Texas Gold by Liz Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

ready for some fun. She’d survived last night with a few scorch marks. Maybe this time she’d do a little of her own burning.

    Brenton wished there was a way he could lock his daughter up for the rest of the summer and thank her at the same time. He’d definitely wanted to see Mallory. But not at the expense of Nina.
    She’d told him some nonsense about goofing off at the lake with a few other friends. Yes, there were boys, too. But no one was “having sex.”
    Having sex for crying out loud. She’d said the words like they were no big deal.  
    Damn, he was lost when it came to stuff like this. Not that his ex would have done any better. She’d been too damn interested in California dreaming.  
    So here he was, alone with his baby girl listening about how no one at the lake had been having sex even though she and her friend Jen had stayed out there all night long.
    The party wasn’t exactly innocent, though. Nina had also admitted that alcohol flowed freely all night. But she’d finished by saying she didn’t drink anything. She was the designated walker responsible for getting her and Jen back home in one piece.
    She’d made it sound like it was his fault for them getting caught because he wouldn’t let her drive until she turned sixteen even though everyone else in town drove with their learner's permit.
    He didn’t bother to explain that if she hadn’t been out all night, she wouldn’t have been caught.
    Instead, he’d sent her to her room. She’d obliged easily enough, stomping up the stairs and slamming her door behind her.
    God, he wasn’t a fool to think teenagers were any different today than they’d been when he was a kid, but he didn’t know what to do now that Nina was there.  
    When he looked at her, he wanted to see his angel girl swinging on a wooden swing set, her braided hair flying behind her. Or his little helper at the office bringing him coffee or paper clips. Talking about ISP’s and ethernet hookups back before they were common words.
    He didn’t want to see the quasi-woman who lived in his house now. The girl who wore cropped tops and jean shorts and looked twenty-five instead of fifteen.  
    And he couldn’t remember when he’d been more afraid.
    One wrong step here, and he could ruin his baby’s life. What was he going to do?
    The doorbell stopped his thoughts. His development firm partner was due, and Brenton desperately needed to lose himself in business for a while.
    He heard the housekeeper open the door with a welcome of “Hello, Mr. Lavoy. Mr. Alexander is in his office.”
    A few seconds later he heard a knock and the typical “Hey, hey, hey” of his partner John Lavoy.  
    John was the one who had found this piece of paradise just waiting for their Midas touch. In fact, in the last three years, John had found two of their best locations.  
    In the business, they were known as the dynamic duo. Brenton put up the start up cash and John made the magic.
    So far they hadn’t gone wrong.  
    Six suburban towns could thank them for their higher tax revenues, their state-of-the-art schools, and their wonderful little renaissance downtowns. Yes, they were all doing quite well in the tourism industry these days, and Serendipity fit the bill just right. Maybe even better than the others since it had a lake.
    A lake his daughter had spent all night at.
    He pushed the thought away, instead thinking of ways to convince his opponents that development made sense. The fact that Mallory Baber was his most outspoken opponent to date didn’t mean a thing. He always tried to avoid flat out fights when he had a chance.
    If she refused to see reason, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d run rough shod over someone.
    “So, I saw the survey crews out when I drove into town. Look mighty nice, boss man.”
    He’d forgotten the surveyors would be out today starting Shepherd’s Glen. The place would be a draw for the perfect upper middle income group they wanted to bring in.
    “How