’t read it.”
The curse he flung into the air between them was short and to the point.Casey took it as her just due.
“But it’s true.I was afraid to read it.”
He grabbed at the scattered sheets he’d tossed on her desk and waved them in her face.“Why, Casey?Don’t you know enough about me by now?Couldn’t you trust that there was nothing in my past that could hurt you?”He groaned, and threw the papers on the floor.“Damn you.I would die before I let anyone hurt you—even myself.”
This time she couldn’t stop the tears.They spilled in silent misery.
He kicked at the papers on which he was standing, sending them scooting across the floor.“Then if you haven’t read them, I’ll save you the trouble.Depending on the depth of the report the investigator did, you will see that I’m the middle child of three sons born to Micah and Barbara Justice.They were ranchers.My older brother, Royal, still lives on the family ranch south of Dallas.My younger brother, Roman, is ex-military and is now a private investigator.I am a pilot.I own and run a charter service out of a private airport on the outskirts of Fort Worth.I also own a little under fourteen hundred acres of prime real estate on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, and unlike what you believed about me when we met, I am comfortably solvent.Before you, I had never been married, but last winter, I did something I’d never done before in my entire life.”
Casey tensed.
“I ran away from home.”
It wasn’t what she’d expected him to say.Truth be told, she didn’t know what she’d expected, but that certainly hadn’t been it.
“I don’t understand.What happened to make you turn your back on family and friends?Has it anything to do with the nightmares you have?The ones that drive you out of our bed?The ones you won’t talk about?”
He started to shake, and Casey wished to God she’d never meddled.
“I was piloting a plane that crashed.I walked away.My father did not.He’s dead because of me.”
The look that passed between them was full of painful memories.For Casey, they were of the panic she’d seen on his face when he’d taken her to the airport.Of the plea in his voice not to fly in the storm.Of the desperation in his touch when he’d seen she was alive.
For Ryder, it was the death of a myth he’d been living.Of pretending that everything between them was perfect.Of hiding behind a marriage of convenience instead of facing the truth.
“You know, wife—I don’t think you should be so judgmental about the terms your grandfather put in his will.From where I’m standing, you’ve picked up his manipulating ways all too well.”
With that, he turned and walked out of the office, ignoring the sound of her voice crying out his name—calling him back.
* * *
It was all Casey could do not to cry.“Are you sure you haven’t seen him all day?”
Joshua shook his head.“No, sugar, I’m sorry.The last time I saw him he was on his way to your office with your briefcase.”
She groaned, folded her arms on Tilly’s kitchen table and hid her face from the truth.Please don’t let him be gone.
Tilly sat down beside her.“I knew something was wrong between you two the other day.I told Joshua so, didn’t I?”
Joshua nodded.
Casey slammed her fist down on the table.“The other day was nothing.”She stood, unable to sit still any longer.“If only I could turn the clock back to that morning, none of this would have happened.”
Eudora came hurrying into the kitchen.“What on earth is wrong?I could hear shouting all the way down the hall.”
“Mr.Ryder is gone,” Tilly said, and then started to cry.
Eudora looked startled, then glanced at Casey for confirmation.“Is this true?”
