Feisty (13 page)

John Jr.’s eyes narrowed. “Your brother’s a policeman, part of the community. Speak to him.”

“My brother is on his honeymoon.” Besides, she would never use him or his position to achieve something he was against. “He won’t be back for another week. I think you’re better off with Stephanie and Nick.”

“They’ll be attending in case you require their backup,” John Sr. reassured.

“But—”

“My assistant has made the arrangements for a town meeting.” Nick got to his feet. “We leave in a half hour for the airport.”

“Half hour?” Sahara couldn’t breathe. “But I haven’t packed.”

Nick began to gather his paperwork. “We’ll return tonight after the meeting.”

Sahara slowly stood. How on earth was she going to get out of this?

John Sr. stuck out his hand, once again. “We’re counting on you. We see big things in your future.” His yellow smile spread across his face. He barely released her when John Jr. scooped up her hand in his.

This time it wasn’t a simple handshake. He held her hand gently, his thumb sliding along her skin in almost a caress. “You have a big future here. Make this happen.” He winked.

Sahara had handled men like John Jr. He was used to getting what he wanted and clearly he wasn’t looking for
just
a partner. Her stomach rolled. She looked down at their clutched hands and tried to casually pull away. She couldn’t even muster a feigned smile, because the only hands she wanted all over her body were Devon’s.

At the thought of him, her hands began to shake again. How could she stand before Whispering Cove’s community, before Devon, and convince them the resort was for their own good?

“You need to hurry,” Stephanie snarled as she walked by her.

Sahara felt blindsided as she walked back to her office. She was readying her briefcase when Valerie burst into her office.

“I found it!” The joy on her face died when Nick walked in behind her.

Straightening his tie, Nick asked, “Are you ready?”

Valerie glanced from him to Sahara. “Ready?”

“I’m flying to Whispering Cove with Nick and Stephanie,” Sahara explained.

Valerie’s eyes widened. “Now?”

Sahara nodded.

“Wait!” Valerie rushed from the office. In seconds she returned with a folder. “You can review these on the plane.” Her assistant crammed the paperwork into Sahara’s hands.

Sahara carelessly tossed the folder into her briefcase and snapped it shut. As she followed Nick out of her office, dread coursed through her veins.

“Devon?”

He looked at Andie across the table. The Community Center was a buzz of activity. All around them their neighbors and their children made signs protesting the resort. The scent of glue and markers filled the air. Voices of concern spread throughout, but they were white noise rambling around in Devon’s head.

Concern pulled her brows together. “Are you up to this?”

Was he?

Word had reached them that Sahara would be in the party the firm was sending to speak to the community.

“I can handle this if you want me to,” she offered.

But he knew the truth.

Crushing the resort was especially important to her and Brody. They had chosen Whispering Cove to raise their children because of what the town offered. The townspeople were highly independent, resourceful, rugged and hardworking individuals. They had learned to live off the land or sea no matter what the weather conditions. Most of them had a wicked sense of humor that made them unique in their own way, but they were genuine and caring. When their backs were against the wall you had better be ready for a fight. If Sahara’s firm wanted a fight, they had come to the right place.

Devon tipped his head from one side to the next, listening to muscles and tendons pop. They had only an hour and a half before show time and his confidence was waning.

“I want whatever you feel will have the most impact.”

“I’m ready either way. We’ll feel out our opponents and go from there. Agree?” she asked.

“Fine.”

“Let’s go through what you should cover one more time, before I prepare several other speakers.”

They worked together for the next fifteen minutes, before Devon excused himself. He needed to get ready. As he got into his truck, something red peeked out from between his seats. He reached and pulled out a pair of Sahara’s panties she’d lost one night when they didn’t make it home before he had to have her. His eyes stung with emotion. He started his vehicle. Tires squealing, he pulled out of the parking lot.

God. What was wrong with him?

He’d never felt this way about a woman. Even as he rolled down the window of his truck and tossed the panties, he had to admit the obvious.

He had fallen in love.

Chapter Nine

As Nick came to another unmarked intersection, he released a frustrated breath. “What is wrong with these people? No street signs? How do they ever find their way?”

From the back seat of their black rental sedan, Sahara resisted the smile begging to be released. “One of Maine’s favorite clichés is ‘you can’t get there from here’. It’s said their lack of signs is a plot to confuse and discourage flatlanders, or rusticators as they call us, from moving to Maine.”

“Well, it’s working on me,” Stephanie groaned. “I think we’ve passed this bridge twice. Nick, we’ll have to ensure there are better markings in the future.”

“You’ll have the entire state to deal with. It’s the same all over and they like it that way,” Sahara said matter-of-factly.

Nick gazed into the rearview mirror at her. “How did you find Whispering Cove?”

Sahara knew she was walking a fine line. If she let her boss wander around much longer, he might guess she wasn’t too keen on the resort anymore. In fact, he hadn’t been happy with her comments when she had first returned to New York. She had attempted to explain big business would ruin the coastal town’s way of life—a life their residents cherished, but he wasn’t having any of it. The board and shareholders had run the numbers. It would be a great investment.

“My brother gave me mile-by-mile directions by telephone. I think you make a right here.”

As Nick made a sharp turn, Sahara’s briefcase slid off the back seat and struck the floorboard, popping open. When she reached for it the contents fell out. Releasing a discouraged huff, she started to gather her files when she noticed a piece of paper with yellow sticky that simply said “Read” protruding from the folder Valerie had given her. After Sahara returned the contents of her case, she opened Valerie’s folder. As she started to read, her pulse began to race.

Valerie had done it.

Her assistant had found the loophole that might help Whispering Cove stop this project. But would there be an opportunity to get this information to Andie in time?

The next ten minutes seemed to drag on and on. When the town came into sight, an almost panic fell across Sahara. How would she get the opportunity to speak with Andie? She hardly expected Nick and Stephanie to go sightseeing while she single-handedly ruined their chances to build a resort in Whispering Cove.

The second they turned down Main Street the town’s resentment was shown clearly in the windows of each business. Large, bright signs expressed their dissatisfaction, their desire to remain as they were. As they neared the Community Center where the meeting was to be held, young and old protesters walked the sidewalks holding signs. Some simply stating “Go back to New York”.

Sahara knew she shouldn’t take it personally, but she did.

The once-friendly people she had conversed with wore tight and wary faces. Not that she could blame them. She wanted to scream out she possibly had their solution. Instead, she balled her fingers into fists and remained quiet. She had to play this right or she could lose everything.

Intimidation had never been an issue with Sahara, but as she stepped from the car every muscle in her body bunched. Nervously she pulled down on her pencil skirt, and checked her blazer to make sure the buttons were in place.

Stephanie chuckled under her breath. “Can you believe these people?”

Sahara wanted to reach out and slap the woman. Instead her fingers tightened around the handle of her briefcase. A few people threw insults at her, calling her a traitor, but she raised her chin and continued to walk.

“You all right?” Nick asked.

She mustered up a smile. “Of course. I’m doing my job.”

“That a girl,” he said.

As they entered the Center, she quickly swept the room for Andie, but she was nowhere in sight. But she did see Harold chatting with Errol and Byron near the restrooms.

Time was of the essence.

She had to make a move now or all would be lost. “If you’ll excuse me. I need to use the restroom before we begin.”

“I’ll go with you,” Stephanie said.

Sahara resisted the urge to groan.

“They don’t look like a friendly bunch, do they?” the attorney asked.

Sahara started to say, “Can you blame them?” but she held her tongue. When they approached Harold he waved her over. “Go on. I’ll see what Mr. Adair wants.”

When Stephanie entered the restroom Harold narrowed his eyes on Sahara. “Lassie, tell me you’re not going through with this.”

Sahara glanced back and found Nick watching her. She needed to give Andie the paperwork, but she would have to relay the message and hope Harold delivered it correctly. “Harold, I can’t talk now, but I need you to get a message to Andie.”

“Sahara, you tell us what you need and we’ll make sure it’s delivered,” Errol assured her.

“First, you’ll have to promise me you won’t say a word to anyone where this information came from.” If it got back to her employer that she’d sabotaged the deal her career would be over.

The three men nodded.

“Tell Andie to look at the Clarions’ blueprints.” When she saw Nick heading toward them she almost panicked. “There’s an old stone cross erected in the middle of their land. Tell her.”

“Sahara, are you going to introduce me to your friends?”

“Nicolas Schroder, may I introduce Harold Adair. His son-in-law is my brother’s boss, the sheriff of Whispering Cove. These two gentlemen are Harold’s closest friends, Errol Wilson and Byron Mitchell. Now if you will excuse me, nature calls.”

When Sahara closed the stall door inside the bathroom her heart was pounding like war drums. She literally collapsed on the commode.
Please
, she silently prayed,
please let Andie decipher my cryptic message
.

By the time she exited the restroom the Community Center was packed. She moved to the front of the room to join Nick and Stephanie. Her breath caught when she saw Devon front and center. The frown on his face screamed he wasn’t happy. What was she thinking? Then again, he wore the same expression as everyone in the room.

Nick nodded and she took her place at the podium. Looking across the townsfolk of Whispering Cove she had never felt so much of an outsider as she did that moment. “Good evening. Thank you for allowing Moyer, Moyer & Schroder the opportunity to speak with you.”

“Didn’t leave us much choice,” someone yelled from the back. Some people chuckled, but most held on to their steely expressions.

“I’d like to introduce Stephanie Dunn, Lead Council, and Nicolas Schroder who is a partner within Moyer, Moyer and Schroder. I’m Sahara Caan.”

“We know who you are, girly. Now go home,” another person yelled.

Sahara’s throat tightened. Her vision waned.
Please don’t pass out
. She clutched the podium and willed herself not to look at Devon.

“I know the first thought of a resort in your beautiful town may not feel like it would enhance your lives, but if you’ll please provide us an opportunity to speak, we’ll be more than willing to hear your thoughts and ideas.” She turned to her boss. “Mr. Schroder.”

When she stepped aside, her gaze unintentionally went to Devon’s. His face was flushed. His hands fisted. Harold said something to him, but he seemed more concerned with staring a hole through her and it was working.

As Sahara stood beside Stephanie, her mind wandered. She didn’t hear a word Nick said. The next thing she realized, Devon stood and approached the podium. Her heart felt like it would jump from her chest. His mouth opened, then snapped shut when Andie entered holding a laptop. The room grew so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It wasn’t a pin but her heels that echoed throughout. She didn’t pause or take a seat. Instead she walked right to Devon, whispered something to him. He nodded and returned to his seat.

“Mr. Schroder, Ms. Dunn and Miss Caan, I would like to welcome you to our fair town. A town rich with history and one of the reasons there will be no resort constructed on Clarion’s land.”

Nick frowned, pinning Sahara with a sharp glare. “What’s going on?”

“I-I don’t know,” Sahara held her breath, hoping it meant what she thought it did.

Without clarifying her statement, Andie began to connect her laptop to the projector, which displayed on the screen behind her. The first picture that appeared was a gray-and-white, tarnished picture of the Clarion’s mansion before it had burned to the ground.

“Captain James Clarion founded Whispering Cove in 1842. He built his home, raised his family on the very piece of land on which you wish to build your resort. The problem is the Captain was also the first seaman lost at sea.” She touched a key on her keyboard and another old picture depicted a stone cross. Offset from the old photograph was a current-day snapshot of the same old stone cross. “To honor the Captain, this stone cross was erected in the middle of Clarion’s land.”

“Good God, no,” Stephanie groaned.

“Due to the grave and marker’s location, age and the fact the Captain was the first sailor lost at sea from Whispering Cove, Whispering Cove’s Historical Committee has deemed the area a landmark, which means the land can’t be disturbed.”

Sahara inhaled a shaky breath, trying to keep her emotion at bay.

They had done it.

Nick turned to Stephanie. “Is this true?” When she nodded, he narrowed his sight on Sahara. “Why wasn’t this detail uncovered before now?”