LITMIR.BIZ

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a long look that began to sizzle, she said neutrally, “I haven’t been to The Lodge since it was expanded.”

      “I’ll have to take you on a tour sometime.” Maybe then she’d change her mind.

      “I’d like that.”

      He barely heard the announcement that dinner was ready, just followed Kendall into the formal dining area, a rectangular room with a polished wood table that could seat fourteen, white fireplace on one side and china cabinet on the other. Swooping curtains adorned tall windows and a crystal chandelier hung from a tray ceiling.

      Russ finished bragging about his empire’s first quarter projections as he took a seat next to Mara, who appeared bored and didn’t say much. Decker sat beside Kendall when she took a seat next to her mother.

      “As two of the most affluent families in Roaring Springs, I can’t think of a better alliance,” Russ said.

      Bernard smiled. “I couldn’t agree more.”

      Marion eyed her husband and then glanced across at Mara, who quietly observed her, evidently having noticed that Marion didn’t seem happy to be here. Decker’s mother valued the time she spent with her children and grandchildren but her devotion to The Chateau made that a challenge.

      “I am curious, however,” Bernard said. “What made you think Decker and Kendall would make such a good match?”

      “You’ve been getting a lot of good press with your move toward preserving the forest. World Wildlife Fund. Environmental financing. Very innovative revenue generation.”

      Bernard puffed up in what Decker could only call pride. “That was my daughter’s idea.”

      Decker watched his difficult-to-impress father bestow rarely offered respect upon Kendall and he could almost hear him thinking what a great addition she’d make to his Colton Empire.

      “We’re ready, sir.”

      Decker turned to see a servant standing at the entrance to the dining room.

      “Ah,” Russ said. “Decker, I’ve taken the initiative to arrange for you and Kendall to have a more private dinner.” He chuckled briefly. “You’re too old to be having dinner with your parents on a first date. Charles here will take you to your table.”

      Decker saw Kendal’s startled face and didn’t make a big deal over his own surprise. They followed the servant to the front side of the mansion, where a sunroom overlooked the picturesque valley. Decker suspected his mother had something to do with the round linen-covered table with a candle burning and soft piano music playing. Two chairs flanked the double French entry and plants lined the stone wall.

      Decker pulled out a chair for Kendall and then sat across from her, looking out the arch-topped window beside them.

      “This is awkward.”

      He turned back to Kendall. “Our parents are determined to put us together.”

      “Hm.” She lifted a glass of red wine and sipped. “Not my mother.”

      “She’s against it?”

      “She wants to see me marry for love. She only agreed because I wanted to have this dinner with you and decide for myself.”

      “I’m not sure what my mother thinks,” Decker admitted. “She probably agrees with my father. She’s just as ambitious as he is when it comes to the success of the business.”

      “No wonder he came up with this plan. He sounds like my father.” Kendall smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

      “Business first.”

      “Always. But he does have his redeeming qualities and I do know he loves me.”

      “I feel the same about my father,” Decker said. “He’s forgotten how to show love, but it’s there. Maybe he never learned how to show it.” He sometimes resented that and wondered if the constant fight to win Russ Colton’s love had compelled him to do anything his father asked or expected. Sometimes he wished he would have followed his brother’s path. Wyatt dropped out of college to join the rodeo. Only when he inherited the Crooked C Ranch from their grandmother did he return to Roaring Springs.

      “Well, now that they have us where they want us, what shall we talk about?” she murmured.

      He leaned back as a servant delivered the first course. More interested in her, he ignored the artful display of sliced seared scallop topped with alaea red salt and lemon olive oil.

      “What have you been up to since high school?” he asked.

      “I went to college and got my masters. After that I went to work for the Forest Service. Then I returned to Roaring Springs when my father said he needed me home, to help with the company. He’s getting older and, as I mentioned earlier, thinking about retiring.”

      “Is that all? What about relationships?”

      She lifted her brow marginally, as though she hadn’t expected the question. “I’ve had boyfriends. Nothing worth talking about.”

      “Those are usually the most important to talk about.”

      “If that’s what you think, then tell me about your past girlfriends.” She sipped her wine and sent him a coy look with those incredible blue eyes.

      Well, he’d stepped right into that one. “Nothing too serious. I thought I loved the girl I was with after high school but then I grew up.”

      “The prom queen?”

      He grunted because it all seemed so meaningless now. “Yeah.” Then he contemplated her a moment, such a beautiful woman and she’d never stepped out into the spotlight. “You kept a low profile in high school.”

      “I was more into real friends.”

      He had run across a lot of students who had befriended him because of his popularity. It hadn’t bothered him, though. He’d had his close group of companions.

      “What about after the prom queen?” she asked.

      She wouldn’t give up. “I dated someone in college.”

      “All through college?”

      “Yes, and then she didn’t want to move to Roaring Springs so she broke up with me.”

      “Did that hurt?”

      He’d be lying if he said the breakup didn’t. His first love had gone to college for business like he had. He thought they made a great team. She was someone his father approved of and she was pretty. Back then pleasing his dad had been priority number one.

      “Yeah, but I graduated and went to work for my dad.” It struck him then that maybe part of the reason he had done that was to forget about that woman.

      “No more time for love.”

      He paused at her sarcasm because it felt truer than something to joke about. “What about you? Why haven’t you been snatched up by someone?”

      “Oh, I was. A few times. I had a couple of year-long relationships that ended mutually, and then closer to graduation I met someone special and we moved in together. I imagined that was going to be it for me until I came home one day to him in our bed with another woman.” She sighed. “I never thought I’d be one of those women who so sorely misread a man. Walking in on your lover with someone else happened to other women and only in the movies.”

      “Not to you?” He chuckled. “I didn’t walk in on one of my girlfriends, but she told me she had been with someone else. That was after college. I was working a lot and I guess she got sick of it.” He drank some wine as he remembered how much that had stung. The realization that he’d become his father had been difficult to swallow. That’s when he’d begun to think how different his life would be had he not listened to the great Russ Colton. He’d envied his brother Wyatt for defying their father and

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