Match Made In Paradise by Barbara Dunlop (black female authors TXT) 📕

her embarrassment. “Let’s talk about the matchmaking project. That’s far more exciting. I thought I’d go see Breena tomorrow to do some more planning. And we should talk about a budget. I’m happy to underwrite the costs.”

“You can’t spend your personal money on it,” Raven protested as she poured from a bottle of Bordeaux.

Mia had taken over the wine buying, so it was in bottles now. “Sure, I can.”

Raven handed her the refilled glass. “I thought we’d sell tickets or memberships or something.”

“I think we have to make it free.” Mia focused her mind and tamped down her emotions.

“Free? Are you kidding me?”

“How much could we possibly charge?” Mia grasped onto the project like a lifeline, blocking everything Silas-related. “Fifty bucks? A hundred? We’re going to have to fly a couple dozen people to Alaska. There’s the food and the venue, and wherever we’re going to put them up. Hey, where can we put them up?”

The question seemed to stump Raven. “Mrs. France has three B&B rooms above the Bear and Bar, but they’re pretty rustic. They share a bathroom.”

Mia grimaced.

“Camping?” Raven tentatively offered. “Glamping?”

“We can’t put the women up in tents.”

“It would weed out the weak ones.”

“It would weed out all of them. Plumbing and walls have to be our baseline.”

“The only place big enough for that many people together is the WSA staff housing. It’s very no-frills.”

“Is there anything fancier? Another bed and breakfast? Or a big house we could rent?”

“You’ve seen the whole town,” Raven said. “The only building of any size is the school.”

“Cots on the gymnasium floor and communal showers? I don’t think so.”

“Are you saying we’re dead in the water?”

Mia mentally shuffled through their options. “Could we maybe put the WSA guys in tents or something? Temporarily, of course. And would Brodie agree to an upgrade to the housing units?”

“You want Brodie to upgrade his staff residence for us while his guys are put in tents?”

“I’d pay for it—new linens, paint, a little wainscoting. You can do a lot with throw rugs and art. And lamps. The right lighting is pivotal to the ambiance. They can totally keep all that once the event is over.”

Raven laughed. “Are you that rich?”

“I can swing this.” There were many degrees of wealth. Mia wasn’t even close to the top of the spectrum, but she wasn’t at the bottom either. She could afford a pet project.

Raven sobered then. “I thought the kids were fighting you for the inheritance.”

“That’s just the business.”

“There’s money besides the business?”

“Oh yeah. Alastair was a prudent investor. And I kept my salary all those years. I put most of it away.”

Raven gestured around the cabin. “And you’re living here?”

“Visiting. And you swore this was one of the best places in Paradise.”

Raven peered at Mia over the rim of her wineglass. “I can ask Brodie.”

“Like I said, he’s free to keep all the new stuff after we’re done. Though I’m not sure the guys would consider my paint color an upgrade.”

“No promises,” Raven said.

“But we’re not dead in the water.”

“Not dead.” Raven raised her glass to toast.

Chapter Thirteen

Silas had never seen that particular expression on Brodie’s face—astonishment mixed with suspicion and a touch of revulsion.

He was standing thirty yards away in the open bay doorway of the WSA hangar, where Raven was talking fast, Mia was nodding enthusiastically and Brodie was staring at them if they’d just walked off a spaceship from Mars.

Curious, Silas picked up his pace.

“It would only last a couple of days,” Raven said as Silas made it into hearing range.

Tristen and Hailey had just taken off in the caravan, and the sound of the engine faded into the morning sky. Cobra was working inside the shop, his impact gun intermittently clacking and echoing off the walls.

Brodie didn’t say a word.

“Everything would be tasteful,” Mia put in. “You’d be welcome to keep the upgrades. But it’s all removable if somebody objected.”

“Mrs. France is on board,” Raven said. “And you know it would be super popular with the guys.”

Silas came to a halt.

Mia fleetingly looked his way but didn’t smile or greet him.

He wasn’t particularly shocked by that. They were still keeping a low profile. But he hoped he could get her alone for a few minutes before his flight. He was surprised she hadn’t told him she was coming out to the airstrip.

“Late September,” Raven said.

“We’re flexible on that,” Mia said.

“As work winds down,” Raven said.

“That would be best,” Mia added.

Brodie’s expression didn’t change. “Is this a joke?”

Mia and Raven glanced at each other.

“No,” Raven said.

“Because if it’s a joke, it’s a good one.”

“Why would you think that?”

Silas couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “What did I miss?”

They all looked his way.

“What?” he repeated.

“No,” Brodie said to Raven.

“If you’ll just think about—” she began.

“It’s asinine.”

“It’s just a meet-and-greet.”

“Is there something in particular—” Mia began, but Brodie shut her up with a glare.

Silas felt his hackles rise in Mia’s defense. “What are we talking about?”

“Tell him,” Brodie said, jutting his chin in Silas’s direction.

Cobra’s impact gun continued to punctuate the air.

“We want to invite some women to town,” Raven said.

Silas looked at Mia, but she still wasn’t making eye contact.

“A sort of meet-and-greet,” Raven continued. “Just a few women from California. Mia has a lot of contacts down there, and we thought—”

“The poker game on steroids,” Brodie interjected.

Raven slid him a look of frustration. “It’s hard for the men up here to meet new women, and it’s hard for women down south to meet good men.”

Silas was catching on to the general concept. What he didn’t understand was Mia’s interest in it. He tried to catch her eye again.

“We thought a group event would be more relaxed, low-key, give people a chance to mix and mingle without some of the awkwardness of a date,” Raven said.

Brodie’s tone was snide. “I can’t even count the ways that could go wrong.”

Silas didn’t want to argue with his boss, but he wanted to support Mia. Plus, he didn’t see what