Read Finders Keepers for Free Online Page B

that he felt fulfilled. Anything but marry just to give Nick a father.
    “There,” Zachary announced, straightening. “Now they can take their coffee breaks away from the bustle of the office area.” He swung around on his rolling metal chair and gave her another of those heart-stopping smiles. “So, what can I do for you today?”
    “You can listen to me. I have some things I need to tell you.”
    “Great.” He stood. “But I listen a lot better on a full stomach. How about lunch? I hear the Nifty Cafe is the place to eat.”
    “Well …” She glanced out the single window in the office. Its view was a brick wall. “Really, I won’t keep you long.”
    “But I’d like to take you to lunch. Come on.”
    Before she could think up another reason to turn him down, he was heading out the door. Mortified, Elizabeth tucked the Bible under her arm and followed. She didn’t want the whole town of Ambleside to see her eating with this man. What would they think? The last thing she needed was to put the local gossips in high gear.
    “Mr. Chalmers …”
    “Zachary,” he called over his shoulder.
    “Please listen to me. I really just need to tell you about a note I found in your aunt’s Bible. Actually, it’s a letter, and she mentions you and me and the mansion.”
    “You and me?” He paused at the top of the stairs. Elizabeth barely stopped in time to keep from bumping into him. In the dim light, she could just make out his profile and the silhouette of his shoulders. “Why would my aunt write about us?”
    “Not us together,” she clarified. “She wrote that she wanted me to have the Bible, and she said she hoped Chalmers House would be your legacy. She mentioned you by name …”
    “Let me see that.” He took the Bible and flipped through the pages until he found the folded note. “Is this it?”
    “Yes, but you’ll need better light to read it.”
    “I’ll read it at lunch.”
    “I’m not going to lunch with you, Mr. Chalmers.” She lifted her chin. “I came here to tell you again how important it is that Chalmers House remain standing. You can’t tear it down. It’s not just this town that needs the mansion. It’s you. Grace wanted you to have her house, not an empty lot.”
    “Does the letter say that?”
    “Sort of. It talks about how much she loves the house.”
    “Is it a will?”
    “No, of course not. It’s just a note she wrote one night when she couldn’t sleep. But it expresses her feelings.”
    “If it’s not a legal will, it won’t stand up in court.”
    “I’m not taking it to court. Give me that!” She grabbed the note, but he refused to turn it loose. “Give me Grace’s letter. I found it.”
    “You’re going to use it against me.”
    “I just hoped to make you understand what Grace really wanted.”
    “What she wanted was for me to have the property and for everybody else to keep their nose out of my business.”
    “You? Why you? You never came to see her. You never knew her or loved her. Why would she leave you her house?” She tugged on the note, but he wouldn’t let go. “I’ll tell you why. Because she thought you would save it. She knew you were an architect, and she trusted you to see the value in the building for its architectural merits.”
    “She wrote that in the note?”
    “No, but …”
    “Elizabeth, what happens to the mansion is not your affair. It’s not your responsibility, either. You rent a store next door to Chalmers House, that’s all. If I want to put my offices on that lot—”
    “It’s not a lot. It’s a house. A home!”
    “A pile of bricks.” He jerked the note from her fingers and stuffed it into his pocket. “Look, I made a decision to move to this town for reasons you don’t need to know. Now that I’m here, I’m going to follow through on my goals. I can’t entertain clients in this maze of dusty old hallways and force them to look out on my view of a brick wall. Whether you like it or not, I’m going to