Free Wedding His Takeover Target by Emilie Rose

hunting.”
    Good answer. She’d have to find something else to dislike about him—other than that he was rich, he’d forced hiscompany on her and she didn’t trust him. As if that weren’t enough.
    â€œWhat makes you think you’re qualified to be our handyman? Aren’t construction engineers pencil pushers?”
    â€œI’m a hands-on manager. I work with my team, and I worked part-time construction jobs during college.”
    He worked construction? That might explain the faded scars on the backs of his hands. So much for proving him unqualified for the job. “Didn’t your father pay your bills?”
    â€œHe paid tuition, and for that I had to come back and work at The Ridge every summer. But during the academic year I earned my own wages rather than answer to him on how I spent my money.”
    So maybe Gavin hadn’t lacked responsibilities the way so many of her parents’ wealthy students had. “Why engineering?”
    â€œI like figuring out how things work and finding ways around obstacles that others consider impossible. What about you?”
    She startled. “What about me?”
    â€œDid you always want to manage the inn?”
    She bit her tongue on the automatic no. In high school all she’d cared about was getting as far away from her parents and their stilted, judgmental university community as she could. She’d had no grand goals beyond escaping. Initially, she’d been drawn to Russell because he’d been everything academics were not—big, brawny, into action more than higher learning. He also wanted out of their small college town, and he’d had a plan to achieve his getaway.
    She’d fallen head over heels in love with him and ended up pregnant. Her parents’ ultimatum—terminate the pregnancy or get out of their house—had left her with no choice. She and Russell had eloped on her eighteenth birthday—just days after her high school graduation. She’d planned to be agood military wife and raise Russell’s babies. But that hadn’t happened.
    She pressed a hand to the empty ache in her belly, then blinked to chase away the past. “Does it matter? I’m where I’m needed right now, and I’ll never let my grandfather down. Nor will I let anyone take advantage of him.”
    â€œWhat would you do if your grandfather sold the business?”
    Alarm raced over her. She’d come to love making a warm, welcoming home away from home for their visitors, the way her grandmother had always done for her. She couldn’t imagine doing anything else now, nor did she have the qualifications for anything else. “He wouldn’t do that. He knows I love Snowberry Inn.”
    Pops knew the inn was her refuge, the one place she’d always felt wanted and loved regardless of her choices. But she’d seen that blasted pamphlet and she had her doubts. However, she wasn’t giving Gavin Jarrod that information.
    His brown eyes searched her face. “What if you marry someone who lives elsewhere?”
    â€œI won’t.”
    â€œYou sound certain.”
    â€œI am.” She’d done that before, and during her four-year marriage she hadn’t seen Snowberry Inn or her grandparents. Russell had been stationed in North Carolina, too far from Aspen to drive the distance in their old car, and she’d been too proud to tell her grandparents she couldn’t afford the airfare for a visit. During that time her grandmother had died, and Sabrina hadn’t been able to say good-bye. She’d had to borrow money from Russell’s friends to come to the funeral because her own parents wouldn’t loan it to her.
    Time to change the subject. “Why did you leave Aspen?”
    His face hardened. “My father was determined to turn us into clones of himself.”
    â€œAnd that was a bad thing?”
    â€œYes. He was excessively controlling. But I escaped.