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“Not at all,” she answered. “I’m just used to seeing you with a driver.”
“We need solitude to work, so David didn’t come along this trip.” He started the car and headed out of the small airfield. “You might want to check in with Mr. Wentworth one last time. We’ll lose cell service within the next half an hour, and I purposely don’t have Wi-Fi at the cabin.”
She did, telling Michael right away he was on speaker with both of them. He updated them, indicating the police had arrested Tom Masters and recovered the laptop, which could not be returned to Barrett Financial for a while as it was evidence, and the police were keeping Michael informed of their progress. Linda had been interviewed and ruled out as being part of Masters’ plan.
After checking her texts and emails, Rowan shut her phone off and looked around at the scenery. “I expected more tall trees and denser woods.” Abundant low scrub blanketed the ground beside the highway, but a lot of open areas and fields did as well.
“That’s a common misconception about Colorado, that we are all spruce and evergreens. There’s quite a bit of farmland too. There will be more trees up at the cabin, though still not as dense as, say, the redwoods of California or the forests of Washington State.”
Rowan nodded and moved on. “You said we’d be near Colorado Springs, but we left that city behind almost an hour ago.”
“Technically, we’re closer to a town called Cripple Creek, but I didn’t think you’d know of the reference.”
“Funny name.”
“It’s an old gold-mining town, but the name came from livestock injured crossing the creek that ran through the town back then.”
“That’s sad, but I suppose the name is appropriate. Such a simple name. So, gold-mining, huh? Is that where the family money came from?” She was finding it hard to stifle her laughter. Something about this drive was relaxing her. It was nice here, in spite of the elevation.
He glanced at her. “No.”
Uh oh. She’d hit a sour chord with that one. “I wasn’t being serious.”
“I hope not.”
The rest of the drive remained a quiet one, and that suited her just fine. They’d passed through Cripple Creek, left civilization behind, and were climbing again. The two-lane road turned into a one-lane road, then they turned onto a gravel road and pulled up to the cabin a couple minutes later. Not a person who loved snow, she was happy to see greenery and no white stuff. Colorado always had snow, didn’t it? At least, that was her perception. They were in the midst of high summer, so she should have figured that one out on her own.
Rowan stared at the small log-sided A-frame. The outside looked dark and dingy, like it hadn’t been cared for, or washed, in quite a while. “Is this the caretaker’s cabin?”
Arched eyebrow was back. “Do you think I can’t live in a place like this?”
“Well, no.” Damn the man for always finding a way to keep her off kilter. “It’s not that. I just assumed—”
“Stop assuming, at least where I’m concerned. It’s irritating that you think me so shallow.”
“It’s not that I think you’re shallow. It’s that I think you’re used to having money, and money buys bigger places than this. At least, your kind of money does.”
“You’re a reverse snob,” he said.
“I may have some misconceptions,” she shot back. “But I’m not a snob by any definition.”
“Money isn’t everything, you know.” He stared out the windshield at the cabin.
For the first time since she met him, Rowan really wanted to know more about Gerard. “What is?” she asked, curious if he would answer.
“Family, power, shaping the world the right way.”
His answer surprised her.
“This was my grandparents’ cabin. The first place they ever lived.”
“Oh. I assu— I thought you came from old money.”
He shook his head. “When they first lived here, with no running water and no indoor plumbing, my grandfather swore he would make a better life for his wife. He did. I keep this place to remind me of what’s important.”
At that moment, her heart damn near melted. She’d misjudged this man and was guilty as charged. Reverse snobbery. She’d assigned him the same traits as her father and brother, and nothing could be further from the truth.
“I owe you an apology. I did judge you.”
