Weddings Collection. Кэрол Мортимер

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ was so painful to her granddaughter. “Kevin, I hear you’re looking to invest your money in something.”

      Investing made it sound so distant, as if he was going to sit back and let his money do his earning for him. That held absolutely no appeal for him.

      “I’m looking for a new business venture.” After working on the farmhouse for all this time, he was acutely aware of things in need of repair. He looked around the post office. It could use work. “Why, do you need renovations?”

      When Ursula smiled, there was still a great deal of the young girl who had once captured the hearts of all the men in the area. “No, but I hear you’re pretty handy at that, too.” Her eyes sparkled as they shifted toward June and then back to him.

      June rolled her eyes. When she was younger, there were times when she thought her grandmother had built-in radar. Things hadn’t changed all that much. “Meet my grandmother, our answer to the Internet and a gossip column, all rolled into one.”

      “It’s not gossip if it’s true.” Ursula pretended to sniff. Her explanation, again, was for Kevin. “It’s a public service. Otherwise, people might stay in the dark for months at a time.”

      “Not hardly.” This time, there was a touch of fondness in June’s tone.

      Kevin perched on the edge of Ursula’s desk. “What’s this business you want me to invest in?” He had no intention of looking into a business up here. It was too far away from everything he knew. But there was no reason, he told himself, not to keep an open mind.

      “We need a transport service.” Ursula told him only what had been on the minds of those who cared about Hades. “We’re growing and we can’t always wait for Sydney or Shayne to fly out to get supplies for us, or take one of us where we need to go if we haven’t got the time to waste with winding roads and wayward bears.

      “It’s not so bad in the summer,” the postmistress allowed, “but winters are a challenge. If someone came here, say brought in a couple more planes and pilots with him, hell—” she snapped her fingers “—he’d see his money just come pouring back in no time. After that, it’s gravy.” She leaned in to him like a fellow conspirator. “So, what do you say?”

      She was putting him on the spot, but he didn’t mind. Ursula was like the grandmother he’d never had and he’d become instantly fond of her on their first introduction. “Not shy about things, are you?”

      She snorted at the observation. “This is Alaska, boy. If a woman’s shy, she winds up frozen on an ice floe somewhere. A woman has to say what’s on her mind up here.” Her eyes took measure of him. She could see the verdict was undecided, but she was hopeful. “How about it? Are you game to bring flight to the citizens of Hades?”

      His first instinct was to say no, but the second one made the possibilities sound at least somewhat intriguing. He was aware that June was moving about the room restlessly. They had to get going. “I’ll give it some thought.”

      Ursula drummed her fingers on her desk, trying to bank down impatience, knowing that, as a logical man, he wouldn’t just jump into this the way Yuri might if she suggested it to him.

      “Well, don’t take too long,” she warned. “Wedding’s in about a week. I hear your ticket’s for the day after.”

      He laughed out loud. “Is there anything you don’t know?”

      Her eyes met his. Her tone delved down to the inner workings of his soul, where his secrets lay. “Lots of things, Kevin my boy, lots of things.”

      Kevin couldn’t help the smile that rose to his lips. He hadn’t been referred to as a boy since before he’d stopped being one. Even when his parents had been alive, there had been a certain amount of responsibility that had fallen on his shoulders because he was the oldest. He’d assumed it naturally and his parents never attempted to dissuade him, to try to force him to enjoy his boyhood a little while longer.

      He missed that now. Missed having carefree memories to look back on.

      “You might try talking to the Kellogg boy,” Ursula suggested. “He knows how to fly and he used to work for a transport service before he went to work at the emporium. He might give you some information.”

      Enough was enough. It was time to come to Kevin’s rescue. June hooked her arm through his and began to pull him toward the doorway.

      “Leave him alone, Grandma. Kevin’s not interested in owning a transport service.”

      He wasn’t absolutely sure that was true anymore. Gently he disentangled himself from June. It struck him how very similar she was to her grandmother. And to Lily, for that matter. His sister was going to fit right in here, bossing men around.

      “Kevin’s got a tongue and can talk for himself, June-bug,” he told her pleasantly, anticipating the flare that instantly came into her eyes at the mention of the nickname.

      June curbed her tongue. He needed to get a couple of things straight, but she wasn’t about to go into them in front of her grandmother.

      “I was just trying to get her to back off a little,” she told him, casting an accusing eye toward her grandmother. “She can be intense when she wants something.”

      It was hard not to laugh, listening to the pot call the kettle black. “That kind of thing seems to run in the family.”

      Ursula took no offense at the comment. Her mind was on more important things. “So—” she leaned forward “—are you interested?”

      He thought about it for a moment longer. “I might be. I’m always interested in a good proposition.”

      Her grandmother looked directly at her when Kevin said that. June tried to remain unfazed, but she had a feeling that color was creeping up into her cheeks anyway. There was laughter in her grandmother’s eyes as she turned away.

      June grabbed his hand. “C’mon, Kevin, I’ve got to see if I can find April and Max.” Her gaze was somewhat accusing as it shifted to her grandmother for a moment. “Someone has to warn them.”

      Her grandmother’s voice followed them through the door. “I’m sure you’ll do a perfectly fine job of that, dear.”

      June felt utterly drained as she sank down on a chair at her kitchen table.

      Not even the music that had greeted her as they walked into the house had heartened her despite the fact that the tune was one of her favorite songs. She was tired and frustrated. It had taken the better part of two hours to track down her siblings.

      April was out in the field, taking photographs for a magazine assignment she was currently putting together and Max had been at the Inuit village, trying to quell a dispute over fishing territory. It was a credit to her brother that the Inuit trusted him to come in and arbitrate their disputes, but she hadn’t dwelled on how proud she was of him, of both of them for what they’d become.

      Her mind was on other things. She’d wanted them solidly behind her in this.

      And they weren’t.

      Max took the news the way he took most things—stoically. When she’d told him that their father was back, hat in hand, his expression had hardly flinched and СКАЧАТЬ