Read Online What a Bachelor Needs (Bachelor Auction Book 4) by Kelly Hunter - Free Book Online Page A

and he rented both to tourists when no one in the family was using them. He led skiing trips through Montana’s backcountry – three or four trips a season, with a maximum of half-a-dozen people who paid a great deal of money for his expertise. Some of them paid because they wanted the status that came of being able to say that they’d been extreme skiing with an Olympic champion. Some of them paid because they’d heard he was one of the safest guides around. Some of his customers actually wanted a ski challenge and knew full well that he could deliver on that promise. The guided tours made money and the trips were intense. He enjoyed them. They fed a need in him.
    But they weren’t a full time, work like a dog, six days a week gig.
    Even Seth didn’t work the kind of hours that Mardie Griffin did.
    “So what do you think?” he asked as his brother pushed and prodded at the pillars and the railings of Mardie’s front porch. “Recoverable or start again?”
    “Rip the deck up, secure the pillars from beneath with concrete and steel bracing, replace the outer beam and the guttering, put the deck back on.”
    “What about the railing?” It seemed a little insecure in places.
    “That circular section’s a custom job and you say your client’s got no money. Secure it, paint it, leave it. It’ll do.”
    Jett had never been a big fan of the words ‘It’ll do’. “Her toddler’s going to be playing out here. It needs to be safe.”
    “It will be.”
    “You reckon I could get it done today?”
    “Not on your own.” Seth had his let’s-be-realistic face on. Another concept Jett wasn’t overly familiar with.
    “Got anyone you can spare?”
    “Maybe I can spare a couple of hands come lunch time, but you’re only going to have them ’til three. Storm front’s coming in and the boys want to get home and get their own places sorted and I’ve already told them they can leave early. There’s no going back on that.”
    “What about you? What are you doing today?”
    “Don’t you have other brothers to con?”
    He did. Jett was all about equal opportunity conning. “Cal and Ryder will be here by lunch time. C’mon, you can be foreman. We can get it done by three. Concrete in—
    “But not dry.”
    “Beams bolted—
    “Assuming you can find the right sized crossbar and get it here.”
    Jett nodded, because good point. “Roof secure. Deck back on. It’ll be a challenge. Pizza can be here at one. Can’t work hard and fast on an empty stomach.”
    Seth’s patience with Jett’s haste to get this done appeared to be wearing a little thin. Seth was doubtless juggling half-a-dozen other priorities that Jett didn’t know about. “This is outdoor space. Your client and her daughter won’t conceivably be using this area for months. Why the rush?”
    “Because it won’t get done otherwise. I only have the rest of the week.”
    “Surely that’s negotiable?”
    “I’d rather do it now.”
    “So that your little waitress can tell everyone how fast you get things done? Can’t you give your ego a rest for once?”
    “Screw you!” Temper flared, hot and unruly. “Why do you always think that I have this burning need to be bigger, better, and faster than anyone else at everything? I haven’t been that person in years , Seth. These days, I leave that attitude on the competition circuit, where it belongs.”
    “Okay.” Seth didn’t arc up the way Jett thought he would. Seth’s voice came at him, low and careful instead. “I’m listening, man, but you’ve got to help me understand. Why does it have to be done this week? Or at all, for that matter? It’s above and beyond handyman work.”
    Good question. Fine question. And there was only so much answer he could give without breaking Mardie’s confidences.
    “Remember that woman I told you about a couple of years back? The one I found in an alleyway in Bozeman? It’s her. This is her place. And this time I aim to do what I didn’t do last time