Kara Lennox - Reluctant Partners

“If they didn’t have anything on paper-”

“They did. A will. We have to face it-it was Johnny’s intention to give this boat to Allie. Now you’re the legal hotshot, so we might be able to get it away from her based on legal technicalities, but if we do, that makes us thieves, no better than Heather. I, for one, recommend we drop all legal proceedings.”

Cooper shook his head. After all he’d put into this venture? The thought, the money, the legal stuff? He’d quit his job, burned his bridges and alienated his entire family for this dream. Not only that, he’d dragged Max and Reece into it with him.

He wasn’t going to just walk away.

“Why don’t we try again with the cash settlement?” Max suggested. “Knowing what we do about what she’s invested in Remington Charters, we could offer more.”

“The amount doesn’t seem to be in question,” Cooper said. “I didn’t get as far as naming a dollar figure. She shot me down within thirty seconds.”

“Everybody has their price,” Max said, polishing off the last of his hash browns. “We just have to find Allie’s.”

Cooper already knew. No amount of money was going to move Allie, at least not any amount he and his cousins could come up with, and they could come up with quite a bit.

Maybe the best thing to do was let the courts sort it out. If he and his cousins won, he would voluntarily pay Allie back her financial investment and then some, enough that she could start fresh somewhere else. If she wasn’t a con artist, or even an opportunist, he refused to take away everything she cared about and leave her destitute.

If Allie won-and he had to acknowledge the possibility, since none of his strategies for breaking the handwritten will were panning out-he would have to fall back on Plan B.

Of course, he didn’t have a Plan B, but maybe it was time to come up with one.

One thing he wouldn’t do, under any circumstances, was crawl home and beg for his job back. He would never hear the end of it. His mother still called him almost every day, pleading with him to see sense and come back home.

His older brother, Derek, would lord it over him if he ever returned to Remington Industries. His life would be a living hell.

As if on cue, his cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID, winced, and let it roll over to voice mail.

“Is it your mom?” Max asked.

Cooper nodded. “Are your parents bugging you to come back?”

Max shook his head. “No way. They’re giving me the silent treatment.” He sighed. “It’s heaven.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Reece said. “Derek called.”

That got Cooper’s full attention. “Derek called you? Why?”

“He couldn’t get you to answer your phone.”

Cooper should have known he couldn’t duck his brother forever. “What did he want?”

“Beats me. He just said to tell you to call.”

This was bad news. Very bad. He and Derek had always gotten along fine-until they’d started working together. Cooper’s last promotion hadn’t sat well with Derek. He’d always assumed the vice presidency was locked up once their father retired, but with Cooper on the rise, he’d become extremely defensive and condescending.

Cooper hoped that his departure from Remington Industries would solve the problem, but he wasn’t at all sure it would.

“Listen,” Cooper said, “Derek can’t get wind of our legal snafu or he’ll start stomping around in it, trying to rescue me.” The possibility turned Cooper’s stomach. People said Cooper was ruthless, but Derek made his little brother look like a puppy by comparison.

“Then you better keep Allie away from him,” Max said. “Something tells me she won’t keep secrets on your behalf.”

THE JOB COOPER GAVE ALLIE was the most tedious thing she could imagine; she had to call back every single person who had left either of them a message regarding booking a fishing trip and try to schedule them.

She hated the phone, hated selling. She would have preferred being ordered to scrub algae from the Dragonfly ’s hull. But she knew it had to be done if she wanted maximum benefits from the trade show, so she buckled down and prepared to jump into the task. She found herself a comfortable chair in the parlor, propped up her feet on a cushy footstool, and settled in to listen to the messages on Cooper’s phone first.

“What are you going to do while I’m toiling away on the phone?” she asked since he was obviously planning to go out. He had his car keys in his hand and his coffee in a travel mug.

“I thought I would check on the Dragonfly ’s progress. We really need to get her back in the water.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” she cautioned him. “Otis does great work, but he’s meticulous and a bit slow. If you bug him, he’ll slow down even more. He hates to be rushed.”

“I won’t pressure him. I just want to see-”

“By showing up, you’ll pressure him.”

But as usual, he ignored her advice and went his own way. He would learn.

Allie made a list of the names and phone numbers of everyone who had called. Sprinkled among all the messages were calls from someone named Derek who insisted that Cooper return his call; the messages became more insistent.

The final message in the queue was from Derek again: “Derek. Listen, Sylvia and I have decided to come down there and see for ourselves what you’re up to. Mom’s afraid you’ve driven your car into a ditch, and that’s why you’re not answering. We’ll arrive tomorrow and stay a couple of days-you can take us fishing on that tub you inherited. If it’s everything you’ve made it out to be, I can put Mom’s mind at ease.”

Hmm. Obviously Cooper had a brother. And it sounded as if his family wasn’t gung ho about Cooper’s life taking such a radical turn. Which meant Derek was a potential ally for her.

She checked the schedule, then called Derek back. She got his voice mail, of course. He was no doubt some bigwig at Remington Industries, the type who never answered his own phone.

“Derek, this is Allie Bateman with Remington Charters. We’d be delighted to have you and Sylvia as our guests on a half-day fishing charter on Wednesday afternoon, our first available opening.”

They had a trip scheduled for that morning, but it was a short one.

“I’ll make a reservation for you at the Sunsetter Bed and Breakfast for Tuesday and Wednesday night,” she continued, “but you can extend it if you like.” She left the Sunsetter’s address and phone number and hung up, feeling a little guilty over her deviousness.

Trying to outmaneuver Cooper had become a nasty habit. If she were really a good person, she would apologize for her bad behavior yesterday even if there was no hope of restoring a friendly relationship.

On the other hand, if they were now destined to fight for the Dragonfly to the bitter end, she still intended to win. Even if winning meant she would never see Cooper again.

Cooper returned to the B and B feeling pretty pleased with himself. Otis Sinclair hadn’t seemed at all bothered by Cooper’s appearance, and the work on the boat was almost done. Otis had assured Cooper they could pick up the boat tomorrow morning, which would give them a day to prepare for their first charter, scheduled for Wednesday morning.

The other job he’d commissioned-the repainting of the sign that hung over the Dragonfly ’s slip-was almost done, too.

He felt confident that once Allie was back on her boat, back in her comfort zone, she wouldn’t be so prickly. Her accusations against him still stung, and he hadn’t entirely forgiven her for them. But the two of them had to put their differences aside. They had customers to please, plans to implement. The new and improved Remington Charters needed to be running smoothly by the time the tourist season got into full swing.