Reunion at Mistletoe Lodge (Sweet Colorado Romance #3)

5. CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

Liam

He climbed out of the booth and engulfed his younger sister in a hug. “What on earth are you doing in Colorado?” She hugged him back, letting her slip into the booth before him. “You’re supposed to be star gazing at Keck Observatory in sunny Hawaii!”

“No!” Paige shook her head, taking over the light snack Liam had ordered. “If you read your messages once in a while, you’d know that I’ve been working between Keck and The University of Colorado Boulder.” She munched on a curly fry. “We have a collaborative astrophysics project with Boulder I’m working on.”

“That's right!” Liam remembered. “I’m sorry, little sister.” He sighed. “I’ve had a lot on my plate lately. ”

“I can imagine, especially having to deal with politics and someone who doesn’t know who they are,” Paige said sympathetically, staring from Priscilla to Liam. “I believe you’ve been wanting to know why our brother was in Denver when he got shot?”

“Do you know?” Liam’s brow furrowed curiously.

“He came to visit me,” Paige surprised Liam by saying. “Trust me, I was just as surprised to see our brother—especially seeing him in one of the lectures I was giving.”

Liam’s eyes widened. “Our brother went to an astrophysics lecture?” A pained expression crossed his face.

“Yes.” Paige nodded. “I got back to Denver yesterday when I called our parents to find out how he was and was really surprised to find out that our parents know nothing about what happened.” She looked at Liam accusingly. “As far as they’re aware, the two of you have gone skiing in Aspen for Christmas.”

“You didn’t tell them anything, did you?” Liam asked, a little panicked.

“No!” Paige shook her head, helping herself to Liam’s soda. “But it did surprise me to see that you were still running for the Montana Senate seat.” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “And that Zac’s injury wasn’t fatal, but he still hasn’t regained his memory.”

“He hasn’t,” Liam confirmed. “All he knows is that he is Zac Shields, a Los Angeles FBI agent who is on recovery leave and engaged to Courtney Waller, my executive assistant who is also in charge of my campaign.”

“Did you feed him that information?” Paige enquired.

“No.” Liam shook his head. “He woke up and told Courtney and I that.”

“Interesting!” Paige pulled a face.

“How did you two meet?” Liam asks, pointing from his sister to Priscilla, who had been quietly eating her salad while listening to the conversation .

“I am your brother’s attorney.” Priscilla’s cool eyes turn toward Liam. “When Paige couldn’t get hold of you because your numbers had been changed, she contacted me.”

“That was actually after trying every ski resort I could think of,” Paige added. “Then I remembered Mistletoe Lodge was near one of our brother’s favorite skiing spots.”

“That’s when Paige called me and asked me if I knew what was going on because the last time she’d seen your brother was when he got shot.” Priscilla’s words sent a chill through Liam, who looked at Paige in disbelief.

“Good grief, Paige,” Liam hissed. “Why am I only hearing about this now?” He looked at her worriedly. “What happened?”

“I was in the bathroom of the private airport hangar lounge, waiting for our jet to be refueled. As I opened the door to step out, Eric shoved me back in and told me to stay there until he came to get me,” Paige explained. “I was stuck in the bathroom for twenty minutes before Herschel came to get me. I was taken through some secret tunnel from the hangar to the main airport, where Herschel followed me to Hawaii and has been with me ever since.”

“So you didn’t even think to call me?” Liam looked at her in disbelief.

“Herschel told me not to,” Paige stated. “He kept me updated about our brother’s condition and told me for my safety and the sake of the campaign, I couldn’t mention it to anyone—not even you.”

“So Herschel has been with you for all these months?” Liam’s brows shot up. “I was told that he’d taken a leave of absence for personal reasons.”

“No!” Paige shook her head. “He’s been with me.”

“I’m sorry you went through that, little sister.” Liam ran a hand through his hair. “Eric called me from the hospital as soon as our brother was taken there and didn’t want to be in the hospital. He tried to get off the bed, passed out, hit his head, and when he came around, he had no memory. ”

“I’m sorry about what happened to Eric,” Paige said, her eyes darkening with emotion. “He was such a good bodyguard.”

“He’s one of the reasons I need to figure out what the heck is going on,” Liam told her. “The person who shot our brother, I'm sure, is the same person who ran Eric down in the hospital parking lot. Eric told me he’d seen the shooter, but before he could tell me who it was…”

“Is that what happened?” Paiges’s eyes were huge with shock. “Herschel told me it was a heart attack.”

“Oh!” Liam stated, silently cursing his big mouth. “I’m sorry. I thought Herschel would’ve told you.”

“No.” Paige shook her head. “No wonder they didn’t want me getting involved.”

“While I'm really angry with Herschel for his deception and not letting me know about all this, I’m glad he’s been so vigilant with your safety,” Liam said, moving the conversation back to their brother. “Other than visiting you, did our brother tell you anything else?”

“No.” Paige carried on eating the curly fries. “He just asked me about the new telescope project I was working on and wanted to know about the project I was working on in Boulder.”

“Before the two of you continue,” Priscilla interrupted, looking at her wristwatch. “My family are going to be done with the hockey game and will be back in a few minutes. I’m going to have to leave.” She started sliding out of the booth and smiled at Paige. “It was so good to meet you, Paige. Your brother is so proud of you.” She glanced at Liam and back to Paige. “The other brother, that is.”

Paige grinned. “Thank you, Priscilla, for getting Liam here for me.”

“I’m just glad we’re finally getting somewhere with trying to piece this puzzle together since your other brother can’t remember much,” Priscilla stood and looked at them. “Liam, you’ll update me on whatever you find out?” He nodded.

“I take it we’re not traveling tomorrow?” Liam looked at Paige. “Now that your source came to us. ”

“No, we can get back to the lodge and enjoy the Mistletoe Lodge Countdown to Christmas festivities.” She looked at Paige. “You should think about joining us.”

“I’d love to,” Paige said, wiping her hands on a napkin. “But I have to get back to Hawaii after my lecture tomorrow.”

“Pity,” Priscilla said. “I think you’d bring a bit of a spark to the season.”

“Oh, I think you’re going to have a lot of spark.” Paige gave Liam a smug smile. “Especially with my two brothers and Barb.”

Liam’s eyes widened as he glared at Priscilla. “You told her?”

“No, not me!” Priscilla denied.

“The manager from the Clean Water Project in Africa that Barb was working on told me,” Paige told Liam, who looked at her in astonishment. “ Yes, our brother told me all about that, as well as about Barb and her son Oscar.”

Priscilla laughed and agreed with Paige. “Yes, my dear, you may just be right about that.” She looked at Liam with a knowing look. “Especially with all the new developments around Barb, her family, and the divorce.”

“Divorce?” Paige spluttered. “Whose filing for divorce?”

“Barb!” Liam and Priscilla said in unison.

“On that note, I’ll take my leave.” Priscilla left them.

“Barb’s wanting a divorce?” Paige looked at Liam wide-eyed.

“That’s what she said,” Liam confirmed and then steered the conversation away from the topic of Barb. “Can we get back to why our brother was here visiting you?”

“Okay,” Paige polished off the last of the curly fries. “If you get me some more food, I’m starving. ”

Liam ordered some more food and looked around. “Where is Herschel now?”

“In the car waiting for me,” Paige answered. “I told him I was meeting Priscilla to discuss some legal issues.”

“Paige, I need you to tell me everything about our brother’s visit to you before he got shot,” Liam told her.

“I’d been in Denver for two days and giving a lecture when someone snuck into the back of the class. To my surprise, it was one of my older brothers,” Paige started telling the story. “After the lecture, he took me to lunch and asked me about the Boulder project I’d been assigned to and about the professor running it.”

“Why was he interested in the professor?” Liam asked.

“He wanted to know some details about the new telescope project I’m working on at Keck,” Paige replied. “You know that our brother has been funding it.”

“What?” Liam looked at her in surprise. “He’s funding the project?”

“Not all of it,” Paige corrected herself. “He’s made large contributions and has found a lot of donors to make the project happen. Professor Jackson, the one I’m working with here in Boulder, also splits his time between Boulder and Hawaii. Professor Jackson is also heading up the project with two other professors in Hawaii.”

“Professor Jackson?” Liam’s brows furrowed as he wondered if the man was related to Barb in any way, as Barb’s real last name was Jackson. He made a mental note to look into the man as he might just be the person they were looking for.

“Yes,” Paige nodded. “He’s such an intelligent man and one of the top in his field.”

“Did our brother meet with Professor Jackson?” Liam asked her.

“Yes,” Paige nodded. “They had quite a lengthy meeting. I wasn’t there for it as I had another lecture. I was leaving for Hawaii the following day, so our brother suggested that I stay the night in Denver with him at the Four Seasons. The next morning, he surprised me by telling me he was coming to Hawaii with me to check out the telescope project. Professor Jackson made arrangements for him to meet with the other two professors on the project.”

Liam’s brows knit tighter together. “Our brother was going to Hawaii?”

“Yes, that’s why I was with him at the private air hangar. We were taking the family jet,” Paige told him.

“Why would he be interested in a telescope?” Liam sat back as the waitress brought their food.

“That’s a question only he can answer,” Paige told him, eyeing her meal in delight. “Maybe it’s good for his image?”

“He would’ve published something about it,” Liam said contemplatively.

“He also asked a lot of questions about the professors working on the telescope.” She frowned. “But I think that was just because of my moan about the other jerk that started there a year ago.”

“What other jerk?” Liam asked, wondering about the flash of anger in his sister's eyes.

“There’s this new pompous idiot who’s started at Keck, and I believe he’s also up for the same promotion I’m wanting.” Her eyes narrowed angrily.

Liam’s eyes narrowed when he noticed his sister's cheeks flush slightly as she spoke about the man. “What’s his name? This man we’re hating on.”

“Doctor Cane Rivers,” Paige sneered. “The man is so arrogant and oozing confidence. He thinks the world just falls at his feet. You know, the type who thinks rivers part for him if he needs to get across without a boat.”

“Mm,” Liam said, nodding. “And how old is Doctor Arrogant Jerk?”

“I don’t know,” Paige shrugged, annoyed. “Thirty?”

“And what does he look like?” Liam continued to grill his sister, watching how flustered and irritated she was getting speaking about the man as she shoveled her food around her plate.

“Here, I’ll show you, Nancy Drew,” Paige drawled sarcastically. She pulled out her phone and found a photo. “There.” She shoved the phone in Liam’s face. “You can see for yourself what an arrogant idiot he is. It even comes across in his photos. He’s the one standing in between Professor Stanton and his wife, the other Professor Stanton.” She drew in a ragged, angry breath.

“I can see how arrogant he looks!” Liam bit back a smile.

“This was taken when the second stage of the telescope was completed about a month ago.” Paige shook her head in annoyance. “That’s why they’re holding up the gold commemoration plate with the date on it to document the project stages. I should’ve been in that photo, not the arrogant jerk.”

Liam was getting the impression that his sister had a giant crush on Doctor Arrogant Jerk and made a mental note to check the guy out. He took the phone to get a closer look, and his sister's finger immediately tapped on the guy's face, blotting out other faces.

“Mm.” Liam nodded. He guessed the guy to be about six-two and not at all the nerdy professor type he was expecting. Even Liam could appreciate that women would find the tall guy handsome. “I guess he’s a hit with the students as well?”

“I’m just waiting for one of them to file some sort of harassment charge against him,” Paige sneered.

“What a douche!” Liam laughed, pulling the phone away when his sister went to snatch it back.

He spun around on the chair to look at the photo and froze when he saw the man to Doctor Jerk's left. His heart jolted with shock and disbelief as he stared at the professor. Liam squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. He expanded the photo and stared into the eyes of a ghost.