Shattered Trust (Colorado Trust 4)

“Good guess.” Jordan sat on the front edge of Justin’s desk. “Your Marley Wade is quite the…observant woman.”

“Obviously she’s not mine. Not that I’d want her,” Justin added quickly as he sat behind his desk. “She’s got a hell of a swing.”

Jordan laughed, swiveling to face him. “Well, she knew right away I wasn’t you. Apparently your eyes are lighter,” he advised with a grin.

Ignoring a tiny flare of pleased ego, Justin shrugged a shoulder. “So she’s observant.”

“Okay, whatever.” Jordan straightened and scooped a folder off Justin’s desk. “What brings you by the office? I figured you’d be down at the job site running the show, getting things back on schedule.”

“Dad called, said he wanted to talk to the two of us about something. Besides, I got everything situated out there earlier.”

“She thinks you fired her because she’s a woman.”

Justin’s head jerked up. “She said that?”

“She assured me she wouldn’t sue.”

“How gracious,” Justin muttered. Fired because she was a woman. What a load of bullshit. He stood corrected. She did know something about being female; she knew how to twist things around.

The door opened and their father leaned in. “Good, you’re both here. We’re meeting in the boardroom in ten minutes. Don’t be late.”

After he’d left, Justin placed his hands on his desk and pushed to his feet. “Let’s go see what this is about.”

“Yes, let’s. And then, as long as you’re here, we’ve got some business to discuss with him, too,” Jordan said cryptically.

Jordan didn’t explain further as they made their way to the boardroom. They were the first ones there and when Jordan started to take a seat along the side, Justin tapped his arm and motioned to the head of the table.

“Sit at the front. We own this company, not him.”

When Dale entered the room and saw Jordan at the head of the table, with Justin to his right, he hesitated. Justin wanted to smile at the look on his father’s face but kept his expression void of emotion. Dale recovered quickly and strode forward to sit at Jordan’s left.

“Thanks for coming in, Justin. As you both know, the bidding for the new Jenkins building opens this week. Our architects have come up with a few proposals, but I wanted to show you this other design.”

The Jenkins job would attract bids from across the country from every major player in construction, including the company Justin worked for.

As Dale spread a set of drawings on the table, Jordan sat forward. “That bid is worth millions.”

“That’s why I wanted you two to see this.”

Justin took one look at the plans his dad laid before them and was instantly impressed.

“What do you think?” Dale asked after a moment.

Jordan looked at Justin. “I like it, but you’re the expert.”

He took a few more minutes to study each drawing. They were really good. In the corner of the last one, he noticed the artist’s name in fine print and almost groaned out loud.

M. Wade.

He pushed the drawing away and sat back. “We can’t use this design.”

Dale stared at him liked he’d gone crazy. “Why not?”

“We need this,” Jordan added quietly.

Justin’s gaze sliced to his brother.

“The architect gave it to me herself,” Dale explained. “In fact, she works for us. She’s the general contractor out on the Forrester site.”