Glynna Kaye - Mountain Country Courtship

Which he did not have to waste.

“Would you do that, Denny?”

Picturing her propped up in her bed at the rehab center, he discerned the wheedling tone she’d used when he was a kid to persuade him to her way of thinking. But he steeled himself.

“Mother, this isn’t a good idea. You need to let it go. If you want, I’ll look around for housing options for your friend while I’m here. Then you can decide if you want to subsidize those costs. It would be considerably less expensive than what upgrading the Pinewood Inn will be. Much less risky, too.”

And take up a lot less of his time, as well.

“But she’s always enjoyed the guests, whipping up goodies for them in the kitchen, working in her garden.”

Denny stepped into the gazebo and turned to gaze out over the walled space. “I admit it’s one amazing garden. But the niece was vague about how much Viola’s done with it since her fall, and how much of it she and others have been doing.”

“This Lillian seems capable. A hard worker, from what her aunt told me. If there’s a chance that with her help Viola could stay there...”

With a sinking feeling, he stared up at the azure sky. It wouldn’t kill him to get estimates. Do online window-shopping for an idea of what it would take to revamp the furnishings. No doubt someone once had a bright idea that with Hunter Ridge located in the Southwest, the carved dark wood and paintings of cactus and sunbaked Mexican streets would be suitable. While that might work in a Tucson adobe-style inn, it wasn’t cabin-country Hunter Ridge by a long shot. If he had his druthers, he’d go for a more contemporary, streamlined look. A contrast to the traditional exterior.

“I can do the research, but there’s no market here for this kind of lodging. People who come up this way stay at outdoorsy places like Hunter’s Hideaway.”

What did the family’s new logo tout? The one he’d seen on their website? Oh, yeah. Where rustic meets relaxing—without apology.

“Please, Denny? This would mean so much to me. I know it’s never going to be more than a break-even proposition, but...” His mother paused, and he could hear a low male voice in the background on her end, although he couldn’t understand the words. “One second. Elden wants to speak to you.”

Denny’s jaw clenched. His stepfather wanted to speak to him now? Where had he been a few weeks ago, before turning the vice-president position over to Vic? Without a word of warning—or of apology afterward.

“Den.” The rumbling voice sounded genial enough—but then, that was standard, even when delivering news of budget cuts and severances of contracts with longtime loyal vendors. Denny could picture the sixtysomething hotelier, his salt-and-pepper hair thick and neatly styled, his deceptively casual manner of dress belying that his attire was purchased from top-notch clothiers.

Denny gripped his phone more tightly. “Yes, sir?”

“I understand Char sent you to Arizona to take care of personal business for her.”

“With the understanding that I’d be gone from work only a few days.” Had his absence not been taken well? “I’m staying on top of business long-distance and will return shortly.”

“I’m not concerned about that. But I am concerned that you agreed to see about upgrading a property Charlotte’s friend manages, and that it sounds as if you’re now unwilling to follow through on that.”

A muscle in Denny’s throat tightened at the misinterpretation, just as a bird in a nearby tree started into an annoyingly repetitious solo. “What my mother originally asked me to do was evaluate the situation and determine if retaining her ailing friend as manager of the Pinewood Inn and investing a great deal of money in upgrades is a worthwhile option. I did as she asked and confirmed it’s a poor investment.”

Would that obnoxious bird never shut up?

“You know I’m crazy about your mother, don’t you?” Elden never made a secret of that and had always treated her like a queen. Pampered her. In fact, Denny’s father blamed his ex’s former boyfriend for making her dissatisfied with Hunter Ridge, motherhood and, in particular, her first husband. “I know you care for her, too, Den. So what do you say the two of us get this inn fixed up the way she’d like it? You know how she dotes on that old gal who befriended her in that backwoods hamlet.”

Denny stepped out of the gazebo, determined to keep his temper in check. “So you want her to spend a mint on a six-guest-room inn located in the middle of nowhere and hand it over to an old woman who is in questionable health but who also has no training and limited experience in the hospitality field? Pardon me for pointing this out, Elden, but that’s not the type of investment you’ve trained me to make.”

“Maybe not, but if you can see to your mother’s business and lie low in Arizona while Victor gets acclimated to his new role...” That’s what this is about? Making life comfy for Vic? “If you can make those things happen, Den, I can make it worth your while.”

Denny had heard his stepbrother was struggling—a leader without followers, because most supported Denny stepping into that VP slot. “I’m being banished? Is that what you’re telling me?”

His stepfather chuckled. “Not banished. Giving your brother a chance to find his footing without people looking to you for the answers.”

“Is that what he’s telling you? That I’m trying to undermine him?”

“Apparently you have a loyal following, and that’s caused unrest.”

“I’m not driving that. It’s business as usual, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not stirring up animosity toward Vic.”

“That’s good to know. But I realize that as long as you’re highly visible and available, there are those who may continue turning to you instead of Victor. There seems to be an undercurrent of, shall we say, resentment on the part of some that he was promoted over you.”

No foolin’. “Is that surprising? Vic walked out on you and the family business almost a decade ago. Then he waltzes back in—and out of the blue steps into a top spot.”

“Although it may seem like it on the surface, it wasn’t out of the blue. I told him at the time we had our falling-out that there would always be a place for him in the business.”

A place he hadn’t earned? A birthright he’d snubbed?

Denny remembered well that blowup between his stepbrother and Elden. It hadn’t been pretty, and clearly Elden had been deeply wounded at a betrayal by the offspring he’d poured so much of himself into. That was when Denny set his heart on filling Vic’s shoes better than Vic could ever fill them. To earn his stepfather’s respect and a leadership role in the family business. He was well on the road to achieving that, until Vic showed up last winter, seemingly humble and contrite...and the tide began to turn.

“From the reaction of others,” Denny said carefully as he watched Lillian step out the back door and into the garden, “I think you’d have to agree that expectation wasn’t well communicated.”

“Come on. He’s my son, Den.” And I’m not. “He’s settling down now and is ready to put his nose to the grindstone. Don’t take it personally. You and everyone else knew from the beginning that he is destined for the top spot when I step down. That’s still a considerable ways off, but if everyone pulls together, helps him get through this time of transition, it will work out in the long run. For everyone. I’m counting on you to make that happen.”

Meaning keep out of the way?

“I have responsibilities, projects that I’m in the middle of, people who are depending on me.”

Seeking relief from the pressure building inside, his gaze tracked Lillian as she gracefully moved to sit on a shaded stone bench. She was a striking-looking young woman with a country-fresh vivacity that had been absent in the sophisticated, born-to-high-society Corrine. The local librarian seemed considerably less capricious than his former fiancée, too. You wouldn’t catch a well-grounded Lillian Keene heading for the hills on her wedding day, leaving some poor sucker in the dust.