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She’d kept a close-knit group of friends all through school. She hadn’t been into cliques and hadn’t understood the importance placed on popularity. Life was so much bigger than that. She’d gone into forestry because she loved nature. She also loved the alone time.
Maybe being an only child had made her somewhat of a loner. Never much for social gatherings, she’d preferred to spend her time reading novels and bird-watching.
Setting the wristbands aside, her curiosity nudged her to move on to the yearbooks. “Well, Mr. Colton,” she said, “let’s have a recap and then see how you turned out.”
She opened her sophomore yearbook and passed over some of the notes signed on the pages until she reached a page with Decker standing up as class president. He was a junior that year. She flipped to the page containing his photograph and stared. She wondered if he still had those boyish dark good looks. He’d been tall and lean. Maybe he’d filled out some more since then. She remembered passing him in the halls every once in a while. Sometimes he noticed her. She could still feel the jolt of excitement over the way his eyes connected with hers. Had she imagined his interest? Back then she’d fantasized about going to the prom with him, making all the girls envious. It seemed so silly now.
She moved on to her junior yearbook. Brushing photos and other memorabilia aside, she rolled onto her stomach, lifted her calves and wiggled her toes as she drew the book front and center.
There were several pictures of him that year. How many times had she turned to them just to look at his cute face?
As the warm, familiar tingles of attraction enveloped, her phone rang.
Abandoning her comfy pose, she scooted to her side and stretched for the phone. “Hi, Mom.”
“How did it go?”
“As usual.”
“Moving the company forward?”
Kendall loved her mother’s understated wit. “Yes.” She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. Not much to look at but she didn’t need a painting. She still saw Decker’s face.
“He didn’t offer you up like some fourteenth-century daughter of a king, did he?”
“No. He gave me the option of meeting him first.”
Her mother laughed, a deep, genuine sound that filled Kendall with a surge of love. Then she quieted and sobered. “Sweetheart—”
“Don’t, Mom.” Kendall knew what her mother would say.
“What if you enter into this and he...”
“Only wants me for the business deal?”
Her mom let out a short, tense breath. “Yes.” Then she perked right back up to the pistol Kendall had grown up with. “I’ve been going over and over how Decker would respond to his greedy father telling him he had to marry you and I’m just...worried.”
“Don’t be.”
“Well, what if he would do it just to please his father?”
Kendall had been away at college and worked another job before coming home at her father’s request. She didn’t know much about Decker, the man he’d become.
“Maybe he’s not like his father. He’s successful. That might be their only similarity.”
“You always were an optimist. But why would you go through with it? Even the dinner?” her mother asked, sounding concerned.
“I’m...” She wasn’t sure how honest she wanted to be right now. “Curious.” That was honest.
“Satisfying a high school crush?” her mother asked.
“Yes.” And maybe secretly linking in with her young heart, wondering if they’d work out and if it would be as great as she imagined.
“Please be careful, sweetie. If he’s half as much of a shark as his father, he’s incapable of loving anyone.”
She felt a moment of doubt. Maybe dinner was a foolish idea. She could argue she was doing this for her father, but that wasn’t entirely true. Then again, how would she ever know if Decker was worthy of her—even in an arranged marriage—if she didn’t at least see him face to face?
“I’ll know after the dinner.”
“I wonder if he’s still as good-looking,” her mother mused.
“That would be a bonus,” Kendall quipped.
“Or a problem.”
Chapter 2
Decker stood in the living room of the Colton Manor where his parents resided. A thirty-five-million-dollar, eighteen-thousand-square-foot mansion above the valley, it had seven bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, a wine cellar, an indoor pool and much, much more. Saying the place was nice didn’t do it justice, but this kind of excess wasn’t to Decker’s taste. Decorated quite modern, nothing personal filled the luxurious space.
He waited before the wall of windows with a view of a portion of the gondola that started at The Chateau in the valley and ended at The Lodge. Russ and Mara talked behind him on the sofa. They had an amenable but businesslike relationship in his opinion. Sometimes he wondered if they ever truly loved each other. They both worked all the time. This rare display of them conversing like a couple felt odd.
The front doorbell rang. Kendall and her parents had arrived.
He rarely got nervous but a flash of anxiousness arrested him for a moment. After all these years, he’d finally see Kendall again.
Russ and Mara’s butler led the Hadleys into the living room. Bernard came first, in a dark suit and tie. Adorned in a tasteful beige-and-black dress, Marion strolled in next beside her daughter. His breath hitching ever so slightly, Decker’s gaze drifted over Kendall as she walked in calf-high black boots with the grace of a ballet dancer. The short-sleeved black dress she wore was fitted to her bodice, waist and hips and the sweetheart neckline exposed some cleavage. She’d left her long wavy blond hair down and other than mascara, had applied a soft rosy gloss to her full lips. Her bright blue eyes zeroed in on him.
He could never have anticipated the strength of the punch in seeing her. She’d obviously matured, but oh. What a woman.
He swallowed—an involuntary reaction. Wow.
She seemed to spend a few seconds inspecting him, as well. Those stunning eyes—he didn’t remember them being so darn blue—ran up his body, went all over his chest and arms and finally landed on his face. He hadn’t worn a suit, just a nice long-sleeved ocean-blue shirt with gray pants and leather loafers. He had chosen a tie.
“Kendall.” He stepped forward. “It’s so good to see you again.” He took her hand and dipped his head to kiss it, seeing her face up close now. She had a few freckles but they somehow enhanced her beauty.
“Y-you too.”
By her stutter and slightly bewildered look, he suspected she hadn’t expected to like what she saw as much as she did, which matched his reaction. He caught his father’s approving gaze with a subtle, almost shrewd, grin.
Bernard and Marion went to Russ and Mara and started a conversation while a servant appeared with a tray of champagne flutes. Kendall took one and then Decker did also.
“Dad tells me you’ve been working for Hadley Forestry as a conservancy consultant.” Might as well start with the small stuff.
“Yes. I worked for a company in Fort Collins after college but my dad needed me here.”
“He needed you?” Decker didn’t know much about the forestry industry or her father for that matter.
“He’s getting older. He needs help running the company. I think someday he’d like to see me take over.”
“Is that what you want?”
She looked away as she thought. “I do love my degree and my work. Running Hadley Forestry would be right in line with that. I’m just not sure I want that level of executive responsibility. I’m an outdoor girl.”
“You could always hire a CEO.”
She smiled. “I’ve thought of that. My dad isn’t crazy about someone outside the family running his baby.”
Decker nodded with a grin. “My dad wouldn’t care. He’d only care that his baby made lots of money.”
She stopped smiling as she turned to look over at Russ as though a rumor or two had just been confirmed.
“Don’t worry,” Decker said, trying to keep things light—and hopefully putting her at ease. “I’m nothing like him.”
That pretty smile returned, as did her gaze. “Good to know.”
“At the risk of seeming ignorant, what, exactly, does a forestry company do, aside from chopping down trees and selling lumber?”
“There is a supply side and a conservation side,” she explained. “We do a lot of logging, milling and forestry management. We supply Douglas fir, western larch, ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine to the building industry and since I’ve started, we’re looking into partnering with the World Wildlife Fund.” She released a breath before continuing. “Also, one of the first things I did when I came on was to arrange for the company to start harvesting trees destroyed by mountain beetle. It’s proven to provide a great supply source for the company and clears out forested land.”
“Impressive.”
“Conservation is my specialty.” She smiled, revealing straight white teeth. “What about you? You run The Lodge? It’s a lot bigger than when I left for college.”
“Yes. The original ski lodge is now staff housing. The new lodge is much larger and glamorous. There are restaurants and, of course, hotel rooms.”
“Luxury hotel rooms?”
“Yes. We also built some cabins on the property.”
“Luxury.”
Did she not approve? “We do cater to the wealthy. You grew up that way, didn’t you?”
“Yes. My family is very wealthy. I just think average people should be able to enjoy places like The Lodge.”
“They can,” he countered. “The ski resort is open to everyone.”
“They just can’t stay the night there.”
She clearly didn’t like the segregation of classes. He both admired her for that and disagreed. “Some people need places to go to escape the public.”
“Then maybe you are more like your father than you think.”
“Do you not like my father?”
Again, she glanced over at Russ. “I guess he’s not much different than mine.”
“Using his kid to advance business?” He grinned.
She smiled back and then laughed softly. “Yes.”
After a long look that began to sizzle, she said neutrally, “I haven’t been to The Lodge since it was expanded.”
“I’ll have to take you on a tour sometime.” Maybe then she’d change her mind.
“I’d like that.”
He barely heard the announcement that dinner was ready, just followed Kendall into the formal dining area, a rectangular room with a polished wood table that could seat fourteen, white fireplace on one side and china cabinet on the other. Swooping curtains adorned tall windows and a crystal chandelier hung from a tray ceiling.
Russ finished bragging about his empire’s first quarter projections as he took a seat next to Mara, who appeared bored and didn’t say much. Decker sat beside Kendall when she took a seat next to her mother.
“As two of the most affluent families in Roaring Springs, I can’t think of a better alliance,” Russ said.
Bernard smiled. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Marion eyed her husband and then glanced across at Mara, who quietly observed her, evidently having noticed that Marion didn’t seem happy to be here. Decker’s mother valued the time she spent with her children and grandchildren but her devotion to The Chateau made that a challenge.
“I am curious, however,” Bernard said. “What made you think Decker and Kendall would make such a good match?”
“You’ve been getting a lot of good press with your move toward preserving the forest. World Wildlife Fund. Environmental financing. Very innovative revenue generation.”
Bernard puffed up in what Decker could only call pride. “That was my daughter’s idea.”
Decker watched his difficult-to-impress father bestow rarely offered respect upon Kendall and he could almost hear him thinking what a great addition she’d make to his Colton Empire.
“We’re ready, sir.”
Decker turned to see a servant standing at the entrance to the dining room.
“Ah,” Russ said. “Decker, I’ve taken the initiative to arrange for you and Kendall to have a more private dinner.” He chuckled briefly. “You’re too old to be having dinner with your parents on a first date. Charles here will take you to your table.”
Decker saw Kendal’s startled face and didn’t make a big deal over his own surprise. They followed the servant to the front side of the mansion, where a sunroom overlooked the picturesque valley. Decker suspected his mother had something to do with the round linen-covered table with a candle burning and soft piano music playing. Two chairs flanked the double French entry and plants lined the stone wall.
Decker pulled out a chair for Kendall and then sat across from her, looking out the arch-topped window beside them.
“This is awkward.”
He turned back to Kendall. “Our parents are determined to put us together.”
“Hm.” She lifted a glass of red wine and sipped. “Not my mother.”
“She’s against it?”
“She wants to see me marry for love. She only agreed because I wanted to have this dinner with you and decide for myself.”
“I’m not sure what my mother thinks,” Decker admitted. “She probably agrees with my father. She’s just as ambitious as he is when it comes to the success of the business.”
“No wonder he came up with this plan. He sounds like my father.” Kendall smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Business first.”
“Always. But he does have his redeeming qualities and I do know he loves me.”
“I feel the same about my father,” Decker said. “He’s forgotten how to show love, but it’s there. Maybe he never learned how to show it.” He sometimes resented that and wondered if the constant fight to win Russ Colton’s love had compelled him to do anything his father asked or expected. Sometimes he wished he would have followed his brother’s path. Wyatt dropped out of college to join the rodeo. Only when he inherited the Crooked C Ranch from their grandmother did he return to Roaring Springs.
“Well, now that they have us where they want us, what shall we talk about?” she murmured.
He leaned back as a servant delivered the first course. More interested in her, he ignored the artful display of sliced seared scallop topped with alaea red salt and lemon olive oil.
“What have you been up to since high school?” he asked.
“I went to college and got my masters. After that I went to work for the Forest Service. Then I returned to Roaring Springs when my father said he needed me home, to help with the company. He’s getting older and, as I mentioned earlier, thinking about retiring.”
“Is that all? What about relationships?”
She lifted her brow marginally, as though she hadn’t expected the question. “I’ve had boyfriends. Nothing worth talking about.”
“Those are usually the most important to talk about.”
“If that’s what you think, then tell me about your past girlfriends.” She sipped her wine and sent him a coy look with those incredible blue eyes.
Well, he’d stepped right into that one. “Nothing too serious. I thought I loved the girl I was with after high school but then I grew up.”
“The prom queen?”
He grunted because it all seemed so meaningless now. “Yeah.” Then he contemplated her a moment, such a beautiful woman and she’d never stepped out into the spotlight. “You kept a low profile in high school.”
“I was more into real friends.”
He had run across a lot of students who had befriended him because of his popularity. It hadn’t bothered him, though. He’d had his close group of companions.
“What about after the prom queen?” she asked.
She wouldn’t give up. “I dated someone in college.”
“All through college?”
“Yes, and then she didn’t want to move to Roaring Springs so she broke up with me.”
“Did that hurt?”
He’d be lying if he said the breakup didn’t. His first love had gone to college for business like he had. He thought they made a great team. She was someone his father approved of and she was pretty. Back then pleasing his dad had been priority number one.
“Yeah, but I graduated and went to work for my dad.” It struck him then that maybe part of the reason he had done that was to forget about that woman.
“No more time for love.”
He paused at her sarcasm because it felt truer than something to joke about. “What about you? Why haven’t you been snatched up by someone?”
“Oh, I was. A few times. I had a couple of year-long relationships that ended mutually, and then closer to graduation I met someone special and we moved in together. I imagined that was going to be it for me until I came home one day to him in our bed with another woman.” She sighed. “I never thought I’d be one of those women who so sorely misread a man. Walking in on your lover with someone else happened to other women and only in the movies.”
“Not to you?” He chuckled. “I didn’t walk in on one of my girlfriends, but she told me she had been with someone else. That was after college. I was working a lot and I guess she got sick of it.” He drank some wine as he remembered how much that had stung. The realization that he’d become his father had been difficult to swallow. That’s when he’d begun to think how different his life would be had he not listened to the great Russ Colton. He’d envied his brother Wyatt for defying their father and going off to the rodeo before inheriting the Crooked C.
“I’ve found that waiting for them to come to me works best, rather than actively looking for it,” Kendall confided.
He set down his glass as the servants brought in the next course, which was creamed pea-and-leek soup with croutons.
Decker didn’t miss how Kendall appreciated the presentation of the dishes. Although she was no stranger to fine dining, she didn’t bask in the elegance for the wrong reason, though. The way she took it all in, smelled the aromas, told Decker she loved the art and the tastes more than the privilege. She hadn’t lost her humble nature and took nothing for granted.
Like now, she lifted her spoon and smelled with her eyes closed before sampling the soup. When she finished she looked at him and said, “You know what I love most about dinners like this?”
He felt a shot of warmth as he observed her. “No, what?”
“I don’t have many meals like this, but when I do, they’re always special because they take time. It’s more than good food. It’s the entire experience, and the social aspect.”
He concurred, especially about the time. His curiosity of her grew and he needed to know more. “Is that why you agreed to this dinner?”
She stopped eating the soup. “No, of course not.”
It had to be more than him, or more aptly, their fathers coming to her. “Then why even consider marrying me?”
“Why did you even consider marrying me?” she volleyed back.
“I asked you first.”
Smiling, giving him another shot of warmth, she murmured, “I guess I haven’t really considered it yet. I wanted to meet you. See how it went.”
“And how is it going?”
“I’d say quite well.” Still looking at him with a soft smile, she asked, “Are you going to answer the question now?”
Decker wasn’t ready to let her off the hook yet. She hadn’t exactly answered his question. Why did she skirt it? “So you have no intention of marrying me? Why agree to dinner with me, knowing this is all for the purpose of the two of us getting married?”
She took a moment before responding. “Like I said, I wanted to meet you, meet the man and see how the high school boy turned out. Do I have to definitively say I’ll marry you yet?”
“I can give you until after dinner,” he half joked.
She smiled again, bigger this time. “What about you? Why did you consider marrying me?”
“I’m not sure I did. I worried that I’d do yet another thing my father expects of me,” he said.
Her smile faded and her brow lowered as though confused. “Then why...”
“I was curious, too. I remembered you from high school and I had to see you.”
“It was the same for me,” she confessed.
After a long stare, she lowered her eyes first and he forced himself to pay attention to the soup. His anticipation of continuing this courtship stimulated him more and more.
Minutes later, two servants returned with fresh plates.
“Sea bass served with celeriac purée, sorrel leaves and smoked sauce,” one of them said.
Kendall went about her usual delighted inspection before enjoying the first bite.
“What do you like to do in your spare time?” he asked as they shared the meal.
“I love being outside. I also read a lot. Flower garden. Go out for lunch with friends. Spend time with my parents. What about you?”
He chuckled. “I work a lot.”
“Surely you must do something other than that. Don’t you ever get outside?”
“I ski when I get the chance,” he replied.
“How thrilling.”
Her teasing didn’t offend him. “I read sometimes.”
“Hmm...something in common. What about friends?” she asked, no longer teasing.
“I didn’t keep in touch with anyone from school. My friends work for me or frequent The Lodge.”
“It sounds like you have a bland life.” She sounded as though she pitied him.
“Running The Lodge is not bland. I meet all kinds of interesting people.”
Kendall contemplated him and he could all but hear her thinking of the affluent people who came to The Lodge, famous or just wealthy and successful. He liked the challenge of running such an upscale establishment.
“What would you have done if you hadn’t followed your father’s footsteps?” she queried.
Caught off guard, he had to take a few seconds to think. “I would have still chosen business. Growing up, I was always fascinated with the resort and The Chateau. I used to love to ride the gondola and watch all the people. Then when I was older, I paid attention to how my dad made profits. Even before he started pressuring me to work and learn to take over the business, I was already headed for an MBA. But I’m not sure I’d have chosen my father’s business. I think I would have chosen to start my own.”
Kendall nodded as she absorbed his response. He really liked her genuine interest. It gave him a shot of heat and made him notice how beautiful she was. He had found her beautiful from the moment he saw her but now it had taken on a new intensity, more sexual. He wanted her every time he saw her.
“Would your dad have fired you if you didn’t run the business the way he wanted?” Kendall asked.
“Yes.” Russ could be a real hardhat when it came to that. “I want to be CEO. So far he isn’t convinced I’m the man for the job.”
“I suppose that’s a good thing. You wouldn’t want that role if it would set you up for failure.”
“It won’t set me up for failure. I’m the only one who can do it.” He wasn’t bragging like his father often did. He knew he was good enough for that job.
“Well, you certainly seem to work hard enough. And you’re in great shape so you must at least have time to take care of yourself.”
“I have a gym in my house and there is one at The Lodge. I also do get a lot of exercise just walking the property.”
The salad course arrived and Kendall rubbed her tummy. “I don’t want to get too full.”
There were more courses to come. “You don’t have to eat everything.”
She lifted her fork. “And miss all this deliciousness? I don’t think so.” She ate a bite.
“Tell me about your work,” he said. “Why forestry? Were you another victim of a father’s dreams and aspirations?”
She smiled, something she apparently did often. He noticed her again with more intensity, his reaction sort of taking him by surprise with its immediacy. She seemed like a happy, confident woman.
“Yes and no. I always knew I wanted to get into a career that involved the environment. My father encouraged me to go to school for forestry. I chose wildlife biology and took some forestry classes.”
“What do you love about what you do?”
She pushed the salad away and leaned her elbows on the table, blurring his view of her through the candle flame. “Being outside. Preserving the forest and the wildlife.”