Hotel Ladd (12 page)

Angst peeled back the layers of
indecision in her blue eyes. “I guess...”

Cal’s gut winced. Was there any
possibility they could move forward together?

Chapter Nine

Annie sucked in her breath at the sight
of Jillian Devane waltzing into the Trendz salon.

“
Ouch!” an elderly woman
cried.

“
Oh, my God—I’m sorry!”
Annie apologized to her client quickly, unaware she’d been pinching
the woman’s fingers. Jillian’s eyes curled around Annie like a
snake as she hung by the receptionist’s desk. Lips glossed in a
shimmery maroon, eyes concealed behind oversized sunglasses,
Jillian was wrapped in a black fur coat, her head covered by a
matching fur hat. She was completely out of place in the rural
salon. Ms. Devane should be walking a red carpet, boarding a
private jet or dining in a five-star restaurant in some exotic
locale.

What was she doing here? Didn’t Annie
tell her she needed time, that she’d call her when she was
ready?

Sliding the glasses from her face,
Jillian tucked them into a deep pocket. Next, she tugged the
leather gloves from her slender hands, her nail-enamel a blood red
against her bronzed skin.

Annie tried to ignore her. Drawing a
nail brush laden with mauve lacquer down her client’s nail bed, she
forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. She was working.
Jillian could wait. Annie swept another length of color down the
nail bed, nicking the woman’s skin. She cursed under her breath.
Abruptly releasing the woman’s finger, she dunked the brush back
into its bottle. “Will you excuse me for a moment?” She was only
halfway through the manicure, but she couldn’t sit here while that
Devane woman stared at her. She’d ruin her client’s manicure and
have to start all over!

Her elderly client huffed, but allowed
her to go without verbal objection. She would not make a scene. It
simply wasn’t done. Annie hurried over to Jillian. “Ms.
Devane.”

“
Ms. Owens.”

“
What are you doing here?”
She darted a glance toward the receptionist. A young brunette who
had been with Trendz for two years, Bobbi Jo dropped her green-eyed
gaze to her appointment book, pretending to skim down the schedule.
She might be young but she was smart. “I thought I said I’d call
you when I decided.”

“
Unfortunately one of my
investors is placing pressure on me to move forward with the
purchase of the other property. I’m here to give you one last
chance. Have you made a decision?”

No. Yes. The amount of money continued
to swell in Annie’s mind even as she and Cal worked on the logging
deal. Malcolm said he’d help which would definitely make things
easier, but still... Jillian Devane’s offer was straightforward and
simple. Cash. A niggle of excitement shot through Annie. Maybe she
should sidestep the whole logging headache and let this woman deal
with roads and permits. She and Casey would have their money and
Jillian could fiddle with the county government. “I have,” Annie
replied as coolly as she could, “but I’m unable to discuss it at
the moment.” She gestured over her shoulder to the woman sitting
not so patiently in her nail chair. She also needed to get final
approval from her daughter—Casey, the girl who’d run away. “Perhaps
we could discuss it at another time?”

Jillian’s eyes flashed but her face
remained calm. “Perhaps you have not heard me. I am in need of
making a decision. I have offered you five hundred thousand dollars
for your interest in the property. Your daughter’s interest,” she
clarified, a tad insultingly. “Either she is interested in selling
or she is not.”

Annie stepped back, glanced around the
salon. Did Jillian have to say it so loud, right here in the center
of her workplace? As expected, stylists were staring, dividing
their attention between heads of hair beneath their hands and the
scene unfolding in the foyer. Annie wished they could be having
this discussion elsewhere, but Ms. Devane seemed intent on having
it now. “Do you plan on building a hotel there?” Annie asked,
taking a few more steps toward the front door, putting them as far
out of earshot as possible.

“
That is the
plan.”

Standing beneath a tangle of blue
lighting fashioned into an abstract chandelier, Annie crossed her
arms. “Don’t you think it’s a little close to the one Harris Hotels
is building?”

“
I do not worry about Harris
Hotels,” she purred, though Annie sensed that wasn’t entirely true.
Especially after the earful she received from Lacy on the
subject.

“
You know they’ve already
started construction. Their hotel will be open well ahead of
yours.”

“
That does not concern me.”
Golden eyes turned predatory, discarding any and all attempt at
polite conversation. “Nor should it concern you.” She retrieved a
slim gold purse from a coat pocket, opened it and withdrew a
checkbook. She removed a pen looped to its side and held it ready.
“Five hundred thousand?”

Annie balked. “You’re going to write me
a check?”

“
Yes.”

“
For five hundred thousand
dollars?”

Jillian nodded.

Annie couldn’t believe it. Just like
that, Jillian Devane scribbled out a check for five hundred
thousand dollars. She handed it to Annie. Staring at the freshly
inked handwriting, Annie reached for it, a mild tremble to her
hand. On one slip of paper she held half a million dollars. Blow
dryers whirred behind her, competing with idle small talk. Annie
wrangled her attention to the check in hand. If Jillian was willing
to pay this much for the land, Annie could only imagine what
building a hotel would cost. The roads, the driveways, the
permits... When would she start? Would it really interfere with
Nick and Malcolm’s hotel? Would she steal their guests? And Cal’s
job? Guilt seeped into her bones. He wanted that job. He wanted to
work for Harris Hotels. Doubt sank around her like a blanket of
Smoky Mountain fog. Annie wasn’t kidding herself. Selling could end
any hope for a future with Cal.

“
Ms. Owens?”

Annie hesitated. Ms. Devane was
offering a lot of money, but the land might be worth more. She
hadn’t looked into it yet, not with everything going on. There
hadn’t been time! What she did know, was Trendz was not the place
to negotiate. High money deals were not something one did standing
around a salon. And Casey. Legally, it was her land. She should
have input into this decision.

What would she
think
?
Would she be
okay with selling
? Casey didn’t care for
Jeremiah, she’d made as much crystal clear. Sharing in the legacy
of Ladd Springs would not be an important factor to her. Annie
dropped her gaze to the check. But money would.

“
Can I assume we have a
deal?”

“
What about a contract?”
Annie realized in the spur of the moment. They should have
something in writing, shouldn’t they?

Jillian smiled thinly. “I only do
business with people I trust.”

Trust? She didn’t even know
her!

This was pressure, pure and simple.
Jillian Devane was trying to force her into a deal, but Annie would
not allow it. She might not know real estate like Ms. Devane, but
she knew a sledgehammer when she felt one. Fighting a fresh rise of
nerves, Annie responded in the most business-like tone she could
muster, “I need to discuss final details with my daughter.” She
thrust the check toward Ms. Devane. “As you mentioned, it’s her
name on the deed. I’m only the trustee.”

The vigor went out of Jillian’s
expression, reminding Annie of a cheetah who’d just lost its prey.
“Yes, your daughter. However, as trustee, it should be your
decision to sell or not.”

Annie straightened, growing more
comfortable in her role as savvy businesswoman in charge of
hundreds of thousands in wealth. Pushing the check into Jillian’s
hands, she said, “I will consult with my daughter this evening so
we may confer with our lawyer and finalize details,” she declared
with dignity, impressed how the brilliance of “conferring with her
lawyer” struck from out of nowhere. What a great excuse—and a
legitimate one at that! Dashing a glance toward the receptionist,
Annie realized it was the truth. She would have to talk with her
lawyer. Without a real estate agent, he’d be the one to transfer
title.

Jillian reclaimed the check and slowly
returned it to her purse. Snapping the clutch closed, she slipped
it into a pocket. “You have my number. I’ll be waiting for your
reply tomorrow.”

Annie stood firm, but even in boots she
was several inches shy of Jillian’s height, a height enhanced by
black stiletto heels. “Thank you. Unfortunately with the holidays
upon us, it might not be until the following week.”

“
Of course.” Jillian
dismissed her with a pert smile, clearly aware it was nothing more
than another excuse. Annie held her breath and watched Jillian’s
fluid leggy stride sway beneath the length of fur as she pushed out
through the front door. Lacy was right. Jillian Devane looked like
she belonged on a runway in Paris and not in the hills of
Tennessee.

Returning to her client, thoughts
divided between work and Jillian, Cal and Casey, Annie sat rigid in
her chair and reached for an unpainted fingernail.

“
Are you okay to continue?”
her client asked.

“
Yes, Mrs. Weatherford, I’m
fine.” Annie reached for her hand again but the woman pulled back.
“You don’t look fine. What kind of business do you have with a
foreigner like that, anyway?”

Startled by the blunt question, Annie
wanted to belt back, “None of your business,” but refused to be
rude. “Mrs. Weatherford, what business I might or might not have
with that woman is not important at the moment. Your manicure is.”
Annie touched upon her finger. “Now, please. If I may
continue?”

Mrs. Weatherford sniffed.
“Well, I
never
. Who
walks away from her job without explanation?” She whipped a glance
around their immediate vicinity. Annie thought she was actually
going to get up and leave but managed to hold her tongue. Strap it
to her cheek was more like it. God knows she didn’t need to
alienate Mrs. Weatherford, one of the busier gossipers in town. She
was likely to
make up
things to say about Annie and the strange woman in town!
Calming the spatter of nerves in her chest, Annie replied, “She’s
new to the area and looking to have her nails done. I was only
trying to accommodate her.”

Sufficiently mollified, Mrs.
Weatherford didn’t say another word about it and Annie could only
hope it stayed that way. She had enough trouble keeping her lies
under wrap as she was beginning to feel like Lacy and her crossed
fingers and non-fibs!

The door to Trendz swung open again and
Annie’s heart caught. Lacy breezed in and made a beeline straight
for her nail chair. Annie’s pulse hammered between her ears. Had
she seen Jillian Devane leave the salon?

“
Hi, Annie.”

“
Hi, Lacy.” Annie thrust an
unwelcome edge into her voice, informing Lacy that she was busy
working and couldn’t talk.

Without missing a beat, Lacy asked,
“Did I just see Jillian Devane leave here?”

Annie groaned inwardly. Her sister
never had been very good at taking hints. Pretending not to hear
her, Annie asked, “Are you here to get your hair done?”

“
No. I came to see if you
wanted to go maternity shopping with me.” Lacy acknowledged Annie’s
client with a smile and announced, “I’m four months
pregnant.”

Mrs. Weatherford smiled.
“Congratulations, dear!” Eyeing Lacy’s stomach under the black
fitted silk sweater, she complimented, “And you’re not even showing
the slightest lump.”

“
Not yet,” Lacy beamed with
a light pat to her belly, “but she’s in there.”

“
You already know it’s a
she?”

“
I do. I spoke with a
psychic and she said I was going to have a baby girl,” Lacy
informed her proudly.

“
A psychic?” Mrs.
Weatherford’s enthusiasm took a nose dive as she pretended to take
Lacy seriously. “Really?”

Annie rolled her eyes and swiped nail
polish over the woman’s nails as fast as she could, catching a
strong whiff of polish as she dunked and painted, dunked and
painted.

“
Yes,” Lacy replied
unequivocally, then returned her sights to Annie. “I don’t know why
that Devane woman is still poking her nose around here. You’d best
steer clear of her. I told you, Malcolm says she’s up to no
good.”

Annie was tired of hearing about
Malcolm and Nick’s fears when it came to Jillian Devane. “He has
nothing to worry about. His hotel has already been started. Why
should it matter if another one goes up?”

“
Matter?” Lacy gasped,
spanking Mrs. Weatherford with an indignant glance. “Because she’s
out to sabotage them, that’s why!”

Annie grunted. She did not want to be
having this discussion, especially in front of a client. “I think
you’re blowing it out of proportion.”