Hotel Ladd Read online

  Candi scooted close and wrapped an arm around Annie’s shoulders. She hugged her close and Annie was grateful for the connection. It was warm, reassuring. Solid. “I know it’s hard, honey, but you’ll think of something. You always do,” she added, eyes shining with encouragement. “You got that paternity test out of Jeremiah, didn’t you?”

  “I did.”

  “And the property out of Delaney.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you can get some money going, too.” Candi hugged Annie to her side, a draft of her perfume rising between them. “I know you can.”

  Leave it to Candi to see the positive in her situation. It was her nature, always had been. Candi was the one who’d encouraged Annie in high school, convinced her to try out for the lead role in a school play, acted as cheerleader when Annie earned straight A’s two semesters in a row, even encouraged her to chase after the boy she dreamed impossible to get. Her stomach tightened. Well, she couldn’t hold that against her. Annie couldn’t see past Jeremiah at the time and he was all she wanted. Now she wanted money. Income. As trustee, it was her job to not only pay the taxes but to ensure her daughter’s future. She was entitled to a percentage of earnings for her time and trouble, but they were earnings Annie had to earn first. If she couldn’t, all she’d be handing over to her thirty-year-old daughter would be a big fat tax bill.

  “I’ll talk to Cal,” Annie said. “He’s looking into some logging possibilities for me. We’ll see what he’s come up with.”

  “Logging? You mean to tell me you’re going to cut down all the trees?”

  Mildly amused by the look of horror pasted on Candi’s face, Annie shook her head. “No, only a hundred acres or so. According to Cal, it might be all we need, until I can figure something else out, that is.”

  “Like how to rent the land to a hotel developer, same as Delaney?”

  Annie suppressed a grin. Candi knew her better than anyone. Whether Lacy and Malcolm and Delaney and Nick cared or not, Annie was a survivor first, a group player second. She had to look out for Casey’s future, same way Delaney had looked after Felicity’s. Now in college, Felicity was set, her future carved in stone. Gold stone, Annie mused, a tinge of resentment curling her heart. Delaney included the section with the gold find in Felicity’s half, enabling her daughter to not only earn income from Nick’s hotel deal but from selling the gold discovered in a rock, deep in the forest.

  Gold. On Ladd Springs. So far, the vein had yielded more than anyone expected and Nick and Delaney were taking full advantage. They were having a local jeweler design a pendant in the shape of a wishing well, a pendant they intended to sell in a hotel boutique store. It was supposed to represent the natural springs on the property, a symbol of eternal hope and spiritual fulfillment. To Annie it represented yet again how she and her daughter were left to fend for themselves.

  Annie snatched the business card and glared at the telephone number. “I’m going to call her.”

  “You are?”

  “Yes. There’s no reason I shouldn’t explore my options.”

  “That’s right,” Candi agreed, faithfully manning her imaginary pom-poms as she encouraged her friend. “No reason at all.”

  “Why can’t I lease our property to Jillian? How would that hurt anything?”

  “Exactly.”

  “I mean, if Nick and Malcolm are afraid of a little competition, how good can they be?”

  “Now you’re talking!” Candi bounced on the cushion beside her. “Why should they have all the profits from a hotel business and not you?”

  While Annie couldn’t quite share Candi’s level of exuberance, a tinge of misgiving squiggling through her belly, she did share her viewpoint. Why shouldn’t she be able to use her property any way she saw fit? Would they rather she destroy acres and acres of trees? After all, Nick’s claim to fame was his sensitivity to the environment. Wouldn’t that make him a hypocrite if he advised someone to log the land instead of build something in tune with Mother Nature?

  Gaining steam, Annie decided it was the right thing to do. Casey was stuck in a dead-end job waiting tables at Fran’s Diner, and if Annie could give her daughter something better to look forward to, wasn’t that what she should do? Her Aunt Fran was sweet to give Casey a job, but that didn’t mean she had to keep it for the rest of her life.

  “When are you going to call her?” Candi asked.

  “Tomorrow.” Annie twisted the card in hand. “I’m going to call her tomorrow.”

  Chapter Two

  A prickle of concern irritated Calvin Foster’s calm as he took in the woman before him. Annie was agitated. Pensive, impatient but more, she was cagey, her pretty blue eyes dodging him at every turn. In Cal’s experience, the combination spelled trouble. When a woman withheld information, it was because she planned to use it against you, or planned to use it without you. Either way, it was a lesson he’d learned the hard way but learned it just the same. Cal rolled his shoulders to ease the tension from them. She had invited him over to discuss logging options for the property, but as they discussed the issue, it felt like she was stonewalling. Did she want his help or not?

  “Are you alright, Annie?” he asked softly, knowing it was best not to push. Corner a woman and she’s likely to strike with an aim to kill.

  Sitting on the opposite end of the couch, Annie stiffened. “I’d be better if I had a surefire plan, if I was certain this logging could work.”

  She gave a quick shake to her glossy black hair, hair that fell straight and thick to her shoulders. Despite the late hour and a full day’s work behind her, Annie’s skin was ivory perfection against the black turtleneck she wore, her makeup masterfully applied, black eye-liner underscoring the allure of her big blue eyes. Visibly trim in snug-fitting jeans, Annie was the kind of woman you wouldn’t miss walking down a sidewalk. She was a striking beauty, one he was coming to adore.

  If only she’d let him help her. “You can be as certain as you’re willing to be.”

  She paused, taken aback by the blunt comment. “This isn’t easy for me, Cal.”

  “Never said it was. But you’re fightin’ harder than a cat pawin’ molasses and I’m not sure why.”

  “Why?” She looked at him with a thinly veiled anger—or was it desperation? “How about I’m financially strapped? How about we’re not even sure if we can find a forester interested in logging the property? And if we do, Delaney will most certainly have something to say about it, probably fight me every branch of the way.”

  “Naw, she won’t.”

  Annie stared at him, her big blue eyes dismissive. “You don’t know Delaney anymore. She’s not the same girl from high school. She’s changed. Hardened.”

  “Now, Annie. She gave Casey half the property, didn’t she? She can’t be all bad.”

  Annie thrust her shoulders back. “Because I forced her hand.”

  “Annie.” Cal eased forward but didn’t seek her hand. “I’ve known Delaney a long time, and while it’s true I’ve been away in Arizona the past fifteen-odd years, it doesn’t mean I don’t understand where she’s coming from. She’s a woman, a mother same as you, and she wants what’s best for her daughter. I’m sure she’ll be amenable to whatever we want to do. It’s your land.”

  Annie glanced away and Cal chuckled. She was spirited but about as unsure of herself as a new born foal. He understood she was struggling financially which is why he offered to help her secure a loan to pay the property taxes. Money matters were easy for him. Back in Arizona, he’d made more money by investing in the stock market in two months than he’d made earning salary in a year’s time from the retirement golfing community. It wasn’t for everyone but for him, investing was a simple matter of numbers—ratios, costs, earnings—plus a healthy dose of risk. Keeping Annie’s confidence afloat going forward was proving to be the bigger challenge.

  But Cal Foster never walked away from a challenge. Challenges were what fired life into his blood, gave him a reason to wake up
every morning and keep his eye on the prize. Currently, he was in a battle for the prize of his life and it had nothing to do with Annie. When Cal left Tennessee for Arizona, he had expanded more than his horizons. He met a woman, married and had a child—all of which he lost. Much like Annie, his struggle stemmed from poor decisions made before he realized the weight of those decisions. But he’d since learned choices had consequences. Hard consequences, lasting consequences. It wasn’t until six months ago he understood fully what those entailed. Annie had a child with a man who wasn’t her husband, a man probably not fit to be one, either. Cal had a child, but with the actions of one night, lost all ties to the girl. Regret weighed heavily on his heart.

  Reaching for Annie’s hand, Cal was thankful she didn’t pull away. It seemed they were venturing onto some rocky ground and he had to be careful not to slip due to moving too fast. Slow and easy wins the race. That was his new motto. “Listen,” Cal said, “a professional forester will take care of the land, not destroy it. He’ll cut only what he needs, cut only from land you agree to log. Delaney won’t be able to complain on that count, and depending on which section you choose, you stand to earn near a quarter of a million dollars.”

  The statement sucked the breath from her. “Quarter of a million?”

  He squeezed her hand, her very warm and slender hand. He and Annie had been officially dating for the last couple of months and Cal was ready to take it a step further. Annie was rock solid. She was a good woman, a beautiful woman. If he could help Annie realize a substantial gain from her land, then by God he would. Hopefully, her future was his future. “Yes ma’am, quarter of a million, and I daresay that’s enough to pay off your loan, cover the taxes for a few years to come and provide you and Casey with a comfortable lifestyle—until you decide what you really want to do.”

  Cal believed that’s what was driving Annie’s insecurities. She was floundering, floatin’ like a duckling without its momma. It was a sentiment that Cal understood. He, too, was ready for change, a new road to travel. He’d come home to Tennessee for that very reason, and while he hadn’t found it yet, it didn’t mean he’d given up looking. Same went for Annie. Patience. That’s all she needed.

  She spewed a sigh. “A quarter of a million dollars... The things we could do with that money.”

  Struck by the sheer intensity of her gaze, Cal laughed. “My God, woman, you look like thoughts are ricocheting off the walls of your brain!” She flashed those gorgeous blue eyes of hers his way and he roped them in, best he could. “That’s a compliment, darlin’.” Chuckling to himself, Cal thought yes, Annie Owens definitely reminded him of his horse-training days. She was a feisty mare that needed coaxing by a cool head and a soft touch. Luckily, it was Cal’s specialty.

  “Is it really worth that much?” she asked.

  Cal leaned near. “Depending on the grade of timber, your profit might even go higher. It all depends on which trees they cut and who they sell them to. You might even ask they set aside a few logs for you and Casey to build.”

  “Build?”

  He smiled, darting a glance to her lips, her very lush lips. Lips that were full and glossed with a hint of pink, lips he could kiss right this minute. “You want to live on the property, don’t you?” Cal assumed that’s why Annie had fought so hard to acquire the title. Casey was a Ladd. She was part of the family. It made sense she’d want to live on the land of her ancestors, even if her kin weren’t right friendly. It didn’t matter. Family was family. Blood ran deep through the heart of the South. One only need ask his brothers how cantankerous relations could be, between stealin’ kisses from the sweetest girls in school to bar room brawls with the toughest thugs in town, the Foster boys were known for their turbulent relations with one another and the community at large. Folks called it a “reputation.” Cal and his brothers used to call it “plain fun.” The boys had their disputes, but never once did they question their loyalty to family.

  At Annie’s reticence, Cal repeated, “Isn’t that what you’re after?”

  She slumped back against the cushion and placed a palm to her forehead. “I don’t know.”

  The tortured quality to her voice pulled at him. A mix of want and need tangled with a mess of doubt Cal didn’t quite understand. “What’s holding you back, Annie?”

  From across the sofa, she looked at him, and that’s when he caught it. A sliver of reluctance passed behind her eyes. She was holding back. There was more to her story than she was saying. Cal could recognize a holdout when he saw one. There was always a clue, a shift in the eyes, a slant in the gaze. A hiccup, a blink, but the guilt was there just the same. “Talk to me, Annie. Tell me what’s going on.”

  As though balancing a fine line between truth and evasion, Annie hesitated. “Everything is happening so fast. Nick and Malcolm have been staking those orange flags everywhere, marking their territory like two dogs on a Saturday night. Did you know they’ve already drawn up plans for the hotel, restaurant—everything? According to Lacy, all they need now is approval from the county and they begin building. Building!”

  Cal leaned back, extending an arm the length of the sofa. “Well, it’s not their first rodeo. Why, I’ve seen entire communities pop up out of thin air in the desert and they were nothin’ to scoff at. Mighty nice homes, too, so I know it can be done. All you need is money and experience.”

  “And they have both.”

  “They have both,” Cal agreed. Was this the crux of her displeasure? Money? Delaney and Lacy had it and she didn’t?

  Well, he could tell her a thing or two about money. It didn’t fix everything and he had an ex-wife and a police record to prove it. But if money is what Annie needed, then money is what he was going to see that she received. “Why don’t you let me talk to Delaney and discuss matters right calmly? Then I’ll call a forester friend of mine. He’s been in the business twenty years and is the best of the best. Why, you give him the okay and you could have your money by Christmas time.”

  Annie’s eyes widened. “That soon?”

  Cal nodded.

  “Wow.” She allowed her gaze to drift. “I guess I have something to think about.”

  “Do you need to discuss it with Casey?” Cal wasn’t exactly sure how the trustee agreement had been written. Did Annie have sole control over what she could do with the land or did she have to consult her daughter?

  “I can’t sell it without her approval, but I can decide what happens with it until she’s of age to receive it in full.”

  Cal slapped hands to knees. “Alrighty, then. Sounds like we have a plan.”

  Annie slid him a sharp glance. “Thank you. Thank you for all your help with the property. I think I’d be lost on my own.”

  The abrupt change pleased Cal. While he liked Annie’s strong and spirited side, he liked her sweet and soft side even better. “You don’t have to thank me, Annie, I’m glad to help.” At her quick smile, he relaxed back into the cushion and sidled up next to her, pulling her close. “Now how about you tell me what else is on your mind?”

  A small smile crept onto her lips. “Am I that transparent?”

  Cal grinned, relishing the ejection of tension from her deep blue eyes, he replied, “You are to me.” Breathing in the scent of her, he picked up hints of a faded perfume. Leaning close, he brushed a sweep of silky hair behind an ear punctuated by a large silver hoop. He traced a finger around it and she sighed. Staring out into the sea of night, he wondered what was going through her mind. Cal interlaced his fingers through hers and her gaze mellowed, her pupils swallowed whole by the luminous glow of a nearby lamp.

  “I want something to do, Cal. I want something exciting, challenging.”

  “More challenging than paintin’ all those pretty nails?” he teased. Annie clamped her lips, but he gently shook her. “Aw, c’mon Annie. You know I’m just having fun. I think you’re the best in the business, but I understand what you’re saying. The same goes for me. I need a new direction. I’ve been helping my
Daddy out at the ranch but all he keeps trying to do is lasso me into the bank. It’s not what I want to do.”

  “Did you not like working in Arizona?”

  “Arizona was real fine, but once you sold one house, you sold them all.”

  “I thought you managed the community.”

  “I did, eventually, but even then it was all the same. Selling, or managing the selling, all began to feel the same. It made me itch for something new.” He paused, allowing a swell of regret to pass through him. He might have been bored with his work life, but not his personal. At home, he’d been happy. He loved his wife, loved his daughter. Unfortunately, it was they who got their fill of him. He tamped back a swell of regret. “I want to try my hand at something different. Ever since I gave up the drink, I’ve been driftin’.”

  “Is it hard for you to be back home?” she asked. “You know, with all the memories? Your brothers?”

  Cal shook his head. “Not really. Not when you’ve changed your heart, it isn’t. Now if I was still struggling with it, sure. But I’m not.” He couldn’t afford to struggle with the bottle. He had too much riding on his sobriety back in Arizona, and he was determined to make things right. Moving back to Tennessee was his chance to prove himself, prove he could remain sober, hold down a job, and be the man his daughter needed him to be.

  “What do you think you want to do?” Annie asked.

  “Not sure.” And that was the hardest part of all. Cal had no burning desire to do anything. He loved working with horses, but he was getting too old to spend every day in dusty corrals and pens with wild stallions. He liked investing money. Found he had a knack for it, but he didn’t want to invest other people’s money, only his own. Cal didn’t know what he wanted to do and that was his problem. A problem he needed to solve. Proving he could walk the straight and narrow meant getting his life back—the most important piece, anyway. His wife was through with him. She’d moved on and Cal didn’t blame her. But his daughter was a different matter.