Hi, I'm trying to find the title of a book I read years ago.
I think the main character's last name is Fairchild or something similar to that. The main character (a young women) and her brother's stake out a rich old man's summer estate. The main character accepts a job working in the kitchen but doesn't know how to cook very well. She ends up befriending the old man and tells her brothers not to rob him. The old man ends up getting robbed by somebody (we find out later it was the youngest brother). The main character blames her older brother and ends up becoming estranged from him. The main character befriends one of the granddaughters and falls in love with one of the grandsons. There's a part about how she very neatly eats a lobster or a crab and the guy comments only a lock picker (thief or something) could do it so well and she feels uncomfortable due to her past. The main character ends up moving back to the city with the family and is given an apartment to live in. When the old man dies he leaves money to her but some of the family is pissed off about this and end up digging up dirt about her. She is kicked out of the family circle and has to start all over. She ends up helping run a resort hotel (there's a part about the power going out and her saving the day by suggesting a camp fire thingy for dinner and having the maids sweep the rooms instead of vacuuming them). She ends up befriending a very rich guy who is in love with her. He helps her buy hotels for her to run, which she does quite successfully. I don't remember all of it, but I know at the end the main character finds out that her older brother did not rob the old man and he has married the granddaughter she befriended. The main character is then brought back into the folds of the family.
That seems overly long and I know I have details mixed up... I hope somebody can help me find out the name of the book, it's been driving me nuts!
