Heath's Hope (The Brothers of Beauford Bend Book 5) Read Online Free Page A

the
bank
! She had thought helping out meant helping nurse her father. Her head pounded. Or was it her heart? Hard to tell.
    “I don’t know what I would have done,” Mac said.
    She had to get out of this. “Oh, Daddy. You have competent staff. I don’t know anything about the bank.” She sounded lame and defeated, even to herself.
    “No.” Mac shook his head. “You know banking. It’s in your blood. I do have a good staff, but they’re not family. What’s more, there’s been a MacKenzie in the big chair of Beauford Savings and Loan ever since the doors opened in 1940. I would have hated to leave that chair empty.”
    Things began to click into place. Mac MacKenzie was a willful man. While he wouldn’t go so far as to break his leg on purpose—especially with deer season coming up—he was not above using what he had to get what he wanted, which was Hope working at Beauford Savings and Loan.
    She’d been had. But Hope was nothing if not a realist. She’d never been one to fight a battle she wasn’t going to win.
    So she pasted on a smile. “I’m glad to do what I can.”
    “It means the world to us, darling,” Polly said.
    “If you’ll excuse me, I need to make a call.”
    She stepped into the hall and dialed her cousin’s number. “Neyland? Could you tell Noel I’m going to need that apartment after all?”
    She might be stuck in Beauford, Tennessee, breathing the same air as Heath Beckett. She might be stuck at Beauford Savings and Loan where he probably kept his money.
    But if she had a prayer of getting out with her sanity intact at all, she had to have some privacy and some space. It wasn’t much of a victory, but some days you had to take what you could get.
    And today was turning out to be one of those days.

Chapter Four
    Hope had been at Beauford Savings and Loan for two days, but it had taken only about two hours for her to figure out that Mac MacKenzie had created a well-oiled machine that ran itself. Oh, she had to sign this, approve that, and attend a meeting here and there, but there were no broad, sweeping decisions to make—at least not for an interim president.
    She was bored, but she’d already been through the mail, read a stack of month end reports, and approved leave for three employees. She opened her laptop and brought up Solitaire. With any luck, no one would guess what she was doing. She wasn’t much of an actress, but she’d never had to be. There was no time for Solitaire in Charlotte.
    After a good, solid knock, Greta Jo Archer stepped through the door. She was frowning, which meant she disapproved of whatever had brought her here.
    “Ms. MacKenzie—”
    “Greta Jo.” Hope hurriedly closed her laptop. “You’ve known me all my life, and you’ve always called me Hope. Can we please get back to that?”
    “With all due respect,
Ms. MacKenzie.”
Greta Jo gave her a hard stare worthy of Paddington Bear. “We must observe authority if we expect them to.” She gestured with her head in the direction of the door, though Hope had no idea if
them
meant the bank employees, customers, or the world at large. “We cannot let Mr. MacKenzie find his position devalued when he returns.”
    It was clear who ran this joint, but Hope wondered if her father knew it.
    “All right.” Why fight? She wouldn’t win. “What can I do for you, Greta Jo?”
    Her frown deepened. “Sticky and Julia Stinson are asking to see you. They don’t have an appointment.”
    Greta Jo did not approve of people without appointments.
    “Send them in,” Hope said.
    “Don’t you want me to at least find out the nature of their business?” That meant Greta Jo wanted to know the nature of their business.
    “Send them in,” Hope repeated. “I’ll find out what they want when they get in here.” They probably were just stopping by to visit anyway, but Hope wouldn’t dare say that. Greta Jo would most definitely not approve of visiting on bank time.
    “Hmm.” Greta backed out of the