have, you’re out of luck,” he said coolly. “The ranch is taking just about every penny I’ve got, and Hilda, unfortunately, was land rich and dirt poor. There’s no money right now for a big payoff.”
“And when you find the mine?”
“If we find the mine—and that’s a big if—then that’s another matter, of course.”
“So give me a number, Mr. Wyatt. A reasonable number. That’s all I ask.”
How did he put a price on something he didn’t have? He didn’t even know where to start. “If the mine is found, I’ll be the one who will bear all the expense.”
“True,” she agreed. “But without me, you would never find it. You’re looking in the wrong place.”
“Ten,” he said flatly. “It’s my last offer.”
“Twelve, and you’ve got a deal,” she retorted. “I want twenty-five, you want one. Twelve should work for both of us. Of course, I’m losing out on a half of a percentage point, but that’s all right. I’m willing to compromise even if you’re not.”
Ignoring that last remark, he knew he should have said no and stuck to his offer. After all, he was giving her a hell of a deal, and she should have appreciated that. But no! She wanted more.
And if she didn’t get it, she just might walk away.
Scowling, he knew he couldn’t let her do that. And it wasn’t because she was a damn interesting woman, he assured himself. She knew where the mine was.
“Twelve,” he agreed, caving in. “But that’s based on net, not gross. And you don’t start collecting until six months after the mine is up and operating, and that payoff ends after ten years.”
“I’m not just turning my notes and maps over to you and walking away for twelve percent or a hundred and five or whatever number you want to throw out there,” she told him. “I already informed you I want to be involved in the search for the mine.”
“Oh, no!”
“Oh, yes,” she insisted. “My father and I spent years researching the mine, tracking it halfway across the world. I promised my father before he died that I wouldn’t stop looking for it. I want to be there when you find it.”
He should have said no. She was too cute, too sassy, too hard to ignore. And the last thing he wanted in his life right now was a woman. He’d had one and lost her and he wasn’t going there again.
A muscle ticked in his jaw at the thought of Melissa. How could he have been so taken in by her? He’d dated his share of women, and he’d always seen them for what they were…until Melissa looked up at him with those big blue eyes and stole his heart. He’d never seen the mercenary light in those same blue eyes, never realized that she loved what he could give her more than she could ever love him.
Never again, he thought grimly. He didn’t need a woman, didn’t need another kick in the teeth. He’d welcomed the solitude of the ranch, the time to himself. The last thing he wanted or needed was a woman like Rainey Brewster following him around the ranch, looking for the lost mine and making it impossible for him to ignore her.
But she was the only one who had a clue where the mine was and she wasn’t sharing that information unless they had a deal. Damn!
Frustrated, left with no choice, he sighed. “Deal. There. Are you satisfied?”
She didn’t even attempt to hold back a triumphant smile. “Once it’s in writing, I will be. So…when do we get started?”
She was serious, he thought with a groan. She was really going to insist on helping him search for the mine. And he’d agreed to the insanity. He must have been out of his mind.
“Eight,” he said curtly. “I want to get an early start.”
“I’ll be there,” she assured him, grinning. “You bring the contract, and I’ll pack a picnic lunch.”
“Just make sure you bring the map,” he retorted. “I want to find this damn thing as quickly as possible.”
Later, Rainey didn’t know how she slept that night. Her thoughts in a whirlwind, she lay in bed for hours, wide awake, her heart racing with excitement, just like a child waiting for Santa Claus. When her father died, she’d given up any real hope of finding the mine—there were so many things that had to come together when you were searching for treasure, and doing it alone wasn’t easy. But here she was, so close she could practically reach out and touch it.
If her father had been here, everything would have been perfect. Instead, Buck Wyatt would be at her side, working with her to find the mine.
Her heart stopped in midbeat just at the thought, and that bothered her far more than she liked to admit. The last man who’d stopped her heart that way had also been incredibly good looking and charming. Carl. Just thinking about him tied her stomach in knots. She was eighteen when she met him and had just graduated from high school. He’d wined her and dined her and, worse yet, he’d said all the right things. He’d claimed he hated working in his family’s hardware business and couldn’t wait for the day when he could quit and join her and her father hunting treasure, and she’d fallen for him—and his story—hook, line and sinker.
He’d lied.
No, she corrected herself. He’d done a hell of a lot more than lie. He’d manipulated her and come close to trapping her in a life he was determined to force on her. He’d never had any intention of leaving the hardware store. Instead, he’d pressured her to give up treasure hunting and stay home and have babies. She wasn’t ready for children, and when he promised he would give her time, she thought she could make things work. But the wheels came off the wagon when he not only refused to let her search for a fortune in stolen bank money in Wisconsin, but also washed her birth control pills down the drain with the announcement that he’d decided they were going to have a baby now. She, according to him, didn’t get a vote.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Just thinking about that day still had the power to infuriate her. Outraged that he’d thought he could dictate to her when she had to have a baby, she’d walked out and filed for divorce the very next day. She’d sworn then that she was done with marriage.
Never again, she promised herself. She wasn’t setting herself up for that kind of heartache again. She knew who she was and what she was, and she wasn’t letting any man mold her into what he wanted her to be.
But there was something about Buck….
Irritated with herself for even letting that particular thought surface, she drove through the entrance to the Broken Arrow and reminded herself that the only reason she was here was because of the mine. Okay, so Buck was one of those men who could walk into a room full of people and draw the eye of every female in sight. That didn’t mean that she intended to give him so much as a second look. She was a professional and planned to stay focused on the treasure. Nothing else mattered.
Her resolve firmly in place, she felt her heart kick into overdrive as she braked to a stop in the circular driveway in front of the house. She had her map, her notes, but she knew it would take more than that to find the mine. The ranch was huge—it covered thousands of acres of trees and canyons and mountains. How much had the landscape changed since the first missionaries arrived and excavated the mine? There must have been earthquakes and landslides and forest fires that forever altered the face of the land. What if everything she found in Spain no longer applied to any section of the ranch? Then what?
Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t realize that Buck had opened the front door and was watching her until he stepped over to her VW bug and knocked on her window. Startled, she jumped and glanced up to find him watching her through the window in amusement. “What are you doing?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing.” He chuckled. “You’ve been sitting there, staring into space for the last ten minutes. If you’re