He opened the binder and began leafing through the pages, his attention lingering for a moment on the information she’d collected about the different species of birds found on the property. “I’ll consider all your ideas carefully.”
She blinked, surprised at being taken seriously for a change. Even her sisters didn’t truly believe the lodge could be saved. That’s why she hadn’t told them about making contact with Hainstock Investments. Better to ask forgiveness than beg for permission. “Thank you.”
He gave her a brief, distracted nod, before lifting another set of blueprints, the ones belonging to her new luxury cottages. “If I understand correctly, you’ve already built two of these cottages. Is that right?”
She pointed out the window. “Yes. See out there, across the lake? There have always been cottages in the woods about a quarter mile from the lodge. But they’re old and uninsulated, and not in very good shape. Last spring, I tore down two of them and built two winterized cottages with hot tubs and every modern convenience. I’d hoped they’d appeal to people who wanted a wilderness experience without losing their Wi-Fi connection. That is, whenever I actually get connected to the Internet.”
He followed her gaze through the swirling snow. “And? Were they popular?”
“Not as popular as I’d hoped. But I’m convinced that was because I didn’t have the money to advertise. Scarlet helped me place a couple of ads on radio stations around the state, but it wasn’t enough.”
She’d taken a gamble and lost. Instead of using the last of her cash reserves to repair the crumbling roof, she’d built the two luxury cottages in the hope they’d attract enough business to allow her to fix the roof. They hadn’t.
Ethan crossed his arms over his chest. “But despite their inability to draw interest, you want to build more high-end cottages? Isn’t that throwing good money after bad?”
Harper swallowed her nervousness, afraid he suspected her plan was nothing more than a pipe dream. She couldn’t lose him now, not when he was so close to being on her side. Lifting her chin, she gave him a confident smile. “I don’t believe so. Like you said, we’ll need the extra capacity for guests. And I think some guests will prefer the privacy and convenience that a self-contained cottage can provide.”
After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll go along with you there.”
Harper breathed a sigh of relief when he resumed flipping through the pages of the binder. Maybe she still had a chance to win him over, however tenuous.
Ethan stopped at a section in the binder regarding the lodge’s restaurant. “You want to create a restaurant in the lodge that uses organic and locally sourced products as much as possible. Wouldn’t that also add to the costs?”
“It might, but it would also set our restaurant apart from others in the area.”
She reached over to turn to the next page in the binder and their fingers touched, sending a spark of awareness up her arm. Harper’s breath caught at the sensation. But when she dared a look at Ethan, he appeared unaffected by the bolt of lightning that had struck her. Stepping back, she cleared her throat before resuming her sales pitch, her heart racing.
“I’ve detailed information about restaurants in the area along with their menus in this section. To be honest, much of the local fare runs toward the fast-food end of the spectrum. Serving organic, locally sourced food also goes along nicely with the eco-friendly and sustainable vibe I want to create. But mainly, I want people to come to this resort because they’ve heard about the fabulous meals we serve.”
Ethan nodded, but said nothing further. She couldn’t tell whether he was excited about her plans or if he was simply humoring her. He was very good at concealing his thoughts.
She cleared her throat once again. “There’s something else I want to discuss with you. If we decide to go into partnership with your company, my sisters and I must retain a majority ownership in the lodge. I won’t give up more than a forty-nine percent interest. We need to control what happens to the lodge.”
Ethan’s brows lifted. He straightened to his full height and stepped away from the table. “Hainstock Investments would have to put a lot of capital at risk to renovate the lodge. We would need to protect our investment.”
“My sisters and I are taking a big chance, too. If the project fails and my sisters and I have to sell our fifty-one percent to you, you’d still have the land. But it won’t fail. Even at forty-nine percent ownership, it’s still a sound investment for you.” She gently pushed the binder toward him.
“My employer may not feel that way.”
She stood her ground. “I’m sorry, Ethan, but that’s my bottom line. I did lay out my terms in my proposal to you.”
“Yes, you did, but we assumed the terms would be negotiable.”
“You know what they say about assumptions.” Harper took a deep breath. She was dead serious. She wouldn’t give up complete control and let the lodge be turned into something she didn’t recognize or want. It would be far less painful to sell the whole thing quickly and walk away.
Ethan’s lips twitched into a smile. “I believe it’s something about being an ass.”
She released the breath she’d been holding. “Something like that.”
“I can’t promise anything, but I’ll make your wishes known to Mr. Hainstock.”
She almost fainted in relief. Some tough businesswoman she was. “Thank you.”
A strong gust of wind howled down the chimney, making Harper shiver. Snow slammed against the windows of the dining room. “I think the storm is getting worse. I hate to tell you this, Ethan, but I don’t think you’re going to be able to leave here today.”
“No, it doesn’t look like it.”
“You’re in luck. It just so happens I have another vacancy. Or ten. And I’ve got at least another day to convince you the lodge is a sure bet.”
He gave her an amused expression. “You don’t give up, do you?”
“No, I don’t.”
He chuckled and shook his head. Harper was beginning to enjoy the way his lips turned up at the corners when he smiled, as if he knew a secret he wasn’t sharing with anyone but her. He had a beautiful mouth, with beautifully shaped lips that looked soft and inviting. She wondered how they’d feel pressed against hers…
“I’m sorry to impose on you this way.”
It took a minute to register what he was saying. She blinked a couple of times to clear her wayward thoughts.
“It’s no imposition. Unless, of course, we run out of food. Then I’ll have to send you out on the lake with an ice auger and a fishing line to catch our supper. Just warning you.”
“Duly noted.” His dark brown eyes shone with humor. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Lucky for you, I laid in a supply of canned soup and microwave popcorn before the storm. That should sustain us for days.”
“Sounds…delectable.”
Harper laughed at the look of dismay on his face. Even if the blizzard abated tomorrow, he wouldn’t be able to leave right away. It might take a day or two for the snowplows to clear the roads.
Strangely, she was no longer worried about being isolated at the lodge with him. She didn’t know why, but she felt safe with Ethan. In fact, she didn’t care if it took a week for the snowplows to arrive.
“Who has movies on VHS tape anymore?”
Harper lanced Ethan with an indignant glare as she loaded the movie into the old machine. “Someone who appreciates old technology and can’t afford a new DVD player. Besides, it still works and I have all these old VHS movies. I can’t throw them out.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “Wouldn’t you like to watch a movie that was made after 1995?”
She sat beside him on the sofa and turned to him with laughing eyes. “I appreciate the classics.”
“Oh, yes, the eighties were the golden years.”
Harper laughed, picked up a bowl of popcorn from the coffee table, and threw a couple of fluffy white
kernels at him. “Hush up. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is about to start.”
“I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version. He skips school.”
“Shhh.”
They watched the movie, though Ethan spent more time watching Harper than he did a young Matthew Broderick. After eating a few handfuls of popcorn, then passing the bowl to him, she picked up a basket filled with yarn sitting next to the sofa and began to knit something in baby blue. Her knitting needles clicked rhythmically as she watched the movie. She rarely glanced at her hands, seemingly knitting by remote control. He was content for the moment to munch on popcorn and watch her.
When the movie ended, Harper hit rewind on the remote. “Would you like to watch something else?”
“Why don’t we talk for a while?”
“All right. What would you like to talk about?”
You. He gestured to the blue yarn on her knitting needles. “What are you making?”
“It’s a baby shower gift for a friend who’s having a boy.” She held it up for him to see. “It’s a sweater, or at least it will be.”
He could see it taking shape. Exquisitely tiny stitches lined up in perfect, even rows along the body and the sleeves of the miniature sweater. “Cute. You’re very talented.”
“Thank you. I enjoy making things.” She reached into her basket. “I’ve already finished the matching hat. I hope the kid’s head isn’t too big for it.”
She passed the diminutive hat to him. The soft baby blue yarn was like silk in his hands. Like the sweater, the hat’s stitching was perfect and even. The tiny rosettes that attached the two blue satin ribbons that would tie under the baby’s chin were finished with delicate care.
He handed it back to her. “It’s beautiful. I’m sure your friend will treasure it.”
“Thank you.” With a smile, she took the hat from him and gently placed it back in her basket.
“What was it like growing up here?”
Her needles began to click once more, her attention focused on her task. “It was fun. In the summer we had a whole lake to swim and boat in, and in the winter we had a gigantic skating rink. We’re only about ten miles from Minnewasta and about thirty from Brainerd, so we weren’t too far from civilization.”
“Did your sisters love it here as much as you did?”
Though she gave a negligent shrug, there was no mistaking the regret in her voice. “As children they did. But as they grew older, they wanted something more.”
“And you? What did you want?”
She put down her knitting and stretched out her arms to encompass the room. “All I ever wanted was this.”
Fascinating. Though she’d put together a solid business plan for the lodge, the bottom line for Harper was completely emotional. Ethan had an overwhelming desire to make her dreams come true.
But he couldn’t give money to every pretty girl who asked for it. He’d found that out the hard way. If he said yes to her project, it had to make complete financial sense.
Ethan was brought up short by that thought. Was he seriously considering it?
He shook his head, forcing his thoughts back to the present. “Have you ever lived away from the lodge?”
“Yes. When I finished high school, I moved to Minneapolis for a few years to go to college and get an accounting degree. My grandfather insisted that I learn a trade.”
“He sounds like a wise man.” Perhaps he’d been aware that the lodge was nearing the end of its life and wanted Harper to be prepared.
She picked up her knitting once more. “He was. I thought accounting would be good, practical knowledge for running the lodge, but it’s turned into my main source of income the last few years. In addition to working in the dining room at Miller’s Resort, I help with the books there. I also do the books for a number of small businesses in Minnewasta and area.”
“So, if things don’t work out with the lodge, you have something to fall back on.”
Her needles abruptly stopped clicking. She looked up and met his gaze. “Yes, I suppose. But bookkeeping isn’t a passion for me. It’s simply a skill. And I hated living in the city. This is where I want to be.”
“Things don’t always work out the way we want them to.”
Pain flashed in her eyes before she looked away and began knitting once more. “No, they don’t.”
He hated to cause her any distress, but she needed to be prepared for bad news. As much as he liked Harper, if the lodge didn’t have the potential to make money, there would be no deal. Period.
He wished he could tell her the truth. That the decision to invest was completely his. That he was Ethan James Hainstock, owner of Hainstock Investments and head of the Hainstock Foundation. With the help of his sister Lydia, a financial planner, and her husband Graham, a certified public accountant, he’d formed both organizations five years ago when he’d won over a hundred and seventy-five million dollars in one of the biggest lottery wins in Minnesota history. It had been the best thing that had ever happened to him. And the worst.
Since then, he’d been inundated with requests for cash from both worthy causes and nefarious schemers. Some of the most egregious attempts to separate him from his money had come from those he thought he could trust the most.
Now, anyone wanting to get close to his money, or him, would have to work hard to win his trust.
CHAPTER FOUR
Time for a little road trip, or in this case, a little off-road trip.
The next morning Harper hunted through the collection of winter clothing at the lodge until she found a snowmobile suit big enough to fit Ethan’s tall frame, eager for him to experience more of her property. After they both dressed in warm boots and hats and gloves, she led the way to the garage.
She tugged on the handle of the overhead door once, then twice, with no result. What she’d give for an automatic opener that would lift the door with a push of a button. The stupid door kept slipping off its tracks, which made using the garage difficult. Most of the time she kept her truck outside because it was too hard to open and close the door.
Bracing her feet, she gripped the door handle one more time and pulled as hard as she could. She was rewarded with the squealing sound of metal rubbing against metal as the door began to lift.
Ethan grabbed the bottom of the door and pushed it up the rest of the way. “I think you need a new garage door.”
“I’ve needed a new garage door for about ten years.”
The open garage door revealed her pride and joy, two snowmobiles. They were far from new, but regular maintenance and loving care kept them humming along happily. Harper handed Ethan one of the extra helmets she kept on the shelf at the back of the garage. “Wanna go for a little spin around the property?”
He grinned like a kid ready for an adventure. “Absolutely.”
She grinned back. “Good. I’ll drive.”
He pulled the helmet onto his head and hopped on the back of the sled. Harper started her machine and drove it out of the garage and into the yard before heading toward the lake. The wind had calmed, but it still held enough fury to whip snow against their face shields as they zipped across the frozen lake. She tried not to be distracted in her mission by the closeness of his body tucked in behind her on the machine. But she couldn’t help but be aware of him, especially when he lightly grasped her waist as they took a steep curve.
After crossing the lake, they drove through the forest, the shelter of the trees giving some much-needed protection from the wind. Following a path she’d known since childhood, Harper guided the snowmobile up a steep embankment and through deep snow toward the two cottages she’d built the previous summer. To her, the cottages were modern and luxurious, but she wasn’t sure if Ethan would agree. Simply looking at his clothes, it was obvious he had more experience with luxury and wealth than she did.
Harper pulled up in front of one of the cottages and cut the engine. Nerves made her stomach flutter uneasily. Ethan got off the snowmobile and removed hi
s helmet.
“Pretty spot,” he remarked, looking down toward the lake.
Harper removed her own helmet. The two cottages sat on a hill overlooking the lake, affording a panoramic view. “Aside from the view from the lodge, this is the best aspect on the property.”
“Yeah, I imagine it is.”
When Ethan turned toward the cottage, Harper turned as well, following his gaze. She hoped he saw the beauty and the potential she did when she came up here.
“Like I told you, there were a couple of old cottages here. I had these new ones built on the same spots. The space between the cottages, and the trees between them, provide complete privacy. Grampa once told me he’d chosen this spot because he wanted visitors to feel like they were the only people on the planet when they visited. Like his father, he was a person who valued solitude.”
Childhood memories flooded back, overtaking her. How her grandfather had loved this place. And how she’d loved him.
Harper swallowed, suddenly aware that Ethan was staring at her. She blinked a couple of times before finding her voice. “I’ll show you the cottage.”
She led him through the heavy snow and up the stairs to a spacious front veranda currently covered in more than a foot of snow.
“In the mornings, this is a lovely spot to drink a cup of coffee and listen to the birds. In the evenings, guests have a wonderful sunset view.” Harper hoped he could see the picture she was trying to paint. “Last summer, I set up this veranda with a couple of Adirondack chairs and a small table for snacks and drinks.”
“Nice.”
“This is also a very sunny spot.” She pointed to the steeply sloped roof. “Right now the cottages are powered by the regular electrical grid, but I’m hoping in the future we can retrofit them for solar. This roof catches the sun most of the day and is steep enough that the snow slides off easily. It’s the reason I choose this design.”
He nodded in acknowledgement. She waited for him to say more and when he didn’t, she slipped off her heavy gloves and pulled the key from her pocket. “Why don’t we go inside and take a look?”
Lies and Solace Page 4
