The Bride Wore Denim by Lizbeth Selvig

Author:Lizbeth Selvig [Selvig, Lizbeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 24331549
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Published: 2014-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

COLE PULLED HIS old, indestructible Range Rover into a diagonal parking spot in front of Dottie’s Bistro—the oldest and most beloved of Wolf Paw Pass’s cafés—and rubbed his eyes. This meeting had originally been set up for Joely and her mother, but in light of the accident, Leif and Bjorn had agreed he was the most knowledgeable person to talk with Baumgartner and Pearce from Mountain Pacific about their preliminary surveys of Paradise land.

Cole didn’t want anything to do with it.

They hadn’t told Harper about the meeting, a decision Cole thought wrong-headed. Mia had made that decision. It was better, she’d said, to go to Harper with all the facts rather than risk getting her philosophical dander up before the facts were known.

Cole disagreed. She shouldn’t be kept out of any planning, even if to avert a battle, and he didn’t like being in the middle of the sisters’ duel. Nonetheless, here he was, the designated lackey. Harper would undoubtedly see this as him not keeping his promise again, no matter how reluctantly he was performing the task.

Once he’d located the oil company reps in the homey, cabin-like restaurant, Cole watched Magdalen Pearce rise from her chair at an oil-cloth covered table and approach him like an exuberant realtor greeting a potential buyer. He nearly walked away. Instead he gritted his teeth and took her handshake. It rivaled that of a strong marine.

“Mr. Wainwright. Cole,” she said. “I’m glad you’re here despite all the tragedy of the last two days. How are Mrs. Crockett and her daughter doing?”

“Nice of you to ask,” he said, warming slightly. “Mrs. Crockett is improving. Joely is in very critical condition and hasn’t regained consciousness since the accident.”

“I’m so very sorry.”

“My condolences and good thoughts, too.” Brian Baumgartner stood behind his boss and offered his hand as well. “We hope for full recoveries for both of them.”

“Thank you.”

“Sit, please,” Magdalen said. “We have some exciting news to share with you.”

Cole took a seat between the two and removed the Stetson he’d worn in hopes of looking the part of Paradise Ranch’s representative. “You do remember this is strictly an informational meeting,” he said. “I’m not authorized to make any decisions today. The family members will do that.”

“Of course,” Brian said. “We completely understand. This is a huge undertaking and nothing to be taken lightly.”

He began the show and tell without further extraneous chit-chat by pulling two paper rolls from a briefcase beside his chair. He handed one to Magdalen and rolled the other out on the table. Cole was startled to see a detailed aerial photograph of Paradise Ranch, a little like an unnerving spy photo, covered with contour lines and symbols he couldn’t decipher.

“This is a map of the land area we chose our survey sites from. The shaded areas indicate the areas we felt were worth exploring based on geological features and below surface radar. As you can see, coming up from the south, we believed there was a lot of potential.”

“Impressive,” Cole said.

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.