Free Forgiving Jackson by Alicia Hunter Pace Page B

for what little tea parties and such that Firefly Hall can accommodate. During that year, I’ll pay your salary and I’ll invest in the new business so you can build on to Firefly Hall. I’ll remain a partner as long as my financial assistance is needed. When you and Christian start turning a profit, you can buy me out with just what I’ve paid in. No interest.”
    “But it wouldn’t be same. The new additions wouldn’t have history. Or a ghost.”
    He frowned. “Beauford Bend doesn’t have a ghost.”
    Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned that. “It does now. That is, it has the one I made up. People like that. They expect it.”
    He slammed his hand on the table. “Now on top of everything else, you have
haunted
my house!”
    Better change the subject.
“People like the ambiance of Beauford Bend.”
    “Me too. Only I like it without a bunch of parties going on. Or made-up ghosts. The difference is, I own it and they don’t. Buildings can be made to look old. Buildings can be anything you want if you’ve got enough money, and I do. You can sell the concept. I know this because for some reason that I cannot comprehend myself, you have bought yourself three months with nothing but that saucy little mouth of yours.”
    “What if Christian doesn’t want to do this?”
    “Then she can make a go of what she’s got or not. I’ve made the best offer anyone could ever have.”
    “What do you get?”
    “I’ll know I haven’t been the cause of anyone’s financial ruin and, come September, I’ll have my home back.”
    “Come September, you’ll be on tour or off in some recording studio. Beauford Bend will be the last thing on your mind.”
    “Wrong.”
    “I’ll make a bargain with you.”
    “How in hell’s name do you think you have anything to bargain with, woman?”
    “You want me to go quietly and with good grace. You don’t want to have to call the police to have me removed. You don’t want a bunch of people suing you and splashing all over the news that you’ve ruined their dream wedding or fiftieth anniversary party. And I’m all that’s standing between you and that.”
    The look on his face told her she had nailed it but he said, “I’ve got people on my payroll who could drive the devil himself out of hell. They could handle you between holes on the golf course.”
    “That’s not what the papers say. They papers say you’ve fired everybody on your staff.”
    His sage eyes flashed silver surprise. “Speculation.”
    “Maybe. But here’s the deal. If you’re still here in September, I’ll go quietly. If you’ve moved on and forgotten us like usual, we’ll go on as before.”
    “You’ve got a deal.” He looked very smug. “But I’m warning you, if I find any drunks in the family wing—”
    “You won’t.” She stood up. She was feeling very powerful and she was determined to end this meeting on her own terms. “I need to go over to my office in the main house and write some checks and make some calls.”
    He stood up too. “If you’re smart, those calls will be to everyone who has booked after August.”
    “You let me worry about that.”
    They moved toward the door together. “I’ll walk with you. I need to take a shower.”
    As they walked toward the house, the beauty of the place struck Emory anew as it did from time to time. Funny, how you could see a place every day and take it for granted but, every so often, the light would be just right, or new flowers would have bloomed, and it all looked new again.
    “Jackson, I hope Amelia made clear to you how happy you made her when you turned Beauford Bend back into the home she remembered from when she was a girl.”
    He looked at her through his eyelashes. “Yeah? Well, I’m glad. She loved to tell the stories of how life was here before the Beaufords lost their money. I thought she’d want to close the business and do as she pleased but she didn’t.”
    Emory laughed a little. “She
was
doing as she pleased. She