Tasmanian Tangle Read Online Free PDF

finished years ago if it hadn't been for your father. That's why Kade chose to work for him, he felt he owed a debt, and he
     
    respected him too much to indulge in any underhand affair, no matter what.'
    Tanya's eyes searched Connie's honest ones. `Do you think he loved my mother?' she asked her.
    Connie shook her head firmly. 'No, pet, he didn't. She told me this herself, and it's a thing a woman usually knows, no matter how much they might try to fool themselves. Whatever Kade said to her that day, it pulled her round. I found her sobbing her heart out in the laundry room where she thought no one would find her. She told me she was ashamed of herself, she'd been a fool, and didn't think she could ever forgive herself for giving way to such madness. She must have made her mind up then to go away.' She gave Tanya a small smile. 'She had her pride, you know, and I guess she just couldn't live with it. Your father had probably guessed what was going on, but he must have known that he could rely on Kade's integrity, and he loved your mother enough to hope that things would settle down again,' she sighed. 'But it wasn't to be. Within a week she had left, and taken you with her.'
    Tanya ate very little supper that evening. She hadn't been able to face dinner, and an understanding Connie had let her off without scolding her. She had very little sleep that night, her mind was too active. She felt desperately sorry for her mother who must have known so much unhappiness, and now she was able to understand why she had never remarried. She had made not one, but two bitter mistakes in the past, and was not likely to risk a third. As for Kade, Tanya's feelings remained the same. She felt that he could have put an end to the miserable situation much sooner than he had—or failing that, have left himself. If her father had been
     
    given a choice in the matter he would surely have wanted to keep his wife and child beside him, for Tanya couldn't see how he could have remained ignorant of what was going on, although it was hardly something that could be discussed openly without a great deal of embarrassment on all sides, so in Tanya's eyes it had been up to Kade to move out.
    Her lips twisted wryly at this thought. Not Kade, she thought, he was so used to women falling over him that it would never occur to him that a woman had her pride too. She could see only too well his reasoning on the matter. If the woman had made a fool of herself over him then he had no sympathy with her, and if the woman was married, then the sooner she learnt that her place with with her husband, the better. He would have no other thoughts on the matter, and it would never occur to him to feel pity for them. He was utterly ruthless and as hard as nails, and she wondered how she could ever have imagined herself in love with him.
    Before she fell asleep that night, Tanya promised herself that before another six months had elapsed she would take over the reins of the farm—and if that wasn't possible, she would employ another manager to help her run the business. The second probability would suit her better, she decided drowsily; she couldn't see herself undergoing training from Kade, not now, and not ever!

 
     

CHAPTER THREE
    THE following morning when Tanya sat down to breakfast there were violet smudges under her eyes, and when she refused the cooked breakfast that Connie placed before her and said that she only wanted a cup of coffee, Connie placed her plump hands on her waist and said sternly, 'It's no use dwelling on the past, Tanya. What's done is done, and no amount of wishful thinking will change things, you just remember that.'
    Tanya nodded curtly at this kindly meant scolding, but it didn't alter her feelings one iota. She hated Kade for what he had done to her mother. There were ways of telling someone you weren't interested, and she ought to know, he had used the tactic on her when she was only a child, and was still using it, but there was no