Of course I did.
“After the whole bankruptcy thing, they had to downsize from the mansion to a sweet little architect-designed property in the suburbs. Soooo much wood. Oh, and I cancelled their homeowner’s insurance.”
“We are never ever breaking up.”
“Good. You can make me coffee while I order the stuff I need for the security system. Marielle is going down.”
Nolan hesitated a moment. “There is one more possibility. When I broke up with my ex-fiancée, her parting words were, ‘This place will never be a success without me.’ And before she left, she opened the spigots on half the Syrah tanks and let last year’s profits run down the drain.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Because I wanted to move on? Because she’s my past and you’re my future? Because women hate men talking about their exes?”
Not this woman. Knowledge was power.
“I need to know every single thing about her.”
This was going to be a long night.
CHAPTER 21
NOLAN
“So you just forgot to mention the barrel racing contest?”
Marielle glared right back at Nolan, hands on her hips. “Yes, exactly. I’m a busy woman, and it slipped my mind. But now you know, so do you want to pick me up or take my car?”
Give me strength.
“Neither. I already spoke with Antonella, and I told her that if I go, I’ll be on my own.”
Or with Alexa, but he figured she’d rather pull the keys off her laptop one by one than make small talk with the Cranstons’ eclectic bunch of guests.
“What’s the point in taking two vehicles? Your little friend has swanned off overseas again, so you don’t need to worry about her seeing us and whining about it. She probably contaminated that wine to get attention.”
“What did you just say?”
“Teo told me about the sulphur contamination, and Nolan, I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve that. But you should know I saw Alexis skulking around in the winery yesterday afternoon, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she’d tampered with that tank before she left.”
“It wasn’t Alexa.”
“She’s an attention-seeker, that one. You mark my words.”
Nolan was tempted to fire Marielle right then and screw the rest of the furnishings. But he knew that wouldn’t work. If he kicked her off the job, he’d be the bad guy, and in a small town like Mason’s Hill, that kind of reputational damage would be hard to recover from, especially with Roy Leland spreading rumours too.
No, he needed proof that Marielle was behind the damage—or not—so she could suffer the consequences she deserved. Which meant keeping her around for a little longer.
“Well, Alexa hasn’t gone to Japan. She’s still here, and she definitely has my attention.”
“What about Chase?”
“What about him?”
He’d delayed his trip to Japan too—Alexa needed him to help with the security system.
“Don’t you think cavorting with his girlfriend is inappropriate?”
“We have Chase’s blessing. And we’ll have to catch up on progress with the cottage later—Trey Gardner just arrived.”
