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Of course. “He and his brother used to play on the same team. Mitch was probably their biggest fan.”
The Governor nodded. “It’s my understanding that Dupree is personally visiting the competing cities.”
“Is Houston one of them?”
“We’re working on it.”
Thoughts danced around in her head but none explained why her grandfather was sharing this with her of all people. She knew wine, not hockey.
Her grandfather rolled back on his heels and blew out a soft breath. “One thing I’ve learned in my life, politically correct or not—a woman in the room helps keep hot-headed men civil.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybe about it. Eve can’t participate and Siobhan’s off taking photos of African elephants. Can I count on your help?”
They could put all she knew about ice hockey in the proverbial thimble, but if her grandfather thought she could help… “Absolutely.”
Ten cities and now Houston. It had taken Daniel the better part of the last few weeks to eliminate a slew of cities from the running and narrow it down to the best town, now eleven. Most had lofty ambitions without the financial backing his team wanted. As much as he disliked adding another city to his list instead of culling it, the last minute proposal from Houston had everything the team was looking for. Including an already built stadium, a little small, but suitable for ice hockey. No need to haggle with communities and bond proposals to bring the team in. Still, somehow his inclination remained geared toward a cold weather state without an annual hurricane season, like Utah or Wyoming. Utah being the only one of the two on the shorter list. Unfortunately, Wyoming was out. Making the math work for a state that had more antelope than people simply didn’t compute.
An existing unused stadium wasn’t the only thing Houston had in its favor. Daniel had to admit the idea of an in state rivalry between two hockey teams mirroring the profitable rivalry between the two Pennsylvania teams piqued his interest. The revenue possibilities were enough to make a man drool. On the other hand, the lack of fans in recent games only bolstered the idea that the South was no place for multiple hockey franchises. Maybe.
“You ready?” Kevin, Daniel’s right hand on this project, stood in the doorway.
Daniel glanced at his wrist watch. The flight to Utah left in a little under four hours. Just enough time to get to the airport and hurry up to stand in line and weed his way through security. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Kevin slid a piece of paper onto Daniel’s desk. “This just came in. New Mexico is withdrawing the bid.”
Looking at the sheet in front of him, Daniel bobbed his head. “Wonder who changed their mind?”
“No clue.”
From the beginning Daniel wondered how the heck a state with only a few million people wound up on the list. All he could conclude is that someone in New Mexico had extraordinarily deep pockets. Now he wondered what made them change their mind and lock up their bank account.
“Do you have the data for the new addition?”
It took him a few moments to realize that Kevin was referring to Houston and not some other city the owners were thrusting upon him. “All I know is that Governor Baron is one of the backers. Which probably explains why Houston is the only bidder coughing up the cost of a five star hotel.”
“Surely Texas isn’t the only one with deep pockets.”
Daniel shrugged. “No, but they do say everything is bigger in Texas. It will be interesting to see what they have planned.”
“I wonder if they’re going to pick you up in one of those stretch limos with cow horns on the grill?”
“Unlikely. I’m renting a car. Besides, I’m pretty sure the horns are only from bulls.”
“Nope. The longhorn cattle all have horns. No chauvinism among those bovines.”
Daniel chuckled. “Noted.” Though why his assistant from Brooklyn knew anything about Texas cattle was beyond him.
“Want some aspirin?”
Not till Kevin asked did Daniel realize he’d been rubbing his knee. When the drunken idiot who ran the red light smashed into the driver side of his car and sent it flying across the intersection into a lamppost, he thought his life was coming to an end. Thanks to a top notch trauma team and his brilliant surgeon, his life was saved, but not his career. After all these years, rubbing away the discomfort in his left leg was so common place, he didn’t even realize that his leg had been bothering him. At least not till Kevin went into mother hen mode. For a guy, he was pretty good at noticing little things. “Nah, it’s nothing.”
His assistant didn’t say another word about his leg, merely handed him a fat envelope with all the basic data for every city. Daniel had it all on his laptop, but on plane rides, he preferred to study the information on old fashioned paper instead of a backlit screen. His first assignment was to learn all about the former governor, the committee, the city, and anything that would help him get through this visit sooner than later. Someone may have convinced the committee to allot more days in Houston than any other city on the list, but as far as he was concerned, the quicker he could race through this visit the better. Shaking his head, he stuffed the envelope into his briefcase. How the heck did anyone expect to successfully mix ice hockey and a million degree heat nine months of the year? Despite the lure of the in state rivalry, he was pretty sure he’d already made up his mind. The team needed a cold weather climate where hockey was in the city’s blood. There was no way Houston had enough people to create a buzz around hockey. He seriously doubted that the sprawling city would hold any interesting surprises for him. Nope, Houston would definitely be a waste of his time.
Chapter Two
Kevin had been right. Well, partly. When Daniel’s plane landed in Houston, a chauffeur and limousine had indeed greeted him, but the vehicle hadn’t had horns on the front. He wasn’t completely sure if he was relieved or disappointed.
