European Billionaire Beaus: The Complete Series by North Leslie

Author:North, Leslie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Artur had never been more relieved to see a ring on a woman’s finger than when they met their tour guide for the day, Katerina. She was beautiful, like all three women had been. Amy could insist all she wanted that she’d chosen them based on their qualifications alone, but it was obvious that on some level she’d taken their looks into consideration too.

Katerina looked quickly from Artur to Amy as they were introduced, a sheepish expression on her face as she explained that she’d become engaged just a few days earlier, after Artur had already started his tour. “It was a whirlwind romance,” she explained, pink coming to her cheeks. “We had something of a relationship in college, and when he came back into town—”

Artur held up a hand, keeping the sheer relief off his own face. “Don’t worry about it another moment. We’re here to tour the national park and learn all we can about this area of the country.”

“Oh, thank good—thank you, Prince Artur,” Katerina said. She wore a sleeveless dress and flat shoes. They looked a little too nice to be tromping around in the woods in, but Artur couldn’t blame her for that. Lots of people overdressed to meet the royal family.

Katerina led them through a short loop of the trail. At the farthest point, the trail opened onto a viewing area that looked out over the forest. Artur’s breath caught like it did every time. There were thousands of trees spread out beneath them in a valley that seemed to stretch out forever. Hills rose and fell, carrying the trees with them, and the summer sun shone down on all of it.

“Incredible,” he said, the word full in his throat.

“Yes,” Katerina agreed. “That’s why we need to save it.”

Amy looked over at Katerina. “You’re talking about the deforestation? It’s hard to tell it’s happening at all from this vantage point.”

Deforestation? This was the first Artur was hearing of this.

“It is.” Katerina furrowed her brow. “That’s why it’s so insidious. The companies that are doing this stay out of sight as much as they can, on the fringes of the park, but they’re still doing irreparable damage.”

Artur shot a glance at Amy. “I hadn’t heard that things were this bad.” Or that any of it was happening at all.

“We’re losing hundreds of thousands of acres a year,” said Katerina. “The volunteers here have been trying to get in contact with someone in the royal family, but—”

“How can it have come to this?” Artur said. His jaw was tight. “We’re working on that, Katerina, I promise you.”

“Thank you.” Katerina stepped back a little, giving them some space. “I’ll leave you to enjoy the view.”

Her footsteps retreated down the trail. “I’m sorry,” Amy said as soon as she was gone. “I didn’t realize you didn’t know about the deforestation. I should have shared more of my research with you.”

“It doesn’t make sense, how all this communication slips through the cracks.”

“Honestly,” Amy said, “I think it’s a matter of segmentation.

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.