“I’d already made plans, everyone helped all of us make plans. I’d been working part-time at the cotton gin. Gary Rich put me to work full-time and gave me a room over his garage.”
“But how in the world did you get from there to here?” she asked, tipping her head toward his land, his accomplishments. “You seem rich,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound grasping, because truly, she wasn’t. She was just so curious about him she could hardly stand it.
****
Jeff studied the young woman who had, by his estimation, about twenty-four hours left of her life as she knew it. After that, all bets were off and she was his. If he could just keep his head screwed on straight for a while longer, he’d have her where he wanted her. In his bed with a gold ring on her finger. “Rich?” he asked, trying to stay on topic.
She studied him only a moment before replying, “Well-off, whatever. How did you do it? How does someone go from being an orphan to being a mega-wealthy cattle rancher, in how many years?”
He snorted. “Which question are you asking me? My age or how I did it?”
“Both!”
“I’m thirty-six,” he finally admitted, his lips twisting into a smile.
“Yeah?” she asked, a certain glimmer reaching her eyes as she looked him up and down.
His smile broadened. “Yeah.” When she remained silent as if expecting him to go on, he continued, “So, here’s your answer in a nutshell. I wanted land. That was my goal. I wanted land, somewhere I could put down roots, and I wanted it to be as near to Redwood Falls as I could manage. Bonnie wanted to stay here, we both wanted to raise our kids here. We got married right after she graduated high school, the year after me, the way we planned.”
“So, what did you do first?”
“I started by farming. Not my land, because I didn’t have any of my own, of course. I went to work for a man in the county who farmed several places. He leased acreage from several ranches in the area, giving the owners a percentage of the crop he produced. I worked for him and learned everything from him as quickly as I could. I talked Gary into cosigning a loan for me, and I bought my first tractor and baler, and I began getting work on my own from that.”
“So, buying the equipment was strategic?” she asked, her attention solely focused on him.
“Yeah, it was. And it worked. With the extra income, I began leasing land and working for myself—then I was in serious business. When I began buying my own land, it was a section at a time, sometimes not even that.”
“What piece did you buy first?”
“The homestead—where the house and barn are located now. Back then, it wasn’t much. Bonnie and I lived in a singlewide trailer—hell, Zach and I continued to live there until I had the house built.”
“So, at first, you put everything back into the operation?”
“Yeah, and some fairly decent money began coming in. I signed up for every farming subsidy I could get my hands on, every program the FSA offered. And then I put my head down and began studying new kinds of farming, like strip cropping. And I saved my money, a dollar at a time, sometimes not even that.”
As she sat and listened, he continued, “During the off-season, I continued to work at the gin and I saved even more money. Everything I earned went into my farming operation or into more land. Land wasn’t always easy to get, even when I had the money. Usually someone has to die before land goes up for sale around here, and I had to be ready to jump on it when the time came. I was at about year ten before I had saved enough to hire a seismic company to come survey, and that’s when I struck gold. Literally. The county has always been oil-rich, and that’s one thing I always wanted—land that still had the mineral rights attached. Sure, I was forced to buy some without the rights, but for the most part, I got lucky.”
As her eyes got big, he told her the rest. “After the oil money started flowing in, I took up ranching in addition to the farming. Went to Fort Worth and San Antonio, looking for stock to start my herd. Bought as many as I could afford, and made damn sure I had the best bulls for breeding. After that, I went into cutting horses. There’s big money to be had there, and I wanted a piece of that action.”
“What’d you do for fun?” she asked, tongue-in-cheek, but he took her question seriously.
“When I had time, I began studying the stock market—commodities in particular. I wanted a way to make big money fast, because there was a rumor going around that the ten sections behind me might go up for sale—and I wanted that land—and when it did, I bought it.” As he finished up his life history, he reached out and ran his fingers through her hair. “What more can I tell you?”
As her eyes clung to his, he saw no hint of dollar signs. No hint of any mercenary machinations going on in that beautiful head of hers. She watched him almost as if she were bewitched, as if he were a temptation she couldn’t resist, and in that moment, he felt his heart shift and soften, even as his fingers tightened in her hair.
He watched her silently watching him in return, and his hand trailed from her hair to entwine her fingers through his. Her lips parted as her fingers clenched his, a beautiful bloom of color highlighting her cheekbones.
His foundation shifted; it was more than enough for now.
****
Friday morning dawned with bright blue sunny skies. Janet’s mother prepared breakfast as she juggled Hannah from hip to hip as if she were born to the job of grandmother.
Even though Jeff was thankful for her support, impatience held a grip on him as he inhaled his food and waited for Janet to make an appearance. He was ready. So very fucking ready.
He’d wanted just the two of them to go to the courthouse, but Janet’s mother wanted to attend the ceremony, so Jeff felt as if Zach should be there as well, so he’d arranged for his son to miss his morning classes so he could attend. His son sat across from him now and asked for another helping of eggs, which made the older woman beam at the boy as she served him more.
Finally, after what felt like hours but had probably been mere minutes, Janet walked into the kitchen. She was wearing a pale cream shirtwaist dress and high heels, and now, in hindsight, Jeff realized that maybe he should have donned something other than jeans. Maybe? Of course he should have put on a suit. What the hell was wrong with him?
“Good morning,” she said to the room in general, but with so little animation that it was twisting his guts in agitation. Barbara Cullman turned and faced her daughter, wearing a huge smile.
“You look beautiful, honey!”
Although Janet’s face was pale and she looked extremely nervous, she did look beautiful, but goddamn, she always looked beautiful. The smile she gave her mother at the compliment was tremulous at best, and there was something about the subdued way she was holding herself that was sending testosterone flowing through his system, lighting a fire under his ass to get the deed done before she changed her mind.
Standing up from the table, he walked toward her and not caring who the fuck was watching, wrapped his fists around her upper arms and kissed her. As he lifted her chin for better access, she gasped at his unexpected move and simply stilled in his arms while he planted a firm kiss on her lips.
He raised his head and stared down. “You do look beautiful,” he said, in full agreement with her mother. “Give me five minutes to change and then maybe you won’t be ashamed to be seen with me.”
She looked poleaxed, but at his words, one side of her mouth tipped up and she rolled her eyes.
Rolled her eyes in a good way—as if being ashamed to be with him was ridiculous in the extreme. And the sentiment pleased him greatly. But it only made him want to get the ceremony accomplished more quickly. “Look in the bottom drawer in the fridge,” he said before bussing her lips one more time and walking from the room.
Half an hour later, they were in the car and driving toward town. Janet had thanked him for the bouquet and now, as she sat beside him on the drive, she fiddled with the ribbons in an unmistakable display of nerve
s.
His own nerves were keyed up, but for an entirely different reason. While she was obviously nervous about what she was doing, he was nervous that she might change her mind at the last minute. But thank God, nothing like that transpired. She remained mostly silent and everything went quickly and efficiently.
As the judge and the court’s witnesses filed into the room, the five of them made their way to the front of the courtroom, Janet carrying Hannah. When it came time for the actual ceremony, instead of giving the baby to her mother to hold, Janet seemed to make a quick decision. She handed Hannah to Zach, who took the baby without question, an actual smile on his face. Barbara Cullman seemed to understand her daughter’s action and she stepped back, behind the four of them, a smile on her face.
Five minutes later, it was all over. Janet Cullman Smith was now Janet McIntyre and at the realization, the possessiveness Jeff had been experiencing subtly shifted and accelerated, turning almost territorial.
Janet had looked floored when he’d produced rings, as if she hadn’t considered the prospect in the least. As he’d slipped both the wedding ring and the three-carat solitaire on her ring finger, her face had blanched before blushing a deep red.