by Jill Sanders
He took a step closer to her. “You’ll want to be careful what you say to me.” His eyes bore into hers.
She took another step closer to him until they were almost nose-to-nose. Well, they would have been if he wasn’t a foot taller than her. She blinked back her anger before finally speaking.
“You’re heading over to Grant’s now?” She asked, throwing him off balance.
Grant normally worked out of his house, but since there were now two kids, a three year old and a two month old around, he tended to be in the office more and more. He claimed it was hard to take a business call when kids were screaming in the background. But everyone in town knew the real reason, Alex, his wife, kicked him out so he would actually get some work done instead of playing with the kids all the time.
When he finally nodded, she said. “Good, I’ll just walk over there with you.” She turned and started walking down the street.
He laughed and followed her. “Why? Do you really think that my father would have left you anything?”
“No, I know he didn’t.” She glanced over her shoulder at him.
“Then why tag along?” He kept in step with her easily, noticing that she marched a little faster.
“Because I know what he wanted and I can only hope that he had the brains to put it all down on paper before he left us.” She said, a little breathless.
By the time they walked into Grant Holton’s office, she was completely out of breath. Her face was red from the heat and some of her hair had come loose from the braids.
When she marched back towards his office, Travis followed. Knocking on the door quickly, she stepped in without waiting for an answer. Grant was on the phone and when he saw her, he nodded, but when he saw Travis, he apologized and quickly hung up the phone.
“Travis?” He stood and held out his hand. “It’s good to have you back in town.”
Travis was completely floored. Here was the man who had in every sense taken his future bride away from him. Then Travis’ mother had shot and tried to kill him! Now, he stood in his office and the man was actually being nice like none of that had ever happened.
“Grant.” He shook his hand and stood there, like he didn’t know what to say next.
There were pictures of Alex and Grant’s kids and animals all over the office, Travis glanced at a few, but then turned his eyes towards the floor. It was too hard to see Alex in those pictures, happily holding the chubby babies.
“Travis and I would like to know what’s in his father’s will.” Holly said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Now Holly, we’ve been through this a dozen times. I can’t tell you what’s in Mr. Nolan’s will unless Travis here,” he nodded towards him. “Says it’s okay.”
She glared at him until finally he nodded. “I’ll allow it, I suppose.” What harm could it be? After all, there was no way his father would have left anything for this woman.
“Fine, if you’ll take a seat I’ll just pull it up.” Grant sat back behind his desk. “Did you just get into town?” He asked.
Travis shook his head. “Last night.” He said, looking down at his fingernails, not wanting to make eye contact with the man his mother had almost killed.
“Good, I hope your trip was good. We’re real sorry about your dad, he was a good man.”
Travis glanced up at Grant quickly. “Thanks.” He said, looking back down at his fingers.
“Here it is.” Grant said, getting both of their attention. “I’ll cut to the chase,” he looked up at them. “What it says in here is that the house and all the assets go to you Travis.”
Travis nodded then smiled and glanced over at Holly.
“With explicit orders that the any projects currently underway continue with you overseeing them or you’d forfeit everything else.”
“What?” He said, sitting forward. “What does that mean?”
“Well, your father started a few projects over the last few months. As I can see, you already know about the bookstore, he also started renovation work on the old theater and on the building a new park just outside of town.”
“I don’t understand.” He stood up.
“Earlier this year, your father talked to me about wanting to put some of his money back into the town. He started a few smaller projects at first, putting a fresh coat of paint on the town hall, putting in a few park benches, some new streetlights. Then Holly approached him about updating the bookstore and her apartment. I guess that started him thinking about some of the other projects he’d been putting off.”
“Can they just continue without me?”
Grant shook his head. “Your father put it in his will that if you didn’t over see them all, they would stop completely.”
“Good, then stop them, I don’t care.” He turned to go.
“If they stop, you’ll be left with nothing. Everything your father owned will go to the town, to finish the projects without you.” Grant said.
Travis stopped, his hand on the doorknob, he needed his inheritance if he was going to get out of the world he’d been in the last three years. He was getting tired and wanted to do something more with his life. He spun around and glared at the woman he thought was the cause of his father’s crazy scheme. “This was all your doing.”
Holly stood up and glared right back at him. “Don’t be silly.”
“Travis, Holly had nothing to do with this. There’s a note here,” he held out a sealed envelope. “from your father.”
“You mean, I’m stuck in this town until all of his little projects are done?”
Grant handed him the note. “If you want your inheritance, you are. There is one more thing in here.” Grant looked down at Holly. “Holly stays in the apartment, rent free until the building is done. Once the building is completed, there are more instructions that I’m not at liberty to discuss until such time.”
Travis was trapped. No matter what he did, he had a sinking feeling that there was no way he would ever leave this town again.
Other titles by Jill Sanders
The Pride Series
Finding Pride – Pride Series #1
Discovering Pride – Pride Series #2
Returning Pride – Pride Series #3
Lasting Pride – Pride Series #4
Serving Pride – Prequel to Pride Series #5
Red Hot Christmas – A Pride Christmas #6
My Sweet Valentine – Pride Series #7
The Secret Series
Secret Seduction – Secret Series #1
Secret Pleasure – Secret Series #2
Secret Guardian – Secret Series #3
Secret Passions – Secret Series #4
Secret Identity – Secret Series #5
Secret Sauce – Secret Series #6
The West Series
Loving Lauren – West Series #1
Taming Alex – West Series #2
Holding Haley – West Series #3
Missy’s Moment – West Series #4
Breaking Travis - West Series #5
Roping Ryan – West Series #6
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Follow Jill Sanders online at:
Web: www.jillsanders.com
Twitter: jillmsanders
Facebook: jillsandersbooks
ISBN: 978-1500923709
Copyright © 2014 Jill Sanders
Editor: Erica Ellis – ericaellisfreelance.com
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
About the Author
Jill Sanders is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Pride Series, the Se
cret Series, and the West Series romance novels. Having sold over 150,000 books within six months of her first release, she continues to lure new readers with her sweet and sexy stories. Her books are available in every English-speaking country and are now being translated into six different languages and recorded for audiobook.
Born as an identical twin in a large family, she was raised in the Pacific Northwest. She later relocated to Colorado for college and a successful IT career before discovering her talent as a writer. She now makes her home in charming rural Florida where she enjoys the beach, hiking, swimming, wine tasting, and, of course, writing.
