But this had nothing to do with being stubborn. Daisy wanted Tyler to be the one to leave because she couldn't.

Chapter Twenty-seven.

"I told you never to come to the bank," Regis said, "not even after hours."

"I came to tell you--"

"I know what you came to tell me," Regis Cochrane said, his voice an angry hiss. "You missed again!"

"I couldn't get close. That Randolph fella is always with her."

"Maybe it's just as well. She's inherited a lot of money. I can use it."

"I can still get her."

"You stay away from her," Cochrane ordered. "And stay away from me. Start for Montana, and go there this time. I don't want you to come here again. If you do, I'll say you were the one who killed her father."

"I'll tell them you hired me."

"n.o.body would believe you. You'd hang, and I'd be there watching. Now get out. If I see you again, I'll have the sheriff arrest you."

Frank left in a rage. He had his pride, and he didn't like being treated like a petty killer who could be brushed off like a bug. He didn't want to leave town just yet. If he waited around, maybe he could still find a way to kill that female and collect the rest of his money. Then he'd leave for Montana.

The next morning Daisy spied Tyler across the lobby before she was half way down the stairs. She felt a warm flush flood her cheeks. Her heart started to beat faster, and her breath seemed shallow. The same old reaction. He was twice as good looking as anybody else in the lobby. He looked so calm, so self-possessed she couldn't imagine why women weren't crowded around him.

Daisy took a deep breath to settle her agitation. She had made her decision. She didn't understand why she continued to question it every time she saw Tyler. Nothing had changed. She forced a look of what she hoped was calm on her face and continued down the stairs. Tyler saw her before she reached the bottom step.

He rose from his seat and came toward her. Apparently he'd been waiting for her. She dreaded this interview, but it had to come sooner or later.

"I thought you'd be gone by now," she said when he came up.

"I'll be staying in Albuquerque for a few days yet."

"You haven't given up on your hotels, have you?"

"No."

"You do intend to build them?"

"Yes."

"You won't if you don't find the gold."

"Things have changed. I--"

"I can't stand around talking," Daisy said, her agitation showing. "I'm one my way to see Adora. You can walk with me."

Tyler's eyes opened a little wider at her flash of temper, but he followed her outside. It was a brilliant day. Even though it was cold, the sky was clear, the sun strong. Daisy looked at the Sandia mountains in the distance and felt a lump in her throat. The days spent in the cabin had been the best days of her life. She even missed Zac at times, sharp-tongued rascal that he was. But most of all she missed the long, quiet days when she had nothing to do but wait for the snow to melt.

And fall in love.

Everything had seemed so simple then. All she had to do was get married and life would take care of itself. She hadn't owned a ranch capable of making her independent, had enough money to buy and sell Mrs. Esterhouse and her precious daughter, had a rich family begging her to go back to New York, or two men promising to do anything if she would only marry them. And for most of the time she had been unaware a determined killer was on her trail.

She had no way of knowing the things that worried her most -- her height, hair, and wound -- would be practically forgotten so quickly. She remembered her scorn for a life spent in the mountains in such a cabin. It seemed wonderfully attractive now.

She shook her thoughts to rid them of melancholy. There was no going back. Much more than a cabin in the mountains separated them now.

"I supposed Laurel told you my grandfather left me some money," she said to Tyler, "and that my uncle wants me to go back to New York with him."

Tyler nodded.

"I'm going," Daisy said.

That startled Tyler. "Do you intend to sell your ranch?"

"Probably. Maybe." She didn't want to lie to him. She just wanted him to go back to his mines. She would miss him terribly. The longer he waited, the harder it was going to be. "I don't know. It doesn't make sense to keep it."

"What will you do in New York?"

"I've never been anywhere except Santa Fe. I probably won't stop going places and seeing things for years. My cousin a.s.sures me I would love London and Paris."

"You can't do all this by yourself."

"My uncle says I can easily find a dependable paid companion."

"You're turning your back on love, a family."

"No. I'm actually gaining a family."

"I meant your own family, a husband and children. Is your freedom that important to you?"

"I told you it was."

"How can I make you understand that freedom is more than having to answer to no one but yourself?"

"You can't. I've seen how men treat women."

"You haven't seen how I would treat you."

"Yes, I have. You would try your best to let me be free. But when a decision had to be made, you would make it and expect me to go along with it."

"Someone has to have the final responsibility."

"I know, and I'm not willing to give that up." They were approaching the Cochrane house. Daisy felt miserable. She wanted to end the conversation. "I promised Adora I'd be here at half past. I must go."

"This is your final word?"

"It has been my final word for weeks. You just won't believe me."

"I kept hoping . . . I guess it doesn't matter what I kept hoping. I hope you enjoy New York. I didn't like it myself, but a lot of people do."

"Do you ever visit?"

"Sometimes."

"Look me up. We can--"

"No. I want to be your husband, your lover, your friend and companion. I can't be content to be a casual acquaintance who takes you to the opera or for a yacht ride in the sound."

Daisy held out her hand. "Then I guess it's good-bye."

"It'll never be good-bye between us." Tyler grabbed her and kissed her with ferocious energy. "You're going to marry me yet. You're going to find out you can be much more free in my arms than you can alone in New York."

Tyler had sounded a lot more confident than he felt. Walking back to the hotel he wondered what he could do to convince Daisy she was making the wrong decision.

"You won't do it by forcing yourself on her," Laurel told him a few minutes later. "I know you thought it would bring her to her senses, but it hasn't."

"Then what do you suggest I do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"You used to do it very well," Hen pointed out. "Back home you could do it for hours on end."

"This is different," Tyler said.

"Then I suggest you come up with a different approach," Hen said. "Let her go to New York. Let her decide for herself if that's what she wants."

"She doesn't," Tyler said, "but she's convinced I won't be happy unless I'm wandering the hills dressed in buckskins and wearing a beard. She's also convinced I won't be happy unless I'm the only one giving orders."

"I never knew a Randolph who could take orders," Laurel pointed out. "Monty went all the way to Wyoming to get away from George."

"He also married Iris, and she gives him orders all the time. What's more, he follows half of them. I love Daisy. I want to marry her. I imagine we'll have some good sc.r.a.ps over what to do, but I'd rather do it her way than not at all. I've told her that, but she doesn't believe me."

"If you really love her and you're sure she really loves you, trust to love," Laurel said.

"I can't. Love's a rather stupid creature. Look what a mess it's got me into."

"I'm so glad you were able to come," Adora said as she welcomed Daisy into the Cochrane parlor. "Mama was saying just last night she wondered how you were doing."

"There seems so much to do, so many decisions to make."

Adora frowned. "I haven't forgiven you for not staying with us."

"It's best I stay at the hotel," Daisy said, wondering when she would stop feeling guilty about not fulfilling people's expectations. "I'm near my uncle. And I'm away from Guy. I know he's your brother, but I really can't marry him. He continues to think I will change my mind. I'm of two minds whether to go with him this afternoon."

"You can't back out now. It'll be his last chance to see you before you go to New York. I know he plagues you, but it's because he still loves you."

"He just thinks he does. He's gotten used to the idea and finds it comfortable. I know what love is now."

"It's still Tyler Randolph?"

Daisy nodded.

"Then why don't you marry him. Doesn't he want you to?"

"I've decided not to marry anyone."

Adora looked startled. Daisy knew Adora couldn't imagine life without a husband. Daisy was beginning to feel pretty much the same way herself.

"But there'll be hundreds of men in New York who will want to marry you."

"I doubt it, even after my hair grows out. The only man who doesn't look at me like I'm a great gawk is Tyler, and that's because he's so big himself."

Adora looked at her friend with unwanted perception. "It seems to me you haven't made up your mind to go to New York as much as you've decided to run away from Tyler."

"It amounts to the same thing."

"Not at all. If you run away, you'll never get over him."

"Do you think I'll get over him by staying here?"

"No."

"So what's the difference where I'm miserable?"

"Why are you leaving him if it makes you so miserable?"

"I don't know. I just know I can't marry him. I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Of him. Myself. I don't know. I feel like I can't surrender myself all over again."