The stakes were too high to blow it. He was so disappointed in her for doubting him that he wanted to shake her. But he realized Elinor had become too important to him to ruin his chances by dumping his childhood insecurities on her. If he could figure out what was going on in her head, maybe he could get past her defenses.
Her accusations tonight made it perfectly clear that he hadn't made any headway in gaining her trust. He knew he wasn't the man she believed him to be. That didn't diminish his frustration with her, but it gave him enough pause to wonder why she was so threatened by him.
Cole drew in a calming breath and willed his pulse to steady itself. "What do you mean, your family was destroyed by the pursuit of money?"
Elinor brushed her palms nervously down the sides of her full skirt. "I don't think you really want to hear about the downfall of the Prescotts. You seem to think we're nothing but a bunch of snobs."
"Tell me about your family, Elinor." Shifting so that the lamplight fell on her face, he watched her. "Does it have anything to do with why your father left Oakleigh and never came back?"
She gave a short laugh. "For my father, money and Oakleigh meant the same thing. And he'd have sacrificed a kidney to get his hands on either one."
"Go on," he murmured so focused on her that he felt he could hear her heart beat.
"Look, Cole." She paced restlessly, stopping behind a chair, her hand resting on its back. "There's nothing really to tell. My father was a spoiled child of wealth who grew up and made a career out of alcoholism and chasing money."
"I never knew your father," he murmured, sensing the weight of all the things she hadn't said.
Elinor shrugged. "I loved my father, but he was an obsessed man. He wanted to be a success, to have money to burn. That was going to be his way of showing my grandfather how wrong he'd been."
"Daniel kicked your father out of Oakleigh?"
"Of course. My father said his father didn't want to share the money or the plantation," she said. "Who knows what really happened? But they never made it up. And neither of them ever gave any sign of wanting to."
"And you're convinced that I'm just like them," Cole finished for her. "Obsessed by money and success."
She shrugged again, a sad kind of defiance settling over her features. "You said yourself that anything can be achieved if you go about it the right way."
"And you think I meant that I'm willing to use any means to achieve what I'm after," he concluded.
Elinor didn't answer, her doubt and pain clear in her eloquent hazel eyes. Cole ached for her then. He wanted to sweep her up in his arms and promise her that he'd never let anyone hurt her again.
But this wasn't the moment. Her defenses were tightly guarded, walls in place. He was, without question, the enemy, and she resented his intrusion into her stronghold.
The situation called for strategy, and for this prize, he would use any means.
"Elinor," he said, as he turned toward the door, knowing it was time to abandon the battlefield. "You know me better than you realize."
She watched him go, a startled look on her face that was quickly banished.
Cole paused by the parlor doors. "By the way," he murmured. "Who's Brad?"
For a brief second, he saw a smile in her eyes, the laughing, teasing look that had first captivated him. It held a spark of connection, an answering spar to his challenge. And then she looked away.
"Goodnight," he said, not waiting for a verbal response. That brief shimmering response in her face was enough to give him heart for the battle.
Cole left her cottage, pulling the door shut tight behind himself as a myriad of thoughts churned in his brain. Reaching his car, he got in and started the engine on autopilot.
Their interchange had certainly shed light on a few things that had been puzzling him. But it didn't make the future any more certain.
Should he confess? Should he admit that he was the anonymous bidder for Oakleigh, admit to having lied to her by default? He didn't think so. Such a move would almost surely mean losing Oakleigh. He could imagine her taking great pleasure in refusing his offer in a fit of rage.
And honesty at this point would probably not earn him points with Elinor. It should, but it wouldn't. She'd feel betrayed all over again, only this time on a larger, more personal scale.
No. He had to go forward. It was a gamble, but there was no backing down now. How could he opt out of the game just because the odds had gotten larger?
And they had, because he'd never wanted anything more in his life than he wanted Elinor. Seeing her in a blinding rage had confirmed that for him. He'd seen the worst and he still liked the whole picture.
His mouth quirked into a smile as he drove down the dark, deserted country lanes. He wanted Elinor with a passion that fueled his determination. She was everything her profligate, condescending family wasn't. True and steadfast.
When she gave her love to a man, he'd never have to worry about losing it. Cole vowed he would be that man. He just wasn't quite sure how he'd pull it off.
It would have been simplest to turn the car around, go back and pound on her door . . . and kiss her senseless when she answered. It might have been worth the slap in the face he'd get. Except he didn't think she'd believe all he wanted was to cherish her for the next fifty years.
Fortunately, he wasn't the type of man to give up or to settle for less than everything he wanted. Even if she'd been wrong about his ethics, Elinor had hit the bull's-eye in calling him determined.
Somehow he had to bring the whole mess together. The plant, Oakleigh, and Elinor.
It would be easiest to finalize the purchase of Oakleigh and hold it for six months before taking possession. Then he could simply pretend he'd bought it from her anonymous bidder.
But Cole knew he wouldn't do that. He couldn't come squeaky clean now, but he'd face the music with Elinor when he had to. He couldn't build their future on a lie.
Pulling up to a stop in front of his bed and breakfast, Cole turned off the engine. He stared out the windshield blankly, assessing his options. The most important thing here was speed. If he could tie up the sale of the house and prove he was on the level with the plant, he'd have some permanency here, and then he could set about winning Elinor over.
Cole picked up his phone, punching in the number of his broker. When you paid employees as well as he did, they didn't mind getting phone calls after midnight.