That Burke Man. Diana Palmer
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asked, her gray eyes flashing and her blond pigtail swinging as she threw her hands up in a temper. “He’s so picky about everything, especially his clothes. He doesn’t like pets and he doesn’t like children.”
“He’s brilliant. He has a national bestseller. It’s number one on the New York Times list. It’s been there for weeks,” Todd replied.
“You’re smart, too. And you’re rich,” she argued.
“Yes, but I’m not in his class. I’m a self-made man. I don’t have a Harvard degree.”
“Neither does he,” Cherry said with a giggle. “He hasn’t graduated. I heard Mama say so—not so that he could hear her, though.”
He chuckled. “Never you mind. If she’s happy, that’s fine.”
“Don’t you love her anymore?” she asked.
His arm contracted. “Not the way I should to be married to her,” he said honestly. “Marriage takes two people working to make each other happy. Your mother got tired of the long hours I had to spend at work.”
“She got tired of me, too.”
“She loves you, in her way,” he replied. “Don’t ever doubt that. But she and I found less in common the longer we lived together. Eventually we didn’t have enough to sustain a marriage.”
“You need someone to look after you,” she told him. “I’ll get married one day, you know, and then where will you be?”
He chuckled. “Alone.”
“Sure,” she agreed, “except for those women you never bring home.”
He cleared his throat. “Cherry…”
“Never mind, I’m not stupid.” She looked around at the dwindling crowd. “But you need someone to come home to, besides me. You work late at the office and go on business trips all over the place, and you’re never home. So I can’t go home, either. I want to go to school in Victoria in the fall. I hate boarding school.”
“You never told me that,” he said, surprised.
“I didn’t want to,” she admitted reluctantly. “But it’s just awful lately. I’m glad I’m out for the summer.” She looked up at him with gray eyes so similar to his own. “I’m glad you took this vacation. We can do some things together, just you and me.”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” he confessed. “I’m looking forward to having a few weeks off,” he lied convincingly, and wondered how he was going to survive the lack of anything challenging to do.
She grinned. “Good! You can help me work on those turns in barrel racing. I don’t guess you noticed, but I’m having a real hard time with them.”
He recalled what Jane Parker had said about Cherry, and he allowed himself to wonder if it might not do both women good to spend a little time talking together.
“You know,” he mused aloud, “I think I may have some ideas about that.”
“Really? What are they?”
“Wait and see.” He led her toward their car. “Let’s get something to eat. I don’t know about you, but I’m starved!”
“Me, too. How about Chinese?”
“My favorite.”
He put her into the old Ford he’d borrowed while his Ferrari was being serviced, and drove her back into Jacobsville.
They had lunch at the single Chinese restaurant that was nestled among half a dozen barbecue, steak and fast-food restaurants. When they finished, they went back out to the arena to watch the rest of the afternoon’s competitions. Cherry was only in one other event. She did poorly again, though, trying to go around the barrels. When she rode out of the arena, she was in tears.
“Now, now.” Todd comforted her. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
“They didn’t have barrel racing in Rome!” she wailed.
“Probably not, but the sentiment is the same.” He hugged her gently. “Perk up, now. This is only the first rodeo in a whole string of them. You’ll get better.”
“It’s a waste of time,” she said, wiping her tears. “I might as well quit right now.”
“Nobody ever got anywhere by quitting after one loss,” he chided. “Where would I be if I’d given up when my first computer program didn’t sell?”
“Not where you are today, that’s for sure,” she admitted. “Nobody does software like you do, Dad. That newest word processor is just radical! Everyone at school loves it. It makes term papers so easy!”
“I’m glad to hear that all those late hours we put into developing it were worth the effort,” he said. He grinned at her. “We’re working on a new accounting package right now.”
“Oh, accounting,” she muttered. “Who wants any boring old stuff like that?”
“Plenty of small businesses,” he said on a chuckle. “And thank your lucky stars or we’d be in the hole.”
Cherry was looking around while he spoke. Her face lit up and her eyes began to sparkle. “It’s Miss Parker!” The smile faded. “Oh, my…”
He turned and the somber expression on his daughter’s face was mirrored in his own. Jane was in the wheelchair, wearing jeans and a beige T-shirt and sneakers, looking fragile and depressed as Tim pushed her toward the motor home with the horse trailer hitched behind it.
Unless he missed his guess, they were about to leave. He couldn’t let her get away, not before he had a chance to ask her about working with Cherry. It had occurred to him that they might kill two birds with one stone—give Miss Parker a new interest, and Cherry some badly needed help.
Chapter Two
“Miss Parker!” Todd called.
She glanced in his direction, aware that he and a young girl with fair hair in a pigtail were moving toward her. The wheelchair made her feel vulnerable and she bit down hard on her lip. She was in a bad temper because she didn’t want that rude, unpleasant man to see her this way.
“Yes?” she asked through her teeth.
“This is my daughter, Cherry,” he said, pulling the young girl forward. “She wanted to meet you.”
Regardless, apparently, of whether Jane wanted the meeting or not. “How do you do,” she said through numb lips.
“What happened to you?” Cherry spluttered.
Jane’s face contorted.
“She was in a wreck,” her father said shortly, “and it was rude of you to ask.”
Cherry flushed. “I’m sorry, really I am.” She went to the wheelchair, totally uninhibited, and squatted beside it. “I’ve watched all the videos you were on. You were just the best in the world,” she said enthusiastically. “I couldn’t get to the rodeos, but I had Dad buy me the videos from people who taped the events. I’m having a lot of trouble on the turns. Dad can ride, but he’s just hopeless on rodeo, aren’t you, Dad?” She put a gentle hand over Jane’s arm. “Will you be able to ride again?”
“Cherry!” Todd raged.
“It’s all right,” Jane said quietly. She looked into the girl’s clear, gray eyes, seeing no pity there, only honest concern and curiosity. The rigidity in her began to subside. She smiled. “No,” she said honestly. “I don’t think I’ll be able to ride again. Not in competition, at least.”
“I wish I could help you,” Cherry said. “I’m going to be a surgeon when I grow up. I make straight A’s in science and math, and Dad’s already said I