“Where do you have to go?” she asked.

“New York. Chicago. Miami. Denver. Los Angeles.” He rattled them off and smiled ruefully. “The cattle are our main concern, but we own mining interests and oil interests, and a lot of real estate. It takes hard work to keep it all solvent, and I’m the point man.”

She smoothed her hands over his broad chest. “It’s an empire,” she mused.

He nodded. “It is. I’m sorry that we won’t get much of a honeymoon, but I’ll make it up to you when I get things back in line. Where would you like to go? France? Italy? Spain?”

She laughed. “Let me have a little time to get used to being here,” she said, “before we rush off to foreign places.” In fact, she’d been in a lot of foreign places, most of them where sane people would never go.

“I can do that.” He smoothed over her long fingers, resting on his chest. “Mina, you’re going to have to learn a few things. Like how to organize business dinners, cocktail parties, stuff like that. And you’ll need new clothes.” He winced at her expression. “I’m not trying to talk down to you. Honest I’m not. You dress well for someone on a budget. But you’re not on a budget here. I’ll get you a gold card and you can fly up to Dallas, to Neiman Marcus, to shop. You’ll need a whole new wardrobe.”

She bit her lower lip. “Not right now?” she asked, almost pleading.

He let out a breath. She was tired, and this was culture shock. He could understand her reticence. “Okay. Not right now. I’ll give you time to settle in before we go along, okay? You’ll get used to it.”

She recalled how much he’d been drinking at Pam Simpson’s party and it disturbed her. She knew that many social parties involved drinking. She wasn’t afraid of Cort’s father, or Bill McAllister, when they had liquor, but she was nervous about strangers who had too much. How could she explain that to Cort?

She started to try when his phone rang. He pulled it out of the holder. It was a short conversation, but it caused him to brood.

“I have to leave today,” he said, grimacing when he saw Mina’s expression. “Honey, I’m sorry. There’s a labor dispute at a company we own in Ohio. I have to go myself to negotiate with the shop foreman.”

She drew in a breath. “You’re a tycoon, so you have to do tycoon stuff,” she translated. She forced a smile. “I’ll be fine. You go and do what you have to.” She didn’t tell him that she was going to have to be on the road in a couple of weeks. She didn’t know how, just yet.

“You’re a sweetheart.” He bent and kissed her hungrily. “Damn,” he muttered as he put her away from him. “I’ll miss you like hell.”

“I’ll miss you, too. Can you call me from time to time?”