His Winter Rose and Apple Blossom Bride (14 page)

“I’m trying, but please, don’t let me make another mistake,” he whispered, the sting of a past betrayal flickering to life. “Don’t ask me to go through it all again, Father.”

* * *

Piper closed and locked the front door, waiting till Jason’s car lights were obscured by the valleys and hills. Then she walked to the table, picked up the model and turned it over and over, searching for the wooden
W,
Wainwright Inc.’s distinctive logo. It had been glued on the front, above the entry. Now it was not there.

She searched the cupboard where she’d hidden it, fingered everything in the drawer, wondering if it had fallen off. Nothing. That left just one possibility. Someone had removed it when they’d set the model here.

Her father?

What was it Jason said—that Wainwright had called
him?
Other than calling her father directly she knew only one way to check out her suspicions.

“Dylan? It’s me.”

“Hey, sis. How are you?”

“Okay. You?”

“Same as always. Running circles for the old man. Don’t you wish you were back at Wainwright?”

“No.”

He laughed.

“No, I don’t suppose you do.” She heard him talking to someone. “Listen, Piper, I’ve got company. Could I call you back, say tomorrow, sometime after sunup?”

“Sorry,” she murmured. “I know it’s late. I just need to ask you a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Where’s Baron?”

“Why? You want to talk to him?” He sounded shocked.

“No. I just need to know if he’s in town.”

“Supposed to be in Montego Bay, but you know Baron. He does what he wants, when he wants.” His voice grew softer. “I’m coming, Susan. It’s my sister. I won’t be long.”

“So he’s back from Britain?”

“Oh, sure. He’s been all over North America in the past two weeks. We’ve had some company problems. Is that all you wanted?”

She drew a deep breath. “W-would he have come to the Bay, Dylan?”

“What bay?” He paused, choked. “You mean Serenity Bay? I doubt it. Why would he? I think he had dinner meetings scheduled in New York last night.”

Relief. Piper swallowed, let out her pent-up breath. “Okay, thanks.”

“Are you okay? Do you need to talk to him?”

“I’m fine. And no, I don’t want to talk to him.” She was about to hang up then thought of one more thing. “Dylan, is Wainwright working on a hotel project for the Bay?”

“We’re interested but Dad called a halt until we can get to the bottom of some other problems. He’s not in a hurry. He thinks there will be lots of time before you call for proposals.”

“So you don’t have an active, workable plan? And you’re not buying up land around here?”

“Not that I know of.”

“And you would know, wouldn’t you?”

He laughed. “I’d better. Look, Piper, much as I love you, I do have another life besides Wainwright. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? We can talk then.”

“No, it’s okay. Take a day off. Goodness knows you deserve one with the pace he keeps you running at.” She thought of her big brother. How she wished he could break free of Baron’s grip on his life and walk away. But Dylan wasn’t like her. He needed that approval.

“I took today off, Piper. That’s the best I can do at the moment.”

“I know,” she murmured, understanding what he hadn’t said. “If you need a longer break, come and stay with me. The Bay’s great for reorienting your priorities.”

“Is that what you’re doing there?” Dylan didn’t wait for her response. “Maybe I’ll see if I can work something in later on but right now I have to go, Piper. You take care of yourself.”

“You, too. I love you.”

“Uh-huh.”

She hung up, leaned against the counter and surveyed the model.

Either Dylan didn’t know as much as he thought he did or someone else wanted her to think Wainwright was ready to pitch. Didn’t matter which, though; she wasn’t comfortable with knowing someone had been in her car, in her house, found the model and left it out.

Somebody was trying to tell her something. But what?

As she turned from rinsing her mug, Piper spotted the
W
sitting on the shelf over the sink, right beside the photo of her grandparents. She retrieved it, turned it over and over, thinking.

Had Jason seen it?

If so, why hadn’t he said anything?

What’s going on here, God?

Sunday’s sermon echoed in her mind. How many times should I forgive my neighbor? Seven times seven? Seventy times seven, Jesus told him.

Forgive.

“I can’t,” she whispered.

Chapter Nine

“W
e can’t stop Wainwright from approaching the town council with an idea, Piper. That wouldn’t be fair. Anyway, why would we?”

“Because we’ve already ruled out Wainwright, Jason,” she said, tired of the argument they’d wasted weeks debating. “Why bother?”

“
You
ruled them out,” Jason said quietly. “I haven’t. For all we know they may have come up with something we want, something that will meet all our needs.” He held out a file. “These are notes from a brainstorming session the Chamber of Commerce held when you were away yesterday. I think you’ll find some things of interest.”

“Okay. Thanks. How are the houseboats working out?”

He grinned. “Purring like kittens. Higgy has tuned them purr-fectly. He’s a great mechanic.”

“Higgy?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Andy calls him that and so do I. He prefers it.” Jason sat down. “You look tired. Is everything okay?”

“No. I’ve been checking in to recent land sales. There have been several transactions for property near Cathcart House. All to the same company. Ida and I have been trying to find out who owns it, but so far all we’ve got is a never-ending paper trail which looks like it leads to some offshore conglomerate.”

“Well, they can’t build anything without a permit and it’s zoned residential. Since we haven’t received a request to build, I don’t know if you have much to worry about.”

“Maybe not.” Piper slid her hand into her pocket, felt the whisper of paper against her fingers. The Wainwright invoice she’d found in Gran’s rose garden was burning a hole in her pocket, but this wasn’t the time to blurt out her concerns. Besides, she didn’t want to rehash the old arguments between her grandparents and her father, or get into his threat to someday buy Cathcart House and force them out of the Bay.

She’d tell Jason about her own past—sometime, but not now.

“We had another development yesterday.”

The strange note in his voice brought her head up sharply. “Oh?”

“Wainwright asked to make a presentation at the council meeeting tonight.”

“What?” Piper couldn’t believe he’d said it. “Who called?”

“I don’t know.” Jason gave her an odd look. “Does it matter? Someone spoke to Ida, asked to be included on the agenda. So she did.”

“At the last minute? Aren’t there other important matters already scheduled?” Irritated, Piper glared at him. “You could have put them off.”

“I told you. I didn’t talk to them. Anyway, what’s more important than a hotel for this place? You know how hard it’s getting to house people who want upscale accommodations.” He leaned forward, grasped her hand where it fidgeted with papers. “Piper, what’s wrong?”

The concern in his eyes melted her heart. She grasped his hand, squeezed, then let go.

“Nothing. I’m sorry. It’s just—you know my objections to Wainwright.” She shrugged, tried to summon a smile. “I’ve been working so hard to coax Ted. I don’t want him to be scared off just because Wainwright wants to make a play.”

“Ted won’t be scared off if he really wants it. Besides, isn’t competition good for us?”

“Not necessarily. If Ted thinks we’ve been courting him and then learns we’re also talking to Wainwright, he could feel like he’s wasted his time.”

“Who were you talking to yesterday?” he asked, then blushed at her look. “I’m not distrusting you, I just wondered if it was another hotel expressing interest.”

“No. The corporate head of a fast-food company phoned me night before last to ask for a meeting. They wanted to know about available land within the town limits.”

Jason grinned, slapped his hand on the desk. “Yes! I knew we’d start getting some attention. What’s next?”

Piper shook her head, held up one hand.

“Whoa! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This was an expression of interest. We talked possibilities but it’s a long way from a done deal, Jason. You know how land development works. You were involved in locating parcels. You must know the ins and outs of negotiations.”

“Uh-uh. I was never involved in any of that.” Jason rose, moved to the window. His back was to her as he spoke. “I scouted locations, concentrated on finding the properties best suited to my clients. Once they were satisfied, I moved on to the next search.”

“You never went back to see what had become of the property?” She frowned, sensing he was holding back.

“I did go back, once.”

“And?”

“You could say the visit didn’t meet my expectations. I saw my girlfriend there. With another man.”

“I’m sorry.” This was what Ted had hinted at that day by the elevator.

“Yeah, me, too.” He turned, offered her a lopsided smile. “Shortly after that I quit and moved here.”

“I’m glad.”

“So am I.” He touched her hair with gentle fingers. “Otherwise I’d never have met you.”

“Did you care about her very much?” she asked.

“I’d planned to ask her to marry me the following weekend. It’s a good thing I didn’t. She married him instead.”

“Oh, Jason.” She rose, wrapped her arms around him and held him close. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m over it. I realized that I didn’t really love her. I loved the idea of marriage.” He pushed her bangs off her forehead, cupped her face in his palms. “That’s why I’m paranoid about trust, I guess. In here—” he tapped his chest “—I know you’re not like her. But it hasn’t quite penetrated up here.” He touched his head. “But working with you is teaching me.”

He was telling her he trusted her, that he’d stopped suspecting her every move.

A flicker of guilt pinged inside her head. But Piper ignored it, lifting her face for his kiss.

A gentle rap on the door soon had them separating. Jason touched her cheek then walked to the door and opened it.

“This just arrived from Wainwright Inc. I thought you’d both want to take a look at it before council meets tonight.” Ida handed Jason a long tube, took one look at Piper and grinned before she hurried out of the room.

Jason removed the end and let a roll of papers slide out.

“Artists’ renderings,” Piper murmured as he unfurled them. She held her breath, stared down at the drawings. “They’re not the same,” she breathed.

“As that model you have? No, they’re not.” He looked at her with an odd expression. “Did you think they would be?”

Piper shrugged, avoiding an answer. She grabbed a pad and began making notes of changes to the hotel that would have to occur before it would fit in with the town’s plans. There were many. An hour later, she leaned back in her chair, rubbing her forehead.

“It’s too much. They’ll never go for what we want.”

“You don’t know that.”

He wanted it badly. She could see the excitement in his eyes.

“Why is this hotel so important to you, Jason?” She should have asked that long ago. But now Piper couldn’t contain her curiosity about his answer.

“Because the town can’t really move ahead without it.”

“It’s more than that, though, isn’t it?” she said, noting the way he avoided her gaze. “You’ve been pushing hard to get one here ever since I came. Tell me why.”

He sank down in the chair across from her. Silence stretched for a long time before he finally spoke.

“Have you ever wanted to be part of something really great? To see your ideas at work, watch other people benefiting and know that you had a big part in making it happen?” He grimaced. “Of course you have. That’s what your job is all about.”

“Never mind me,” she said, realizing that until now he’d never really exposed his innermost feelings. “I want to know about you.”

He sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“A while ago you asked me about Expectations. My job there involved a lot of travel and I loved that. But after I found my girlfriend and my best friend together, my world came crashing down. I realized that I’d never really taken in the whole picture. I’m not talking about my girlfriend.”

He was quiet for a moment then spoke again.

“Maybe seeing them together forced me to realize that I wasn’t committed to anything. I looked around that resort and thought ‘I’m a part of this, I helped create this.’ That experience changed the way I began to assess property. I decided I wanted to be more involved in the end result.”

“I see.”

“When I learned about Serenity Bay and began researching it, I couldn’t help feeling that if I recommended it and some developer moved in, stuck in one of those cheap-lodgings-and-not-much-more places that would do little to help the town, that would be my fault, too.” He rested his elbows on his knees. “I fell for this place the moment I laid eyes on it. Then things blew up at work. I quit and decided to come here, to see if I could help change things for the better, make a difference.”

“To make it something more than just another cheap and tacky tourist town,” she murmured with a smile. “Believe me, I understand. But I feel that way because I used to live here, because it was my refuge at a time in my life when things were really bad. What’s your excuse?”

He studied her silently for several moments. When he spoke, his voice grew solemn, utterly serious.

“Because it’s my fresh start.” He searched her eyes, his face showing a defensiveness she’d only glimpsed before.

She knew there was more to it than he’d admitted.

“Why did you need one?”

“Because I’d made so many mistakes.” A crooked smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “I doubt you could understand what it was like, Piper. You had your grandparents to love you. You never had to struggle to matter, to fight to achieve recognition, to be valued just because you’re you.”

If he only knew. Piper understood only too well.

“I didn’t have terrible foster homes. They never abused me.” He raked a hand through his hair, mussing it so he looked like a forlorn little boy. “But I was very aware that when I left, there’d be another boy to take my place, another kid to fill my shoes. I doubt if any of them even remembered me a year later.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That sounds like self-pity and I don’t mean it to be.” He rose, pacing the room. “I went to school on full academic scholarships, won the top prize offered. That got me a big mention, but there were a hundred other kids in college who’d accomplished the same thing. Big deal. It benefited me, but it didn’t mean I’d contributed anything.”

“And Expectations?”

“The debacle there was an awakening. I started to understand that I needed more to fill me inside than just finding a good piece of property. I wanted, needed, some personal involvement in any project I worked on.” He shrugged. “I own a marina now, make half the money I used to. I don’t have high-powered lunches or fraternize with the money guys. But I’m doing something important here. Or trying to.”

What she’d heard had touched Piper deeply, but it also concerned her. She, more than most, knew the folly of looking for fulfillment in work. She’d seen it in her father, watched it overtake him, all in the name of helping God help him succeed.

“Jason, you don’t have to prove yourself.” She rose, walked around the desk and stood beside him, her hand on his shoulder. “It’s not what you do that makes you a good person. God loves you, He cares about you whether you put Serenity Bay on the map or not. It's not about what you can do, it’s about what He does,” she reminded.

“Yes, yes. But surely what God wants is for me to succeed, to do the best for the Bay.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to get back. Andy’s taking a group out to The Bowl.”

The Bowl was the fishermen’s name for a spot where some of the best and biggest northern pike could be found. Jason gave her a quick kiss then ran out the door. Piper watched him go, troubled by what he’d just said.

It was obvious Jason thought he had to prove himself, which made her wonder if that wouldn’t contribute to his eagerness to accept Wainwright’s proposal. She’d have to call Tina, find out what was going on.

But the afternoon slipped away too quickly. There was no time to do more than answer calls and make her notes in readiness for the meeting ahead. She ordered a sandwich to give her a few more minutes to prepare, ate it, then walked into the council chambers, hoping she was prepared to meet her father.

To her surprise no one from Wainwright was in attendance. The meeting proceeded without incident for an hour. Then a knock came at the door and Dylan appeared.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he apologized, the grin that had gotten him out of so many scrapes firmly in place. “It took a little longer than I expected to get here. I’m Dylan Wainwright.”

“Come in.” Jason introduced everyone. “We have nothing else pressing at the moment. Why don’t we hear what Mr. Wainwright has to say?”

Since the council was in agreement, the pitch began.

Dylan didn’t even glance her way, for which Piper was glad. He lifted the huge portfolio he carried onto the table and began Wainwright’s proposal.

“As you can see,” he wrapped up twenty minutes later, “we’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to make this hotel a premiere jewel in the Wainwright chain.”

“Our economic development officer, Piper Langley, and I took the liberty of examining the drawings you sent this afternoon. Perhaps she has some questions,” Jason responded.

“Hello, Piper.” Dylan grinned at her, his bad boy grin firmly in place.

“Dylan.”

“You two know each other?” Jason asked.

“Of course.” She looked at him, then refocused on her notes. “We’ve got a couple of problems with the concept, Dylan. The golf course won’t work where you’re indicating because we’re hoping that in the winter we can use the greens for trails for cross-country skiing.”

She listed the deficits one by one. Dylan took it gracefully, nodded occasionally, making notes for himself.

“You’re asking for a lot,” he said when she was finished.

Piper nodded. “But we’re offering a lot of concessions. We want this hotel to fit exactly right with the Bay. The developer will be getting prime access, prime positioning and some lucrative tax breaks. In exchange we want a complementary structure.”

The council members began to voice their own considerations. Lively discussions covered every imaginable topic until Jason called a halt.