Read Online Christmas at Candlebark Farm by Michelle Douglas - Free Book Online Page A

towards their cars. ‘So,’ Keira said, ‘everything this builder Mr Selway has recommended is nonsense?’
    John nodded.
    She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. ‘Is that legal?’
    â€˜It’d be hard to prove,’ he said carefully, coming to a halt beside his truck. ‘There’s little doubt that if he did everything he says on your quote it would add value to the house. I’d say it was overcapitalising, but if you tried to challenge him about misleading you he could simply claim that you misunderstood—that he wasn’t saying it had to be done, only that it would improve the property.’
    Right. ‘But…you’re not convinced he would do everything listed on my quote, are you?’ she said slowly. ‘You think he means to charge me the earth for doing next to nothing?’
    â€˜That’s my guess. But I can’t prove it.’
    Beside her, she was aware of Luke opening and closing his fists, as if readying himself to punch something. ‘And both of you also think this Mr Selway and Mr Connors, my estate agent, are in this together—don’t you?’
    John nodded. ‘What’s more, I’ll make an educated guess that your solicitor is Graeme Aldershot.’
    Her jaw dropped.
    â€˜He and Selway went to school together. When Connors arrived from the city they all became very buddy-buddy.’
    The grooves either side of Luke’s mouth deepened. ‘I’ll be having a word with Connors first thing.’
    John flexed an arm. ‘ I’ll be having a word with Selway first thing.’
    Keira planted her hands on her hips. ‘Excellent. I have an appointment with Mr Aldershot tomorrow. I mean to tell him that I’m considering pressing charges against Selway and Connors. Not that I am—I don’t need the hassle—but he doesn’t need to know that. I won’t let on that I know he’s part of it all, and I’ll ask him to represent me.’ She dusted off her hands.
    John threw his head back and laughed. ‘Good for you, Keira. That should put the fear of God into him.’
    She hoped so.
    John held out his hand. ‘It was nice meeting you.’
    â€˜Likewise—and thank you.’ She’d drop around to his workshop tomorrow with a nice bottle of single-malt Scotch. He’d certainly earned it.
    â€˜Great to see you, Luke.’
    Luke clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Thanks for all your help. I appreciate it. Ever need a favour in return…’
    John nodded and climbed into his truck. Keira lifted her hand in farewell as it pulled away, before turning back to survey her great-aunt’s house. ‘It’s nice, isn’t it?’ Homey. She could imagine a family living there—growing into it and loving it.
    Luke leant on the ute beside her. ‘Yeah, it is. You won’t have any trouble selling it. Especially with the park across the road.’
    It was a pretty location. A child’s paradise. It was the kind of house that if she saw it in the city and could afford it she’d snap up in an instant. A muffled weight settled over her shoulders. She didn’t know why selling the house should make her feel sad—except perhaps that it was the only link she had to a part of her family she’d never known. The last of her family.
    Now that she was pregnant, family had started taking ona whole new dimension for her, and at odd moments its lack filled her with nameless fears. What if she died as young as her mother? Who would love and care for her child?
    She knew it was pointless fretting about such what-ifs. She had friends who’d be more than happy to step into the breach. But it wasn’t the same as being able to rely on family.
    She turned to the man beside her. ‘Do you have a large family, Luke?’
    He stared out to the front, his eyes narrowed as if against the glare of the sun—only the sun was behind them.