Read Online Northern Fascination by Jennifer Labrecque - Free Book Online

man comfortable with being in charge. He glanced back over his shoulder. “Anyone else?”
    Everyone declined. Merrilee and Bull settled in the armchairs, which left Jenna to share the love seat with Logan. Jenna sat and traced the flower pattern on the brocade fabric of the loveseat’s arm with her fingertip. She was pretty sure it was a peony.
    Merrilee talked while Logan poured. “So, have you had a chance to see much of the town?”
    Behind her, Jenna heard Logan’s shoes sound on the wood floor until he got to the braided rug that defined the seating area.
    “Only what I saw on the way to Jenna’s and back here.”
    Jenna wasn’t surprised that Bull sat silently, merely observing. He was a man of few words, which was just as well considering Merrilee was a woman of many. Bull didn’t talk a lot, but when he did, people listened.
    Logan sat next to Jenna, the cushions shifting with his weight. He was close enough that she could smell his aftershave and a primal longing swept through her. He sat farther on the cushion’s edge, leaning forward, his forearms braced on his spread knees, holding the coffee cup between them. She noticed his hands were broad. Once again her pulse raced at his nearness, even though she was thoroughly, and as Merrilee had pointed out, very uncharacteristically, put out with him.
    “I appreciate you taking the time to sit down with me,” Logan said. “I do know Jenna from back home. We went to high school together and it’s great to see her again. But reconnecting with her…” Was that what they were doing, reconnecting? “…is just a side benefit to my trip.” Jenna hoped she managed not to wince because it stung to hear herself referred to as a side benefit, although anything more would’ve just been foolishness she supposed. She didn’t miss Merrilee’s glance her way. “I’m with Jeffries Mining Consolidated—”
    A look passed between Merrilee and Bull before she cut Logan off. “You’re here about the gold?” A faint frown creased her brow. “I could’ve sworn…” she said under her breath, as if musing aloud. She shook her head and put on a smile. “So, what can we do for you?”
    His face, turned toward Merrilee, offered Jenna a side view of the faint frown that wrinkled his forehead. “You are obviously aware of the gold.”
    Merrilee’s laugh wasn’t unkind. “Of course we are.” She smiled, shaking her head. “We’re not rubes, you know. Billy Sisnuket, he’s the local shaman, told me all about it when I decided to build a town here.”
    “He told you about it twenty years ago?”
    “Sure did. We are sitting smack dab on top of a gold mine. Isn’t that cool?”
    Jenna noticed Logan hadn’t touched the coffee at all, he’d simply held the mug cupped in his hands. He must’ve been freezing. It was also impossible not to notice how his hair teased at the back of his collar and the width of his shoulders.
    “We do think it’s pretty cool, which is why we’d like to buy the town.” A smile curved Logan’s mouth, or at least the half she could see. “Of course, we’ll want to keep the airstrip and the restaurant.” Jenna listened as he outlined meeting with property and business owners individually to work out details. He finished up his spiel and sat looking expectantly at Merrilee.
    “Okay,” she said, her hands folded in her lap.
    “I believe your charter doesn’t specify who can and can’t sell property.”
    Jenna, along with everyone else in the room, knew that if he’d come to make an offer, he knew good and well what was and wasn’t specified in that charter. It was a matter of public record and his company would’ve thoroughly researched it.
    “No. I left where I was because I didn’t want anyone telling me what I could or couldn’t do. That’s the way I set my town up.”
    Jenna smiled. Tad had no idea what he’d set in motion.
    “I figured the whole ‘do unto others’ business was applicable,” Merrilee continued.