The Rancher and the Event Planner - By Cheryl Gorman Page 0,21
and couples with children. Just think a swimming pool, golf course, tennis courts—”
Rafe raised a hand. “Golf course? Tennis courts? This isn’t what the people of Salvation want.”
“Like I said we don’t need to build something on this grand a scale,” she said, but something along these lines with a country flavor.”
Rafe chuckled. “Just where did you plan to integrate the country flavor in the middle of this swanky resort?”
“Rafe,” one of the business owners said, “I would like to hear what JC has to say.” Everyone else murmured in agreement. But one thing was in his favor. This helped prove that he and Jennifer were wrong for each other. Score one for his side. “Okay, go ahead.”
She squared her shoulders which made her breasts push against the front of her blouse. Were her nipples light brown or a dusky pink? The scent of her teased him, and he couldn’t help but torture himself a little by inhaling a deep breath. If he pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat, would her skin taste as good as it smelled? What was the matter with him?
“Imagine the staff dressed in boots and cowboy hats,” she continued, “with the table settings reflecting the west and Texas. Everything first class all the way, from the china and crystal to the light fixtures.”
Suddenly he had a vision of a flashy dining room with waiters wearing white coats floating around the room while holding silver trays laden with glasses of champagne. Rafe pressed his lips together. “Not a great idea.”
“What’s wrong with that? You’ll be charging top rates for the spa and the upper middle class clientele will expect to get what they’ve paid for.”
He shook his head. “You’re mounting the horse on the wrong side. We want a down-home-welcome-to-our-house feel.”
“Rafe,” a business woman said, “Listen to her. Yes, we do want a welcome to our town feeling but above all this town needs money. The economy has flat-lined.”
He thought surely the business owners would be on his side. This wasn’t going at all as he planned. Then a thought occurred to him. Maybe it was. “You’re right. Go ahead.”
After the meeting, Jennifer asked if he would take her out to the Caldwell place to get a good look at the property. Rafe had doubled the size of The Rocking M after his father passed away, and he took over the running of the twenty thousand acre spread. He’d done it with backbreaking work, a gut instinct for business, and convincing people to see things his way. He had other ideas for the property and they were the exact opposite of Jennifer’s. When he pointed that out, she would see how wrong they were for each other.
Chapter Six
Rafe stopped his truck next to the mansion and he and Jennifer climbed out. He noticed the gentle sway of Jennifer’s hips, the nice slope of her shoulders and the way the blouse smoothed down over her breasts. She’d pulled her hair up into a loose knot on the back of her head but a few blonde ends fluttered freely in the breeze. Plans for the project he hoped would revitalize Salvation flew out of his head, and were replaced with slow kissing memories of her pliant and giving in his arms, and the smell of her teasing him.
“I can’t believe how hot it is already and it’s not even noon yet.”
Yeah, he was hot too and it had nothing to do with the weather.
She glanced at the surroundings, her eyes aglow with excitement and curiosity. “This is the perfect place for the resort and with careful planning all of this natural beauty can be preserved.”
Rafe’s shoulder blades tensed. Hey, wait a minute. She wasn’t supposed to see the land that way. Why wasn’t she thinking about cutting down trees and pouring concrete for a shiny new parking lot?
She swept her arm to the right. “Some cabanas, an outdoor bar and a pool will be the perfect solution to the heat.”
Whew. Okay now she was headed on the right trail. “No objection to a swimming pool or a bar, but cabanas will look like tits on a hen at a dude ranch.”
She stopped in her tracks. “Who said anything about a dude ranch?”
“I listened to your ideas and now it’s time for you to listen to mine. Come on, it’ll be cooler next to the water.”
They stopped under the shelter of some tall, leafy cottonwoods growing on the edge of the lake. The water shimmered under