Page 25 of Fall for You
The lodge needed that property for their expansion plans. His father had made that clear before he’d handed this place over to him. This land had been in the Spencer family for more than a hundred years. It was his birthright. And expanding the family business was his job.
But even as he told himself that, guilt niggled, and the image of a brilliant smile and bright blue eyes flashed through his mind.
It’s your birthright, huh?He could practically see the way Willow’s eyes would dance as she leaned in so close that the warm, sweet scent of her would wrap around him.How do you know it’s not mine?
Then she’d probably laugh and shrug… and pull away too soon.Who knows? Maybe it belongs to both of us.
“We’re still sorting through the documents we found in the archives,” one of the lawyers said. “We’ll find the proof we need eventually. It’s just a matter of time.”
The lawyer sounded so sure. Eric swallowed hard, but it did nothing to dislodge the knot that had formed all over again. Just a matter of time.
Hadn’t he known that from the start? One of them would win this battle over the adjoining property…
And it has to be me.
It should have been him. It could have been him if he’d done the smart thing in the first place and taken that buried box the day he’d found it.
Toss a few items in the trash, show the rest to his lawyers…
Done. It would have been over by now.
And he’d never have gotten to know the little blonde pixie with the flyaway curls and her musical laugh.
Life would be simple. His father would be happy, his lodge would be expanding, and he… He’d be at peace.
Wouldn’t he?
That thought sat there in his mind, and Eric turned it this way and that.
His life would be simpler without this secret he shared, of that he was sure. There would be no complication in the form of a buried treasure and a pretty blonde.
And yet…
There’d be no excitement either. No secret history to tease out and no making fun of his overly romantic partner in crime. His hand slid into the pocket of his slacks, and he felt the little plastic key chain there.
It weighed heavily in his hand. Which…was ridiculous and all in his head, because that little plastic Darth Vader key chain hardly weighed a thing.
“In the meantime,” one of the lawyers said. He was louder than the last, and Eric jerked back to attention. “We’ve come up with ways to make life difficult for the Kings.”
Eric looked over at the lawyer and caught the smirk on his lips, the cold gleam in his eyes. “What?”
“They don’t have the funds for a legal battle. If we go on the offensive?—”
“File a libel suit, perhaps, or sue for defamation of character,” his cohort interjected. “We could ask that?—”
“No.” Eric’s voice was firm.
The lawyers fell silent and gaped. Even his assistant was blinking at him in obvious surprise.
Eric’s expression barely changed, but his fists were clenched so hard, Darth Vader cut into his palm.
“But—”
“I said no.”
He tried to calm his fury, to ease this tension that threatened to explode. But with the lawyers’ words, all he could see in his mind’s eye was the hurt on Willow’s face. The tears of betrayal.
It didn’t just cause him pain, it made him want to destroy whatever and whoever might harm her.
