Finders Keepers by Catherine Palmer Read Free Book Online

take down Chalmers House and build my office complex.”
    “Take down? Tear down, you mean.”
    “And I’ll do my best not to interfere with your customers in the process.”
    “This isn’t about my customers. This is about Ambleside!”
    “I think this is about you and my aunt. I’m touched that you loved her. And I’m trying to understand your obsession with her house …”
    “Obsession?”
    “Fascination. Whatever.”
    “Do one thing for me, would you? Get a plat of this town, study the layout, and try to imagine the square without the mansion. Then take a walk through the old house and try to see it for what it is. It’s a gem of nineteenth-century architecture. It’s a tribute to an age gone by. Then walk through the grounds …”
    “You asked me to do one thing, and you listed at least three. Look, Elizabeth, I’m taking a vacation in a couple of weeks, and I’ll use some of that time to think over what you’ve been saying. In the meantime, you’d better start getting used to the idea of a sign next door that reads Zachary Chalmers: American Institute of Architects, because that’s who’s going to be your neighbor.”
    “Let me buy the mansion then. I can make a large enough down payment that you could buy a lot on the edge of town and build whatever you want.”
    “Have you always been this persistent?”
    She leaned against the wall and let out a breath. “Yes.”
    “Good. I like that. Now, let’s go to lunch.”
    “You’re the one who’s stubborn,” she said as he headed down the stairs. “And I’m not having lunch with you. I’m going back to my shop and open up for the afternoon.”
    “Fine, be that way.” He gave her yet another of those grins as he pushed open the door and stepped out into the sunlight. “You’ll regret it.”
    “I regret everything about you. And I want Grace’s letter back!”
    “See ya around, Elizabeth,” he called as the door banged shut behind him.

    Too bad about Elizabeth Hayes, Zachary thought as he detailed the brickwork on the front view of his design for the state office complex. She was a pretty woman, obviously intelligent, and certainly passionate. But she was about to drive him straight up the wall. Her visit to his office the other day had thrown him for a loop.
    In moving to Ambleside, he had expected all kinds of obstacles—zoning laws, client confusion, and all the inconveniences of small-town living. But he hadn’t anticipated a blue-eyed spitfire who was bound and determined to keep him from his objectives.
    He couldn’t leave that mansion standing. It would cost a small fortune to rehab it. And then what? He’d have an expensive old house that nobody would want. Who’d buy the thing from him? Maybe someone could use it for a bed-and-breakfast. But Ambleside wasn’t exactly a tourist resort. The building itself was too cumbersome for a modern family’s home. No doubt anyone who could afford the place would prefer a large wooded lot and a top-of-the-line executive home to a downtown Victorian mansion.
    As for Elizabeth’s request to purchase the property herself, he questioned whether she could even come close to the price he would need to ask for the place. Even if she could buy it, she could hardly rehab it on the income she made from Finders Keepers. The image of a single woman running an antiques shop didn’t exactly shout extravagant wealth. Unless she had a trust fund or something.
    “Knock, knock, knock!” someone called outside his door. “Is anybody inside there?”
    Zachary wheeled around, listening to the sounds of furtive conversation and muffled giggling. “Uh … I’m in here. Would you like to come in?”
    “Yes,” the voice called. “Is it OK?”
    “Just go in!” someone else said. “Go in, go in!”
    The door flew open to reveal two small children—a girl with bright red hair done up in two pigtails, and a boy Zachary recognized as Elizabeth Hayes’s adopted son. As one, they stepped into his