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He held his tongue and released a long sigh before pushing himself up on shaky knees. I knew he cared and that it came from a place of simply wanting his daughter to be happy, but I couldn’t give him the reassurance that it was all fake. Couldn’t have that slipping through the cracks. Besides, a part of me somewhere deep inside knew that it would hurt just a little to say that it was fake out loud. That was the part of me that I needed to snuff out before it grew like wildfire. “Alright. Just know that he’s not worthy of you, Lots. You’re miles better. You can do miles better than him.”
“I know.”
He crossed the room to the door, taking one last look back at me. “Don’t let him break your heart.”
Chapter 13
Hunter
Lottie’s voice carried through the small meeting room at the Boulder office as I clicked away at my computer, trying to divide my attention between her presentation and the fires in my inbox regarding Jared Keelings.
I’d received twenty-two emails this morning from clients questioning the stability of the Harris agricultural empire. If I added that number to the ones we’d gotten since my breakfast date with Lottie on Friday, we were approaching fifty. Each one required its own well thought-out response, its own finesse to calm them down. In addition to the original three clients that jumped ship, another seventeen were lost outright.
I worked through the emails with a heavy heart, and each time I got more than a paragraph written, Lottie’s voice pulled me back to the meeting.
“…I’m well aware that thoroughbreds have been a staple within Harris breeding since it was established.” My eyes snapped up, locking with hers for a brief, flitting second, setting me on edge. She flipped to the next slide in her presentation.
Don’t test me, Lottie.
“This upcoming year, though, I’d like to push the envelope a little.”
Dammit.
There were four quadrants on the screen, each dedicated to their own breed. Lottie looked at it, her pin-straight hair cascading down her back over the first real business attire I’d ever seen her in. The dark, gray pantsuit and stark, black button-up somehow conjured up even worse images than that black satin dress she’d worn in Oahu.
“We’ll still breed thoroughbreds—of course—enough to exceed the minimum sales targets. But we’ll also breed quarter horses at that same level.”
“Are you saying that you will also be adding Appaloosas and Friesians?” Dad asked, his voice wary as he clicked the top of his pen and jotted something down in his obscured notebook. “Do you have a plan in place to source them?”
Lottie nodded. “Yes, Edward, I do.” My eyes flared for a moment as I watched her. No one who had ever worked under my father had been brave enough to call him by his first name. Most called him Mr. Harris, or an easier official term, like sir. “I’ve been in talks with a few other breeders who have agreed to sell us some of their top breeding stock. It’s all within budget.”
Her breathing was steady, strong, and assertive. The top three buttons on her shirt were undone, enough to show me the inside edges of her collarbone and the necklace that rested against the center of it. I gave her a quick, curt nod. Good.
If Dad had a problem with any of it, he certainly didn’t make it known.
Despite my worries about her stubbornness, she really was the perfect person for this job. She had a good head on her shoulders, a confidence about her that I hadn’t seen before, and a cockiness that would get her wherever she needed to go. In all honesty, I was proud of her.
————
“What is this? Some kind of show you’re putting on?”
Fred leaned way too far into my personal space from his swivel chair next to me. “I’m trying to put out fires,” I grumbled, sending the email I was working on and pulling up the next.
“I mean with your girlfriend.”
I spun my chair around to put more space between us. His dark hair was curled up around his ears, little strays flying out from every angle. My brother wasn’t too concerned about his appearance after he married his wife, but in turn, that meant he wasn’t too concerned about looking professional. Probably why Dad sends me out on first meetings. “What do you mean?”
His lips twitched up on one side as he glanced toward Lottie. She was stuffing her binders into a tote bag, a look of determination and satisfaction on her face. “Don’t you think it’s a little odd how you started dating her at the same time as hiring her? Especially after what Dad said.”
I closed my laptop and stared him dead in the eye. “I know what you’re implying. Don’t.”
Fred chuckled, leaning back in his chair to appear as nonchalant as he could. I knew damn well when he was faking though. “Just seems like an interesting little arrangement to make him consider that perhaps you’ve settled down. If you think you’ll get to take over because of it, you are incredibly naive.”
“It has nothing to do with that,” I lied. And apparently I was good at it. Out of the two of us, I was always the one who got away with it. “But by all means, if you want to think that’s what’s happening why don’t you tell Dad? See what he thinks.”
He shook his head, his mop of untamed curls flying. “No. Not until I’ve got evidence.”
I rolled my eyes and stood from my chair, slipping my laptop into its carrying case. “Good luck with that, Freddie.”
