Designed for Love (Texas Nights) by Browning Kelsey

Author:Browning, Kelsey [Browning, Kelsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2014-11-24T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

By the time Ashton made it to the lake, she had to park out by the main road because cars, trucks and a couple of VW vans were lined up nose-to-ass down the gravel lane to the lake. Apparently she should’ve consigned the pair of pumps she was wearing today because three-quarters of the way into her walk, she’d sunk her heels twice each and red mud clung to the spikes. Dammit, her lug-soled boots were replacing the extra pair of heels she normally carried in her bag.

She cleared the trees and found people swarming all over the site like ants at a gourmet picnic. And not just on the dirt, but also gathered in the middle of the pavilion slab, milling around as though they expected hors d’oeuvres to be served at any time.

A shrill whistle cut the chatter and a voice bellowed, “If you don’t get the fuck off this slab, I’m gonna carry every sorry one of your asses off it myself. This isn’t your property. Show a little respect.”

Mac, her knight in tarnished armor. But she would take that man over her former Houston pretty-boys any day. None of them had ever made her feel as frustrated, as perplexed, as excited, or as safe as Mac did. He was the whole package wrapped up in flannel and denim, now two of her favorite fabrics.

Head down, she tried to weave through the crowd without being recognized, but she didn’t make it ten feet before a ripple ran through them and they began to surround her.

“Ms. Davenport, can you tell us why you’re involved in a project of this scope when you have absolutely no experience in the construction industry or residential and commercial development?”

“Is it true Adelaide Chappell is on her deathbed?”

Wait a minute, who were these people? Environmentalists or something else?

She continued to plow forward. Suddenly, the path parted in front of her and Mac broke through. A man with shoulders the width of the Grand Canyon could do that. He grabbed her arm, bared his teeth at the people pressing in on them. “If you don’t take three steps back, Ms. Davenport won’t answer a single question.”

That sent the worst of them skittering back.

He pitched his voice low. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Trying to gather the resources to do damage control.”

“What’s the plan?”

“Answer a few questions, then get rid of them.”

“You must have something pretty damned impressive up your sleeve.”

Six hundred bucks could hardly be called impressive, but it was what she had to work with. And Ashton was damn well done with whining about getting short-sheeted in the bed of life. “Where’s the professor?”

Mac nodded toward the lake. “Doing a goddamned sit-in with the lily pads.”

Which would make for a fabulous photo-op. “You call Beck?”

“Yeah, he’s sending someone as soon as he can. They had some big call on a bomb threat at the high school.”

Lord, things like that shouldn’t happen in a place like Shelbyville. A good reminder that it was a small town, but it wasn’t nirvana.

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