Wild and Wonderful Read Free

I didn't have any say in the matter."
    "Are you implying that my father knowingly endangered the lives of the miners?" The accusation brought a pronounced silver glitter to her eyes, making them icy and more gray than green.
    "For God's sake! He had no more choice in the matter than I did."
    He turned away to rest an arm on the mantle of the fireplace, bending his head to rub his hand over his mouth and chin in a gesture of exasperation and futility.
    Her anger dissipated at his attitude of helplessness. "What do you mean? Why didn't he have a choice?" Glenna frowned. "You said yourself that the solution was to comply."
    "That costs money, Glenna," Bruce sighed and straightened to look at her. "That's why the initial ruling was appealed to gain time to raise the capital to make the changes and install the necessary devices."
    "He could borrow it. The bank would loan him the—"
    "No. Orin took out second and third mortgages on everything he owned to pull the mine through the strike we had two and a half years ago. Once he could have borrowed on his reputation alone, but after these last two heart attacks he's had—" Bruce filled the pause with an expressive shrug of his shoulders "—the lending institutions regard him as an uninsurable risk with overextended credit."
    Dark clouds of despair began to enfold her in their arms. Glenna felt chilled and struggled to elude their murky envelopment. Her gaze clung to Bruce's handsome features.
    "Surely there has to be someone who will help dad." She tried to sound calm, and not nearly as desperate as she felt.
    In her mind the thoughts kept turning over and over. If the mine was closed it would ultimately mean bankruptcy. They would lose the house and everything of any value. The effect such a situation would have on her father was something Glenna didn't want to contemplate. She barely succeeded in suppressing a shudder.
    "On your father's instructions, I sent out feelers to see if Coulson Mining would be interested in a merger with your father's company—on the chance they might see some tax advantages." Bruce shook his head grimly. "Their reply was a flat 'not interested.'"
    "Coulson Mining," Glenna repeated. "Jett Coulson's company? The coal magnate."
    "Coal, gas, you name it and he's rolling in it—including gold," Bruce nodded.
    With startling clarity Glenna recalled the mental picture of a grainy newspaper photograph she had seen of Jett Coulson when she had been reading a trade journal to her father shortly after his first heart attack. The man's hair and eyes had appeared as black as the shining coal that had built his fortune. At the time of the photograph he had been in his mid-thirties, yet his features had been lined with a toughness beyond his years.
    To Glenna, Jett Coulson had seemed all rough, raw manhood. Yet her father had spoken of him with respect, she remembered. What she had viewed as ruthlessness in his features, her father had regarded as strength. Jett Coulson's lack of polish and refinement made him a man the miners could understand and believe, even when they disagreed. It was said that Jett Coulson never lied. The standing joke was that a lot of people wished he would.
    "Did you talk to Jett Coulson?" she asked, clinging to the one tantalizing straw Bruce had offered.
    "Are you kidding?" he laughed harshly. "I'm nothing but a manager—a mining engineer. I talked to one of his underlings."
    "There wasn't even a crumb of interest," Glenna persisted.
    "Be realistic, Glenna," Bruce sighed. "Why should Coulson agree to a merger when he'll probably be able to pick the mine up for nothing in a few months. Why should he bail your father out of this mess? He's never had a reputation for being a good samaritan. It's unlikely he'll have a change of heart at this late date."
    "No, I suppose not." Her shoulders slumped in defeat. She turned away to walk to a front window to gaze sightlessly at the shadows gathering on the lawn. "What's going to happen to daddy?"