Free Investment in Love (Contemporary Romance) by Emily Walters

“Talbot family has taken mountain home,” “Cordelia, Edward, and sons Edward Jr. and Tommy, owners of a logging dynasty,” “others from growing city of Portland expected to follow,” “new age of tourism for the Carterville area.” By the time he reached the cutoff at the bottom, “Article Continues on Page 3,” he wasn’t any closer to understanding why it had been saved.
     
    “Anything else?” asked Calvin.
     
    “Just these,” said Ellie. She reached into the bottom of the trunk and pulled out two folded pieces of fabric. When shaken out, the top piece revealed itself to be a very small pink-striped blanket, while the bottom was a faded lavender dress, complete with puff shoulders and pointed collar. It looked old, but Calvin couldn’t have said when the style dated from. “Pretty,” Ellie murmured. “I wonder what they were for.”
     
    He didn’t know. Clearly these things in the trunk had been important to his great-aunt, but Calvin had no idea why. Frustration washed over him. The woman who had left him all of her belongings and money was a huge mystery, and he wanted answers—but his only resource was his Aunt Sheila, and even she hadn’t known where the money had come from.
     
    Ellie looked delicate and vulnerable as she sat there on the floor, biting at her lip, clearly deep in thought. Calvin was suddenly hyperaware of his proximity to her—their shoulders almost brushed with every breath, and his knee was bumped up against her smaller one. He could see her long, dark eyelashes and smell the floral scent of her perfume as she looked down at the bundle of fabric.
     
    A desire to be even closer consumed him momentarily. Without conscious decision, he felt himself leaning in as though he was going to kiss Ellie. She looked at him silently, neither moving forward nor back, but her eyes shone up at him and he thought he saw her full pink lips part slightly.
     
    But right then he remembered what he had decided. She’s off-limits. Calvin abruptly cleared his throat and sat up straight.
     
    “Um…” His mind raced trying to come up with a conversation topic that would break the awkward silence. “So, ready for lunch?”
     
    “Great!” said Ellie, turning red and jumping up. “I mean, yeah. Lunch sounds great.” He could tell she wanted to look anywhere but at him as she brushed invisible dust of her pants and headed toward the door. Calvin winced, realizing that it had looked like a complete rejection on his part. If only he could explain that he did want to kiss her.
     
    After delicious sandwiches at Susie’s, Calvin was standing outside waiting for Ellie to finish in the bathroom.
     
    “Fancy seeing you here!” called a chirpy female voice. He didn’t recognize it, so he spun slowly, not sure the words were meant for him. A little red sedan had pulled up behind him in the parking lot, and the dark-haired woman from a few days earlier—Mallory—was waving coyly at him from the driver’s seat.
     
    She had her dark hair tucked up into a fancy bun, and heavy makeup on, but Calvin was amused to realize she still wasn’t as pretty as Ellie. He strolled over toward her window when it became obvious that she wanted to chat, thinking again of his imaginary “potential wife” list.
     
    “Hi,” he said noncommittally.
     
    Mallory smiled in an ingratiating manner. “ So nice to see you,” she said. “What are you doing in town?”
     
    “Ellie has been showing me around on our lunch breaks.”
     
    The woman’s nose wrinkled for a minute, but she mastered her expression quickly. “Aw, that’s so sweet of her. Tell you what—why don’t I give you my phone number and I can show you a few of my favorite places too?”
     
    If Calvin hadn’t been looking for a girl just like her, he would have laughed at the obviousness of her ploy. But as it was, he just smiled and said, “Sure.” She was playing right into his plans, and he had no compunctions about taking advantage