Thunderstruck Read Online Free PDF Page B

forward, unable to fathom that. “You went looking for a buyer without telling me and you found a soccer player?”
    “In the Caribbean.”
    “Oh, great.” She slapped her hand on her thigh. “I thought you were off having fun on some sports VIP cruise to meet fans. I didn’t know you were negotiating the sale of our company.”
    “I met him on that cruise.”
    “And you, what, looked up from your deck chair and saw some long-haired Brit kicking a ball and said, ‘Yes!’—” she snapped her fingers and pointed “‘—there’s the answer to our prayers.’”
    “As a matter of fact, that’s not too far from what happened.”
    Where had she been when all this was going on? “Why didn’t you tell me that you were thinking about selling? Why spring it on me now, weeks before the biggest race of the season?”
    “’Cause I knew you’d fight me. And, frankly, I want you to see him in action. At the shop, at the races. He’s smart and he’s focused and this is what he wants to do with his life.”
    Shelby blew out a disgusted breath. “And what about my life, Ernie? What if I don’t want some stranger as a partner?”
    “Get to know him and then he won’t be a stranger.”
    “But he won’t be family. I mean, not blood family.”
    Ernie’s eyes softened at that, then he pushed himself up off the seat and adjusted the hat back over his eyes. “Just give him a chance, Shel. And teach him some stuff about the business.”
    “You teach him, Ernie. I’m flat-out this week.”
    “For one thing, you know the business better’n I do.”
    She leaned back with a stunned look. “Since when?”
    “Since, oh, maybe two years ago. Three.”
    “Get real, Ernie. You are an original.”
    “I am a relic of days gone by.” He squinted around the lounge and snorted softly. “Hell, I can remember when a builtin tool chest in the back of a flatbed was considered a luxury at the track. Times have changed, Shel. We should, too.”
    They should and maybe they would. But she didn’t have to like it. “Why don’t we just get through this season, Ernie. Then I’ll find a solution. I always do.”
    He dropped back down on the leather and put his arm around her. “Kincaid is a one-year deal, honey. Country Peanut Butter has us on probation if Kenny Holt don’t start finding his way to Victory Lane. Our best techs are getting calls from headhunters every day. I know this is what you want to do with your life, but if this business fails, what will you have?”
    Memories of the best life a girl ever had. “I don’t think like that, Ernie. We won’t fail. We’ve never failed.”
    “That’s right, we haven’t. But I want to leave.”
    He looked old when he said that, and it hurt her heart. “I’ll be okay on my own. I can make it. But, Ernie—” she drew back and touched his weathered cheek “—are you sure you want to leave?”
    “Do you think it’s possible for you to understand that I’d like to do something else with my golden years besides climb into that cart, slap on headphones and listen to the engines scream and the spotters cry?”
    Would she ever feel that way about racing? Never. Even in her seventies? Maybe. “I understand.” She didn’t, but she’d try. “But why do we need someone else? I can handle this business alone.”
    “I don’t doubt that. But, Shel, you know as well as I do that this season is our last if we don’t get some more sponsors and more money. We’re barely holding on and our backup cars ain’t as good as they should be.” He took her hand. “I promised your daddy I’d look after you. And this is my way of making sure I do good on that promise.”
    She squeezed his fingers. “You didn’t promise him anything, Ernie. We had no idea he was going to die.”
    “We talked, Shel. We talked plenty, Thunder and me. We talked about racing and we talked about you.”
    Her chest constricted. “I’m twenty-eight, Ernie. You don’t have to worry about being mother,