Free The Single Dad Finds a Wife by Felicia Mason Page B

darling, what’s wrong?” Lovie asked.
    Spring glanced at her mother, then realized that she was gripping the edge of her chair so hard that her knuckles were white.
    Concentrating on regulating her breathing, she nodded. “I’m fine, Mom.”
    She released the chair and clasped her hands together in her lap on top of the mobile phone.
    She should have known that a man like David Camden was too good to be true. He was a loving father and a man of faith. He was the first man to capture her feminine attention in many years.
    And he was here to destroy her family’s home and legacy.

Chapter Six
    D avid saw her the moment he turned around to assess the crowd the fire chief had described as “openly hostile” as they’d made their way to the meeting room.
    He’d walked in with Fire Chief Cameron Jackson and with Gloria, the helpful clerk who’d arranged for his meetings and helped him set up the items from his large portfolio.
    Dr. Spring Darling sat front and center, staring daggers at him. The expression was one he’d always considered hyperbole until he saw those daggers directed his way. He saw disgust, distrust and sadness in her eyes. Her look cut him in a way that might cause actual physical wounds.
    He wanted to rush over, to tell her that everything would be all right. But he knew that was not and could not be the case—at least where Spring, her mother and her sisters were concerned.
    The main thing David wanted to get across during his presentation was that he was not a developer, that Carolina Land Associates studied and made recommendations on land use. The architectural side of the firm came up with renderings that would later be used by development firms. It was up to governing bodies to decide whether to proceed with a development project or not.
    It took him about twenty minutes to run through his presentation. He answered a few clarification questions from the commissioners and then the meeting was open to questions from the floor.
    David heaved an internal sigh when he saw who rose.
    â€œHow often are your recommendations followed by said governing bodies?”
    The query from the audience came from Dr. Spring Darling.
    â€œState your name, please,” the clerk said.
    â€œSpring Darling, MD, and member of the Cedar Springs Historical Society, as you well know.”
    David felt that information was directed at him rather than the council clerk, who did well know who Spring was.
    He knew the answer, of course. Those data represented one of the benchmarks on which his architectural and consultancy firm could base success. There were a few ways he could answer the question, but the most direct and honest was the best approach.
    â€œThank you for that question, Dr. Darling,” he said, walking closer to the assembled residents, the digital pointer he’d used to highlight points on the renderings in his palm. “Carolina Land Associates has a strong track record of meeting client needs. Our most recent analysis of that very data shows a 95.8 percent rate of acceptance of our primary recommendations.”
    Before Spring could answer, an older woman next to her, who could only have been her mother, rose. She wore a peach-colored dress and had the same coloring, cheekbones and eyes as Spring. He knew he was looking at an older version of the doctor and could see exactly what the pretty pediatrician would look like in thirty years—an older, more mature but still beautiful woman. Right now though, he also saw something close to anger in the eyes of the older version of Spring Darling.
    â€œSo you’re telling us, Mr. Camden, that your top recommendation for this project, the new urbanism community you’re
preliminarily
calling The Township at Cedar Springs, is parcel two?”
    David glanced back at the easels and used the pointer to pinpoint the parcel she referred to. “It’s larger, at just about two hundred acres, and this