The Billionaire’s Christmas Contract by Laura Haley-McNeil

Chapter 6

Leah scoured her mother’s pantry for items that would remove the stains from Bryg’s clothes. She mixed a solution and applied it to the spots. After blotting them a few times, the fabric glowed like new. The guilt in her chest lifted as she inspected the clothing then placed the jacket and pants on hangers. The garments looked almost as good as they had when Bryg wore them. She hoped he agreed.

Her phone rang, and she glanced at the screen. She took a breath when Charlie’s name pulsed in the frame. The ache in her chest throbbed with each sound.

Was she ready to talk to him? No. He had betrayed her. Would she ever be ready to talk to him? She hoped so. She couldn’t avoid the inevitable. They both needed to move on with their lives. She had thought he had, but then why was he still calling?

She wouldn’t build her future on what her life might have been if she and Charlie had married. She reached for the phone. It stopped ringing. Slowly, air seeped from her lungs.

Her ex-fiancé had called several times and always left messages of profuse apology. The inside of her chest felt raw and scraped. Maybe he was sorry. She had to call him back, though she wasn’t sure what she’d say. That she forgave him? She didn’t feel like forgiving him.

She murmured a prayer that the words would come when she did call Charlie, then swallowed against the memory emblazoned in her mind. What surprised her was that she wasn’t sure she was sorry she’d caught him with his assistant. Because of his indiscretion, she’d had a chance to think of what she really wanted to do with her life. Marrying Charlie didn’t rise to the top of that list.

She had looked forward to the wedding and to starting a family, but spending the rest of her life with Charlie? Somehow she’d never thought of the marriage in that way. Even if Charlie hadn’t betrayed her, she shouldn’t have placed her focus on the children they’d have. When she and Charlie did speak, she’d explain to him that maybe her catching him with his assistant had saved them both from a terrible mistake.

After covering Bryg’s clothes with a dry cleaner bag, Leah went to the kitchen to help her mother. Her father and the boys were in the barn completing the afternoon chores. On the counter sat a covered bowl filled with rising dough. She punched it down then shaped small pieces into dinner rolls. She covered the tray with a cloth and set it on the counter so the rolls could rise again.

As she worked, she thought of Bryg and how much he had enjoyed working with the children in the youth group that morning. That had been a surprise. He was polished and sophisticated and didn’t seem like someone who would enjoy the games or listening to Pastor Chuck’s sermon. The teens loved being near him. Even Zeke had stood nearby.

After he left the church, Leah chatted with Holly Johnson, who seemed anxious about something. As they talked, Leah realized the sale of her ranch caused her concern. She shared with Leah the price Bryg had offered, which gave Leah a start⸻it was almost as generous as the one he’d offered her parents.

Leah’s heart felt like a cold stone weighing inside her chest. Bryg wouldn’t make these offers if he didn’t expect to make a sizable profit. But selling the ranch wasn’t Leah’s concern. The ranch belonged to her parents.

For years they had operated the ranch and raised foster children. They never complained. Raising the children and working the ranch brought them joy, though Leah struggled with the toll the hard work had taken on her parents. They were in their fifties and didn’t move as quickly as they used to. After their years of dedication, they should think about retirement. Bryg’s timing couldn’t have been better. His offer would make her parents’ later years very comfortable.

Leah lifted the slow cooker’s lid and inhaled the pleasant odor of roast beef, potatoes, carrots and onion. The aroma washed over her in a wave of loss. She missed her mother’s cooking. She loved to cook, too, but with her teaching schedule, it had been easier to order a meal on her phone app or spend an evening with Charlie and friends in a restaurant than cook an hour or two in the kitchen.

“He’s here,” Frankie shouted from the barn.

Leah’s head came up, and she set the slow cooker lid down hard. Her heart drumming in her chest, she smoothed clammy hands over her slacks and glanced around the kitchen.

“Everything will be fine.” Her mother’s smile always had a way of putting her at ease.

“Thanks, Mom.” Leah offered her mother an apologetic smile and basked in the compassion shining in her mother’s eyes. “Everything’s always fine when you’re in charge.”

“You know how to cook a good meal.” Her mother pulled a stack of dishes from the cabinet. “That apple pie you baked makes my mouth water.”

“As much as I’d like to take credit, you did most of the work.” Leah reached for the plates her mother held.

“I’ll set the table.” Her mother smiled and tipped her head toward the door. “You greet our guest.”

Leah glanced out the window. Bryg climbed out of the SUV, a bouquet of roses and baby’s breath in his hand.

The boys shouted and raced out of the barn to welcome Bryg. Except Zeke. He sauntered but watched the other boys who talked at once and leaped around Bryg.

Bryg’s laugh made Leah watch him a moment longer than she’d intended. She gave her head a slight shake. With everyone he met, he seemed glad to know them, to spend time with them, even with these boys who came from nothing. Everyone at the church liked him. It didn’t seem to matter the real reason he had come to Mardale.

Despite the boys’ excitement at seeing Bryg, Leah felt rattled. Everyone in town had bemoaned the residential and commercial centers that had replaced the serene farms and ranches in the neighboring towns. Those communities were closer to Denver, so Mardale residents had thought no one would be interested in changing their picturesque town.

But townsfolk hadn’t realized that when they sent their children away to college, those children would prefer the excitement of the city to small town tranquility.

Just like Leah. Her mouth dried, and she tried to swallow the disappointment rising in her throat.

When she’d received the college scholarship, she’d planned to return to Mardale and teach. Instead, she’d stayed, earned graduate degrees, and joined the faculty. After this Christmas break, she’d return to the college.

Leah grabbed her coat from the closet and stepped to the front porch. Her father walked up the path from the barn and shook Bryg’s hand, then indicated they should walk to the house. When Bryg turned, his gaze met Leah’s. His smile turned brilliant. Her heart soared.

Trying to still the pounding in her chest, she gave a slight wave⸻the country way of greeting people. Now that she was home, her college sophistication slipped away. You can’t take Colorado out of the girl.

“Hey, boys, give Bryg some breathing room,” Leah said with a laugh.

The boys froze, looking from her to Bryg.

“They’re fine,” Bryg said. He climbed the steps to the deck and handed her the flowers.

“You’re spoiling us,” she said, and inhaled the sweet fragrance that mixed with the crisp air. “They’re beautiful. Thank you,” she murmured, and didn’t miss the boys clasping their hands and fluttering their eyelashes as they mimicked her.

“Your day’s coming,” Bryg said to the boys and laughed.

Leah laughed, too, then turned to the house.

“Can you take us for a ride in your car?” Zeke asked Bryg.

“Well …” Bryg glanced at Leah’s father.

“Okay with me.” Vern tipped his head. “We’ll eat supper in about half an hour.

He hadn’t finished speaking before the boys dashed to the SUV.

“Do you want to go?” Bryg looked at Leah.

That shocked her. That she wanted to go shocked her more. “Sure.” She lifted her shoulders.

Her father slipped the bouquet from her hands and said he’d take them inside.

“Let Leah sit in the front,” Bryg called after the boys who turned to him.

The surprise in their eyes vanished, and they jostled each other while clamoring into the SUV.

“Don’t worry, guys. There’s a window seat for everyone,” Bryg said. He walked Leah to the passenger side and opened the door for her.

She didn’t know if she should be suspicious or pleased. Buttering her up would be a good way to get her parents to agree to sell the ranch to him. She released a soft exhale. She wouldn’t let Charlie make her doubt another man’s kindness.

“Thank you,” she murmured and climbed into the car.

“My pleasure,” he said simply, the softness in his eyes drawing heat into her face.

They were taking a quick drive. She wouldn’t make it more than that.

The boys suddenly quiet, she looked over her shoulder at them. Awe filled their eyes as they ran their hands over the plush upholstery and pressed the levers that adjusted their seats.

“Is this your car?” Zeke asked when Bryg climbed behind the steering wheel.

“Zeke, you shouldn’t ask that,” Leah said softly.

“It’s all right.” Bryg grinned and looked into the rearview mirror. “It’s a rental car, but I’ll use it while I’m here in Mardale.”

“I’ll have a car like this someday.” Frankie lifted his chin. Determination shone in his eyes.

“Me, too.” Harry and Carl chimed in.

Zeke said nothing. He stared out the window⸻at the snow covered meadows, but Leah didn’t miss the determination and drive that burned in him, and she wondered what secret plans he was making.

He still kept to himself, but the suspicion in his face wasn’t as intense as it had been the first day he’d arrived. It hurt Leah that he still felt the need to be cautious. She hoped one day he’d learn to trust. She also hoped all the boys would learn that real treasure was in heaven, but that realization took time. Her parents worked patiently with each boy that came to them to make sure they understood God’s grace.

“Where’s a good place to go?” Bryg asked Leah when he guided the car to the country road.

“The bluffs are close. It’s cold and windy there now, but the views are spectacular.”

“Then that’s where we’ll go,” he said, and sped down the road.

After a few turns, Bryg parked on a snowy flattop that overlooked the prairie stretching to the mountains. Denver’s skyline rose in the distance.

“Can we get out?” Frankie asked, his hand on the door handle.

“For a few minutes,” Bryg said, “but we have to make it quick, since supper is almost ready.”

The boys piled out. Even Zeke seemed excited. Their breath white clouds rising into the cold air, they scooped up snow and flung snowballs at each other. Their shouts and laughs mixed with the dull thuds when the snowballs hit their marks.

Leah stood and stared at the white prairie stretching before them. Never had she thought about the day when she wouldn’t see it anymore.

“You love this place.” Bryg’s deep voice broke through her thoughts.

“I do.” She turned to him. Her breath caught when she saw the concern in his eyes. She looked away. Wasn’t she being like the boys? Giving more importance to physical things than to what really mattered?

Vaguely, she was aware of the boys’ shouting and racing about. She started to turn to them when Frankie shouted, “Look out.”

Her head came up. An icy ball zeroed straight toward her. She ducked and turned. Her toe hitting a snow-covered rock, she tipped forward and gasped.

Strength and warmth wrapped around her waist, lifted her and pulled her to a muscled wall. Bryg held her close, the arch of his body shielding her from the snowball and the cold. A soft thud sounded against his back and echoed inside her head. His powerful form had taken the brunt of the snowball and spared her.

Shock rolled through her. Had a man ever sacrificed himself for her sake? A slight tremble rocked through her chest. Never.

“Are you all right?” Bryg tipped her back and stared into her face.

“Yes.” She couldn’t stop staring into intense blue eyes.

The rising silence made her feel as if they were the only ones here, but they weren’t alone. The boys were here. She glanced sideways to see four pairs of eyes staring at them. She cleared her throat.

Bryg looked up. The intensity in his eyes turned to humor. His deep laugh sent a surge of emotions through Leah that she fought to push down. Her pulse rocketing, she stepped from him, breaking the grasp that had filled her with comfort. She gave a nervous laugh and fingered damp hair from her face.

“You saved her,” Zeke murmured, his dark eyes darting from Bryg to Leah.

The other boys stared at Leah and Bryg, their gazes intent.

Leah froze, her throat hot and tight. Zeke had said what she couldn’t admit to herself. Bryg had stepped between her and the snowball.

“I did what any man would do, but Leah’s a strong woman. She can take care of herself,” Bryg said. He clapped his gloved hands together, sending fragments of snow into the air. “Let’s get back to the ranch so we can eat.”

The boys laughed and shouted and scrambled through the snow. They piled into the SUV, the snowball fight, and Bryg’s chivalry, forgotten.

Bryg extended his hand, indicating he’d follow Leah to the SUV. She gave him a hesitant smile and trudged through the snow. When she looked up, she saw Zeke staring through the window at her, then Bryg, and she saw in his eyes that he would remember what Bryg had done for her.

She gave Zeke a slight smile, but inside she still felt Bryg’s warmth and his comforting strength, and she couldn’t help but wonder what lucky woman would feel that for the rest of her life.