North Dakota Weddings by Elizabeth Goddard Read Free Book Online

discouragement seeping in. At least she had the job and the opportunity to find the secret that lay within.
    After pouring himself a cup, Vance took a long gulp of black coffee and squeezed his eyes as though he hated the stuff—the mannerism reminding her of his uncle. She looked down at the granite counter, a smile creeping onto her lips.
    So, they had some similarities after all.
    Vance’s uncle had often said to her he wished he were a lot younger, then he would have tried to win her heart. She’d laughed with him at the sweet comment, not knowing at the time of his affection for her grandmother when he was young. But with a much younger version of him standing on the other side of the counter right now, she wondered how far the similarities went.
    And the differences.

    Andi the builder glanced at the junk he’d strewn around the living area. “We’re going to work on the extra room today and maybe the rest of this week. I don’t plan to start on the equipment building until we get the power on there. I hope we don’t disturb you.”
    “You won’t bother me at all.” Vance watched her walk away. Nothing unfamiliar about watching a gorgeous woman walking away.
    He hung his head over the counter. A laugh escaped. Vance dumped the rest of his coffee. She’d taken an interest in his telescope and what did he do?
    Idiot
.
    He’d practically yelled at her. He could still see the look of shock on her face. When would he ever learn?
    In his few encounters with her, she always acted wary, untrusting, but like she wanted to open up, like she needed a friend. It was weird, but not in a science fiction sort of way. Stomach growling again, he grabbed a muffin and stuffed his face. A hot shower would clear his mind.
    When he’d arrived at Ground Zero, his trip to Cancun was just a few days away. Now he’d dug himself in deep—deciding to finish what Uncle Vance had started. But whether his uncle’s intentions were to finish the missile site or help Andi or both, Vance wasn’t sure. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure of his own intentions. But the arrangement could benefit them both.
    Add to that, something was out of place at ANND Systems. After seeing the anomalies on the disk, call it a gut feeling or a sixth sense, he had a strong niggling feeling he was involved—that it would all somehow come back to him. In that case, he could be in big trouble. Unless what he’d seen was nothing more than the product of a sleep-deprived brain drawing the last of the juice from an alternate power source.
    But what exactly had he seen? He’d have to figure it out, turning this into a working vacation. Fun and rest seemed about as accessible as the moon right now. After looking at the disk Saturday night, he’d tried to focus, even drank several of his usual energy drinks, but going for weeks without sleep in order to make the project deadline had worked against him. When he crashed, he typically crashed for days, but now he didn’t have the luxury of that much time even on a vacation. Until he figured out how to get a real snooze in this temporary underground home, he couldn’t be at his best.
    He was heading for the shower when Andi stepped out of a room to the left and walked right into him.
    He grabbed her arm to steady her. “Sorry about that.”
    “I should watch where I’m going.” Appearing flustered, she continued about her business.
    “No problem.” Vance waved, then scowled. Why had he just waved at her?
    He blew out a breath. The remodeling would be a distraction for him, especially with Andi here. How much of the work did she actually do herself? It seemed odd—her in construction. She appeared dainty compared to his idea of someone in that line of work. He wondered how she got into the business. Had she dreamed about managing a construction site or remodeling homes all her life? Or was it more about surviving? She was attractive and interesting and…
    What are you doing?
Any interest in her would lead him