Charles Grantham might be a lousy father, but the world acknowledged him as one of the sharpest businessmen around. And that sharp businessman had trusted her enough to send her into this situation cold. The sense of satisfaction that had filled her also irritated her. What did she care if her father thought her capable? That was all she was to him anyway—a useful employee.
She picked up a piece of paper. Nothing in the old project manager’s second set of paper books showed evidence that he’d embezzled funds, but she hadn’t completed her review of all the project documents yet either. Maybe he’d just been incompetent. She’d completed the records for Yangshuo, the Chinese village, and Rochefort-en-fleur—she wouldnotcall it Rockford. She’d hoped to finish with Avalon, the Welsh village, today and be off to La Playa, the Canary Islands village.
The sound of raised voices outside her window pulled Shelby from her reverie. Wade and the foreman. She shifted in her chair to see better. She couldn’t make out the words, but the tone said plenty. The discussion had turned into a disagreement. What now? Unable to see clearly, she rose from her chair and went to the window.
With the backdrop of the beach and distant surf, Shelby watched the little drama play out. What had this confident man, who was holding his ground so well, done with the Wade she’d known? He’d changed from the young man she’d loved in college. He’d grown so much. In the past, his soft-spoken, dreamy manner had made people think him weak, an easy target.
The volume of Wade’s voice continued to rise as the disagreement turned into an argument. The louder the contractor got, the more forceful Wade’s words grew. Not angrier, just more forceful.Stubborn. He used to callherthat.
What had she ever done to make his first reaction be to believe she’d been lying to him all that time? She’d confided in him about her compulsive-liar mother; he knew how much honesty meant to Shelby. When she’d finally trusted him enough to open up about her father, why had Wade’s first thought been that she’d lied? The horrible look on his face had made her think she’d never really known him. He certainly hadn’t known her.
The foreman’s voice got louder still; he knew he was losing. She wondered what they were arguing about. While she didn’t really have that much to do with the design aspects of the project, she tended to agree with Wade. He had excellent taste. His company had chosen well in sending him to take over the project.
Confident. Competent. Wade had grown into both. As she’d worked with him on the project, she’d come to see how little credit she’d given him over the years. The self-assured man who was staring down the contractor seemed so much more than the man she had known four years ago. Watching him, her heart ached with what she’d lost. She accepted the truth—she was still in love with Wade Masters.
The contractor gave in with a terse nod and headed toward Avalon. Wade folded up the plans.
Not for the first time since seeing him again, Shelby wondered what might have happened had Wade not been so appalled. What if she and Wade had married after graduation, as they’d discussed? She reflected on their relationship—she was always the protector, the bossy one who told him what to do. Not exactly the best thing for learning to stand up for yourself and be independent. She might have held him back, kept him from turning into this confident, competent man.
The thought humbled her in a way that no other had. All these years, in the back of her mind, she’d always thought about how muchWadehad lost.
Had she inherited her father’s overbearing arrogance? The idea that Shang Senior had been correct left a bitter taste in her mouth. Once, years ago, he’d accused her of being as pompous as her father. The testy remark, one she’d considered the ultimate of insults, had resulted in her not speaking to him for weeks. Not until Alan had told her, “Knock it off. You’re being immature.”
Watching Wade stride across the sand, the ocean breaking behind him, she accepted the truth of Shang’s words. A wave of sadness washed over her, swirled with disappointment in herself. Wade had made the best choice by rejecting her and her unwanted connections. By himself, he’d done a better job of living up to his potential. Her stomach knotted. He was a better man today because she hadnotbeen a part of his life.
Shelby jumped to her feet, feeling a little sick. She had to take a break and quit thinking. With only the slightest hesitation, she picked up her flip-flops and headed out to the empty beach.
The amount of detail that had gone into the island’s creation had surprised her, though upon reflection it shouldn’t have. She knew her father had an excellent eye for detail, and his signature project deserved nothing less than his best. How much he’d invested in the actual transformation of the little stub of land sticking out of the Pacific Ocean, she had no idea. She only knew he had been working on it for years, maybe decades. Those budget numbers hadn’t been included in what she had.
Her father had designed each of the four cultural immersion villages to provide a unique and realistic experience for guests. She’d heard they had plans for a morning prep session at the beginning of the visitors’ stay where they would learn key words of their village’s language and some of the history and culture.
At the edge of the water, Shelby slipped off her flip-flops and squeezed the yellowish sand between her toes. The Welsh beach got the most wind of any part of the island, and the highest rainfall, which she imagined had been behind the reason to locate here. Not that Southern California would get as much rain as Wales did.
Shelby held her hand to her forehead to cut down the sun’s glare and took in the rocky terrain. Turning slowly, she faced out toward the beach where it seemed the tide must be coming in. She frowned, squinting to see better. It looked like dorsal fins in the distance, coming closer.
