Page 19 of Shielded Hearts

“A billionaire just contacted me. He needs a retreat booked ASAP.”

He gaped at her. “If that’s worse than being gassed in a dilapidated cabin, you have your prioritiesallwrong.”

“You don’t understand—this is my career. Mylivelihood.”

He wanted to bring up the fact that she traveled by private jet and likely didn’t need a job. But he didn’t know her situation and held his tongue.

“I was afraid this would happen. After talking to him a little bit, I knew what he was looking for. I also knew I didn’t have any places that would suit him. It’s why I was taking time to search for new places to add to my portfolio.”

“Okay, so what do you need?”

She leaned forward to peer up at the sky. “Will I have uninterrupted phone service? I need to start searching for places that are open on such short notice.”

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing back up the mountain. “I think that place is open. You want to set your billionaire up here?”

“Hell no.”

He held back a chuckle. Coming from a woman wearing white pants and boots, not to mention a sweater that wasprobably hand-knitted by Scottish grandmothers from the finest lambswool harvested by monks, her use of profanity amused him every time.

He studied her profile for a moment. Her rounded cheek had a few small freckles spattered across it. A small nose added to her soft appearance. And those pouty lips she occasionally nibbled while in thought weren’t things Colt should be noticing.

But he did.

At that moment, she twisted her head and pierced him in her gaze, catching him staring at her.

“Are you still trying to decide where we’re going next?” she asked.

“I can tell you one thing—it’s not going to be this cabin.” He held up his phone, flashing the photo of the front. He wasn’t risking another one of her cabins.

“I’ll call my flight crew. Maybe the plane’s ready.”

He nodded and sat back, waiting for her to place the call. After a few moments, she had her answer. By the slump of her shoulders, it wasn’t the news she wanted to hear either.

With a shake of her head, she lowered the phone from her ear. “They’re having trouble finding the right part. It’s being shipped in.”

“I have a plan.”

“What kind of plan?”

“I know a place.”

“You justknowa place?”

This was his vacation. He had a right to enjoy it in a place that wasn’t going to give him a disease or kill him.

“It may be an alternative for you. One that will be up to billionaire standards.”

“Where is this place?”

He sent her a hint of a smile. “I’m no travelconcierge, but I know a better place than any of the ones you’ve come up with so far.”

* * * * *

The soft glow of Aspen’s phone screen was starting to blur, and her eyes burned with fatigue. After searching for cozy yet romantic retreats for her client… Well, she hadn’t come up totally emptyhanded.

But she was a little shaken by the last two hideous cabin failures.

She looked up from the screen, aware that her temples were throbbing to the thrum of the truck tires on asphalt. “My brain is starting to melt. I need to take a break.”

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