Not a Bancroft trying to prove himself to his father. Not a trust fund playboy trying to avoid consequences. Just Kent, looking at the woman he’d fallen for and trying to decide if he had the courage to be honest.
CHAPTER 41
SYLVIE
Istood on the lodge steps looking at Kent. The nervous energy radiating from him made my stomach twist with sudden dread. He walked toward me like a man walking toward the gallows.
Something was wrong.
I couldn’t say how I knew it, but I could just tell. I supposed spending twenty-four hours straight with a man, with a great deal of those hours naked, had a way of putting you on the same wavelength as a person.
“What is it?” I asked. “I really need to get to lunch with Dad.”
Kent took a breath. I watched something shift in his expression, from uncertain to resigned, like he’d just made a difficult decision. The man was fighting some kind of war. I didn’t know what was going on, but he had me worried.
Oh God, please don’t tell me he really is married or engaged or has a serious girlfriend.
I couldn’t explain it, but my insides were shaking. It felt like I was in a speeding car heading for a broken bridge. Whatever he was about to say was going to ruin me. I knew it as well as I knew snow was white.
“Before you talk to your father, you need to understand what the Bancroft offer actually means,” he said carefully.
I nodded. “Of course. But what do you mean? What’s wrong, Kent? You’re freaking me out.”
“Signing it would mean your family doesn’t own any of this anymore. Not the lodge, not the tree farm, not the land. It would all become Bancroft property.”
I frowned with confusion. “Well, yes, that’s how investments work. You’d own a stake in the business.”
“No, Sylvie. Not a stake. All of it. Your family would have to relocate when we bring in the rigs. The land would be drilled for oil. No one will live here. Not you. Not your family. None of your employees. The area will be cleared. No trees. No homes.”
Each word hit me like a physical blow. Relocate. Rigs. Oil.
He was punctuating every word like I was a child. I supposed that was necessary because it wasn’t making sense.
“But you said…” I couldn’t seem to form complete thoughts. “You said your family wanted to invest in the lodge. I thought that meant to restore it. Make us profitable again. Maybe some marketing and upgrades.”
“I know what I said.” His voice was quiet, almost gentle, which somehow made it worse. “But the offer is for acquisition of the land and mineral rights. There’s oil under this property, Sylvie. A lot of it. Enough to justify paying your family handsomely to relocate and start fresh somewhere else.”
My heart was pounding so hard I could barely hear over the rush of blood in my ears. “Start fresh? This is our home, Kent. This is everything my family has built for generations. Hundreds of years”
“I know. But it would give everyone here a second chance. You could rebuild somewhere else, create something just as special as what Northwood already is.”
“When did you find this out?” I interrupted, my voice shaking. “About the oil, about what your family really wanted?”
He hesitated, and in that pause I saw the answer written all over his face.
“Since you got back from New York?” I asked, already knowing it was worse than that. “You told them about the property, and they changed their minds?”
He shook his head. “I’ve known the entire time, Sylvie. That’s why I came here. My father sent me to convince your family to sell the land and everything under it.”
The world around me started to spin. My vision blurred at the edges as my brain tried to process what he was saying. I heard the words, but they couldn’t be right. There was a disconnect between reality and what I wanted to believe.
All of this had been bullshit? A con? Some elaborate scheme to manipulate my family into signing away everything we had? Taking me to bed? That was part of his persuasion methods.
I felt sick. I took a step back. I couldn’t be near him.
“So this whole time,” I said slowly, my voice barely above a whisper. “You were lying to me. About everything.”
“Not everything.”
