The Billionaire’s Christmas Contract by Laura Haley-McNeil
Chapter 10
Leah could barely sleep that night, crawling out of bed several times to stare out the window at the sky filled with the stars she couldn’t see when she was at her home in Massachusetts.
Even before the alarm went off, she was out of bed, dressed and downstairs. In the kitchen, she found her mother’s weekly grocery list and added a few items. She’d shop after breakfast. Keeping busy was the best thing for her to do while her parents worked through finalizing the ranch sale with Bryg.
She swallowed her disappointment and pulled pans from the cupboard. Making breakfast should get her mind off what was about to happen, but thoughts of the coming changes edged into her mind. She chided herself that her thoughts centered around herself. The ranch belonged to her parents. Life at the ranch was the priceless gift they had given her.
When her mother stepped into the kitchen, Leah chatted but saw the knowing look in her mother’s eyes⸻Leah couldn’t hide the disappointment piercing her heart. After her father took the boys to the barn, Leah told her mother she’d take care of the shopping and dashed out to the family truck.
At the town co-op, Leah filled a cart with items and greeted friends, but always the conversation drifted to the new development. Some people were excited. Others were concerned.
In the produce department, Leah saw Holly Johnson, the widow who owned the ranch next door to her family ranch. There was a sadness in Holly’s eyes when Leah greeted her.
“I feel badly I want to sell,” Holly said, and Leah gave up trying to talk to friends and neighbors about anything except the development. “I feel like I started something.”
“You’re doing what’s right for you.” Leah took her hand, though the ache in her friend’s eyes weighed heavy in her heart.
Holly and her husband never had children. The ranch was too much for a single woman to manage.
“I try to tell myself that,” Holly said, “When I spoke to the real estate broker, I thought he’d find a family who would want to take it over. I never expected some New York billionaire to be interested in a place that isn’t even a dot on the map.”
Leah held her breath. “What if a family did want to buy your ranch? Would you change your mind?” She didn’t know why she asked that. She didn’t know anyone who wanted to buy a ranch out on the plains. Everyone she knew lived in the city. Sometimes her friends vacationed in the country, but they loved the city.
So did she.
“In a minute,” Holly said with a weak laugh. “But who wants to live in Mardale? Kids who grew up here couldn’t wait to leave.” She looked at Leah.
Leah swallowed. It wasn’t that she had wanted to leave Mardale. She loved this quaint town and the folksy residents who went out of their way to say hello and always had time to chat. If she hadn’t received a scholarship to one of the best colleges in the country, she’d still be here. Maybe she would’ve married one of the boys in her class, though she didn’t know who. None of the boys had interested her. When she received the scholarship, she knew she couldn’t miss the opportunity to pursue her education, but it had never occurred to her she’d only visit Mardale. She wouldn’t live here.
“What if someone wanted to buy the ranch and keep it as a ranch?” Leah asked, her voice hesitant. Who would that be?
“If you know someone, send them my way.” Holly gave a cheerless laugh under her breath. “But make it soon. I’ve got some decisions to make. I hate being the one who sells out to a developer, but I hear others talking. We’re all getting too old to ranch, and Mr. Winslow is making offers none of us ever imagined, but I guess you know that because he’s talking to your dad.”
Leah nodded and curved the corner of her mouth. Talk of selling the ranch made her realize nothing lasted forever. Of course, she’d learned that when she’d walked in on Charlie. She forced a smile at Holly. She didn’t want her friend to be sad and said she needed to pay for her groceries before the ice cream melted.
The price Bryg had offered Leah’s parents was what Leah had paid for her condo near the Braxton campus, which was located in a posh section of the town.
Her heart swelled. If she could afford that condo, she could afford to buy the ranch. When she and Charlie were discussing where they’d live after they married, he had mentioned her condo was now worth twice what she’d paid for it. She’d almost choked on her shrimp cocktail. He had said that to her a year ago. What would it be worth now?
She anchored the groceries into the truck bed, but her mind wouldn’t stop working. When she returned to the ranch, she’d call a real estate friend of hers in Boston. Not that she would sell her condo. She had to live somewhere, but it would be interesting to know the value. She wouldn’t stay at Braxton forever.
But when she left Braxton, she wouldn’t return to Mardale. Her jaw tightened. Where would she go? To Florida?
She couldn’t wait until she returned to the ranch and called her friend when she drove out of the co-op parking lot.
“I’m so glad you called,” her friend said after she and Leah wished each other Merry Christmas. “The new prof in the music department is looking for something near the campus, and after he sees what you’ve done to the place, he’ll fall in love. I’ll send you some information on the sales in the area and then we can discuss an asking price.
Leah almost choked. “I’m not sure I want to sell.”
“No problem. It’s always good to know the local market,” her friend said, and Leah heard a tapping sound as if her friend typed on a computer keyboard. “That house you and Charlie were considering is still on the market.”
Leah exhaled roughly. Apparently, not everyone knew she and Charlie had ended their engagement.
“Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind,” she said, and hoped she sounded grateful.
When her friend told her what she could ask for her condo, Leah almost drove off the road. Almost twice what Bryg had offered her parents for their ranch. Leah tried to take a breath. How could a two thousand square foot condominium have more value than a few hundred acres of land?
Before Leah and her friend ended the call, Leah said she’d be in touch. She barely remembered driving back to the ranch.
A turmoil of thoughts plunged through her mind. If she sold her condominium, she’d almost have enough money to buy Holly’s ranch and her parents’ ranch.
That gave her a start. What would she do with two ranches? Could she qualify for a mortgage?
And where would she live in Braxton? Then there was the foster home. She couldn’t live in Braxton and raise foster children. They’d need a father figure, which would make the job better suited for a couple. She couldn’t see Charlie as a foster parent, and she shouldn’t be thinking about him anyway. He was no longer a part of her life.
Someone like Bryg would make a good foster parent. She closed her eyes and shook her head. What was she thinking? Bryg was a wealthy man who negotiated business deals. He wouldn’t walk away from the corporation he built to care for unwanted boys. Never mind that he’d been one of those boys more than twenty years ago.
But Bryg hadn’t forgotten his roots. He helped her look for Zeke. Thanks to his street smarts, they’d found the boy, but the corporation he ran was sophisticated and intricate. He was one of the most eligible bachelors in the country, probably the world. He’d worked hard and built an empire. He’d never walk away from that.
And why was she even thinking of him as a foster parent? She laughed weakly. She’d only known him for a few weeks. He’d said he wanted to get to know her better, but that didn’t mean he’d consider a future with her. She had a great career, and she’d focus on that.
If she sold her condo to buy her parents’ and the Johnson ranch, teaching at Braxton would be impossible if she lived in Mardale.
Unless she held her classes online. She could live anywhere. Several faculty members taught online courses, and many of them did not live in Massachusetts. She’d miss the face-to-face contact with her students, but she could still travel to Braxton for occasional lectures and events.
She picked up the phone. The first thing she had to do was find out if the college would let her teach online. If they did, the details of her plan would fall into place―except for the foster home, but she wouldn’t give up yet.
* * *
Leah had just finishedher conversation with the dean of the English department, when Bryg arrived at the house that afternoon.
When she told the dean she’d like to teach online, he’d told her it was too late to change her status for the winter and spring quarters, but the department would consider her request for the fall. That disappointed Leah, but she wouldn’t give up. She’d make her plan work.
Bryg’s SUV coasted down the gravel driveway and parked in front of the farmhouse.
Leah stood in front of the upstairs bedroom window and sensed his excitement before he stepped out of the SUV. Setting her jaw, she turned away. She didn’t want to spy on him, but not wanting to watch this powerfully built man was like visiting the Grand Canyon and keeping your eyes closed.
The boys were in their rooms working on their assignments when Leah and her parents sat around the dining room table and stared at the laptop Bryg set in front of them. The video playing across the screen showed the subtle segue from ranch to residential and commercial centers. Everything about the development carefully maintained the ranch town. The greenways bordering the residential areas and the commercial campuses still looked like the flower-filled pastures where horses and cattle grazed.
When the video faded to a logo of the Winslow Corporation, Leah’s parents leaned back in their chairs and looked at each other.
Leah released a slow breath. The video showed everything she and her parents wanted. The town and surrounding spreads would be preserved. The residential and commercial areas blended well with the town and ranches. Quaint Mardale would keep its country feeling.
“I like it,” her father said in his folksy way. “I’ll call the city council and set up a meeting with the members.” His mouth curved, and he looked at Bryg. “Of course, Mavis and I are not leaving until the last of these boys has graduated high school and has a job or will start college .”
“I fully agree,” Bryg said. His face kind and understanding. If he felt the victory of the conquering hero, he hid it well. “We can start the preliminary work. When you’re ready to finalize the sale, everything will be in place.”
“What if one of the ranch owners received another offer?” Leah asked. She hadn’t meant to say anything. She couldn’t sell her condo, and she couldn’t buy her parents’ ranch, let alone Holly’s ranch until she could teach her winter and spring courses online. Until the college agreed, that wasn’t possible. Though her real estate friend had a buyer for her condo, she still had to qualify for a loan for her parents’ ranch and the Johnson ranch. Other ranches would be on the market, but she couldn’t buy the valley. She wasn’t Bryg Winslow.
“Do you know of another offer?” Bryg asked, the surprise in his eyes vanished, and his corporate persona slid into place.
“I don’t have details.” Was that a lie? She didn’t know if she’d qualify for the loan, so maybe it wasn’t. Qualifying for a loan was an important detail. “But it’s possible someone else might be interested in a couple of the ranches.” Leah released a slow breath. With three pairs of curious gazes on her, she wished she’d said nothing.
“Might this other interested party be you?” Bryg asked with no inflection in his voice, as though he spoke to a business associate.
Leah’s breath caught, and she pushed the feelings she had for Bryg deep down inside her.
No longer was he the man she had fought to protect her heart from. Her pulse jumped wildly. She now looked into the keen eyes of a master negotiator.