Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
T he view outside the Blue Sky Lodge’s conference room was breathtaking. The floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the green valley below, with its winding creek and sprawling forest…
People would pay good money just to bask in this view.
And Eric Spencer knew exactly how much they were willing to pay because he was the one who charged them for it.
From this side of the lodge, he and the lawyers who sat across from him couldn’t see the golf course, or the pool, or the glamping sites, or any of the other amenities that made Blue Sky Lodge a first-class luxury resort—unlike a certain inn across the way that catered to townies and middle-class tourists.
They couldn’t even be called competitors since they so clearly appealed to two different markets. And yet…
Here we are. Blue Sky Lodge versus the Blue-Collar Inn . Eric’s lips twitched at his own joke as the lawyer directly across from him finished up a long and tedious lecture on the zoning policies surrounding the new spa expansion.
An awkward silence fell, alerting Eric to the fact that the lawyer had ceased speaking.
He cleared his throat and straightened in his seat, casting a quick glance at his assistant, Sandra, who was typing furiously to record all the pertinent points.
“Right. Well. Thank you for that.” He looked to each of the stodgy old men in turn. “Very interesting.”
He wondered if they had any clue he was being sarcastic.
Likely not.
These men had seemed old and stodgy back when his father was running this place and he’d been a mere intern. They hadn’t had a sense of humor then, and they certainly hadn’t grown any funnier as they’d aged.
He pushed his chair back, eager to escape the stuffy confines of this room. Beautiful view or not, his skin always itched when he was forced to sit here too long. “If that’s all?—”
“Oh, but there’s still the matter of the adjoining property,” the man on the left said.
Fred? Frank? He always forgot which one was which.
The other two lawyers nodded in sync.
Crap. Eric sank back into his seat. He wasn’t getting out of here without at least some mention of No Man’s Land.
Had he really thought he could escape so easily?
He arched a brow. “Last I heard, there was nothing new to discuss.”
Eric hadn’t meant it as an indictment per se, but it was still a little amusing to watch the lawyers fidget.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and steepling his fingers. “Unless there’s been some movement there that I’m unaware of?”
“Er, no,” the man who was either Fred or Frank admitted.
Eric’s expression was unimpressed, his stare hard and unrelenting. Inside, though…
Something in his chest loosened with relief. They were still at a standstill with the lawsuit, which meant…
What?
He looked away as one of the lawyers who was neither Fred nor Frank sputtered excuses and explanations.
The view outside the window was still epic, but Eric hardly saw it this time. He was too busy chastising himself.
So the lawyers hadn’t made any progress claiming the land belonged to the Spencers and not the Kings. So what? This standstill couldn’t hold forever. At some point, one of the families would find a way to take action.
And it had to be his.
The lodge needed that property for their expansion plans. His father had made that clear before he’d handed this place over to him. This land had been in the Spencer family for more than a hundred years. It was his birthright. And expanding the family business was his job.
But even as he told himself that, guilt niggled, and the image of a brilliant smile and bright blue eyes flashed through his mind.
It’s your birthright, huh? He could practically see the way Willow’s eyes would dance as she leaned in so close that the warm, sweet scent of her would wrap around him. How do you know it’s not mine?
Then she’d probably laugh and shrug… and pull away too soon. Who knows? Maybe it belongs to both of us.
“We’re still sorting through the documents we found in the archives,” one of the lawyers said. “We’ll find the proof we need eventually. It’s just a matter of time.”
The lawyer sounded so sure. Eric swallowed hard, but it did nothing to dislodge the knot that had formed all over again. Just a matter of time.
Hadn’t he known that from the start? One of them would win this battle over the adjoining property…
And it has to be me.
It should have been him. It could have been him if he’d done the smart thing in the first place and taken that buried box the day he’d found it.
Toss a few items in the trash, show the rest to his lawyers…
Done. It would have been over by now.
And he’d never have gotten to know the little blonde pixie with the flyaway curls and her musical laugh.
Life would be simple. His father would be happy, his lodge would be expanding, and he… He’d be at peace.
Wouldn’t he?
That thought sat there in his mind, and Eric turned it this way and that.
His life would be simpler without this secret he shared, of that he was sure. There would be no complication in the form of a buried treasure and a pretty blonde.
And yet…
There’d be no excitement either. No secret history to tease out and no making fun of his overly romantic partner in crime. His hand slid into the pocket of his slacks, and he felt the little plastic key chain there.
It weighed heavily in his hand. Which…was ridiculous and all in his head, because that little plastic Darth Vader key chain hardly weighed a thing.
“In the meantime,” one of the lawyers said. He was louder than the last, and Eric jerked back to attention. “We’ve come up with ways to make life difficult for the Kings.”
Eric looked over at the lawyer and caught the smirk on his lips, the cold gleam in his eyes. “What?”
“They don’t have the funds for a legal battle. If we go on the offensive?—”
“File a libel suit, perhaps, or sue for defamation of character,” his cohort interjected. “We could ask that?—”
“No.” Eric’s voice was firm.
The lawyers fell silent and gaped. Even his assistant was blinking at him in obvious surprise.
Eric’s expression barely changed, but his fists were clenched so hard, Darth Vader cut into his palm.
“But—”
“I said no.”
He tried to calm his fury, to ease this tension that threatened to explode. But with the lawyers’ words, all he could see in his mind’s eye was the hurt on Willow’s face. The tears of betrayal.
It didn’t just cause him pain, it made him want to destroy whatever and whoever might harm her.
Fred-slash-Frank broke the silence first. “Your father wants?—”
“My father is not here.” Eric’s tone was cold as ice. “My father is not the one making this decision.”
That wasn’t entirely true, and they all knew it. His father still had a say. A big one. But at the end of the day… “He left me in charge, and what I say goes. Understand?”
No one spoke.
“No one makes a move against the Kings…unless I say so.”