Her Three Entrepreneurs [The Hot Millionaires #8] Read Online Free PDF Page A

handled Gramps’s financial affairs for years, and everyone at the bank knows it. They’ve never refused to talk to me before.”
    “What about going above the guy’s head?” Dex suggested.
    “I tried. Jerry Jennings, the manager, is a personal friend of Gramps.” She shrugged. “It seems he’s on holiday.”
    “Okay,” Bay said, “ring the bank and find out when he’s due back, Marty. Say we’re interested in opening an account but will only deal with the manager.”
    “Gotcha.” He pulled a cell phone from his pocket. “What’s the number, sweetheart?”
    Athena told him and then fell silent as he placed the call.
    “Seems someone’s been telling you fibs, darlin’,” he said as he hung up. “I have an appointment with Jennings in the morning.”
    “The conniving little shit!” Bay enjoyed the sight of the fighting Athena, face flushed, eyes blazing with rage. “Jerry can’t possibly be behind this.”
    “So why did the little shit pretend he was on vacation?” Dex asked.
    “Good question, and one I intend to get an answer to,” she said aggressively, reaching for her own phone.
    “No, don’t do that.” Bay placed his hand over hers to physically prevent her. “If he told this Lyle character to say he was on vacation, there has to be a reason for that.”
    “You think he’s involved somehow?” Athena shook her head. “He wouldn’t do that to us.” She paused, frowning again. “Why would he?”
    “If he’s not involved, why is he avoiding you?” Marty asked.
    “Probably because it really is the bank’s policy to rejig its lending policy and he’s embarrassed about it because of his friendship with Gramps.”
    “Were you behind with your payments?” Dex asked.
    “We have an overdraft facility and a business loan. We’d kept up the interest payments on the loan, and the overdraft within its limits.” She flashed a brief smile. “Just about. We hadn’t repaid any of the capital on the loan, but Jerry sat at this very table not two months ago, saying he understood the reasons why and that the bank was prepared to wait. Then, out of the blue, we got a coldly worded letter from the bank’s head office saying they wanted to see a reduction on the capital loan or they’d withdraw our overdraft facility.”
    “Without which you can’t function,” Bay said.
    “Precisely.” She expelled a long breath. “We’ve tried to adapt with the times and turned the farm into a wholly organic setup. As you probably know, it’s an upmarket area, people around here have money, and it’s what they want. Organic is all the rage amongst the indolent rich,” she said with a trace of irony. “We supply the village stores and take our produce to farmers’ markets. We’re starting to gain a reputation and build up repeat customers. But—”
    “But it was expensive to set up and takes time to turn a profit,” Bay finished for her.
    “Right. We’ve worked our backsides off and really thought we were getting somewhere.” She scowled at the surface of the table as though she bore it a grudge. “Now this.”
    “So we come back to our original question,” Marty said. “Who else, besides us, would want to see you fail?”
    “That’s precisely it—no one I can think of.” Athena shook her head decisively. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
    “Then we’d better figure it out for you,” Bay said.
    “Okay, Mr. Fix-it.” She turned eyes wide with scepticism directly on him. “How do you plan to do that?”
    “Seems to me,” Bay replied easily, “that whoever trashed this place, and clouted your grandfather, will want to know how you’ve reacted to this latest setback. Anyone come calling since it all went down?”
    “Only you guys,” she said with a defiant smile that would have gotten her cute butt spanked under normal circumstances. It still might, if she didn’t watch her step. “Oh, and George, of course, but he doesn’t count.”
    “Who’s George?” Dex and