She’d always been worth the wait.
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Mistletoe and Mr. Right
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Chapter 1
Someone had drawn a giant penis in the snow.
“At least it’s anatomically correct.” Newly minted Moose Springs, Alaska property mogul Lana Montgomery tilted her head to the side, considering the artwork carved so precisely into the mountainside.
“A snow angel might have been more appropriate.” Ben, her construction manager, scratched the back of his neck, trying and failing to keep a professional tone. “It is two weeks until Christmas.”
“Yes, but then the message might have been lost. At least the mistletoe is a nice touch.”
Nothing said screw you like an acre-wide penis pointed at a future construction site.
Ben exhaled a breath into the cold winter air, as if trying to cover a snort. “The locals are consistent, I’ll give them that.”
The penis was causing problems, as penises tended to do. The artwork was an eyesore, and the most recent in a long list of attempts by the Moose Springs locals to halt her luxury condominium project. At least the snow penis was refreshingly different from her normal issues: an accountant stealing from the family company here, insufficient returns from an ill-advised investment there, bad PR from someone in the family playing too hard with the Montgomery money.
A cheerful approach at life meant Lana was good at smoothing things over, but cheerfulness didn’t help the slight crow’s feet at the corner of her eyes or the permanent stress line trying to carve itself into her forehead.
Thirty-two was too young to feel the weight of her responsibilities this heavily.
“I can get a snowcat out here to level this out,” Ben offered.
“Let’s leave it for a while.” Lana smiled congenially at her contractor. “Let them have their fun. Someone went to an awful lot of effort to put this here without being seen. I’d hate to disappoint them. Plus, who knows what they might choose for the follow-up pièce de résistance?”
“They don’t get to you at all, do they?”
“I’m not completely immune to the attention.” Lana scooped a handle of snow into her gloved palm. “I’m also hoping it won’t take too much time before they stop being angry with me.”
“You did buy up the entire town,” Ben reminded her with an amused look. “Folks in a place this small don’t take that sort of thing lightly.”
“It’s only a few properties, just enough to give my company the votes to force through this development. Property owners hold a lot of political sway in Moose Springs. We can’t build a condominium on a mountainside without the town council’s approval.”
“And you wonder why they don’t like you.” Ben softened his teasing with a good-natured chuckle. “Don’t worry. As soon as the place gets built, they’ll get used to it…in a couple dozen generations or so.”
Montgomerys didn’t snort. At least, they didn’t in public, but what happened on a penis-carved mountainside stayed on a penis-carved mountainside.
“Be careful, darling, your optimism is showing.”
Ben barked out a laugh then waved his hand for her to follow him. She lobbed the snowball toward the closest mistletoe leaf before heading back to her snowmobile. It slipped and slid on the loose powdery snow until she maneuvered into Ben’s tracks. They circled the mountainside property the Montgomery Group had purchased from Moose Springs Resort and then tightened the circle to where her eventual luxury condominiums would be built.
Key word: eventual.
Among the top of today’s to-do list was checking on the construction site progress. As sites went, this one was sorely lacking. So far, they’d only driven tall stakes with bright orange plastic flags on the tops to mark the boundaries of what would soon become the riskiest venture Lana had ever started.
The condominiums were meant to lure the rich and powerful from all over the world into permanently sinking their wealth into the town of Moose Springs, not simply arriving for a two-week ski-vacation at the resort every other year. New residents would enjoy all the amenities of the resort with the permanence of a personal vacation home.
If Lana could just get the darn place built.
As they reached the top of the site, highest on the mountainside, the town was at its best view. The lake below Moose Springs Resort had frozen over, now crisscrossed with tracks from snowmobiles and sledding children. Nestled in the bottom of the valley were tiny buildings set among thick stands of evergreen: the homes and businesses and people of Moose Springs. The lifeblood of this town.
Lana loved Moose Springs in a way she’d never loved anything before. It had stolen her heart and soul since her first visit as a young child, and she was determined to drive a stabilizing steel bar through the picturesque Alaskan town’s shaky, tourism-driven economy no matter what. But just because she believed in what she was doing didn’t mean the town did too.
Lana hadn’t given up hope she could get them on board with her plans, but as of yet, she had very little support in the community or her holding company.
“Ask for forgiveness, not permission,” she murmured to herself as they slowed. Calling forward over the rumble of the engines, she asked Ben, “Are you sure we can’t break ground sooner?”
“Not unless we want to be digging through eight feet of snow.”
Lana’s work schedule limited her time in Moose Springs, but she was invested in doing this project right. For months, she and Ben had been up to their elbows in architect plans, zoning requirements, and a sleigh full of red tape. She’d hoped their progress would have been further by now.
“I thought construction during winter was the norm in Alaska,” Lana said.
“Yeah, if you need a roof replaced or a kitchen remodeled. Not this behemoth.”
Lana pursed her lips. “I don’t suppose anyone would be willing to pay top dollar just to slide right on down the hill, would they?”
Ben jutted his chin towards the snowy penis. “They wouldn’t want to pay top dollar to sit in the resort and see this lovely beast either.”
“I know, Hannah’s been blowing up my phone.” The newly promoted General Manager of the resort had been emphatic Lana take care of it, or Hannah was hopping in one of the resort’s ski-slope-smoothing snowcats to do it herself.
“Listen,” Ben grunted. “It’s not impossible, but the costs for site prep are going to skyrocket and there’s not much we can do about getting material in until the access road up here gets widened and gravel down. Ever tried to off-road a semi loaded down with heavy equipment?”