Read Online Walker Bride by Bernadette Marie - Free Book Online

buying?”
    She nodded. “It’s more than just a property.
It would be a wedding mecca.”
    He couldn’t help but chuckle. “A mecca?”
    “Yeah,” she said on an optimistic sigh. But
when she didn’t say anything else he knew there was something about
this mecca that wasn’t sitting right with his sister.
    “And what’s wrong with it?”
    She looked up at him. Her dark eyes narrowed
on him, and she raked her hand through her short crop of hair. “You
just assume?”
    “You have tells. What’s up?”
    “We have tenants already. So it’ll have
income right off. But it looks like there’s going to need to be
more work done to it than we’d expected. It’s going to eat up the
budget faster than anticipated.”
    “So maybe it’s not the right time to
buy.”
    She shook her head. “I can’t let this go. Do
you know what the wedding industry brings in every year?”
    “Do you?”
    She gave him a punch on the arm, then
strangled her coffee mug with both hands. “People will pay nearly
ten thousand dollars for a wedding. Sometimes more. If you can get
them to drop all ten thousand in one place, you’re golden.”
    “And then you hope they divorce and do it all
over again?”
    She shrugged. “Some will.”
    “Yep, doesn’t even sound like something to be
optimistic about.” He gave her a nudge. “So what’s the real
problem?”
    “Money,” she answered quickly.
    “Ask Grandpa,” he was quick with his
answer.
    She let out a threatened gasp. “No. Never.
Not in a million years. I’ll figure it out.”
    “Do you need another loan?”
    “I’m too stretched out on loans, and all of
Mom’s assets are in the Garden Room.”
    “So you bought into the Garden Room, that
restaurant we had dinner in a few months back…”
    “I sold that share.”
    “Okay,” he said grinning at her business
sense. “Now this? What kind of money do you need?”
    She winced. “More than Pearl and I have.”
    “And you can’t ask her dad for money. He owes
everyone else.”
    She nodded. “We need another partner.”
    Tyson rubbed the stubble on his chin. “What
about Bethany? Doesn’t she…”
    “She has nothing. She’s still paying off some
of her mom’s debts.”
    “That sucks.”
    “We either find another investor or we have
to back out. That’s it. But we have to do it and get going in the
next two months if we commit. Pearl’s lease is up then, and she
held off on signing an extension.” Now she lifted her eyes up to
him in a near plea. “We need another partner.”
    He knew where she was going with this, and he
wasn’t sure he was interested. They each had a trust fund set up
from their father’s inheritance. Their mother had invested most of
her share of his inheritance in businesses that were thriving. But
even thriving businesses still needed a reserve, he understood
that.
    Tyson had always been very frugal with his
money. In fact, he lived on the ranch free and clear. He made a
living—a good living. The only expense at forty-two years old was
the upkeep on his truck, which he rarely drove.
    That gnawed at him more than he thought it
should. No man of his age should have nothing, and he had
nothing.
    “What does this partner have to do?” he
asked, keeping his eyes on the sun that was now bright on the
horizon.
    He caught sight of the smile Lydia tucked in
which had crept up on her lips when he asked. “They could be a
silent partner. You know, they’d have no dealings in the day to to
day operations, but when profit was made, they’d make their money
back and some.”
    “You want me to invest in this, don’t
you?”
    The smile fully surfaced now. “You’re our
only hope right now. Pearl believes in this—in me. She’s taking a
chance, and I have to make it work for her or she could lose
everything.”
    Tyson finished his coffee, which had gone
cold and bitter. “Why would she do that? Why partner up with you?
You weren’t that close growing up.”
    “But we are now. And she’s