Read Online Garden of Dreams by Patricia Rice - Free Book Online Page B

for criminal types.
    â€œWhat is it you want most in life, Miss Toon?”
    Startled by the question, Nina jerked her head around. Big mistake. Dark eyes had turned serious, and his mouth had pulled into a straight line that almost made him... intriguing. Not handsome. Just intriguing. She shrugged. “I’ve never given it much thought. I have a house and all the land I could want. I have dozens of children every winter that I can get rid of in the summer, an ideal situation if I ever heard one. I’ve never felt the need for a man in my life. I can’t think of anything else that I could want.”
    She felt his glare cut into her back as she returned to her work.
    â€œNo dreams at all? Anyone of intelligence has dreams. You don’t strike me as particularly stupid. There must be something, even if it’s just a glassed-in porch or a new red sports car.”
    He was trying to bribe her! That thought jolted her out of her near complacency. Only a criminal would throw around those kind of dreams. Nina dropped her spading shovel and faced him squarely. “I have dreams, all right, mister. I have big dreams. I don’t squander wishes on tawdry red cars or pretty windows. If I’m going to wish and dream, I’ll do it right. What I want is an entire botanical garden. I want those acres out there turned into a wonderland of plants and trees. I’d show the world the true beauty of this area, draw tourists in year-round so the town doesn’t starve every winter. I want fern forests and Japanese pagodas, lily ponds and English mazes. There’s swampland down the back near the lake that I could turn into an environmental learning center and habitat for wildlife. I could spend a lifetime creating a living monument to my aunt. Now how’s that for dreams, Mr. Smith?”
    His startled expression slowly turned to a genuine smile as she spoke. Crinkles formed in the corners of his eyes, and a dimple formed on one side of his mouth. That dimple caused chaos inside her, and Nina gave up spinning dreams to clutch the table behind her with both hands.
    â€œI like the way you think, Nina Toon. I like it real well. Nothing in this world would ever get accomplished unless someone, somewhere, had the dream first. All right. I’ll help you on the road to your dream. I don’t know much about botanical gardens. You’ll have to sit down and make plans of what needs doing first. You’ll need cost estimates. I can’t finance the whole thing. No one could. But I can find investors, government grants, whatever. If you have the land, half the problem is already solved.”
    She couldn’t believe he’d said that. She couldn’t believe she was hearing it. The sudden bright red balloon of hope nearly blinded her. A white knight galloping to rescue her from phone companies, crooked lawyers, inertia, and poverty sprang up wildly in her imagination.
    Nina stared until it finally sank in that she was talking to the world’s best con man. She’d heard all about the fast-talking salesmen who talked lonely old ladies into parting with their life savings. They drove through here with regularity. She’d just never encountered one before.
    She felt a certain amount of admiration for the way he carried off the act. He came in here wearing little more than jeans and underwear, with next to no money, no credit cards, no insurance, in a battered pickup truck, and he had the incredible gall to claim he’d help her build a multimillion-dollar botanical center. She’d always liked the movie The Music Man. Come to think of it, except for the deep tan and straight hair, JD Smith held a certain resemblance to Robert Preston.
    She grinned at the thought. “You should sell used cars,” she informed him with amusement. “I haven’t heard a line that big since I bought the Toyota. I want the thousand dollars rent up front, Mr. Smith. And I want reassurance that