When the server came around, Randi ordered Tom Yum Goong, edamame, and ice-cold water. She'd been trying to drink more water, but the only way she could tolerate the stuff was by flooding it with ice.

Looking for a distraction, she scanned the room. She loved people-watching. One would think she'd get enough of it at the bar or coffee shop, but no. Facial expressions, body language, clothing styles-they all told a story. She wondered if the story she read was anywhere near the truth.

The gentleman in the booth behind her started talking. It only took a few seconds of listening to his one-way conversation and his shuffling of papers for her to realize he was using a Bluetooth device. Randi clenched her teeth, wondering how ticked off the server would be if she asked to be moved to a different table.

The murmur of the guy's conversation crystallized into individual words, phrases, sentences. Something in his voice-an inflection, an oddly pronounced word, something-caught her attention and held it. She lounged against the booth's back cushion, placing herself closer to the stranger.

Heat rolled up her throat while she eavesdropped on his conversation. The subject matter interested her not at all. It was his identity she was determined to ferret out. The more he spoke, the more certain she was that they'd met. By slow degrees, a name rose to the conscious part of her mind. She ran through the alphabet letter by letter, trying to force the cobwebs from her memory.

And just like that, the call ended. Any chance of locating his name disappeared. Randi blew out a breath of frustration. She ached to turn around and look at the guy, but the back of the booth rose at least two feet above her head. The much-needed privacy the cozy area afforded her moments ago, now seemed confining.

"Here you are." Her server set down a plate in front of her. "Tom Yum Goong soup and edamame." The server glanced over the table. "Did no one bring out your ice water?"

"Not yet," Randi said in a low voice.

"I'll be back with that in two shakes. Need anything else?"

Randi shook her head.

With the guy quiet behind her, Randi spooned up a straw mushroom. Ginger, lemongrass, and chiles exploded in her mouth. She soon found out the knots in her stomach had masked a rather large appetite.

Halfway through her soup, Bluetooth Guy's phone rang.

"Gaviston speaking."

Randi's fork paused midway to her mouth, and her heart thunked against her chest. Surely not.

"Not yet. My appointment's at three o'clock."

She placed her fork beside her plate and leaned back. Her pulse careened through her veins like a caffeinated kid buzzing around the schoolyard.

"I understand, sir. Trust me to win her over."

Keith Gaviston, attorney for Carolina Club. The voice, the name, the appointment time-there could be no doubt. Of all the freaking restaurants she could have gone to, she'd picked the one in all of Western North Carolina that Keith Gaviston frequented. The odds had to be Power Ball worthy.

"Given her current situation," Gaviston said, "she would be an idiot to pass up such a lucrative deal. No one else has the means to save her business. Miss Shepherd didn't strike me as the unwise sort."

What the hell was going on? Britt and now Gaviston. How had they found out about her financial situation? Had somebody blogged about the investment scam online and named her? In today's technology age, pretty much anything seemed possible. But how could they have found out about her? She had never come across anything that had listed the victims. And she'd looked. Hard.

Was the entire town aware of her impending financial doom? That she was about to lose her business? About to lay off over a dozen people?

"Do I have your authorization to sweeten the deal by twenty percent, if necessary?"

Scalding anger burned deep into her stomach like a big glob of wasabi. The delicious food she'd eaten tasted like dirt on her tongue. Who the hell were these people? And why did they want her thousand acres so badly?

She was missing something. Something important, and it annoyed her to no end.

"Very well, sir. I'll give you a call after the meeting."

The space behind her went silent. Then papers shuffled and the hollow sound of glass thudded against the table. Leather squeaked a moment before Randi saw the figure of a man out of the corner of her eye.

She busied herself by digging around in her purse, counting to one, two, three, four, five before lifting her head and looking toward the exit. Yep, even from the back, she recognized Keith Gaviston's long, lean elegance. Such sophistication would be right at home in the boardrooms glutting Wall Street.

Realizing Gaviston was on his way to meet her, she glanced at her phone and released a slow breath. Plenty of time. She would give him a ten-minute head start so there would be no possibility of running into him as she left the restaurant. He could just wait for her on the other end.

What to do? As much as it irked her, he was correct. She'd be stupid to turn down the club's offer with no other viable buyer lined up. If only she had enough time to put it on the market and see what other offers came her way. But she didn't, which meant her hands were tied if she wanted to save her business and protect her employees. Which she did.

But Gaviston's arrogance gnawed at her common sense and logic. Tore at them until raw emotion reared its impulsive head. How she'd like to take the club's lucrative offer and shove it into Gaviston's pretty mouth.

The need to chuck it all-the offer, the responsibility, the guilt-and move to some remote location and do nothing more stressful than mix drinks was strong. What would her life be like if she didn't have Triple B consuming her thoughts 24/7? Would she actually be able to have fun from time to time? Unfortunately, her getaway plans would bore the hell out of her after a few months.

Decision made, Randi paid her bill and left the restaurant-only to come face-to-face with Gaviston, when she stepped outside.

His intelligent emerald-green eyes glanced between her and the restaurant, adding two plus two. A damn flush crept up her neck.

"Miss Shepherd." He greeted her in a diamond-edged voice. "Did you enjoy your lunch?"

"I did. Be sure to try the Tom Yum Goong soup. It's the best in the area."

"I've already dined, thank you." His attention sharpened. "I forgot my sunglasses inside. Did you notice them when you left your booth?"

She could barely think beyond the rhythmic pounding in her ears. Why did she feel like she'd done something wrong when he was the one plotting against her in such a public place? "Booth? Not here. They're rather dark and gloomy, don't you think? I chose one of the window seats that face the courtyard. Much more enjoyable."

"Ah, well, I had best go find them. They're my favorite pair, and I don't want to be late for an important meeting I have at three."

Pasting a teasing smile on her face, Randi said, "Indeed not. See you soon, Mr. Gaviston."

Could anyone's luck be worse than mine? She hadn't fooled him one bit. Even if he bought the booth BS, all he had to do was set those jewel-toned eyes on their server, ask a few innocent-sounding questions, and wham, he'd know she lied.

And what would he do with that knowledge during their upcoming conversation?

When she returned to Triple B, she barely had time to stash her purse in a side drawer of her desk before a harried Kris McKay skidded inside.

"Where have you been?" Kris asked. "I've been calling you for over an hour."

"Sorry, Kris. I set my phone to silent. What's up?"

"Sometime last night the cooler housing the food shut down."

"Shut down? How?"

"The electricity went out."

"What about the backup system?"

"The electrician is checking it now."

A stampede of wild horses raced over Randi's chest, kicking the air from her lungs, filling her mouth with dust.

"None of the staff noticed the problem until now?"

"The new staff we've taken on for the summer aren't in tune with things like that yet, so they didn't notice the temperature change."

Blood drained from her face, and a cold slap of failure threw Randi into the nearest chair. Her heart stuttered to a stop before it began a slow slog to life again. Her hands shook and her stomach soured.

"What's the damage?"

"Health Department said it's a total loss." Kris crossed her arms over her middle. "I'm sorry, Randi."

A total loss.

No way could she recover from this. She'd already been hanging off the ledge by her fingertips.

Her business, her employees' jobs, her livelihood-gone.

Randi peered at the clock on her computer.

2:25 p.m.

Gaviston would be here soon. She recalled the unhappy lines around his mouth and the hard glint in his eyes.

Shit, shit. Double damn shit.

16.

"Stop being a jerk." Jonah slumped down in the passenger seat of his Tesla. "I knew you wouldn't like the idea, but I didn't realize you would be this mule-headed."

Britt continued his surveillance of Triple B. His grip tightened on the steering wheel with every new word that came out of his brother's mouth. "I could never pay you back."

"That's good, because I wouldn't be buying the property for you. It's an investment. An expansion of the Steele Conservation Area."

"Grif would not agree."

"Probably not." Jonah yawned. "But that doesn't mean it's not a sound decision."

Britt propped his elbow on the window ledge and pinched the bridge of his nose as if that simple action could make everything clearer. It didn't, though the pressure did dull the throbbing.

"Jonah, if you keep throwing millions of dollars away on this town, you're going to wind up a damned pauper before you're forty."

His brother laughed. "You have no idea of my net worth, do you?"

Of course he did. He didn't call him the baby billionaire for nothing. Even so, at the rate Jonah was spending money, his stash would eventually run out, wouldn't it?

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Jonah folded a piece of gum into his mouth.

"Aren't there other, I don't know, technology things you'd rather purchase?"

"Dude, I have everything I need and more. If there's something I don't have, I'll buy it. I just finished designing something that will make me even more money. Adding a few acres to my assets won't stop me from getting things I don't need."

"It's more than a few acres, Jonah."

He sent Britt a cocky grin. "Have I mentioned that I'm filthy rich?"

"Shithead."

"Don't you know it."

An unholy mixture of dread and excitement poured over Britt. If he accepted Jonah's offer, he would feel beholden to his little brother for the rest of his life. Not accepting would place the Steele-Shepherd pack in the hands of trophy hunters. Pride versus salvation. Was there really any choice?

"Jonah, I-"

"There's something else," Jonah interrupted, resting a hand on the back of Britt's seat. "Something you're going to like even less."

Dread surged, dousing his excitement to a low hum. "Spill it."

"I've been thinking about the future of the conservation area."

Britt angled his head around to face his brother. He did not like the tone in Jonah's voice. When the town had purchased the property for the sports complex, they had taken on ten thousand additional acres with grand plans for future expansion. Twenty thousand acres in total.

However, his brother Reid had no desire for expanding the center beyond its original footprint. With everyone's attention focused on the center's renovation, the conservation area, as Jonah had dubbed it, had taken a back burner. To everyone except Britt. He'd spent the past six months exploring the land, getting to know its contours and inhabitants.

Grif had made it clear that the extra acreage was nothing more than a bleed on Jonah's finances. None of his brothers were active outdoorsmen like Britt. They liked the occasional fishing, camping, or hunting excursion, but none of them gave nature a second thought when their outing was over.

So Britt had been careful not to get too attached. With the area's uncertain future, he'd have been a fool to do so. A real fool. Finding the wolf pack on the property changed everything.

"Grif has been speaking with a number of developers," Jonah said, confirming Britt's fears. "He's leaning toward a proposal to construct a hotel and a mini mall. Thinks it'll create a more attractive package for the center's participants, especially since we don't have lodging established."

"He's always had an eye for the big picture." The words cut like diamonds over his tongue. "If you're set on buying the Shepherd property, I would appreciate it if you'd build your hotel on the far east side, away from the wolves." It would help, but in the end, the red wolves would move on. At least he'd maintain their sanctuary for a couple more years before mankind yet again pushed them out.

"Yeah, he's annoyingly accurate, sometimes." Jonah stretched the bright green gum over his tongue and drummed his fingers against Britt's seat. "But I don't think the center will suffer if participants have to commute the mile and a half to the Bayberry Spa and Inn, which has a convenience store within walking distance. We could work out a shuttle system with the inn." He blew a bubble until it popped. "Or we could just build the damn thing adjacent to the center. Reid had safety concerns with the hotel's original placement, anyway. What would it take? Twenty acres? Thirty acres, at the most?"

"What does this have to do with the conservation area?"

Britt was pretty sure his heart stopped beating while awaiting Jonah's answer.

"Even before today, I had balked at destroying the conservation area for development purposes. Our meeting with those pampered rich boys reaffirmed my decision to protect the ten thousand acres." More finger drumming. "And I think it needs a research center."

Britt stared at his brother, uncomprehending. "For what?"