Falling for the Billionaire's Daughter - Lori Ryan Page 0,17

the mayor again so he could find out just where his vacation was going to be.

Chapter 10

What had started out as a wide dirt road was now a rocky trail and a thirty-degree incline, and Joy had to admit she was feeling it on the back of the horse and knew she’d be sore later. Still, she was going to miss Colorado. She hadn’t taken advantage of the hiking out here as much as she should have. She’d been too busy working most of the time.

“I hear it gets worse up ahead,” Kaeden said as he came up alongside her.

When she only shot him a look, he laughed.

“You look like you wish you’d stayed behind.”

Joy grinned but looked around. “Nah, it’s worth it. It’s so pretty. The falls at the top of the trail are supposed to be amazing.”

“So I’m not failing as an event planner yet?”

She eyed him at her side. She was tempted to ask if that was really his assignment here. From what she’d heard in his talks with his boss, the point wasn’t so much that he was supposed to plan events. It was more that he was supposed to oversee others planning the events. Although she didn’t know why that distinction would matter, she’d seen Jack keeping an eye on Kaeden’s interactions with the interns and she wasn’t entirely sure the boss was happy.

But it wasn’t her business. Instead she said, “We’re two days in. I think I’ll reserve judgment.”

“Tough crowd.”

“What else you got planned?” Joy reached for the water bottle she had in her day pack and swallowed some before putting it back.

He named a restaurant for dinner that Joy knew was a tourist trap. The food was horrible and the service wasn’t much better.

“Skip that. Trust me. Have the interns call Empire Burger and see if they can fit in a large group tonight. If they can’t, try The Flip Side.”

He was looking at her with something that wasn’t all that filled with trust and confidence.

Joy shook her head, a smile teasing the corner of her mouth. “I was right about the crepes, wasn’t I?”

Kaeden grumbled but he took out his phone and managed to balance his reins in one hand as he sent a text with the other.

“Are you really texting the interns? You realize they’re five yards ahead of us. You can talk to them.”

“A text is fine.”

Joy was laughing as she watched the interns check their phones before turning to give a big thumbs up to Kaeden. “Oh, and you should add panning for gold to your list of activities.”

Kaeden pointed at her. “Stop screwing with me.”

She was pressing her lips between her teeth as she raised one hand in a not me gesture. “I promise. The kids will love it. You get to see some of the old tools that were used for gold mining during the gold rush and then you each get a little pan and you look for gold in a river. They can find garnet too.”

“Garnet?”

“Dark red stone. I think it’s the birth stone for January. Anyway, the kids will love it. We send families there all the time and they always come back to the lodge all excited at the tiny chips of gold they pulled out of the river.”

“You get to keep the gold?”

“Yup. All two cents worth. You’d need to pan for days to get anything that would earn you enough for a cup of coffee. But it’s fun.”

Kaeden sent another text while Joy shook her head.

“So what’s your story?” Kaeden asked as he shoved his phone into his pocket.

Joy didn’t let the question throw her off. She’d gotten used to dealing with that kind of thing. “No story. I work at the lodge helping with the guests and cleaning rooms. This is a nice break for me because I’m getting sent out on all sorts of outings with you guys. I don’t usually get to play tour guide.”

“Have you been in the area long?”

It was a natural question. They were talking about her playing tour guide so wanting to know how long she’d been in the area was a normal segue. She didn’t let it get to her. But she did fudge the answer.

“Long enough to know you should listen to me.” She couldn’t help but grin at his scowl. He was fun to tease.

Lord, the thought of teasing him in other ways hit her and she had to look away from him so he wouldn’t see her blush. Or worse,