.

of it.” He glanced back inside. “If you’ll come to the cottage with me, I can show you everything. All the files are in my office and on my laptop.”

      She shook her head. “I have to wait for the night nurse. Let me go back in with him for a few minutes, okay? Maybe he’ll forget that he wanted to see both of us.”

      “Okay. I’ll wait in the kitchen. Teresa has dinner ready. Did you eat?”

      “I’m not hungry.”

      “Cassie, you have to eat.”

      “I’ll grab something later.”

      She opened the door, waiting for him. “Are you coming?”

      He followed her. “It’s not like he and I haven’t gone over and over this. Sometimes, he comprehends things and sometimes he’s just not listening.”

      “I noticed that,” she said, her head down, her expression grim. “He thought I was my mother when I first went in. Go ahead and eat and then come in. Maybe he’ll talk with both of us there and tell us what’s bothering him.”

      He took her by the arm. “I have a better idea. Let Teresa sit with him a few minutes and you try to eat something, too.”

      Teresa came out of the kitchen. “It’s on the stove and still warm. The sooner y’all eat, the sooner I can go to my room and rest.”

      Cassie was too polite to make Teresa wait around to clean the kitchen. “Go ahead now. I’ll clean up.”

      Teresa glanced toward the study door. “I’ll sit with him until the night nurse shows up. You need to eat your dinner.”

      Cal watched Cassie’s face. She wanted answers right now. How could he explain all the workings of this place and make her see he was busting his tail to save it? Maybe it was time to just lay all the cards on the table and be honest. About the plantation, at least. But not about Marcus Brennan’s other ridiculous death-bed wish.

      The exhaustion etching her face stopped him.

      “Listen, you’re tired and it’s been a long day. Try to eat then we’ll go in and see him. After that you need to go upstairs and rest. We’ll start over fresh tomorrow. And I’ll be as honest as I can, about everything.”

      He wouldn’t tell her about his own part in this, about all the things she didn’t know about her parents and what had happened on that fateful day so long ago.

      What else could he do? He’d made the decision to go along with Marcus Brennan last desperate attempt to get his daughter back. Cal couldn’t stop it now. But he could tell her the truth regarding her heritage.

      She would hate him even more, but he had to take that chance.

      “Cassie, will you eat and then rest?”

      She finally nodded. “I’ll rest after we visit him again, just to make sure he’s okay.”

      “We’ll do that,” Cal replied, hating the defeat in her voice.

      A few minutes later, they both sat staring at their half-eaten meals. Cal had talked to her about mundane things—the crops, the weather, a new foal that had just been delivered two days ago. She asked him about his mother—a subject he didn’t like to talk about.

      Teresa came out of Marcus’s room. “I can’t get him to eat.”

      “I’ll try,” Cal said, getting up.

      “No.” Cassie pushed ahead of him. “Let me.”

      Cal followed her into the room. “How ’bout we work together on it?”

      She shrugged. “We can try.” Then she moved ahead of him into the room. “But the only way we can work together is to be honest with each other.”

      Did she see it in his eyes? That he was holding back?

      Of course she did. But Cal wasn’t ready to give up all the secrets buried on this old plantation.

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CASSIE TRIED TO COAX her father to take another bite of the beef stew. Marcus glanced at the spoon then back up at her. “I’m finished. Didn’t you hear me?”

      Cal took the spoon from Cassie. “C’mon now, old man, eat something so I can give the night nurse a good report. You don’t want to have to resort to taking your meals through a tube, do you?”

      Marcus turned from Cassie to send Cal a heavy scowl, his wizened face expanding until he almost looked young again. “You like being the boss around here, don’t you?”

      “I’m not the boss,” Cal said, a spoonful of tender meat and thick gravy moving toward Marcus. “You’re still the man around here, so eat up and keep your strength.”

      Cassie resented the way he’d taken over, but was glad to see her father listening to Cal. Marcus took two bites of the stew then fell back against the pillows. “I’m full.”

      Cal gave him some water through a bent straw then glanced over at Cassie, the sympathy in his eyes raking her like talons. She didn’t want his pity. She wanted his honesty. But then, he’d been dishonest with her before. Why change now?

      Marcus glanced at Cassie then turned to Cal, his gaze now hooded and shuttered. “You two speaking?”

      “Yes,” Cassie said on a rush of breath. She refused to elaborate.

      “We’re being civil,” Cal said. He shot Cassie a look that dared her to disagree.

      “That’s not good enough,” Marcus retorted through a grumbling cough. “I need more than civil. I need you two to work together.”

      “What did you expect, Daddy?” Cassie’s eyes locked onto Cal. “I found a lot of surprises here since I arrived this morning.” Had she only been here one day? It seemed as if she’d aged in those few short hours. She was bone-tired and weary and still in shock from all the revelations nipping at her like mosquitoes.

      Marcus coughed again, prompting Cal to give him another sip of water. He looked up at Cal, another dark scowl on his face. But the expression in his eyes held trust and what seemed like a grudging respect. Cassie glanced at Cal and saw that same respect in his gaze, too. Something passed between the two men, something secret and sacred and scary.

      Cassie’s resentment crashed in an ugly wave of green envy. Did Cal really care about her father? Or was this part of his plan? He’d never confirmed or denied her accusations. Cal had never been one for confirming or denying. He wasn’t great at conversations or confrontations.

      Deciding to cut to the chase, she touched her father’s arm. “Cal says we need to talk. Are you up to that, Daddy?”

      Marcus heaved a deep breath. “Of course I’m up to it. I’ve been waiting for this conversation a long time, Cassie-girl.”

      She couldn’t take any more. Her nerves were twisted like fence wire and her head pounded like a herd of stampeding cattle. “Then tell me, please. Somebody tell me what’s going on, beside you being so sick. Besides Cal being back here. What is it?”

      “We’re busted,” Marcus finally said, his once-blue eyes watery and piercing. “Camellia Plantation ain’t what it used to be.”

      Confusion crashed with exhaustion inside Cassie’s head. “But it’s still here. Our home is still intact.”

      She saw the lifting of Cal’s head and the widening of her father’s wrinkled brow. “Cal?”

      Cal stood with his feet planted apart, his broad shoulders slung back as if ready to do battle. Until she looked into his eyes. The uncertainty of his gaze shattered her.

      “Cal?”

      “I brought Cal back to save the place,” Marcus said, his voice weak now. “He can give you the details.”

      Cassie