JAKrentz - Witchcraft by User Page B

problems because of his father's rejection of him, Aunt Milly was distraught over my father's death, the employees feared for their jobs and the wine wasn't doing well in the markets. On top of that, the estate was going into bankruptcy."
    "So you stepped in and took over responsibility for everything and everyone. You did your family duty, and now you're trapped by that duty." The brackets at the edges of his mouth tightened slightly. "I don't see myself as trapped, Kim. I chose to do it." Instantly she was sorry she'd phrased her words the way she had. "It doesn't matter whether duty chose you or you chose it. Your life has been completely changed by it. What was it like during the days you ran that import-export business?"
    "I'm sure you'd describe my life-style back then as considerably freer than it is now," he said easily. Absently he stroked slow circles on her arm. "A lot of traveling with basically only myself and Starke to think about. And Lord knows Starke can take care of himself."
    "Where on earth did you find him?"
    "In the middle of a street riot in some miserable little country in the Middle East. I was in town making a deal for some rugs and Starke was there to ... well, another kind of deal. We were both in the wrong place at the wrong time. Things got nasty and by the time it was over we were partners. Two years ago when I decided to take over the winery after my father died, he opted to come with me."
    "You must be close friends."
    "Depends how you describe close friends, I guess. I probably know him as well as anyone, but there's a hell of a lot no one will ever know about Starke."
    "Why did you go into business for yourself? How did you escape being groomed to take over the winery?" Kimberly asked. "I had no interest in the winery when I was growing up.
    I wanted to do something more exciting with my life. I wanted adventure and action and the challenge of making my own fortune."
    "And you found all that?"
    "Oh, yes," Cavenaugh agreed with a cryptic smile. "I found it."
    "But when the chips were down, you came back to assume your responsibilities to your family." Some of the warm intimacy disappeared from Cavenaugh's green eyes. "You have a way of making family responsibilities sound like a grim fate to be avoided at all costs."
    "Maybe it's just because I know how twisted they can become." Cavenaugh appeared to be sorting through his next words. "Kim, if your father had really loved your mother he wouldn't have given her up to please his family. And he wouldn't have spent the rest of his life pretending you didn't exist. He would have fought to make his parents accept you and your mother ... Blame his own weakness for what he did to her, not his sense of family responsibility." Kimberly suddenly became very aware of a certain chill invading the old shed. "I think we're about to lose our sunny afternoon," she observed with a lightness she was far from feeling. "Clouds are starting to form." Cavenaugh levered himself up beside her, slanting her a speculative glance. "Which, translated, means you don't want to talk about the situation regarding your grandparents, right?" " Cavenaugh , I always said you do have some amazing powers of perception." He finished pulling on his jeans and reached down to help her to her feet, his eyes lingering on her full breasts as she fastened her shirt. "You have some amazing powers, yourself, witch. I feel like a new man this afternoon." His words halted her em otional withdrawal. Kimberly looked up at him and felt a return of the warmth she had been feeling earlier. But what she felt for him now, she thought fleetingly, went far beyond warmth or even passion for that matter. Deliberately she thrust the realization aside and smiled brilliantly. "I hope I was a more interesting tonic than some of those concoctions Ariel is always serving up."
    "You're much more than a tonic, Kim, and you know it." He took her hand. "Come on, honey, much as I hate to end this very satisfying