Page 17 of Your Heart & Mine

"Say 'thank you, Marijo, it will be amazing'." Her boss laughed.

Harper tried to join in. She tried to swallow down the giant ball of anxiety again. "Thank you, Marijo, it will be amazing," she parroted. "Truly, I appreciate your confidence in me. I won't let you down."

"I'm positive you won't. I look forward to getting that list of properties soon. I'll touch base in a couple of days," Marijo advised. "Oh, and one more thing, tell Cameron he can stay and be your assistant. A few months in the country might be just the thing for him."

Before Harper could respond, her boss rang off and she was left contemplating her phone. A slow smile crept across her mouth. Not only was this project going to make her career, as well as help the community, trying to right some of the wrongs her father did, she got to keep Cam. In the country. For months. That might be the best part.

She chuckled to herself and headed to find Cam and tell him the good news. They had a lot of work to do.

"What do you mean they won't sell?" Harper said, her voice raising in incredulity. "None of them?"

"I'm sorry, Harper, no. I reached out to my contact at Ward and told him I had someone local that was interested in quite a few of the properties and he said they weren't selling any of them." Mr. Morton's brow furrowed.

"Did he give you any explanation as to why?" Harper demanded. If she couldn't get any of these properties, it could tank her entire project.

"Just said they had plans for them," the attorney responded.

"That's completely unacceptable," Harper raged.

"Now, love, it's not Mr. Morton's fault. I'm sure we can figure something out." Cam rubbed her back trying to calm her down.

Harper huffed out a breath. "You're right. I'm sorry, Mr. Morton. Cam's right. This isn't your fault."

"I can try again, if you'd like. Maybe if you shared what you wanted to do with some of them, they could be convinced?"

Harper seethed silently. It was a development company. They were probably going to demolish everything and build condos or a fancy hotel for the tourists or the snowbirds who came up in the summer. She could almost guarantee it would be nothing that the community could afford or get much use of.

"We can try, I suppose," she said through gritted teeth. "I'll have something to you tomorrow."

She looked at the older man who was all but wringing his hands. She tried to soften her tone and give him a smile. "I know it's not your fault, Mr. Morton. You can only do what you can do. I appreciate the idea, though."

"Anything for you, Harper, you know that. Tell your mama and sisters 'hey' for me."

As they left the attorney's office, Cam enveloped her shoulders with the gentle curve of his arm, a gesture that seemed to effortlessly bring a modicum of peace to her battered heart. Thank God Marijo had told him to stay here with her for the duration. She needed his rock-steadiness.

He tightened his arm around her. "Don't worry, love. We'll get your sisters and your mother together and figure out a proposal that this Ward Development company would be fools to turn down," Cam encouraged her.

"Thanks, Cam. I don't know what I'd do without you. You know that, right?"

"Back at you," he chuffed.

As they climbed into his Audi, Harper couldn't shake her worry, despite Cam's words of reassurance. What would entice a big, impersonal company like Ward Development to sell to her little non-profit? What could be in it for them? She hoped her sisters had some ideas as she was completely out.

The sisters, Mitzi, and Cam had gone round and round that evening with ideas to try to making Ward Development sell to them an attractive proposition. In the end, they'd come up with a few ideas for the proposals she was going to give Mr. Morton, but Harper was still stressed. Unable to sleep, she borrowed Elizabeth's SUV and took a drive.I really need to take a trip to Raleigh and get my car and pack up more of my things.

The weather had warmed up slightly for December and the roads were thankfully clear of ice and snow. She drove without any particular destination, just cruising over the winding roads. She had driven them her whole life, the switchbacks and narrow bridges took no more thought than most people needed for driving a straight highway.

Suddenly, she found herself on a familiar gravel road. The road to the cabin. Why had her subconscious taken her there? As she pulled up to park in front of the porch, she noticed a black Range Rover parked at the side of the home. Lights glowed invitingly from the windows. Buffalo checked drapes kept her from seeing inside, but she didn't need to. Wyck was here. She groaned.

Before she could turn around and escape, the door opened and Wyck stood as a silhouette, his large frame etched in shadows against the luminous backdrop of the living room lights. Her Southern manners didn't afford her any way out that she could see. She opened the SUV door with a sigh and headed toward the porch with heavy steps.

Chapter fifteen

Moonrise

Wyckturnedonhisbest smile as Harper mounted the steps.She looks like she's going to the gallows, he thought. I need to remedy that."Harper! This is a surprise."

Harper's lips turned up in a grim smile. "For me, too. I went for a drive and just kinda ended up here," she confessed.

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