“Sure. Thanks.”
Part of him wanted to make love to her that instant, but another part wanted to stop and enjoy what felt like a stolen, secret moment. He opened the bottle while she watched, her eyes dark and soft.
“You don’t have to talk about it,” she said. “But you can.”
It took only a moment under that strangely understanding gaze for the interview with Herriot to come flooding back. Words threatened to spill out in a jumble of confusion and frustration. He’d needed to talk to someone about it all day, but there was no one he could call. Though they had tried to be supportive, no one in his family had ever really understood why he and Jenna had made the decision to come to Colorado in the first place. The last thing he wanted was to give them a chance to say “I told you so.” He had friends back in New York, but they didn’t want to get a self-pitying call from him, complaining about how hard things were out in Colorado.
So, as he poured two glasses of wine, he found himself describing the resort he wanted to build, the contemptuous response after he’d presented it to Herriot, and the bargain he had been offered. Meanwhile, his gaze kept slipping to the curve of her neck and the tawny skin at the base of her throat. His lips ached to kiss that spot.
“Herriot wants to use me,” he said, distracting himself from the endless length of her legs by imagining the older man’s eyes gleaming as he presented Ross with his Faustian bargain. “He wants to use my name to make a deal with some old guy who doesn’t want to sell his land. Then he’ll turn around and develop the land into an exclusive resort for rich jerks like himself. If I agree, my business in Colorado will take off. If I refuse, he’ll see that I’m shut out of the market for good.”
Kelsey winced. “That’s horrible.”
“He’s not a nice man,” Ross said simply.
Her brow furrowed. “But wait—I know Herriot’s rich, but he doesn’t own the state. Why can’t you just ignore him and do your own thing?”
Ross stared down at the glass in his hand, swirling the dark-red liquid before tipping the last of the glass into his mouth. “I wish it were that easy, but all my experience is on the East Coast. I’ve got teams of guys out there who are ready to drop everything to work for me, suppliers who trust me and are willing to cut me good deals, and real estate agents who come to me first when they’ve got a hot new property.” He shook his head. “Out here, I’ve got nothing. It will take me years to build new connections. Meanwhile, Herriot will be talking about me behind my back. He’s going to have all of his suppliers and agents convinced that if they work for me, they’re going to lose his business. Obviously, he can’t get to everyone, but he can make it really, really hard for me. For a long time to come.”
Ross imagined the frustration of going out for contracts, spending the time and money to put in a bid, only to discover that Herriot had poisoned his reputation in the market. He’d known starting over in Colorado would be hard; he hadn’t expected it to be impossible.
“That’s horrible.” Kelsey shuddered. “When he closed the Grand Hotel in Winter Park, I knew he was a jerk. I had no idea he was this much of a jerk.”
“What was the Grand Hotel?” he asked.
“Oh, it was a beautiful place. A little run-down, not very fancy, but there were families who had been going there for generations. It was close to the slopes, affordable, and had huge rooms. Herriot ripped it down to the studs and built a glamour palace in its place. No one can afford it anymore. At least, no one without a seven-figure income.”
Ross refilled his glass. “Herriot claims Stagefeather owes a bunch of back taxes. He could lose the land if he doesn’t find a way to come up with some money.”
Kelsey took a delicate sip of her wine. “What if you get him a good deal for his land?” she said, though her voice held more doubt than conviction. “Would you feel okay about it then?”
“I wish,” Ross replied. “But I always tell Luke, it isn’t what you do in life that matters. It’s how you do it. Could I look my kids in the eye if I tricked this man? Could I look myself in the eye, knowing we were going to build some amusement park for rich people on the land he loved?”
She blew out a breath. “I suppose it does sort of suck, when you put it that way.”
“Understatement of the year.”
“If you don’t mind my asking,” Kelsey said, “why did you leave New York? It sounds like you had a really good business going, and the kids told me all of their cousins and their grandparents are back there as well.”