Up to Snow Good - Kelly Collins Page 0,16

Let’s just deal with the lodge for now and put the rest away. I should never have brought it up.”

She smiled but knew there was no glee in her expression, just a bizarre cocktail of relief and lingering confusion. “I just want to focus on this winter village thing and get through the holidays.”

“Excellent.” With another glance at the documents, he went on, “This new partner of yours is Max Hunter?” He said the name like it tasted bad on his tongue.

“Oh no, not you too.”

“Me too? You mean your father didn’t like him either?”

“Not my father, but Ruthie isn’t a fan. I’d bet Speckles the mare has something to say about things too, but it’s not anyone’s business.”

“I’m looking out for your best interests. Don’t you find it odd that he came around now, considering your family history with the Hunters.”

Sam’s recent personal advances, gave her good reason to believe he had more in mind than securing her financial stability. The lodge was a lump of coal just waiting for its chance to become a diamond. “Maybe it’s not so odd. Look, we were childhood friends. The problem was with our parents, not us. It’s years in the past.”

“What about his father? He’s the most powerful man in Moss Creek. You know, he’s a man who carries a grudge. My God, he sued me once over a parking spot.”

She sighed and shrugged. “You think he sent his son over to loan me money so I could save the lodge?” The very idea was preposterous.

Sam glanced back at the documents on his desk. “Not based on this, no, but I want you to be careful.”

She leaned back and considered the possibilities. There was no doubt she needed to be careful with Max, for more reasons than the loan and his father. There was the issue of her heart as well, but the health of the lodge was the most pressing matter.

On her drive back home, she wondered if the loan could be a trick? The more she thought about it, the more she could justify her original opinion. He was simply a friend trying to help.

Lauren drove up the road to Sunshine, thinking about the new possibilities opening in front of her. She considered Sam’s position regarding Max and understood his concerns. He wasn’t the only one to worry about the Hunters because they were a considerable power in town. It was common knowledge to never underestimate a Hunter. They always got what they were hunting for.

Could it be the lodge? A chill ran down Lauren’s spine. Would Eaton Hunter stoop so low as to have his son help me to get the property? Would he have Max date me and marry me? That would be the man’s greatest victory over my family. Through marriage, he could eradicate the last remaining Moss Creek Matthews.

That scenario didn’t feel right. The ring of truth was absent in the conflicting core of her conscience. She wanted to laugh at herself for moving from being nice to proposing marriage. Still, she had to be on high alert. Things were changing too fast, and everything was at stake.

Chapter Thirteen

Max

“You did what?” Pop’s voice bellowed through the room from his place at the head of the table.

Jane glanced over, pretty in her white nurse’s uniform, picking at her dinner quietly as always. Everybody in his father’s universe observed the same rules of behavior. Everyone but Pops was to be seen and not heard.

She couldn’t seem to stop glancing at Max in a way that made him increasingly uneasy. As always, his grandmother sat staring off. She sat at the dinner table as a matter of habit, but they did her feeding through tubes.

“Just a line of equity,” Max said. “We won’t even feel it.”

His father looked around the big dining room as if he’d been presented with the greatest riddle of all times, his son’s stupidity. “I didn’t send you out to extend her a line of credit.”

“I know you didn’t, but things took a turn.”

“They took a turn?”

“That’s right, business is like that. You always taught me things are fluid, and you have to do what you can to close the deal, right?” Having secured his father’s attention, Max went on, “This will pay off.”

“For her,” he said. “But that’s just what we don’t want. Think about it. If this crap is a hit, she’ll be less likely to sell. If it’s a bomb, we look like two jerks who can’t pull off a half-assed