Page 92 of A Wolfe in the Woods

“It would,” I answered honestly.

“Okay,” he replied, inclining his head.

“Imightneed a little bit a marketing budget,” I added in sheepishly. “For printed materials. Maybe a new sign for where the highway turns off. With lights.”

“I can manage that,” he answered, smirking.

“Great. In that case,” I said, trying to hide my giddiness, “do you have a laptop I can borrow?”

His chair gave another sound of protest when he rose, going to a cabinet drawer, where he procured an old, dusty laptop with a heavy charging cord. “Will this work? I never use it since I have my own.” He gestured toward the computer on his desk. Erik had one similar—only the best for him, after all—so I knew it cost a pretty penny. “But this one used to be my father’s. He barely used it, so it should still work.”

Anything was better than nothing.

And once we get his cabins filled up, I’ll talk to him about getting a laptop from this century,I promised myself.

“I’ll get to work,” I said. “What’s your domain name and host for the website? I’ll need the log-ins. I’ll start there.”

There was a long pause. “Well, see, I, uh, haven’t exactly?—”

“Please don’t finish that sentence,” I said, retreating back to my armchair after I plugged in the charger.

“I’m not good at this stuff, and besides, I don’t have the time,” he admitted. “Give me land and tools over domain names any day.”

Just then a flash of lightning lit up the front room, bright and silver. Moments later, the rumble of thunder rolled through the woods, booming.

“Then it’s a good thing it falls to me now. Okay, I’ll fix it,” I told him. “And by the time I’m done, you’ll have guests coming out of your ears.”

First task, get a website.

“Promise?” he asked, his voice dipping lower as he prowled toward me in the armchair. He pressed his palms to the leather arms, leaning down until he was a hand’s span away.

“I’ll have all these cabins booked up by the end of summer,” I said softly, my eyes dropping to his lips. “You’ll see.”

His kiss made a slow tingle make its way up my spine.

“By all means, have at it,” he murmured, pulling back.

We smiled at one another as the laptop booted up, the glow reflecting in his eyes.

Then, I tucked in for a long, productive afternoon, just as Jonathan returned to his place behind the desk, ripping open another envelope that needed handling. The moment I got online, I was a girl on a mission, the cabin falling away.

And I felt more inspired than I had in years.

CHAPTER 25

JONATHAN

The storm had been threatening all morning. When it finally broke, it did so without mercy—rain hammered the roof, wind shook the treetops, thunder rolled long and low across the lake.

Inside the cabin, it was warm.

Another stack of envelopes sat on my desk. Half the mail arriving today was worthless—maintenance notices, supply invoices, bills, and a letter from the Everwick Historical Society trying to get me to sponsor their fundraiser. But then there were ones that weren’t so harmless. Thick envelopes with embossed logos and wording that made my shoulders tighten.

Polaris Equity. Northridge Holdings. Names that had been circling my family’s land like vultures since before my father had died.

A headache began crawling up the back of my skull. I rubbed at my stiff neck. The storm outside wasn’t helping, each rumble making the windowpanes tremor.

I glanced over.