Reunion at Greystone Manor by Bonnie Vanak

Author:Bonnie Vanak
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-07-13T19:05:14+00:00

Chapter 12

The next day Megan spent the morning with receipts. Even with all the frugal measures she’d taken, the figures showed the bleak news.

Not good. Not even a flurry of customers would save her. And this morning she’d had only two sales, barely enough to pay for groceries.

The silver bell over the door jingled. Meg walked from the office into the storefront. Her optimistic mood slipped several notches.

Deke Kinkaid stood in the store. Despite the shiner he sported on his right eye, courtesy of Roarke and something she noted with no small measure of glee, he looked polished and urbane in his tan summer suit and light blue shirt.

So charming. Debonair. And as dangerous to her as the Great Lakes during a violent storm.

Deke and his father’s company owned the building housing the bookstore and her apartment above it. Her stomach roiled. He wasn’t here to purchase ancient poetry books or textbooks. Only one thing would draw him to her father’s store.

Money.

Or worse, considering that Deke had hit on her in the past for dates and each time she had turned him down. Not that she remembered what a date was like, since her social life had taken a crash dive with the diagnosis of her father’s cancer.

Meg closed the door to the office and leaned against it. “Looking for a good read?”

His disdainful expression as he scanned the stacks of old books said everything. “Smells musty in here.”

“Oh? I love that old book smell. I always thought they should bottle it.” Her nose wrinkled. It smells much better than the expensive cologne you bathe in, chum.

Dusting off his hands, he gave her a wide smile as sincere as someone trying to sell her an extended warranty. “I stopped by to see you, Meg. How are you?”

Cut to the chase. “You saw me yesterday at the bar. What’s going on, Deke? Why are you really here?”

He studied a well-manicured nail. Brief envy flickered through her as she realized it had been weeks, no, months, since she’d had a mani-pedi. No time, or money, for such luxuries.

“I’m afraid I have bad news for you, Meg. The lease on the apartment is expiring Monday. You have seven days to move out.”

Good thing she had the door to support her back because she felt like collapsing. Meg inwardly cursed. The fight with Roarke and her reaction had probably wounded his considerable pride. She now had to pay the price.

“What? I’ve given you a little money to pay off the back rent on the store and I know...the bookstore will start to make money...”

“I’m talking about the apartment upstairs you shared with your father. Not the bookstore. Your father never signed a new lease. He said he was going to, but never did. I had to increase the rent and he paid up for six months, but the lease is now up. Alas, I found a tenant willing to pay twice the amount for the apartment.” He heaved a dramatic sigh. “Unfortunately, I have no choice but to ask you to leave.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.