Page 8 of The Contractor & the Entrepreneur

“I fear your idea of a shopping trip and mine are vastly different.”

He smiled. “You’re probably right. Unless you’re hiding an Ariat T-shirt under that coat.”

She laughed at that.

They reached the road, or what should’ve been the road, at least where trees had been cleared and a path originally scraped through the thick trees. He stared at the silver Hyundai up to its axles in sludge. He imagined it had Nevada plates, but it was buried too deep to tell.

“Ah, no,” he grunted out.

“Yeah.” She looked at her vehicle and grimaced. “I’ve never driven in conditions like this before.”

“That, sweetheart, is obvious.” He wished he could take back his words as her cheeks darkened, she looked away, and he could swear he saw a telling brightness in her dark eyes. What to do? He was far too accustomed to dealing with men who wouldn’t know offense or emotion if it bit them.

“It’s almost quittin’ time,” he said softly. “Why don’t we get what you need out of your vehicle, I’ll drive you home, and I’ll have a tow company get this out in the morning?”

“You couldn’t tow it with your big old truck?” She blinked up at him, feminine persuasion at work for certain.

“I’d most likely just rip off your flimsy bumper. You do realize why most folks up here drive trucks or SUVs?”

She bit at her lip. “I can’t afford a truck or SUV.”

He straightened in surprise, peering down at her, grateful they were close enough his hat could shield her from the rain and she could look up at him with those dark eyes. Was she serious?

“Even with the setbacks, you got this land free and clear. The money you should’ve cleared from five half-million-dollar lots selling would make a vehicle purchase chump change,” he said before he could recall the words.

“I’m not even in the black,” she admitted. “There was a lawsuit from my family. I had to fight for the land, and I waded through red tape for over a year. I had to take out a large loan to get started. You know how steep the costs of developing land are. Especially land this far off the grid. I set aside most of the money from the lot sales to keep up with monthly loan payments, and pay for the road and everything else that I knew would come due soon. I’ve kept working at my other job to try to offset the costs.”

He nodded, embarrassed he’d forced her to admit that. His compassion for her was growing by the minute but he was also impressed she’d had the foresight to set money aside. He turned and directed her back toward his truck, lined up with the other construction workers’s vehicles in one of the dryer spots in the driveway.

The roofers were sneaking glances at them from their perches, but none of them wanted to rile him so they kept their tongues quiet. He wondered where Andy had disappeared to. Probably picked up a nail gun and started helping the framers with the interior walls that weren’t framed up yet so they could get the electricians and plumbers in as soon as the roof was done, windows installed, and the house was dried in.

“Are your cousins from around here?”

“Yes. My Grandpa Lewis owned all the property.”

He nodded. He knew that, had heard the name and that the guy was a grumpy old recluse.

“He was my mom’s dad,” she said. “He and my dad didn’t get along.” She let out a heavy sigh as they reached his truck, stopping and looking up at him. He was struck by how beaten down and vulnerable she looked. She’d showed such a braveface. He had the irrational urge to fight her every battle. His irritant had suddenly become his project. Not a great idea as the other contractors would not appreciate him championing her.

“My mom’s brother, Ron Lewis, has two sons. Uncle Ron and my cousins thought they’d get this property, since they live west of here and because my dad was estranged and my mom is … dead.”

His eyes widened. Partly because of what she’d revealed about her mom and partly because he’d heard of Ron, Jaxon, and Preston Lewis—mean, foul, lazy drunks was what he’d usually heard them described as. He should’ve connected the dots earlier. Some of the contractors wondered if the Lewis brothers weren’t the ones causing the accidents. Nobody knew what their motivation could be for doing so, besides being annoying. Yet how could this classy woman, even with mud covering her, be related to men like that? True, he didn’t know them personally, but the rumors were plentiful and people made a wide arc around their homestead in a small valley a few miles to the west.

“I’m sorry about your mom,” he said.

“Me too.” She gave him a brave smile, but there was something hiding in her gaze. He’d never known someone who he could read so easily. “It’s been fifteen years. I don’t remember her very well.”

“What do you remember?”

“She was … beautiful.”

“Like mother like daughter,” he said.

Her eyes widened at the compliment but he sensed it annoyed her as well. She took exception to her beauty, or to being compared to her mom?

“A muddy mess is what I am,” she murmured in her deep voice.

He smiled and pulled open the passenger door. She looked into his black Ram 2500’s quad cab. The dark gray leather was top of the line.

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