Gentle Persuasion. Cerella Sechrist
Читать онлайн книгу.
Surely you know that.”
She couldn’t explain it to him. She wondered if he had ever understood, if he had ever even paid attention to what passed for a mother-daughter relationship between her and Lillian Reid.
Her lack of a reply must have compelled him to speak further. “Ophelia, be reasonable. We’re talking about our future.”
She felt a twist of pity for him. “Cole, I don’t think we have a future.”
Another minute of silence stretched out between them.
“And what’s your plan if you don’t succeed? If you can’t convince Montgomery to return?”
The thought left a weight of apprehension in her stomach. She couldn’t fail her mother like that. She couldn’t fail herself and her dreams.
“I’ll figure it out. There’s no need to concern yourself.”
“Of course not. Why would I do that?” His words were laced with resentment.
She felt herself bristle. “Right. No need to expect your support or anything.”
They sighed at the same time.
“Well, I just wanted to check in,” she said.
“Yeah. Thanks for that. And good luck with Montgomery. You’re probably going to need it.”
She resisted the urge to grind her teeth together.
“Right. Take care, Cole.”
“You, too.”
As she ended the call, she marveled at the two of them, how awkwardness outweighed any heartbreak they might have experienced. She wondered if their entire relationship had been based on convenience and expectation rather than love. For her part, she felt only frustration.
Placing these thoughts aside and trying not to let Cole’s words get to her, she began preparing for her tour with Dane.
When Ophelia reappeared on the first floor of the inn to meet up with her host, she found Leilani waiting for her instead. The younger girl appeared awkward and uncomfortable as she shifted from one sandaled foot to the other and tugged on the hem of her coral-colored T-shirt.
“Dane’s a little preoccupied right now, so he asked if I could give you a tour of the plantation in his place.”
Ophelia clenched her jaw. Her assignment here was difficult enough, given Dane’s stubborn recalcitrance, but to have him renege on their arrangement so soon rankled thoroughly. Her mother had not advised her to throw away money needlessly. The $10,000 incentive was meant to anchor Ophelia to Dane’s side, allowing her time to get to know the man and continually illustrate the benefits of his return.
But seeing Leilani’s discomfort, she didn’t feel she could take out her annoyance on the younger woman. She forced herself to relax.
“Well, he’ll just have to make it up to me later, won’t he? At least it will give us some girl time together, right?”
Leilani’s fidgeting eased as a look of relief bloomed on her pretty face. She nodded enthusiastically. “Come on. I’ll show you around.”
* * *
“SURELY YOU CAN appreciate my situation, Dane.”
Dane clenched his jaw to keep from arguing. After all, Kenneth Masters had been generous enough in loaning Dane money to continue operations some months ago...if only Dane had realized the motives behind Masters’s scheme before he had accepted. Now, the other man was suddenly revising the terms and requesting payment in full within the week.
“It’s been a difficult year for all of us. You know how hard it is to compete with the larger estates.”
Dane still said nothing. It was rumored that Masters imported cheaper, inferior coffee beans from other regions, mixing them with his own crop of Kona in order to offer “quality Kona coffee” at a significantly lower rate of sale than his fellow farmers could provide. No one had dared to pursue an investigation on Masters, however, and Dane hadn’t learned about these illegal practices until after his deal with his shady neighbor had already been struck. It had unfortunately not occurred to Dane before this that perhaps Masters’s motivations in loaning him the sum went beyond the simple profit he would make on their interest terms.
Dane continued to dig his shovel into the dirt as he formed holes for a new crop of coffee trees. After he felt he had the right depth, he tossed in some fertilizer consisting of macadamia husks, coffee cherry pulp and other various greens and compostable materials.
When he finally looked back up from his task, he saw Masters frowning at him critically. He wondered if the man disapproved of his tenacity in planting more trees when his farm was on the verge of bankruptcy.
“I thought we had agreed to six months on the loan,” Dane finally said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm.
“Well, as I’ve said, it’s been a difficult year.”
Dane sighed and leaned his weight wearily against the support of his shovel. “You know I was waiting until I harvest to pay you back the first installment.”
“I hate to put you in a tough place, Dane. I know you’ve been trying your best with this plantation. Perhaps your reach has exceeded your grasp, hmm? Coffee trees aren’t the same as corporate marketing. I have our contract in writing. There is a clause that states I can call in the loan at any time. My lawyer has all the necessary paperwork.”
Dane held Masters’s gaze until the other man looked away. He then straightened, took his shovel and began driving his spade into the earth once more, directing all his anger into the movement. He knew the clause Masters had mentioned. He hadn’t noticed it until the deal was already done. At the time, he’d been distracted—another recruiter had shown up on his doorstep, this one more obnoxious than most. Coupled with his growing concerns over the farm’s finances, he had been sloppy in his final review of the loan contract with Masters. The clause had not appeared until the last revision of the document, and he’d overlooked it in his haste to finalize the deal. When he had found the clause later, he’d hoped it was merely a formality. Now, he knew better. And he was angry at both himself for his carelessness and Masters for his underhanded trickery.
“Maybe we can come to some other sort of arrangement?” Masters suggested.
“I’m sure you already have something in mind,” Dane remarked as he continued forcing his shovel into the soil, sweat beading on his brow.
“Why not a partnership? I’ll provide the funds to carry you until the harvest, and in turn, you use your reputation and business contacts on the mainland to advance our joined operations.”
Dane stopped digging but gripped the shovel handle tightly. “What was that?” He turned slowly, every line of his body tense at Masters’s suggestion. “We could do what?”
Masters didn’t even have the grace to look abashed. If anything, his smirk seemed even more pronounced than when he had first arrived and sought Dane out, forcing him to forego his afternoon tour with Ophelia and leaving his guest in Leilani’s hands. He was sure Ms. Reid had been anything but happy about the handoff. But now, his pesky recruiter lingered in the corner of his mind. The $10,000 incentive would go a long way in repaying his loan to Masters, even if the other debts still piled up in the interim.
“Come now, Dane. We both know this is a tremendous undertaking for you, especially given your background.”
“I was raised on a farm,” Dane pointed out. “In the Midwest. I’m not a stranger to the manual labor or the long hours.”
“Perhaps during your boyhood...” Masters trailed off. “But now? So many years later?” He clicked his tongue. “You’re in over your head, man. If you’re half the genius they claim, surely you can already see that.”
Dane only knew one thing—success was a lot of hard work and a healthy