Falling For the Millionaire

by Merrillee Whren

  Hoping against hope that he wouldn’t find extensive losses, he traipsed through the building as he examined every apartment. Using his phone, he made a note of the broken pipes, falling ceilings and damaged wallboard. The list made him sick, but he couldn’t wallow in self-pity. He’d asked for the job, and now he had to make the best of a bad situation.

  He needed time to formulate a plan. He needed a quiet place to think. Without a second thought, Hudson headed for the chapel. He wouldn’t find heat there, but maybe he would find peace and an answer for his troubles.

  * * *

  The snow sparkled in the waning sunlight as Melody made her way to the construction site. Hudson hadn’t called, so she figured he must still be working. Warm air greeted her when she opened the door. That was a good sign, but the puddles standing everywhere were not.

  She called Hudson’s name. No response came. She called again, then ventured down the hallway looking in each door. There was no sign of him, but the scene before her made her stomach sink. What had happened since she’d been here earlier? She grabbed her phone and called Hudson.

  When he answered, she could hear the sorrow and weariness in his voice.

  “I’m here at the construction site. Where are you?”

  “In the chapel.”

  “Do you want to be alone?”

  “Not now. I could use your company if you don’t mind the cold. It’s not very warm in here.”

  “I’ll be right over.”

  A few minutes later she found Hudson sitting on the front pew and sat beside him. He didn’t say anything at first, just looked at her with sad eyes. Her heart was breaking for all his trouble. She sat there in the silence with him and prayed.

  “Did you see the damage?”

  His question caused her to look up. Melody nodded. “What happened?”

  Hudson quickly explained.

  Melody wrinkled her brow. “If I’d turned off that faucet, there wouldn’t be all that damage.”

  “Not true.” Hudson put an arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “The broken pipes still would’ve sprayed water everywhere. There might have been a little less water, but it wasn’t your fault. I didn’t get that valve off. The blame clearly lies with me.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Hudson took a deep breath. “Insurance will cover the cost of the new materials and repairs, but not the cost of hiring more workers. And I’ll have to do that so we can finish the project on time.”

  “Time isn’t that important. It’ll get done when it gets done.”

  “It is to me and to my father. If I don’t come in on time and under budget, he’ll say he was right about the construction division. It’s a money pit and should be sold or even shut down.”

  “But don’t you have other projects that are doing fine?”

  “Yeah, but this is the one that’s under the most scrutiny.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s the one I insisted on undertaking when I took over the construction division. So this is the one that sits squarely on my shoulders.”

  “Have you ever thought that there might be a message in the fact that one thing after another has gone wrong? First Carter, then the stuff with the windows and now this. Maybe these things are trying to tell you to consider your father’s request. Would that be so bad?”

  A muscle worked in Hudson’s jaw. “So you’re on his side and not mine?”

  Melody cringed at the accusation. “I’m on your side, but I’m asking you to think about it.”

  “I’ve considered it, and I’ve rejected it. End of story.”

  He was being as stubborn as his father. No wonder the two men butted heads. “Maybe it’ll be the end of the story whether you like it or not.”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it. Conrick Construction has given work to a lot of veterans, and that’s important to me. I want to make sure that continues.” Hudson narrowed his gaze. “I’m not giving in no matter what problems arise.”

  Melody nodded. “I see your point. So what’s your plan?”

  “I’m not quite sure. I’ve been sitting here thinking and praying.” He let out a loud sigh. “I inherited some property in South Georgia from my mom’s parents, and I’ve had some inquiries from a company who wants to purchase some of the timberland. I can use that money to pay the new hires.”

  “Yes, your mom told me about that property.”

  “She did?”

  “Yeah, the day that I had lunch with her ladies’ group.”

  Hudson sat back in the pew and stared straight ahead. “Do you suppose she’d be upset if I sold part of it? That’s why I never followed up on the inquiry before.”

  “I don’t know.” Melody took Hudson’s hands in hers. “Let’s pray about it together. Ask God to help you know about selling it. Getting the asking price without negotiation would be a sure sign.”

  “No doubt. That doesn’t happen often.”

  While they prayed, she thought about how important Hudson had become in her life. He’d constructed a place in her heart that she couldn’t easily tear down, and she was ready to find out how he fit into her life.

  When they finished, he looked up. “I like having you to pray with and talk to.”

  “Didn’t seem like that a few minutes ago.”

  Hudson gave her a wry smile. “I like it that you’re not a yes-woman. You let me know what you think.”

  “I’ll try to remind you of that when we disagree.” Melody chuckled.

  Hudson grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the pew. “Let’s go get warm.”

  “Come over to my place. I have heat and electricity, and I can fix you dinner.”

  “Now, that’s an offer I can’t refuse.”

  “Do you need to go back to the construction site?”

  Hudson shook his head. “There’s nothing more anyone can do there tonight. Hopefully, people will be able to get to work tomorrow, and we can start putting things back together.”

  As they left the chapel, the sun had disappeared behind the trees surrounding the campus. Its disappearance brought with it even colder temperatures. Melody shivered and Hudson pulled her closer as they walked together. As they reached the front gate, the light inside the guardhouse flickered to life.

  Melody glanced up at Hudson. “The electricity’s back.”

  “Good news for everyone.” He squeezed her shoulders. “Tomorrow’s a new day and a new beginning.”

  “It will be.” She waved as she opened her car door. “I’ll see you at my house.”

  As Melody drove back home, she noticed the main roads had been cleared, but the side ones still had a snowy coating. She thought about her day with Hudson and how they’d been brought closer even in their disagreement. Was it safe to fall in love with this man? Would God guide her in this, too? She had to believe He would.

  Chapter Eleven

  The spring sunshine warmed Melody as she tried to put aside her worry. She sat in the stands with Annie, Kirsten and several other wives and girlfriends who’d come to watch Hudson and a number of the guys from The Village race around the track in their cars. The past two weeks had been some of the happiest times of her life, and she forced herself to think about the good things.

  Every day she and Hudson shared lunch together at the senior center. She loved to listen to his enthusiastic talk about the progress of the women’s shelter project. The damage wasn’t as bad as it had first appeared, and he’d been able to hire new workers. The sale of the timberland was a done deal. God had given an affirmative answer to a lot of prayers.

  Slipping out of her jacket, she wished this display of testosterone didn’t make her so nervous. Even the sun couldn’t warm her heart and take away the dread that sat there like a ball
of ice. She’d made herself come to this thing because Hudson loved it, but every time a car swerved or a tire squealed, her heart was in her throat. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying it. Why couldn’t she?

  The bright sunshine glinted off the windshield and shiny red exterior of Hudson’s Ferrari. Engines whined as the cars sped around the track. Melody’s heart raced as Hudson left the other cars in the dust. Despite the speed, he’d explained that today was more about testing driving skills rather than a competition.

  Melody glanced over at Annie and shouted above the noise, “It’s so loud.”

  Nodding, Annie smiled, not trying to converse.

  After the cars drove numerous laps, they stopped in one of the pit areas in the center of the track. Melody looked over at Annie again. “Do you know what they’re doing now?”

  “Ian said something about each driver doing a solo run for time.”

  “You mean like a race?”

  “Not against each other. Against the clock.”

  “Well, it still sounds like a race to me.”

  Annie chuckled and patted Melody’s arm. “Relax. They’re having fun.”

  “But I’m not.”

  “I can tell.” Annie laughed again.

  Kirsten pointed to the death grip that Melody had on her purse strap. “Your knuckles look as white as mine did when Brady took me on that hot-air balloon ride.”

  Melody grimaced. “I’ll be glad when they’re finished.”

  Annie squeezed Melody’s shoulders. “I’m so happy that you and Hudson are dating. I knew when I saw you two together at the fund-raiser that you were meant for each other.”

  “That remains to be seen.”

  Kirsten gave Melody a knowing glance. “I don’t have any doubts.”

  Melody wasn’t going to express hers, like the disapproval of Hudson’s sisters. Today was about trying to cast her doubts aside, though they crowded into her thoughts as fast as the cars on the track.

  When the racing was done, Hudson jogged across the track to where she was in the stands. Melody’s heart soared. She was determined to put aside her trepidation to please this man who’d captured her heart.

  When he reached her side, he gave her a peck on the cheek. “Did you enjoy your first race?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  He gave her a quizzical smile. “Sure I do.”

  “Let’s just say it was noisy.”

  “Looks as if you got a little sun today. I see a few freckles dotting that pretty nose of yours.”

  He leaned over and planted another quick kiss on the tip of her nose.

  “It’ll probably be pretty and pink tomorrow.” Melody shook her head. “Even when I put on sunscreen this pale skin burns and those freckles pop out.”

  Hudson laughed and put an arm around her shoulders as they walked down the stands toward the track. “Let’s head over to my place. I’ve got some of my famous barbecue sauce ready to pour over the pulled pork that’s been slow cooking all day.”

  “You cook?”

  “Only one of my many talents.” Hudson chuckled. “Actually, the recipes belong to Sarah. She taught me everything I know.”

  “When you were growing up?”

  “No, after I came back home and had to fend for myself. She gave me a crash course one weekend.”

  Hudson opened the door for her. Melody got inside and buckled her seat belt. The familiar smell of leather combined with an almost sweet scent she couldn’t define. “Is that the smell of your fuel?”

  Hudson smiled at her. “Yeah. High-octane fuel. You like it?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Then, maybe you’ve got racing in your blood. Would you like to take a trip around the track?”

  Melody’s pulse pounded. “Fast?”

  “Yeah.”

  She could do this. If she did, she might understand why he loved this so much. “Okay, but don’t laugh if I scream.”

  Shaking his head, he pressed his lips together, but he couldn’t contain his laughter. “Sorry. I promise I won’t laugh again, but your expression is priceless. You look as though you sucked on a lemon.”

  “I think I like lemons better than this.” Melody narrowed her gaze. “How fast are we going to go?”

  “How fast do you want to go?”

  Melody took a deep breath. “I don’t know. Don’t tell me.”

  “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. It was only a suggestion.”

  Melody took another deep breath. “Let’s do it before I change my mind.”

  “One trip around the track coming up.”

  Hudson revved the engine, and Melody’s heart revved with it. In seconds they went around the first curve. They didn’t seem to be going that fast, but maybe her mind was frozen with fear. She took a deep breath and tried to relax, but in the next instant she had no doubt the car was flying down the track, the engine putting out a high-pitched scream. She was about to scream along with it when the car suddenly slowed around the curve at the other end. Her eyes wide-open, she stared straight ahead as her pulse slowed along with the car.

  Hudson brought it to a stop in front of the stands and grinned. “You want to know how fast we were going?”

  Melody put a hand over her heart. “I need to recover before you tell me and send me into shock.”

  “Is it okay if I laugh now?” He burst out laughing.

  “You laughed before I said it was okay.”

  “I couldn’t help myself.” He chuckled. “You didn’t scream, but I wish someone could’ve taken a picture of your face.”

  Melody tried to frown at him, but a smile escaped instead. Did she really want to know how fast they’d been going? Since she endured the ride, she should know. “How fast?”

  “On the straightaway—one hundred and seventy.”

  “Okay, that’s faster than I ever want to go again.”

  “You know, you go much faster than that when you fly.”

  Melody flashed him an annoyed look. “I’m talking about in a car.”

  “I won’t tease you again. You were a good sport, and I appreciate that more than you know. Now let’s head to my place.”

  Melody nodded and settled back, happy and surprisingly relaxed. She’d never been to Hudson’s home. He’d never said much about it. Where did the heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune live—in a luxury condo or a fancy house like his parents’?

  As Hudson drove farther into the countryside, Melody became more and more curious. “You really live way out here, don’t you?”

  “I do.” He slowed the car near a large mailbox before turning onto a narrow blacktop drive lined with white fences and large bare-branched hardwoods. “This is it. My dad’s grandparents used to own this property. They trained a few racehorses here, but after they quit, the old barns fell into disrepair and were torn down.”

  Melody couldn’t believe her eyes as a white two-story structure with the massive wraparound porch came into view. The trees sheltering the house swayed in the wind. “It’s beautiful. Hardly looks as if a bachelor would live here.”

  Hudson gave her a lopsided grin. “Are you saying a bachelor can’t have a beautiful house?”

  Melody shook her head. “I didn’t mean it that way. It just looks like a family home, not a bachelor pad.”

  “It was a family home. My dad grew up here.”

  Hudson parked his car in one of the bays of the multicar detached garage behind the house. As they walked to the back door, Melody pulled her jacket up against the wind. “The temperature has really dropped. I hope we’re not getting another snowstorm.” She shook her head.

  “No, just some colder weather. One snowstorm a year is all Atlanta can handle.”

  “That’s for sure. I�
��m so thankful everything has worked out with the construction.”

  “No one’s happier than me.”

  “Have your parents said anything to you about the sale of the timberland?”

  “They haven’t expressed their approval or disapproval, and I won’t ask.” Hudson shrugged. “I’m hoping it’s a matter of it being my property to use as I please. The main thing is keeping the house. That’s important to my mom.”

  “Is the house as big as this one?”

  Hudson shook his head. “Hardly, but it’s comfortable. I’ll take you there sometime, and we could swing by and visit your mom.”

  Melody smiled and nodded, but she wasn’t sure what Hudson would think of her humble beginnings. She should know by now that it wouldn’t make a difference to him, but it could to his family if their relationship got really serious. But she didn’t want to give him a hint that such a trip might not be to her liking. “Sure. We can do that sometime.”

  “How about the weekend after the road rally?”

  “I’ll check with my mom to see if she has any plans.” She almost hoped that would be the case.

  “I’m eager to meet her.”

  “She’ll enjoy getting to know you, too.” Melody wished she could be as enthusiastic about the get-together as Hudson was. She tried not to think about it as she looked at the large pond off to one side reflecting the sun sitting just above the treetops. She would concentrate on the beauty of this place. “It’s so serene here.”

  “Almost too peaceful when you live by yourself.” Hudson went up the steps to the back door, stepping aside to let her into the enclosed porch.

  The doorbell sounded from the front of the house and Hudson moved to answer the door. Melody meandered through the rooms as she marveled at the fine craftsmanship in the old house. Its historic features were uncompromised by the modern renovations and conveniences in the kitchen. Hudson’s home was a treasure, and so was he. That was becoming more and more apparent with each passing day.

  Soon everyone who’d shared the day at the racetrack had arrived. The women oohed and aahed over the decor and antiques while the guys exclaimed over the collection of old decoys in the study. As everyone talked and laughed around Melody, she thanked God for these people and their friendship. She thanked Him for bringing Hudson into her life and prayed for wisdom about their relationship.