Hotel Ladd Read online

  HOTEL

  LADD

  by

  Dianne Venetta

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  *****

  PUBLISHED BY:

  BloominThyme Press

  Hotel Ladd

  Copyright 2013 by Dianne Venetta

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  HOTEL LADD

  Ladd Springs Series:

  LADD SPRINGS ~ #1

  LADD FORTUNE ~ #2

  HOTEL LADD ~ #3

  LADD HAVEN ~ #4

  Available October 2013

  Other novels by Dianne Venetta

  Romantic Women’s Fiction series:

  JENNIFER’S GARDEN

  LUST ON THE ROCKS

  WHISPER PRIVILEGES

  Women’s Fiction:

  CONDEMN ME NOT

  Hotel Ladd

  Copyright 2013 by Dianne Venetta

  ISBN: 978-0-9884871-6-1

  Publisher: BloominThyme Press

  Editor: Best Foot Forward

  Cover Design: Jaxadora Design

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission from the copyright owner.

  Acknowledgements

  Tennessee has some of the most beautiful horse country in the world. In fact, Shelby County is said to boast more horses per capita than any other county in the United States. If you’ve ever been to Tennessee, you’d understand why. Not only are there pastures galore, but Tennesseans know their horses. From Memphis to Knoxville, Nashville to Chattanooga, equestrian lovers are alive and well and flourishing in the state.

  I discovered this interesting fact, among others, during my Facebook Release Party for Ladd Springs. As part of the fun, readers were asked to supply names for an upcoming horse in the series. Selections were put up for a vote and I’m proud to announce that Martha Schlegel won with her submission of “Vegas” -- a beauty you’ll get to know in this book and continue to love throughout the duration of the series. Congratulations, Martha!

  Many thanks to Martha—one of my Bloomin’ Warriors—and to all who participated in the week long release party filled with Tennessee trivia, giveaways and fun. Best of all, it was a great way to connect with my readers. Can’t wait for the next one!

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my street team.

  Bloomin’ Warriors rock!

  HOTEL LADD

  Book #3

  After years of battling the Ladd family, Annie Owens has finally procured her daughter’s legacy, title to Ladd Springs, a mecca of streams and springs in the eastern Tennessee mountains—only she can’t afford to keep it. Cal Foster’s father owns the biggest bank in town and has devised a way to help Annie retain the property, but when hotel developer Jillian Devane offers to buy the land outright, Annie is torn. She’s tempted by the huge sum of money—money that will secure her daughter Casey’s future, something Cal cannot guarantee.

  According to Annie’s sister, Lacy Ward, an insider with the Ladd family, Jillian’s proposal is tainted by revenge—the depth of which Annie has no idea. She only knows the woman is out to compete with the upcoming Ladd hotel making any deal with Jillian Devane tantamount to betrayal. When Cal is offered a position with Hotel Ladd, Annie is backed against a wall. Selling to Jillian will end any hope for a future together with Cal, a man she has come to love. But it isn’t until Casey’s romance with Troy Parker blows apart that Annie’s decision is made.

  Will “selling out” exile Annie from the Ladd family, including any chance for happiness with Cal Foster? Or can she find a way to make amends, ending a long-standing feud once and for all? Find out in this episode of Ladd Springs...

  Meet the cast of characters of Hotel Ladd...

  Ernie & Albert Ladd – Brothers of Ladd Springs

  Susannah Ladd Wilkins – Sister to Ernie & Albert

  Jeremiah Ladd - Ernie’s forsaken son

  Annie and Casey Owens - Jeremiah’s ex and her daughter

  Calvin Foster – Home from Arizona, son of town banker

  Candi Sweeney - Annie’s best friend

  Jillian Devane – Hotel developer, competitor to Nick Harris

  Malcolm Ward – Hotel developer, partner to Nick Harris

  Lacy Owens Ward – Wife to Malcolm, sister to Annie

  Delaney Wilkins – Ernie’s niece

  Felicity Wilkins - Delaney’s daughter

  Nick Harris – Founder, Harris Hotels

  Travis and Troy Parker – Neighbors & friends of Felicity

  Fran Jones - Owner of Fran’s Diner, aunt to Annie & Lacy

  Jack Foster – Brother to Cal, Delaney’s ex-husband

  Beau and Clint Foster– Cal’s brothers

  Gerald Foster – Cal’s father

  Hank Dakota – Town lawyer working with Annie

  Chapter One

  Annie Owens fiddled with the business card in hand, the matte finished paper growing worn from her constant handling. Colored green and tan with flecks of natural fiber, the earth-friendly tone of the company card was clearly communicated. Eco-Domani. Annie’s gaze slid down to the name embossed in the lower right corner. Jillian Devane, President and CEO.

  “What are you gonna do?” Candi Sweeney asked, a nervous edge creeping into her voice.

  “I don’t know,” Annie murmured.

  “She seemed real intent on talking to you.”

  Annie nodded, dropping her gaze to two half-eaten sub sandwiches on the coffee table before them, food Candi had graciously picked up on her way over after work. Her friend understood this was a significant development. Annie had to do something.

  Six months ago Delaney Wilkins had signed over half of Ladd Springs to Annie’s daughter, Casey. Ladd Springs, the mecca of rivers and streams, mountains and trails and springs—natural springs that were unique to the property—had been held by the Ladd family for generations. Delaney’s uncle, Ernie Ladd, had recently passed away, willing the entire tract to Delaney’s daughter, Felicity. Because she was blood kin.

  Well, so was Casey. Ernie’s son, Jeremiah Ladd, was Casey’s father, making her equally entitled to the land. The logic was simple. It was Ladd land and she was a Ladd. Unfortunately, Annie had to prove the fact first, a process Jeremiah fought her every step of the way. But after battling him for years, she finally won when he showed up in town six months ago looking for his piece of the land. Ernie had refused him outright. He was willing it to Felicity and no one else. In the end, Jeremiah landed himself in jail for an unpaid gambling debt, Ernie died and Felicity received title to the property. Annie had secured her paternity test and proved once and for all, Casey was Jeremiah’s daughter making it impossible for Delaney to ignore her rights. Eighteen long years and a paternity test had proven it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Annie’s daughter was a Ladd. It was the reason Delaney acquies
ced and signed over half of the property to Casey.

  But the property consisted of hundreds of acres. If she were to keep the property, Annie had to think, plan, strategize—but it was the details regarding what to do that were tripping her up. This was out of her league. She didn’t do financial calculations. She did fingernails! A flurry of angst peppered her chest. Flipping her gaze out through the back windows of her apartment, Annie latched onto a range of mountains. Saturated by a late afternoon sun, the Blue Ridge Mountains were ablaze with orange, red and gold, clumps of green tucked here and there in between. Beyond, the sky had cooled to a bluish-lavender. Fall was upon them, dropping temperatures into the upper thirties for the third day in a row. There was even talk of snow.

  Seated on the couch in the living room of the two-bedroom apartment she and her daughter called home, Annie looked to Candi. Concern scored her dark brown eyes, her heart-shaped face framed by stick-straight hair that fell in flat-ironed points across her shoulders. Naturally brown, highlighted by chunks of blonde, her hair was perfection. Candi was a hairstylist, her best friend, the only one who understood what was at stake. “Annie? Are you listening?”

  Caught by a sudden chill, a shiver raced through Annie. What was she going to do? She knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to call Ms. Devane. She wanted to speak with her about the financial potential of her share of Ladd Springs. Casey’s share, Annie corrected. Over six hundred acres of pristine forest snaked with rivers and streams and loaded with springs she now owned. Trouble was, now that Casey retained title to half the property, Annie had to figure a way to afford it. That part wasn’t as simple.

  “Do you think this woman can help?” Candi pressed, hanging on the edge of her seat. She’d been Annie’s closest ally throughout and truth be known, the reason Annie and Casey held title to the property. If Candi hadn’t called Jeremiah back home from Atlanta, none of this would have happened. Casey would not have title to the property and Annie would not be in a position to earn money from it.

  “Maybe.”

  “She seemed real eager to talk to you when she gave me that card.” Upon receiving it, Candi had immediately rushed to Trendz, the salon where Annie worked as a nail tech and delivered both business card and message. Please have Ms. Owens call me at her earliest convenience. I will make it financially worth her time.

  Seems Jillian Devane had a proposition for her.

  Staring at the card in hand, Annie wasn’t stupid. She’d heard the woman was in town to get revenge on Nick Harris, boyfriend to Delaney Wilkins and the owner of Harris Hotels. His company was currently transforming Ladd Springs—the other half of Ladd Springs that belonged to Delaney’s daughter, Felicity—into an upscale hotel and spa resort for the very wealthy. Nick had signed a 99-year lease to use the land, land that old man Ernie Ladd had refused to sell, instead willing it to Felicity as a life estate. When Ernie died, the land became free and clear to be developed.

  “Do you think Jillian Devane wants to build a hotel like Nick?”

  Visions of an exclusive wooded retreat for elite guests swam through Annie’s mind, guests who would pay top dollar to lose themselves in the mountains of Tennessee, the forests, the natural beauty of the Appalachians. Felicity was barely eighteen and stood to earn a fortune from her deal with Nick Harris while Annie and Casey had nothing but bills as a result of owning their share of the property.

  “I don’t know. Maybe,” she hemmed. Annie knew full well Ms. Devane was interested in building a hotel. In fact, according to Annie’s sister Lacy—her direct conduit to all things Ladd Springs—Ms. Devane had looked into purchasing land an hour north of here for that very reason. She wanted to ruin Nick’s new hotel by building one of her own. Married to Nick’s partner Malcolm Ward, Lacy had the inside scoop and dished it out readily to Annie—because Annie had forgiven the past problems between them.

  Leaning forward, Candi grabbed a cheddar-coated chip from a shiny blue plastic bag. “Have you asked Cal about it?”

  Annie looked at her friend, ignoring the loud crunching from her mouth. “I don’t want to bother him with it.”

  “Why not? He helped you get the loan to pay the back taxes, didn’t he?”

  “He did,” she acknowledged. Which was easy. His father, Gerald Foster, owned a bank in town and pulled the strings. Not that Cal didn’t mean well, he did. Calvin Foster helped, because he was a decent man. As part of the Foster clan, he was a man of means, a man who’d been calling on her ever since his return from Arizona six months ago.

  Annie grew up with the Foster brothers. They were four good-looking boys, wild and crazy and always out for a good time with the ladies, although Cal had been the most tame among them. His brother Jack married Delaney, and for a while, they seemed like the perfect couple. It wasn’t until Delaney up and left him that everyone in town learned the truth. Jack was abusive. He was a drinker. A mean drunk, at that. After Delaney moved back home with Felicity, Jack left town and Annie hadn’t heard a word about him since. Brothers Beau and Clint had remained in town, married, had children, held rank as respectable men in the community. Beau ran the Foster family ranch, acres upon acres of premiere pasture and mountains while Clint worked with his father at the bank, the biggest and most prestigious for miles around. Despite the rowdy reputation forged by the sons, the Fosters were a respectable bunch. They had looks, money, smarts...

  Victoria Foster would accept nothing less. A socialite from Chattanooga, Cal’s mother came from money and would not allow her move to the small town alter a single aspect of her lifestyle. The Foster estate was grand, the land was beautiful, the four sons were unruly—a fact Mrs. Foster refused to permit injure her standing in the community. It was one of the reasons Gerald Foster was so anti-drinking today. Zero tolerance was his motto, for his boys and his staff.

  Although Annie had grown up with Cal, knew him from high school, knew his family through church, she had never thought of him romantically. He was nice-looking enough, but back then she’d only had eyes for Jeremiah. A year after she became pregnant with Casey, Cal had moved to Arizona and she hadn’t seen or heard from him until her godmother’s big Memorial Day party this past summer. When Ashley Fulmer through a party, everyone attended, giving Cal the perfect opportunity to reacclimate himself back into the community. Annie had definitely noticed him at the barbecue, the two dancing and chatting, erasing the passage of time between them as they began a new path forward together.

  Candi pulled a sip from her coke, her cheeks hollowing. “I bet he could come up with an idea to help you earn some money with this woman. Cal is smart that way.”

  That’s where Annie begged to differ. Yes, he was smart, but Cal had become friendly with Malcolm, a man equally invested in Nick’s hotel development. If Cal let on to Malcolm or Nick that Annie was even considering a discussion with Ms. Devane, Annie had no doubt the men would be angry. Lacy had given Annie a blow by blow on the history between Nick and Jillian, how Harris Hotels and Eco-Domani were in constant competition and how six months ago Jillian Devane had paid a visit to Fran’s Diner, putting Nick on notice she intended to build in Tennessee as well. If Annie worked with Ms. Devane in any way, it would be seen as crossing enemy lines, something you didn’t do around here unless you packed two barrels and were prepared to fire them. “Why don’t you ask him?” Candi asked.

  “I think Lacy and Malcolm would have something to say about it,” Annie replied. “Any involvement with this Devane woman will be seen as a betrayal.”

  “Well, Lacy and Malcolm don’t have a say in what you do. They’re not helping you make ends meet, are they?” Candi vehemently shook her head and said, “No, ma’am. It’s your decision. Yours and Casey’s, I mean.”

  Yes, Casey. Casey was the named owner, but Annie was the designated trustee. When Delaney had Felicity sign over half of the land, she’d stipulated Casey was not to receive control over the property until she turned thirty years of age, or she wouldn’t receive the first acre. Because Casey
was too young and not ready for that kind of responsibility. Because Casey had a history of instability.

  But Annie was ready. Seemed responsibility was all she knew, like it was her whole life. Expelling a sigh, she smacked the business card onto the table. “I don’t know what to do, Candi. I only know I wish it wasn’t so damned hard.”

  Annie had finally won the battle—Ladd family recognition for her daughter and the procurement of her rightful inheritance—yet she had no way to keep it. Sure, Cal had helped her secure a loan to pay the back taxes but there would be a new tax bill this fall. In another month, she’d be facing the same dilemma all over again. Her eyes went quickly to the hills out the window. A panicky need to escape weaved through her soul. As it was, she was stretching her last dollar bill to pay the current loan for the taxes. How was she ever going to afford another payment?