Texas Gold by Liz Lee Read Free Book Online

news. But since Celinda and Scott were living with Daddy, she better make sure everything was okay.
    She just wasn’t getting out of bed to do it. She reached over to her bedside table and answered after the fifth, “Mallory, pick up the phone.”
    “”Hey Celinda.”
    “Oh Lord, Mallory, you’re not going to believe it.”
    Oh mercy, she wanted to hang up now.
    “Believe what?”
    “Well, heaven only knows why and I’m really beginning to think it might be a sign from God, but your brother Jackson just sold his land to Brenton Alexander.”
    Wonderful.
    She wasn’t surprised since the last time she’d talked to Jackson he’d sworn he’d never set foot in Serendipity again, but hearing the news was painful.
    Painful and infuriating.
    “Well, we knew that might happen.”
    “That’s not the worst.”
    Figures. Celinda wouldn’t call this early in the morning for some piddly little thing like that.
    “Okay, Celinda, tell me what’s got you up so early. And then, I’m going back to bed.”
    “Why, Mallory Baber, you know I’m up by five a.m. every morning. I’m only calling you as a courtesy. I thought you might want to know what’s going on in this town.”
    Sighing, Mallory held the phone away from her ear as Celinda finished her speech complete with her early morning routine. She hoped the reason her sister-in-law was calling didn’t have anything to do with J.D.’s job.
    She put the phone back to her ear in time to hear Celinda’s “and oatmeal is good for you whether you like it or not.”
    Why had she answered the phone?
    “So, you were going to tell me about what was worse than Jackson selling his land.”
    “Well, Scott was out working the horses when the dogs went stark raving lunatic. He walked down the drive, and what do you suppose he found?”
    Mallory considered answering with something along the lines of aliens abducting cows or supermodels strutting around topless, but she didn’t figure Celinda would appreciate the humor. Still, she couldn’t stop a little sarcasm. “What in the world did he find?”
    “Brenton Alexander brought in a survey team. They’re here today working on his latest development. Zero lot line houses clear to the highway. He’s calling it Shepherd’s Glen.”
    Great. She’d lost the battle before she even got started. Zero lot lines on the fields she’d once roamed with abandon. Probably clear to the stream. What would he do with the land her family had sold?
    “Where’d Scott get his information?” There was a chance Celinda was wrong. She overreacted all the time.
    “J.D. told him. Said he’d heard all about it at the coffee shop. Said the houses were going to start at two hundred.”
    Well, damn. If they were talking about it at the coffee shop, it was probably true.
    At least the houses were small in comparison to the behemoth Brenton lived in. Still, they’d destroy the countryside.
    “Well, thanks for letting me know.” What more could she say? Celinda would fall over dead if she started cussing the way she wanted to. How her crazy rodeo-loving brother had ended up with Celinda was a family mystery destined never to be solved.
    “What are you going to do about it?”  
    Celinda wanted action. She didn’t want to help, but she wanted Mallory to do something. Too bad her best friend, Carolyn was on a summer cruise. She’d be full of creative ideas. And she’d be willing to help.
    The answer came to her suddenly. The way it usually would at two in the morning when it was too late to do anything about it. It wasn’t too late now, though.  
    “I don’t know. But I’ll think of something.” She hung up the phone and jumped out of bed. No sleeping now.   She had a plan, but it wasn’t anything she could share with Celinda.  
    To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t all that original.
    Before this day was over, Mr. Brenton Alexander, developer from hell, was going to wish he’d left her and Serendipity alone. In the mean time, she was