fathers. He was her confidante, her staunchest supporter, her buddy, her rock in a sea of uncertainty. The fact that he’d disappointed her in major ways in the past didn’t matter. Her love went beyond that. She looked at his handsome, aging face and sighed. “Oh, Daddy,” she said again softly.
“I mean it, honey. These guys play rough.”
By now it was a foregone conclusion. Of course she was going to do as he asked. But she didn’t tell him yet. Instead she played for time. “But…how did you get involved with these people in the first place?” she asked him.
“Doing business, sugar. My restaurants have been three of the most popular places in San Francisco for the past ten years. When you have success like that, the jackals start to circle. There are always people who try to horn in and get a share.”
“But…”
He shook his head decisively. “I’m not going to listen to any more opposition on this, Hailey. I’ve found a place for you. It’s a resort, really—horses, swimming, peace and quiet. You’ll have time to read all those books you keep telling me you’ve been putting off reading because you just don’t have time. You’ll be in the nice warm sunshine while the rest of us are still dealing with winter. You’ll have the time of your life.”
She knew she was going. Still there were loose ends to tie up. “But my job…” she reminded him. She worked as a buyer for Ganby’s Department Store, and she loved the career she was blazing for herself. It would be hard to put it on hold.
She might have known he would already have that problem taken care of. “I’ve talked to Warren. He understands the situation and he’s willing to give you a leave of absence. He’ll hold your job for you.”
There had been times when she’d cursed the fact that her boss and her father were good friends, but this seemed to be an instance when it would help rather than hinder. She sighed. They were ganging up on her, weren’t they?
“How long will it take?” she asked, her submission already clear in her voice.
He smiled at her. “I don’t imagine it will be for longer than three or four weeks at the most.”
“Oh, Daddy.”
He put an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. “Sugar, I hate to be dictatorial, but you’ve got to do this. If you don’t, I won’t be able to testify, and I might have to leave the country.”
She looked at him sideways. He sounded quite sincere and she truly wanted to believe him. He’d lied to her before, lied in ways that had cut into their relationship and almost ruined it. But that was in the past. She’d dealt with it, accepted that he was what he was, and moved on. He was her father. She loved him. And there was absolutely no reason she could think of that he would be hiding anything from her. She decided he had to be telling the truth. This time.
There was nothing left to do but agree. So here she was, and the desert that had once looked magically mysterious now looked hypnotically tedious.
The wind tugged at her scarf as she made the turn onto the ranch roads. Ahead she saw the ranch house, a large, imposing building atop a gentle hill.
“Home sweet home,” she murmured to herself sardonically as she pulled up before the entryway. She jumped out of the car and turned to wave as the gray sedan came sliding into the yard. But before the men reached her, she’d opened the boot of her car and pulled out her packages and was starting up the steps into the house.
“With all due respect, you drive too darn fast, Miss Kingston,” one of them called to her.
She waved again, laughing, and took the steps two at a time. “Jen?” she called, knowing the house should be empty except for the household staff.
Dressed in the pale blue uniform all the house help wore, Jen came clattering down the stairs, ebony hair flying behind her. “Did you get it?” she cried, her dark eyes sparkling.
“Shh!” Hailey glanced at the back of the hall and put her finger to her lips. “Yes, I got it. Let’s go and try it on.”
Jen gave her a grin, snatched a couple of her bags from her and whirled. “Great,” she said, leading the way back up the stairs. “I can hardly wait to see the transformation.”
Hailey followed a bit more slowly. She had struck up something of a friendship with the younger woman who was working as a housekeeper’s assistant to pay her way through the nearby college. Together they had hatched a plot to get Hailey out of the house for an evening. The packages she’d picked up m town were the first step. The two of them made their way into the bedroom at the corner of the house and carefully closed the door.
“Here goes nothing,” Hailey breathed to herself as she pulled open one of her parcels, a round box, and extracted a dark wig styled in a pixieish cut, holding it up. “Me as an Italian. What do you think?”
“It’s darling,” Jen cried, fingering the silky hair. “But what are you going to do with all that blond stuff you’ve got on the top of your head?”
“You’ll see,” Hailey promised lightly, dropping down before her mirror and deftly pulling strands of her own hair into coils that she expertly pinned to her scalp. Taking the wig in both hands, she carefully tugged it down over the pinned tresses.
“Gosh.” Jen shook her head in awe. “Wow, that makes all the difference, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t have recognized you.”
Hailey nodded, looking at her reflection speculatively. “That’s the point, isn’t it?” she murmured. But it was true. Her thick, gorgeous blond hair had always been her trademark. With the black hair in a pixie cut, she looked like a completely different person. For just a moment, she wondered if it was going to make her act differently, too. “Wild?” she mused to herself. “Daring?”
“It’s going to be fun tonight,” Jen promised. “You’re sure you want to do it?”
“Absolutely.” Hailey smiled at her in the mirror, her eyes dancing with anticipation. “If I can get away from my everpresent shadows. They pride themselves on watching every move I make. It is getting really old.”
Jen nodded her sympathy. “We’ll fool them, don’t worry. I got a uniform for you. It’s hanging in your closet. It should fit.”
“Oh, thanks, Jen.” She smiled at the girl. “You’re really going to a lot of trouble just to help me get a night out.”
Jen smiled back warmly. “It’s my pleasure, believe me. Those two cops have been driving us all crazy, ordering us around like we were their servants or something. If we can put this over on Tweedledum and Tweedledummer, it’ll be worth every minute.”
Hailey laughed. “Okay. Here’s the game plan. At dinner, I’m going to whine and howl about the horrible headache I’ve suddenly come down with. And when I go up to bed, I’m going to warn everyone not to bother me until morning on pain of death.”
“Then you’ll slip into the wig and uniform and meet me in the kitchen at eight. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Jen started for the door, and Hailey called after her.
“Jen…thank you again. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem,” the younger woman said, laughing as she turned and left the room.
“No problem,” Hailey echoed, pulling off the wig and looking at herself in the mirror. Of course not. What could go wrong?
With a long afternoon still stretching out before her, Hailey decided to get out her easel and do some sketching. Her pencil drawings were usually quick and small, done on a sketch pad. But this time she was in the mood for something grander,