Arlene James - Building a Perfect Match

The right man for the job?

In charge of a hotel renovation, Petra Chatam’s got everything under control—except Dale Bowen. The too-handsome contractor has his own ideas about the project. And they don’t match up with ambitious Petra’s, who hopes to become hotel manager. But the more time they spend together, the more Petra realizes they both agree on what really matters: love, faith and family. And they soon learn that building a future together is more work than building a hotel! It’ll take a little bit of patience—and a lot of help from three love-minded aunts.

“You!” they both said. “What are you doing here at Chatam House?”

Dale grinned. “I work here.”

At the same time, Petra said, “I live here. My aunts invited me to stay until the hotel is finished.”

“You’re a Chatam!” Dale declared.

“Petra Chatam,” she confirmed, comprehension dawning in her warm amber eyes.

“I should’ve known.” He reached out to tap the delicate cleft in her dainty chin, but at the last moment, stopped himself. “That and the eyes. Though, yours are darker, which is odd because your hair is so…” Beautiful, he thought.

“It’s good of you to inspect the job that your crew is doing on the new suite.”

“Uh, I am the crew,” he informed her.

She blinked at that, and he could almost see himself coming down in her estimation, from partner and project manager to lowly carpenter. Uncharacteristically, his temper spiked. He was proud of what he did.

But he didn’t kid himself that he lived on the same plain as Garth Anderton. Or the Chatams.

But he was shocked to find that it suddenly mattered....

ARLENE JAMES

says, “Camp meetings, mission work and church attendance permeate my Oklahoma childhood mem-ories. It was a golden time, which sustains me yet. However, only as a young widowed mother did I truly begin growing in my personal relationship with the Lord. Through adversity He has blessed me in countless ways, one of which is a second marriage so loving and romantic it still feels like courtship!”

After thirty-three years in Texas, Arlene James now resides in Bella Vista, Arkansas, with her beloved husband. Even after seventy-five novels, her need to write is greater than ever, a fact that frankly amazes her, as she’s been at it since the eighth grade. She loves to hear from readers, and can be reached via her website, www.arlenejames.com.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and

let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

— Proverbs 31:30–31

Some daughters-in-law are sweet and thoughtful. Some are brilliant and talented. Some are beautiful and fun. Some are industrious and hardworking. Some are good wives, and some are good moms. Some are dedicated Christian women.

I hit the jackpot and got all of the above!

This one’s for you, Monica.

MomR

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

“Well, sis,” Asher Chatam said, smiling across his desk at Petra, “you’re bringing the old Vail Hotel back to life. How does it feel?”

“The Anderton Vail,” Garth Anderton, CEO of Anderton Hotels, corrected, passing a stack of papers to the man on his right.

Petra flashed a careful smile at her older brother, who, as the attorney for Bowen & Bowen Construction, had drawn up the contracts now being signed for the renovation of the historic hotel. Knowing well her reputation among the members of her own family, she silently prayed for success.

Lord, this is my chance to achieve something, to finally find my place in the world. Please help me pull this off.

At twenty-eight, Petra had flitted from one “career” to another, never quite finding her calling, her passion, while her siblings, high achievers all, had long ago settled into their chosen fields. Now, as Special Assistant to the CEO of Anderton Hotels, she finally had an opportunity to do something meaningful—right here in Buffalo Creek, Texas, the hometown of her parents, both physicians who resided in Waco, where she had grown up.

She had brought the Vail to the attention of Garth Anderton soon after going to work for his company. Garth, who had built the Anderton chain by renovating small, historic hotels in good locations into unique and profitable properties, had been skeptical at first, as Buffalo Creek lay nearly forty miles to the south of the downtown centers of both Dallas and Fort Worth. The value of the property, however, along with the cost-plus contract that Petra had negotiated with Bowen & Bowen, had convinced Anderton of the viability of the project.

Now, if Petra could just bring this off on budget and schedule, she stood to be named manager of the hotel. Then, Garth had promised, after a few months he would bring her on to the acquisitions team. She would be perfectly placed, and on a career trajectory at last, when he took the company international.

Yet so much could go wrong. Her business degree hadn’t exactly prepared her for overseeing the renovations of a historic hotel, let alone managing it. Plus, Garth himself presented something of a problem. Twice divorced, he had a reputation for dating and marrying his employees. Though he constantly cast out lures, Petra was determined not to bite. It meant walking a tightrope on the job, never taking up Garth on his more personal suggestions and constantly doing her best work.

Walton Bowen, the senior partner at the construction company, finished signing the papers and laid aside his ink pen. A big man with graying brown hair and smiling hazel eyes, he rose to his feet and shook hands all around before leaving the office. Petra and Garth followed a few moments later, strolling along the square to the southeast corner in the ninety-plus-degree heat. They crossed the street to the Vail and pushed through the bronze-and-glass doors.

Petra did not recall a time when the hotel had been operational. During her many visits to see her aunties in Buffalo Creek, the old hotel had stood silent and empty, the peach-colored marble columns and grand staircase rising in ghostly splendor behind the thick glass of its murky windows. As a child, Petra had often stood with her nose pressed to the glass, imagining those who had climbed the steps and moved through the lobby.

Though the major contracts had just been signed, work had already begun on the first phase of the project, which involved Garth’s personal quarters. The new construction had left the soaring lobby looking more like a war zone than a luxury hotel in the making, however. Dust coated everything in sight, from the dull but intricately carved registration desk to the gapped crystal chandeliers overhead.

Suddenly dismayed, Petra scrunched her toes inside her shoes. It didn’t help that her spectator pumps, which perfectly complemented her paper-white linen suit and black, sleeveless turtleneck, had turned out to be nothing more than attractive vises to torture her feet. Picking her way through the debris littering the marble floor, she wished mightily that she’d worn sensible flats.

“We’ve got quite a job cut out for us,” Garth Anderton decreed, nodding his frosty head.