Read Online The Protector of Ambra (Mercenaries of Fortune, #5) by Lyn Brittan - Free Book Online

investigated, which was very likely at this point, the details of his trip would be impossible to hide. So, what to say then? An innocent woman needed his help? True. He had to mention the struggle on the street with the thieves. It certainly bolstered his cause. Did he go so far as to mention the Olmec artifact?
    Eh .
    Lying for duty? Sure. Lying for friends? Easy. Lying to friends and bosses? A little harder, bordering on impossible. He’d have to carefully truth his way into their good graces. So, yes that meant the artifact and coming clean about everything, including his affection for Melody.
    The sooner they solved her problems, the sooner he solved his. And the sooner he solved his problems, the sooner he could take her out for a proper date.
    “Tell me what you know about the chocolate facility.”
    Melody blinked and put down her phone. “Well, don’t think factory. Think a series of small patches of land connected to a larger facility. Noah works in the main house. The different aspects of the business branch out from that one building. Land-wise, each plot is owned or leased by another family. On their own, they wouldn’t make much. By bundling the shipments, they increase their selling power, drop-shipping costs and I still get a good deal. It was perfect.”
    “Until it wasn’t.”
    “Basically.” She propped her sandaled feet on the dashboard and cupped her chin. “The pictures don’t do this place justice. All of these rolling hills...the air. It’s perfect out here. When the business starts turning a more consistent profit, I need to come back.”
    “Make it a thing.”
    “A thing?”
    He threw another shrug and a wink. “Yeah. Once you’re super rich, bring your mom and sister down here once or twice a year. Partly for a vacation, but mostly to connect with your farmers. Isn’t that the problem now? You don’t know what’s happening on-site? That’s not a knock, by the way.”
    “To be fair to me...and let’s be fair to me—”
    “Of course,” he added with a half bow.
    “Mama’s the checkout lady, my sister’s the baker and I’m the chocolatier, along with being the chief finance officer, chief business executive, marketing department, website manager and the woman who flung the paintbrush when the chair railings needed touching up. Translation, it’ll be a while before any fun trips to Mexico happen.”
    “Maybe not. If this guy’s skimming money off the top, that stops today. That’s a start. Far be it from me to tell you how to run your business, but if you need help with—”
    With a headshake and snapping fingers, she cut him off. “I know what needs to be done. Have you ever started a business? Owned your own private practice?”
    “Nope.”
    “Let me be first to tell you, it is what it is. These are standard growing pains for any small business. If it were easy, everyone would do it. It’s not even that it’s hard most times. If I had 36 hours in the day, or a clone, I’d be light-years ahead. What makes it bearable is knowing that every other businessperson goes through this too. I’ve gotta earn my stripes. I’m not scared of them. Just sucks sometimes.”
    “No, Ms. Melody, I don’t think you’re scared of much,” he said, still eager to do his part to lighten her burden.
    The village was one of those blink-and-you-miss-it places, but on the other side of it, the road narrowed to a pair of trails about a truck axle wide. “Remember how I got out of the jeep at the last place and walked up to where I needed to be?”
    Melody looked back at him like a twelve-year-old being sold on Santa Claus. “It worked out so well then. Plan B?”
    “It’s a good Plan A when it works.”
    “Are you serious?”
    He sure as hell was. She had it in her head that they needed pictures of something. Wrong. Also, any place worthy of picture taking was likely to be occupied. “We need data. Therefore—”
    “You need me in there. You don’t know what you’re looking