Mistletoe and Mr. Right (Moose Springs, Alaska #2) - Sarah Morgenthaler
Chapter 1
Someone had drawn a giant penis in the snow.
“At least it’s anatomically correct.” Newly minted Moose Springs, Alaska, property mogul Lana Montgomery tilted her head, considering the artwork carved so precisely into the mountainside.
“A snow angel might have been more appropriate.” Ben, her construction manager, scratched the back of his neck, trying and failing to keep a professional tone. “It is two weeks until Christmas.”
“Yes, but then the message might have been lost. At least the mistletoe is a nice touch.”
Nothing said screw you like an acre-wide penis pointed at your future construction site.
Ben exhaled a breath into the cold winter air as if trying to cover a snort. “The locals are consistent, I’ll give them that.”
The penis was causing problems, as penises tended to do. The artwork was the most recent in a long list of attempts by the Moose Springs locals to halt Lana’s luxury condominium project. At least the snow art was refreshingly different from her normal issues: an accountant stealing from the family company here, insufficient returns from an ill-advised investment there, and bad PR from someone in the family playing too hard with the Montgomery money just about everywhere.
A cheerful approach to life meant Lana was good at smoothing things over, but cheerfulness didn’t help the slight crow’s-feet at the corners of her eyes or the permanent stress line trying to carve itself into her forehead.
Thirty-two was too young to feel the weight of her responsibilities this heavily.
“I can get a snowcat out here to level this out,” Ben offered.
“Let’s leave it for a while.” Lana smiled congenially at her contractor. “Let them have their fun. Someone went to an awful lot of effort to put this here without being seen, and I’d hate to disappoint them. Plus, who knows what they might choose for the follow-up pièce de résistance?”
“They don’t get to you at all, do they?”
“I’m not completely immune to the attention.” Lana scooped a handful of snow into her gloved palm. “I’m also hoping it won’t take too much time before they stop being angry with me.”
“You did buy up the entire town,” Ben said with an amused look. “Folks in a place this small don’t take that sort of thing lightly.”
“Property owners hold a lot of political sway in Moose Springs. We can’t build a condominium on a mountainside without the town council’s approval.”
“And you wonder why they don’t like you.” Ben softened his teasing with a good-natured chuckle. “Don’t worry. As soon as the place gets built, they’ll get used to it…in a couple dozen generations or so.”
Montgomerys didn’t snort. At least they didn’t in public, but what happened on a penis-carved mountainside stayed on a penis-carved mountainside. “Be careful, Ben. Your optimism is showing.”
Ben barked out a laugh, then waved his hand for her to follow him. She lobbed the snowball toward the closest mistletoe leaf before heading back to her snowmobile. It slipped and slid on the loose powdery snow until she maneuvered into Ben’s tracks. They circled the mountainside property the Montgomery Group had purchased from Moose Springs Resort and then tightened the circle to where her eventual luxury condominiums would be built.
Key word: eventual.
At the top of today’s to-do list was checking on the construction site progress. As sites went, this one was sorely lacking. So far, they’d only driven tall stakes with bright orange plastic flags on the tops to mark the boundaries of what would soon become the riskiest venture Lana had ever started.
The condominiums were meant to lure the rich and powerful from all over the world into permanently sinking their wealth into the town of Moose Springs instead of simply arriving for a two-week ski vacation every other year. New residents would enjoy all the amenities of the resort with the permanence of a personal vacation home.
If Lana could get the darn place built.
As they reached the top of the site, highest on the mountainside, the town was at its best view. The lake below Moose Springs Resort had frozen over, now crisscrossed with tracks from snowmobiles and sledding children. Nestled in the bottom of the valley were tiny buildings set among thick stands of evergreen: the homes and businesses and people of Moose Springs. The lifeblood of this town.
Lana loved Moose Springs in a way she’d never loved anything before. It had stolen her heart and soul since her first visit as a young child, and she was determined to drive a stabilizing steel bar through the picturesque Alaskan town’s shaky,