Read Online Wedding at King’s Convenience by Maureen Child - Free Book Online

“That woman would as soon as shoot us as look at us.”
    “Maura?” Jefferson was stunned now and even more in the dark than he had been before. All right, she hadn’t been as thrilled with the prospect of a film crew being on her land as her friends and neighbors had been. But she’d signed the contract in good faith and he knew she had been prepared for all of the confusion and disruption. Her own sister was in the movie, so if nothing else, that should have garnered her cooperation. So what had changed?
    “Yes, Maura,” Harry snapped. “She lets her sheep run wild through shots, her dog chews everything it can get its paws on—”
    “She’s got a dog?” When did she get a dog?
    “She says it’s a dog. I say it’s part pony. The thing’s huge and clumsy. Always knocking things over. Then as if that wasn’t enough, one of the cameramen was chased by Ms. Donohue’s damn bull.”
    All right, something was definitely wrong. Whatever else he could say or think about Maura, she was nothing if not meticulous about caring for her animals and the farm itself. She’d shown him the bull, and had warned him away even though the animal was an old one. “How’d the bull get out?”
    “Damned if I know. One minute we’re shooting the scene, the next minute, Davy Simpson’s nearly flattened under the damn bull. Good thing Davy’s fast on his feet.”
    “What is going on over there?” Frustration spiked with temper and twisted into an ugly knot inside him.
    His mind raced with possibilities and none of them were flattering to the woman who’d signed his contract. Was she after more money? Was she trying to back out of the whole deal?
    Too damn bad to either of those scenarios, he told himself. He had her signature on a legal document and he wasn’t about to let her off any hook, nor was he going to be extorted for more money. Whatever she was up to, it seemed she’d gotten the whole village to back her play. What other reason would they have for acting as they were?
    Well, it wasn’t going to work.
    Jefferson King didn’t bow to pressure and he sure as hell didn’t walk away from trouble.
    “That’s what I’d like to know,” Harry muttered andthe words were almost lost in the static of a bad connection. “The way you talked about this place, I thought it would be an easy shoot.”
    “It should’ve been,” Jefferson insisted. “Everything was agreed on and besides, we’ve got a signed contract allowing you access to Maura’s farm.”
    “Yeah, the production assistant tried to remind her of that the other day. Got the door slammed in his face.”
    “She can’t do that,” Jefferson told him.
    “Uh-huh. I know that. You know that. I don’t think she does. Or if she does, she doesn’t care.”
    A hard punch of irritation shot through him again and this time it was brighter, fiercer. “She damn well should. She signed the contract willingly enough. And cashed the check. Nobody forced her to.”
    Harry huffed out a breath. “I’m telling you, Jefferson, unless things get straightened out around here soon, this shoot is going to go way over budget. Hell, even the weather’s giving us a hard time. I’ve never seen so much rain.”
    This didn’t make any sense. None of it. He’d thought everything was settled. Clearly, he’d been wrong. Looked like he was going to be heading back to County Mayo whether he had planned to or not. Time to have a little talk with a certain sheep farmer. Time to remind her that he had the law on his side and he wasn’t leery about using it.
    “All right,” he said. “The rain I can’t do anything about. But I’ll take care of the rest of it.”
    “Yeah?” the director asked. “How?”
    “I’ll fly over there myself and get to the bottom ofit.” Something inside him stirred into life at the thought of seeing Maura again, though he wouldn’t admit that, even to himself. This wasn’t about his fling with Maura Donohue. This was about business. And