His Tempest (18 page)

“You knew that a long time ago. I'm glad something good is finally happening with him. I wish your granddad could see this day. But you're here, aren't you?”

Colin's smile was sad. He wished he could share this moment with his grandfather, too. “Yeah.” Now more than ever he had to hold on to the farm. He'd have to e-mail his father about drawing up that contract. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure a Mayes continued what his grandfather had started all those years ago.

It was Saturday and just moments before the party was to begin. Colin was hanging around outside. He couldn't touch a thing in the house without Leila nearly rapping him on the fingers. Every time he'd tried to steal one of those tiny sandwiches, she'd hollered. So, although he was hungry, he'd left.

George was putting on quite a show, he'd even hired people to park cars. It was a formal affair and he tugged at his tux collar. The thing was about to strangle him to death.

He glanced upstairs at Noelle's room, wishing he could sneak in. She was still dressing. Hairdressers, manicure, pedicure—she and Casey had been yakking about it all week.

It would be the perfect time and place, in front of both her families—the Averys and the Greenwoods. Maybe he'd propose at the party tonight. George had snuck out to the airport to pick up her family. Noelle was still in the dark about their arrival, though Colin knew she'd be happy to see them.

His dad's car was the first to arrive—a whole hour before the party. Colin's gut tightened. He wasn't in the mood for a fight tonight. He was trying to figure out a good time to propose to Noelle.

Instead of going to the house, Leander approached Colin.

“How are you, son?”

“Good,” Colin said cautiously. He couldn't help but be wary. Nothing good had come from conversations with his dad lately.

Leander's perfectly fitted tux shouted money and status. He tucked his hands into his pockets. For once he seemed unsure of himself, which was counter to his character.

“Had some pretty good wins over the weekend, I see,” Leander said.

Colin nodded, waiting for the older man to get to the point.

“I talked to George. Seems your stud fees doubled.”

“Yeah.”

He slid a hand into his inside breast pocket and pulled out an envelope. He hit it against his hand a couple of times.

“You've been right about a few things. I've been unfair. Business hasn't been going as well as I've wanted it to in the last year. I knew some changes were called for and I was hoping to sell my share of the farm to make enough money to finance a new project.”

Colin stood frozen into silence. Had his father sold the farm? God, no! His future was just flushed right down the drain.

“But for the last couple of weeks I've been considering other alternatives.”

Colin's heart started beating again, but only a little. Did that mean he hadn't sold out? Colin didn't know what to think. His insides were twisted like a pretzel.

“So,” Leander continued, “I've decided to give you half of my interest in the farm outright and sell you the other half prorated on what Dad paid.”

Colin couldn't believe it. He was
giving
him half the farm?

“None of the other kids are interested in it. Dad wanted you to have it. He just didn't know how to do it without being unfair to the other kids. So here.” He held out the envelope.

With shaky fingers, Colin took it. “I…” Colin cleared the lump in his throat. In a million years he'd never expected his father to give him half the farm. “I can't believe it. Are you going to be able to pull your company out?”

“Yes, that's already in the works. Aaron and I had a long talk about what should be done. He's been nagging me to death to make changes the last couple of years. I never listened. I guess I felt the burden of the company was mine alone, instead of looking at it as a family endeavor. The boy has some good ideas. Guess we need some younger heads now and then to keep a fresh perspective.”

“Thanks, Dad. I…”

“Believe it or not, I'm proud of you, son. Proud of what you've done for this farm. You deserve it.” Leander then did something he hadn't done since Colin was a boy. He wrapped his arms around him and hugged him, then patted him on the shoulder and walked away.

Colin watched him. He still couldn't believe it. None of it. When Leander entered the house, Colin glanced at the contents of the envelope. It was a bill of sale for the farm at a rate and terms that he could pay on time without touching the money his grandfather had left him. More importantly, his father believed in him, approved of what he was doing. Colin swallowed past the lump in his throat. He glanced at the mountains fading to darkness. Life couldn't get better than this. The only thing that would top it was for Noelle to agree to marry him. He didn't know how she'd feel about living in a house with two other people, but they'd have the upstairs to themselves. George never came up there. Leila's room was on the first floor, too.

Colin figured he could change one of the bedrooms into a den. His suite was more than twice the size of her bedroom, so they'd have enough room without cramping her style. If she didn't want to move there, he'd move in with her.

But first he had to convince her to marry him.

“Casey, my hair will not cooperate,” Noelle moaned.

“Stop messing with it. It's perfect. Lord, Colin's going to lose his tongue when he sees you in that winter-white dress, girlfriend.”

“You're the one who picked it out.”

“And what a choice it is!” Casey said.

Noelle got her first glimpse of Casey in a lovely sleeveless gown that hugged her curves. “You're pretty sharp yourself.”

Casey patted her hair. “Oh, this old thing?”

“Old thing, nothing.”

“Well, we'll just see who I can latch on to at the party. A lot of money is coming here tonight. George sent invitations to everyone in the know. It's not just family. So we're going to see a lot of bigwigs.”

Noelle stepped into her heels. “I could have gone a few more hours without hearing that.”

“You don't have even a few minutes. George asked me to bring you downstairs now. So let's go.”

“All right.” Noelle took one last look in the mirror before she left with Casey. She almost felt like some fairy-tale princess as she descended the stairs.

Colin was standing at the foot. “My God, you're gorgeous,” he breathed. And she believed him because he was looking at her as though he wanted to throw her over his shoulder and run away with her. “I'm scared to kiss you.”

“You can make up for it tonight.”

He held his arm out and she placed her hand in the crook of his elbow. “You can count on it,” he said as he escorted her to the den.

And then she stopped, shocked.

“I can't believe it.” She rushed across the room and flew into her parents' arms. She'd told them about the party but they'd made little of it. “I didn't know you were coming.”

“George invited us,” her mother said, looking gorgeous in a royal-blue gown. She'd kept her figure and was still beautiful. Her dad stood tall and elegant in his tux. Even Greg wore a tux. He and Casey were standing apart talking.

“Mom, I want you to meet Colin Mayes.”

Colin stepped forward. “Pleased to meet you, ma'am.” There were greetings all around before guests began to arrive, and Noelle was thrown into the thick of things. She spent most of the beginning of the night by George's side. Most of his relatives seemed quite pleased for him, even William's mother, which surprised her.

Noelle couldn't help noticing that Colin was particularly happy about something. Especially given that before the party he was griping about having to wear a tux.

And didn't he look great in it? She was thinking of fun ways to get it off him later on, when her mother approached her.

“How are you handling all this?” Harriet Greenwood asked.

“It's overpowering,” Noelle said.

“Colin doesn't seem to be able to keep his eyes off you. So, what's going on?”

Noelle felt her face heat. “We're dating.”

Her mother nodded. “Franklin hasn't stopped frowning since he brought you into the room.”

“Daddy hasn't liked any of my dates.”

Harriet gazed fondly at her handsome husband. “He can be a little overprotective, but he'll get used to it. By the looks of your young man, he's here for the duration.”

Noelle glanced at Colin. She certainly hoped so.

“Who's that surly gentleman over there? He looks familiar.”

Noelle frowned. “He's William, George's nephew.”

“He doesn't seem to be too pleased about you.”

“He isn't. I think my arrival put a damper on some of his plans. It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later,” she said as the front door crashed open.

“There's a fire down the road,” one of the valets shouted. “Call the fire department.”

They ran outside. “Looks like your place,” Colin said, retrieving his cell phone and calling the fire department at the same time he shrugged out of his coat and placed it on Noelle's shoulders.

Her heart jumped into her throat. Everything she owned was in the house.

Colin held her hand as they drove to the house. But when they pulled up in the yard and saw that the house wasn't on fire, some of her panic receded. He kept driving toward the camp.

God, please don't let it be the dorm, she prayed. There was no way she could replace it in time to open for the summer.

Great clouds of billowing smoke gushed into the air. The acrid smell reached them before they made it to the camp.

It was only the little cottage, thank God, but it would still present a problem if it spread to the other buildings. Fire had already engulfed it, sparks were flying into the air.

She heard sirens in the distance, but she doubted they'd be able to save the building.

When they arrived, the crews worked efficiently, wetting down the other structures to keep the fire from spreading before they started on the flaming building. But Noelle already knew the cottage was lost. The cold had gone through her like a chilled wind. How could this have happened?

Colin felt helpless. He glanced up to see William talking to someone. As much as the man hated Noelle, Colin didn't understand why he was even here.

Hours later the firemen questioned Noelle about the repairs being made on the building. It was two in the morning before they finally made it home.

A bedraggled group hauled themselves into George's house.

“I wouldn't be surprised if your carpenter hadn't left that heater on,” William said when everyone was sitting around.

“He's very careful,” Noelle countered.

“He's a drunk.”

“He hasn't taken a drink in weeks. He doesn't drink on the job,” she said. “And most of his problems have been cleared up. So it wasn't him.”

“Just a suggestion,” William said, backing off.

“How did you know he used a heater in there?” Colin asked. “I'm around all the time and I didn't know that.”

“What?”

“The heater. How did you know he used one? You haven't been there, have you?”

“All carpenters use heaters in winter. Doesn't take a genius to know that.”

“He wasn't working in that building,” Noelle said. “He just patched it up a little. Just used it to dress and eat sometimes to get away from the dust in the other buildings. So how did you know?”

“I don't remember seeing you early on,” Colin said to William. “You arrived late.”

William stood his ground. “I'm not going to let you grill me like a criminal.”

“Do you hate her that much?” George asked. “You never were going to get the farm. If Noelle hadn't come along, I would have left it to Colin. I knew you would sell it and I didn't want that. I wanted this farm to survive. And I knew Colin would see that it would.” George swiped a hand over his face. “You burned that girl's building down, didn't you?” He sat down tiredly. “You know this would just about kill your mother. How could you do such a thing?”

“I didn't—”

“Stop the lying,” George said. “It's written all over your face. You've brought nothing but grief from the time you heard about Noelle. I knew your character before. I just never thought you'd stoop this low.”

It took two days for the smoke from the fire to clear. George sent over a crew to clean up the debris.

“You don't have to watch this, sweetheart,” Colin said, standing at the kitchen counter in her house. “I'll take care of it.”

“I want to be part of it. This place meant so much to my grandparents. I don't understand how someone could be so vicious.”