“Start drama with. Sleep your way through. Whatever. If Scarlet catches you risking this contract, she will make a suit from your hide and wear it to the wedding.”
A sharp glance back from Scarlet made Travis sit back and all three of them pretended to pay attention to Lydia’s report on the spa supplies.
Was the snow leopard a bridesmaid? Breck wondered. The big cat had to be some member in the core wedding party or immediate family, because those were the only guests right now.
It was odd to see a shifter wearing jewelry in animal form, if not unheard of. And he’d never seen any jewelry do anything like that.
And why had they run away?
Breck could think of many possible reasons, but none of them made sense.
Travis leaned forward between Tex and Breck. Tex was playing a tic-tac-toe game with himself in the nap of his cowboy hat.
“You’ll want to listen to this bit,” Travis said knowingly.
Jenny was standing up. “So, as you know, we’ve been battling with the owner of the island, Beehag, and his lawyer for nearly a year now about the sale of the island and the fate of the resort. The lease contract that Scarlet has is one of the most complicated pieces of legalese I’ve ever seen, and it references several older documents, including the ones that covered the transfer of the property to Beehag senior on the disappearance — and presumed death — of the original owner of this half of the island, Aaric Lyons.”
If Breck had not been looking past Scarlet to see Jenny, he would not have noticed the subtle flinch the resort owner gave at the name.
“Lyons left very specific instructions that the resort was to be continued in the event of his death, and also that his progeny would have first right of refusal on all property sales… including subsequent sales. At the time, Beehag senior’s offer to buy this half of the island and continue to administrate the property was accepted by the Lyons family. But if we can find anyone remaining in the Lyons line, they get the chance to buy the pr
operty at appraised value before Beehag the lesser can sell it to any of these nasty characters he’s been scraping the barrel to find.”
“I thought the family of the original resort owner was all dead!” Bastian said.
“Possibly not all of them,” Jenny said with a grin. “The last of the line was a kid named Grant Lyons. He was jailed for manslaughter when he was 18, about fifteen years ago, and he vanished directly following his sentence. I’ve found some intel that he might have changed his name and moved to America. It’s a cold trail, but I know some good people. If we can find him, we may be able to persuade him to buy the property. Possibly he would be willing to hold it in trust for us if we could raise the money. At the worst, he could not be a more miserable landlord than our current one.”
The room rose in a murmur of speculation that trailed off as everyone looked eagerly at Scarlet.
If Jenny was expecting surprise or warm approval for this revelation, she was disappointed. Scarlet rose to her feet and faced the room with an utterly expressionless face. “Thank you,” she said, neutrally. “See what you can find out. Chef, I’d like your report from the kitchen.”
The start of Chef’s report was drowned in whispers and quiet conjecture until Scarlet loudly cleared her throat and the room went quiet again.
After the meeting had finally been adjourned, Breck remained sitting and let everyone else filter out.
The quiet room did nothing to his peace of mind.
He’d met his mate… and he had no idea who they were. He didn’t even know if the snow leopard was a man or a woman.
He only knew that he’d never rest without them again. This wasn’t a hunger of his body, but of his heart, and he had no idea what to do with it.
Chapter 9
A beautiful Latina woman greeted Darla cheerfully at the entrance to a beautifully mosaic-covered building and drew her into the cozy spa as Jubilee looked around critically.
“You must be the happy bride!”
Darla, stomach already churning with nerves, only nodded. She was half of that, at least. “I’m Darla,” she said politely.
“I’m Lydia,” the woman introduced herself. “This is Laura. My staff and I will be happy to supply any beauty services you may need while you’re here.”
Jubilee sniffed, clearly finding the spa barely acceptable.
Alison, Liam’s plump mother, on the other hand, was looking around in awe, and seemed impressed by the range of services listed by the door. “This is all so lovely!”
Jubilee ignored Alison, as she had for much of the time since their arrival; she clearly considered Liam’s mother a charity case, and had as little to do with her as she could politely manage. To Lydia, she said, “We’re going to want to do a complete facial and deep condition, of course, and we’ll want to preview her hair styling and makeup so we can select the right accessories. I’ve brought several references showing exactly what we’ll want.” She handed Lydia a folder of photos. She didn’t hand over the velvet-lined jewelry case she was carrying.
“Certainly,” Lydia said with a warm smile. She glanced through the photos and nodded. “We can definitely do this. You’ll look like an angel! Let’s get the deep conditioning started. We can do a massage while that’s setting if you’d like; you’re carrying a lot of tension in those shoulders, and no wonder! You must be so excited!”