Page 7 of Cameron

The man nervously licked his lips and sighed. “Right now, everyone is busy with this wedding party, but I’ll see what I can do. Give me a little time to set up some time between the two of you.”

Cameron got the feeling he was trying to dodge him seeing his accounting books and that made him wonder if he was wasting his time coming here. The image of Samantha came into his head and he pushed her out of his mind.

“When will you be available to take me on a tour of the land?”

“How about in the morning? Sometime after breakfast, we could go riding. I won’t take you near the mountain range because of the snow, but we could ride out and see the pasture. You could see how we feed the cattle in the winter.”

It would be a cold ride, but Cameron wasn’t afraid of the frigid Montana winter.

“We’ll need to go early because I need to help with the wedding party. You should participate in some of the activities we have planned. That way everyone will believe you’re here because of the wedding.”

Why was he trying to hide him buying the ranch from his family?

“When are you going to tell your family you’re selling? Don’t you think they should be included in this decision?”

The man shook his head and steepled his fingers. “Like I said, my sister believes the wedding will save the ranch. Plus, it’s Christmas and I don’t want to ruin our last holiday heretogether. I thought we’d have one last big family Christmas and then I’d give them the news around the first of the year.”

While he could understand not wanting to deliver bad news at Christmas, it felt dirty, and Cameron did not like dealing with people who weren’t honest. This might have been a complete waste of time.

“Go enjoy the party we have planned for this evening. It’s the first night here. Dance and enjoy the music. Be sure to try out the food. We have a new chef who is excellent and you should enjoy his cooking. If I can, I’m going to do my best to get rid of our current chef Emily. Of course, when you buy the place, this will all become your problem, not mine.”

Did he not realize that these were people’s lives he was talking about?

Standing, Cameron needed to walk away and think about the information he’d learned from Edward, and he wanted to see if he could find Samantha again or someone else to speak to about the ranch.

He wanted more than one opinion about why the ranch was doing so poorly that they needed to sell.

“All right, I’ll see you in the morning,” he said and headed for the door.

“Cameron,” Edward said. “I really hope you buy the ranch. It’s been in our family for over a hundred years.”

He wasn’t about to agree to anything. Cameron nodded and left the office. It would be like Cameron trying to sell the Burnett Ranch. That would never happen.

CHAPTER 4

So far, they had only experienced minor glitches with the wedding party. Little things that she’d quickly taken care of. Their guests seemed to be enjoying themselves and she hoped that tonight they’d love decorating the big tree in the barn.

It just seemed like a very Christmasy thing to do, and she had even set up the speaker system to play carols while they decorated. For tomorrow afternoon, Tara had arranged a sleigh ride and after that night there would be a Christmas movie with hot chocolate and popcorn.

When this week was over, she was bringing in a masseuse for all the female employees for working so hard to make this a success.

It was dinnertime and she walked through the dining room smiling at their guests.

When she reached the bride- and groom-to-be, she stopped. “Congratulations, you two. We’re so excited for you.”

“Samantha, you promised me that everything would be set up when we arrived,” the bridezilla said lifting her glass of wine and scowling.

If all brides acted like she did, they would be out of business in no time.

“The altar has been made exactly like you requested. If you want to see it tomorrow, I’m sure Tara would love to show it to you, but we didn’t want it sitting in the barn where everyone could see it. Saturday afternoon before you take your wedding photos, it will be set up in the barn. But until then, it’s behind closed doors so no one will see it until the right time.”

The woman blinked, a frown appearing on her face. Was that not what she wanted?

“Oh, that sounds good. It will be a surprise for everyone,” she said.

“Yes,” Samantha said. “If you want to see it, ask Tara.”

“I’ll do that,” she said with a decisive nod.

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