by Lori Ryan
“Swallow!” Grant shouted, laughing hysterically. “You said swallow!”
A soft knock echoed from the door.
All six men fell silent and stared at the entry.
“Come in,” Ben said, expecting to see his mother.
A mass of auburn curls peeked through the opening. As if summoned by his own father’s ghost, Maggie Lawrence appeared in the doorway. She was out of breath and her cheeks were pink from the cold. She’d probably walked up to the lodge from his mother’s house.
The brothers’ collective gaze shifted from Maggie to Ben, their smirks impossible not to notice. Assholes.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you guys.” Her sing-song voice lilted through the room as she scanned the table, focusing on the folders lying open with financial documents. She stared for a moment.
“Maggie?” Ben coughed out.
She shook her head as if waking herself from a trance. “Sorry.” Her emerald green eyes rolled up to meet his and he swallowed hard. God, those seductive eyes still had the potential to slay him nearly fifteen years later. Shit.
“Some of the guests are asking about you.” She held his gaze for a soft beat before turning her head to glance around the small room. “All of you,” she corrected, “they’re asking about all of you. And your mom seems pretty anxious.”
His mom. Ben was an ass for not keeping this meeting short and getting them all back out to the reception quickly. They had invited the mourners back to his parents’ home after the burial. How had he forgotten about the heartache she must be going through after losing her husband of thirty-four years?
Maggie’s sympathetic green eyes met Ben’s, care and concern etched on her face. Suddenly he was transported to high school, a pimply-faced nerd enamored with the popular beauty queen who didn’t even know he existed.
Maggie Lawrence.
His brothers had been right about one thing. He’d lived with a perpetual hard-on for most of high school thanks to Maggie Lawrence. Of course, he’d been off her radar, completely invisible to her. Ben never stood a chance against the good-looking, well-built jocks Maggie dated.
His brothers were wrong on their other assumption, though. Ignoring his childhood crush would be easy. He was successful now, no longer the geeky nerd from years ago. He could shut off the attraction to Maggie Lawrence as easily as he could block out their taunts.
Ben nodded. “Okay, thanks, Maggie. We’ll be right down.”
She smiled.
Oh shit. So, maybe not so easy to ignore after all.
Maggie bowed her head and backed through the door, closing it quietly.
He willed his body into submission and turned his attention to his brothers.
The five sets of eyes staring at him tried to hide their amusement, but failed. Lips twitching, the grown men stifled laughter like school girls.
Ben glowered, hoping his expression would shut them up.
“So,” Grant grinned, “you’ll be back soon?”
Ben glanced at the door as if Maggie would magically reappear. Heaven help him...and his dick. “Yeah, I’ll fly to Seattle tomorrow and be back in a few days.”
“How long do you plan to stay in Canyon Creek?” Jake asked.
“For as long as it takes to get into Maggie’s panties,” Grant answered for Ben.
His brothers joined in Grant’s laughter.
Ben scowled, his resolve fortified and his mind made up. Moving back to his hometown wasn’t the ideal situation, but his mother and the lodge needed them.
“I’ll be here for as long as it takes to save the lodge,” Ben said. And he planned to keep Maggie Lawrence off his radar this time.
Chapter Four
Maggie closed the door to the small meeting room and walked down the corridor toward the lobby of the lodge. She hadn’t seen any of the Sumner brothers in over a year, and hadn’t seen them all together like that since high school, almost fifteen years before. Their absence hurt their mother, and because of that, it pissed Maggie off.
She didn’t know what the brothers were talking about in the conference room, but their mother needed them down at the reception. Valerie Sumner had just lost her husband of thirty-four years. Her sons should be by her side, not holed up by themselves, laughing.
Maggie had known all of the Sumner boys growing up, but she hadn’t been friends with any of them. She wasn’t planning to be their friend now, either. The lodge and Valerie were her only priorities, and right now she needed to get back to both.
The employees were running the lodge by themselves, giving Maggie and Valerie time to grieve with family and friends, but they’d have to return to managing the place soon. The Sumners were only two months into the expansion of the lodge. There wasn’t time for them to curl up in bed and sob, as much as she might want to somedays. Maggie couldn’t imagine how much Valerie wanted to hide from the world right now.
“Did you find them?” Valerie asked, as Maggie walked back into the lobby of the lodge.
Maggie glanced up and smiled. “What are you doing up here? I thought you were going to wait back at the house with the guests.”
“I got antsy,” Valerie gave a small smile.
Maggie understood. The outpouring of sympathy from the town was overwhelming, for both of them.
“So, where are they?”
Maggie motioned behind her. “They’re in one of the meeting rooms.”
The lines around Valerie’s eyes deepened as she narrowed her gaze. “What are those boys up to?”
“You sound as if you think it’s no good.” Maggie grinned, a little surprised she could still smile on a day as sad as this. Valerie brought the joy out in her. Despite their difference in age, the two were close.
“Any time all six of my boys get together, you can guarantee they’re up to no good.” Valerie laughed—a real laugh—for the first time in days, and it felt good to see her expression lighten.
“I’m sure you’re glad they’re here,” Maggie offered, trying to skirt the issue of what the brothers were doing, sequestered in a meeting room. Their mother was right though. Maggie had the same feeling that the brothers were up to something—she just didn’t know what. Yet.
Valerie drew in a deep breath and sighed. “Yes, yes I am. I’m just sad it took their father’s death to get them all here at once.”
Maggie took Valerie’s arm in her own and led her toward the front door of the main lodge. They needed to get back down to the house where the funeral guests were gathered. She was pretty sure the entire town had come to say their final farewells to John Sumner. Valerie tugged on her arm, bringing them to a stop before they reached the door.
Maggie glanced up. “What is it?”
Tears welled in Valerie’s eyes.
“Oh, Valerie, I’m so sorry.” Maggie wrapped her arm around her friend’s small waist and pulled her back into the hallway for privacy. The weight of her own pain crushed her. She could only imagine what it felt like for Valerie, losing her husband after spending a lifetime together.
Valerie whispered on a sob. “I’m afraid to do this without him.” She looked around her. “Without John, the expansion seems…overwhelming.”
Maggie pushed back and stared up at the woman who’d become like a mother to her. Valerie’s face was stained with tears. “I told you, Valerie, I’m here for the long haul. I won’t leave you. We’re going to make this work.”
“Oh, God, thank you Maggie.” She drew Maggie in tighter. “I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Lucky for you, you’ll never have to find out.” Maggie smiled. “Promise.”
“Ma,” a deep voice rumbled from behind them.
Valerie pulled away and swiped at her face but kept one arm wrapped around Maggie’s shoulder.
“Max.” Valerie smiled at her son.
Max Sumner, four-time All-Pro wide receiver and two-time Super Bowl champion. Could there be a finer specimen of man candy? Glancing behind him at Max’s five brothers, M
aggie had to admit that yes, yes there could be. Specifically, Ben Sumner. Each brother had his own distinct personality, but they all shared their father’s dark chestnut hair and hazel eyes. Still, Ben had always stood out to her.
He’d grown up and filled out since high school, and the man knew how to wear a suit. Like, damn, he could wear a suit. Looking at him now, Maggie had to admit, Ben did more for her than any of his brothers ever had. She just preferred to ignore that fact.
From the moment the men had descended on the lodge, something had been telling her she needed to protect herself, and Valerie, from them. The Sumner brothers stalked toward her and Valerie, eyes trained on them like a pack of angry lions. A menacing brood of hulky, sexy men about to devour their prey.
Maggie had grown up honing the skill of knowing when things were about to go wrong. Everything in her was screaming that this was one of those moments.
Ben stared at her, whiskey-colored eyes boring through her, and she had no doubt whatever was going on, he was the one leading the charge. When he spoke, though, he turned to his mother. “We need to talk about the loan, Mom. We need to make some plans.”
This was how Maggie remembered Ben from school—serious, hard to read, closed off. He could board up those eyes in a heartbeat, never giving a clue as to what was going on behind them. That was one of the reasons she’d never approached him. He was too intimidating.
“What about the loan?” Valerie tensed under Maggie’s arm as she spoke.
Ben shot Maggie another glance. “Maybe we should talk about this in private, Mom.”
Maggie almost laughed. Ben had some nerve, coming into town, acting like he’d been here all these years, taking care of his mother. He obviously had no idea of the part Maggie played with the business and the loans his parents had taken for the expansion.
“I don’t think I care to discuss my business loans at all with you, Ben.” Valerie squeezed Maggie’s arm tighter. “But if we’re going to, Maggie will be present.” Maggie liked the way Valerie didn’t offer any explanation. As far as she was concerned, Ben didn’t deserve an explanation.
It was hard to miss the way Ben’s eyes narrowed, but his brothers’ gazes darted anywhere but at the scene before them. It was also hard not to be a little smug and proud at Valerie’s words. Valerie had laid down the law to her sons, established Maggie as an integral part of their family’s business.
Been looked as if he’d swallowed a bug, obviously not used to being told what to do.
Maggie couldn’t help but smirk, just a little.
Chapter Five
Ben watched Maggie carefully, wondering what was going on behind those sharp green eyes. She seemed fierce, determined even, and that surprised Ben.
His mother jerked her head around and glared up at him, her shoulder-length, silvery blonde hair whipping around her face. The look that met Ben’s could have melted the snow-capped mountain outside. “Well?” she asked, hand on hip.
Oh yeah. There was no doubt, Ben was on his mother’s shit list for sure. Screw it. He was already there. Might as well get out what had to be said. “I’ve looked at the loan papers and your financial situation, Mom.”
This earned him a raised brow. “My financial situation?” She said slowly. Too slowly.
His brothers stepped back.
“Pansies,” he muttered under his breath. “Mom, this is important. There are covenants. Conditions you need to meet.” Ben needed Maggie and his mom to understand the loan wasn’t simply an issue of paying back the money over time.
“Ben, I appreciate your concern,” his mother began, “but we only need to pay the interest on the loan at the moment. We’re fine.”
“No, Mom—”
Maggie cut in, her voice cold and eyes flashing. “Do you mean the fixed coverage charge ratio, Ben?”
Ben blinked and turned to Maggie. “Uh…” What the hell? Now he felt like some high school idiot. Like the idiot he used to be in high school.
Maggie stood tall, shoulders thrown back, suddenly all business. “Meeting the covenants will be more of a challenge now without your father, but we’re prepared for that.”
As Maggie spoke, Ben could see his mother’s arm tighten around the small woman. It was clear who his mother was relying on now. Today was his father’s funeral and he was being an ass.
At the thought of his father, Ben quieted, staring down at the wooden floor. His father was gone. His strong, hard-working, stubborn father was dead at only fifty-five. The news had stunned Ben when he’d received the call, and the reminder was doing it again now. His emotions ricocheted all over the map. His feelings for his dad were…complicated.
Ben’s mother stepped closer. “Maggie and I will handle this.” Her blue eyes bored into his. “Maggie has been by our side while your father and I ran the bed and breakfast, and all throughout the expansion. More than that, she’s been a good friend to your father and me, and she’s been there for me the last few days when I needed her.”
What his mother didn’t say was that her own sons hadn’t. They’d all gotten there as quickly as possible, but the first day after their father’s collapse, it had been Maggie by their mother’s side.
Ben stared at Maggie’s green eyes, noting they were glassy with tears. Someone called her name from the other room and Maggie excused herself, rushing off like she’d been injured. And he’d been the one to hurt her. His chest tightened with remorse and regret.
Valerie Sumner stood tall and studied each of his brothers. “I will not tolerate any of you disrespecting Maggie.” Her tone was low and authoritative.
“What does that mean?” Ben asked.
“Maggie feels threatened by the Sumner name,” his mother said. “When she came to work here, she was afraid to speak up, afraid to let her ideas be heard. We were lucky she got over that, because it turns out Maggie has a lot to contribute.”
His mother stepped closer.
Ben inched back.
Had she always been so tall?
His mother stood mere inches from him. “I won’t have any of you proving to her that what her father taught her about the Sumners was right. And you in particular.” His mother stared at Ben, her index finger in his face. “I won’t have you treating her like her place here means nothing.”
“Why are you singling me out?” Ben asked, throwing his hands in the air.
“You’ve acted like you’ve had a stick up your ass since you got here two days ago,” Grant answered.
Asshole.
Ben turned on his brother. “Well excuse the hell out of me for giving a shit about what happens to this lodge.”
“Language,” his mother scolded.
“We need to talk, Mom.” Ben slipped his hand around his mother’s elbow and pulled her down the hall toward the conference room. “About the lodge.”
“Don’t, man,” Aaron said, “not now. We can talk about it tomorrow.”
His mother squared her shoulders. “I told you. I know exactly the state of the lodge and its finances, Ben.”
Ben laughed sarcastically. “Mom, if you know about the lodge’s finances, then you know it’s leveraged to the hilt. You and dad had a good thing going with the bed and breakfast. You’d had five years of success and the note on the original building almost paid off. This expansion,” he waved his hand around them, “could destroy all of that. You borrowed too much and you gave the bank a lot of control to do it.”
He was somewhat mollified by the fact Maggie had known about the terms of the loan. In fact, he was stunned as hell, but he found some relief in the fact she at least seemed aware of the covenants.
“Stop, Ben.” Jake stepped forward. “We don’t need to do this right now.”
His mother raised a hand to Jake, cutting off his words, as she steeled her gaze. “Despite what you might think, Ben, I am not a frail flower. Believe it or not I’ve learned a thing or two over the past few years while you boys have been away. Maggie and your father have been wonderful, helping
me learn the business.”
Ben frowned. Maggie hadn’t gone to college and had hardly been a stellar student in high school. She might be a very nice girl, but he doubted she was a business genius.
Valerie laughed. “As it turns out, Maggie knows a lot about hospitality and hotel management.” She stared Ben down. “More than you, I would bet. And despite what you think, Benjamin, you don’t always know what’s best for me and for this family.”
Oh, God, she’d pulled out his full name. “Look, Mom, I didn’t mean—”
“I know, sweetie.” She sighed, cupping his cheek. “I know you’re only trying to fix this, like your father would.”
He stiffened at the mention that he was like his father, but softened when he saw tears well in his mother’s eyes.
As if feeling his distress, her hand fell away.
“I’m not leaving for a while,” Ben said.
His mother’s brow furrowed. “Why?”
“Emmett and I plan to stick around for a few weeks just to get things settled.” Ben glanced over at his brother.
Emmett nodded, his expression neither pained nor excited, but at least he didn’t argue.
Ben turned back to his mother, gently resting a hand on her shoulder. “You were used to having dad around as another set of hands here. We’ll pick up the slack so you guys don’t get behind.”
“We’ll all be back to help you, Ma,” Max said. “We just have to clear our schedules and stuff, right guys?” Max glanced around the room but Aaron, Jake and Grant remained silent.
His mother backed up, hands on hips, throwing them the kind of look she did when they were young and in trouble. Her expression flickered from sadness to anger in a second. “I don’t need that,” she said. “Maggie and I will be fine.”
“Mom,” Ben pleaded. “It’s just for a few weeks.” If he could get her to agree to a few weeks, the rest would come. He knew it would take longer to settle this financial mess, but his brothers were right. Now wasn’t the time to sort this out. His mother was still in shock. His father’s passing had caught them all by surprise.
