“Isn’t this Trey’s logo?”
“Yes, although this particular company name is new.”
“And didn’t I hear through the grapevine he got married or something?”
“Our mother called and tried to talk me into attending his wedding recently, but we hardly speak to each other and he could have sent a real invitation if he wanted me there. You don’t think…?” But he didn’t need to think. He knew.
Aiden shrugged.
He cursed a blue streak while his cousin and the others stood and watched. When he finally regained control of himself, he sank down to lean against the next tree and rolled a fallen apple around under his palm. “How can this happen? I’ve spent my entire life avoiding him, which isn’t easy in San Francisco where we are both invited to many of the same functions. Did I just…? I can’t have… This is downright biblical.”
“I thought you should know.”
“You might as well leave the balloon here. He’s going to find out anyway.” If James hadn’t had his PA holding any unnecessary calls while in Cedar Valley, he’d probably have known already. Although he and Trey were not close, they shared many business acquaintances, some of whom knew their connection and would have raced to tell him the latest gossip.
If he were honest, he’d been trying not to reach this conclusion most of the afternoon. “I guess Trey has gone into the balloon business. Seems kind of low tech for him.”
“Not really, the entire bottom of the basket is filled with sophisticated electronics, and, if I had to guess, I’d say some kind of solar panel is built into the balloon here and there, there, too. See how it catches the sunlight? And there’s no sign of a burner or helium or other gasses. Somehow, the solar battery heats the air just like the burner would. I think.”
“Well, there you go, then. Thanks for trying, guys. My cousin will take you out to dinner on me, won’t you? Send me the bill?”
“Sure thing.” The four men walked away toward a road through one of the fields where a truck stood. “Call me if you need me.”
“Thanks.” He waved them off, focusing his vision on his brother’s latest project. Damn hot air balloons. Only Trey would know how to take such an idea and turn it into a multimillion-dollar company, and he had no doubt Felix Flights would achieve great success. Considering Trey was the brother he had most in common with, odd how they couldn’t even have a pleasant conversation without arguing.
When he was a kid, his dad sent him to stay with his mom in their mansion for two weeks every summer. He looked forward to it, to spending time with his stepdad who was more like him than his own father in so many ways. But once he arrived, he and Trey were arguing within five minutes and he always came home bruised up from their competitions. Swearing he’d never go back. A lot like now. He was bruised, and his brother had just about closed the deal on the first woman James had ever truly wanted for his own. He’d just slept with his brother’s fiancée.
This could not end well.
He pulled out his phone and dialed #5 on speed dial. “Mom, it’s me.”
Sarabeth opened her eyes to a ray of late sunlight slanting across the colorful quilts covering the bed she’d slept in. She yawned and stretched, enjoying the relaxing feeling of being well rested and lounging in such a beautiful room in the late afternoon. A moment later, it all came rushing back.
She’d just spent the afternoon naked in bed with someone she’d just met that morning. Someone whose orchard she’d landed in in a balloon she’d to all effects stolen from Trey. Her billionaire fiancée and boss whom she’d humiliated at the altar in front of his family and business associates. Along with the double Cinderella move leaving her in a whole other county barefoot and without a stitch of clothing except the torn up wedding dress she could not possible put on again.
Maybe she didn’t have to worry about jail or paying for anything. Any judge would be happy to sign her over to the local mental hospital for treatment. Nobody took a perfectly awesome life and ripped it into confetti which she then tossed out of the basket of the balloon along with a 24 carat gold box of stinky fish eggs. While guzzling two bottles of overpriced champagne. Only to land and jump the bones of a local farmer. Because she was too good for billionaires. Nobody like that could be sane.
She flipped the sheet over her head and groaned. How could she possibly face anyone ever again? And all that nonsense about returning to Kansas? It wasn’t as if she left family there. Her foster parents hadn’t been too bad, not abusive or anything, but she’d never felt like part of any of their families. And she’d moved too often to make lasting friendships.
So in addition to throwing Trey aside like so much platinum-plated garbage, she’d also given up what she’d wanted more than anything. A family. There was no part of her life she could face again, not even Jim who had made such amazing love to her right here in the prettiest room she’d ever seen. Dropping the sheet from her face, she took in the high ceiling with its beams matching the huge logs of the outer walls. The dark-wood floor gleamed with polish, the inner walls a soft cream that set off the jewel tones of the quilts to perfection. If she had to guess, she’d say the logs came from a much older building like those guys did on a reality TV show, but how could a farmer afford that? Maybe there had been a cabin on the property somewhere and he’d reassembled it into this lovely home.
If only she’d met Jim first, she might have realized he was right for her. If she hadn’t come to him the way she had, maybe he would have asked her out on a date. But she’d made a mess of what could have been between them, as well. Leaping from the altar into his bed, a homeless person with nothing and nobody.
Panic surged, and she leapt out of bed and ran to the closet in search of something to wear. It was completely empty. Who had an empty closet? Wrapping the sheet around her, she opened the door to the hall and peered out. “Jim? Jim, where are you?” He didn’t answer. Good. She could borrow some clothes from him and be gone by the time he returned. Sarabeth headed for the door at the end of the hallway by the stairs. He’d steered her away from it when they came up, so she assumed it was his bedroom. Pausing outside the door, she tapped on it, just in case. Still nothing so she turned the handle, stepped inside, and closed it behind her.
Holy shit!
Stumbling back against the door, she took in an office at least as big as Trey’s and possibly more expensively furnished. The huge desk could double as a conference table for at least a dozen attendees and the high-backed chair behind it was upholstered in the kind of leather you did not find in Kansas or anyplace where leather actually came from. Too rich and elegant. The walls were paneled in some sort of streaky brown-and-gold exotic wood halfway up then painted a shade darker of gold. Her bare toes sank into the deep, plush carpet. Not one loose item marred the gleaming surface of the desk, but as she drew close, she could see the rectangle in the middle that would be a computer monitor of sorts. Trey had one, too. In fact, one of Trey’s companies had developed the item.
Despite her shock at finding a billionaire’s office in a log cabin, what truly drew her attention was the view out the “window” behind the desk. She looked out onto the Golden Gate Bridge and a windy San Francisco Bay’s late afternoon whitecaps. It could be a huge TV screen, she supposed, but no. The image she looked at wasn’t planned enough for that. It showed the ordinary movements of people and cars and boats. Almost the same as the view from Trey’s top floor office at Felix, but with a slightly different angle.
What the hell was going on?
Was Jim a farmer or a billionaire? He had been dressed like any other guy who worked on a farm, more or less. Wore work boots! Trey would as soon cut off his feet. And his jeans were truly worn out, white in places from lots of wear. You didn’t buy pants like that. She couldn’t put it together in her mind. Was he in Witness Protection or something? Hiding in the country, pretending to be a farmer during the day and a businessman at night. Did he have the office that matched this in the city? She tried to gu
ess where the building would have to be by gauging the difference between this view and the one at Felix.
Struck by an idea, she approached the screen and dragged her finger to the left. Sure enough, the image moved and on her second attempt, she viewed the Felix building. Sarabeth stared straight at Trey’s office, and, sure enough, he was there. She played with the touch screen until she got it to zoom in and saw him talking on the phone. If only she could hear what he was saying, but the sealed windows would not emit sound in any case. She fought the urge to duck when he turned to face the window, but of course he couldn’t see her. She wasn’t really in San Francisco, just looking through the lens of some kind of amazing camera. Her heart sank at his angry expression. At least she hadn’t hurt him, but she could not think of any other reason but her he’d be so upset just about exactly twenty-four hours since she’d made a run for it.
If she’d had any doubts about the feed being live, the white clutch purse lying on the windowsill next to him would have settled them. The bag she’d left in the bride’s room at the church. Containing her wallet, lip-gloss, brush… She lusted after those things almost as much as she did after Jim.
What the hell was wrong with her?
As she watched, Trey tucked his phone in his pocket, deposited her clutch in his briefcase, and exited the room. She moved back for a wider view and, less than five minutes later, the Felix helicopter took off from the roof of the building. Trey used it often for speed and convenience. His departure might have nothing to do with her. Or perhaps someone had reported the balloon? He could be on his way here.
She leaned a hip against the desk and returned the view to the Bay. Everything came into focus. Still unsure why Jim would be here, she did know she stood in the Cedar Valley home of James MacKay of Mackay International. His building stood directly across the street from Felix. She’d fallen from one billionaire’s arm to another’s bed, and the whole thing was too overwhelming for her to take in. Most women married nice men and never even met a billionaire. She had two of them to worry about.
Kansas was looking better and better. She did have a few friends from high school who might be willing to put her up until she got a job. Probably Trey wouldn’t care anymore. He’d looked like he hated her. He’d be glad to see her gone. She slid the ring off her finger and set it on the desk. He’d get the balloon himself. She didn’t think it was very damaged. The tiara she’d lost somewhere between the orchard and here, since she couldn’t remember when she’d last had it, and, hopefully, Jim could find it and return it. She just needed to find something to leave a note on.
Since she hadn’t seen a scrap of paper since her arrival, she’d need to be more creative. Tapping the bottom of the screen/window brought up a keyboard. The one in the desk probably would, too, if it wasn’t password protected, and she didn’t want to deal with figuring it out. Sarabeth quickly typed a note.
Jim,
Thank you for a lovely afternoon. I had to get going, but if you wouldn’t mind, would you please contact Trey Felix to have his balloon picked up and also the ring I left on your desk. I seem to have lost the tiara. If you come across it, please return that to him, too. I’d tell you where to reach me but I don’t know where I’ll be. Probably just as well. Thank you again. You have a very nice office building with your name on it for a farmer.
Sincerely,
Sarabeth Harvest
P.S. I wish you were the one.
Chapter Six
“Mom’s on her way.” James stepped back out of the wind of the departing helicopter. “She said to let you know she’s going to straighten us out for good this time.”
Trey joined him at the edge of the fallow field his pilot had chosen to land on. “Nice to see you, too, brother. Any reason you didn’t show up at my almost wedding yesterday?”
“You didn’t invite me.” They climbed into the Mule, and he turned it toward the house. “Remember?”
“Mom invited you.”
“Let’s stop dancing around. We’ve never gotten along and we never will. I will show you where your balloon is so you can order your guys to pick it up and then you can get back to the city.”
“And my bride? Can I pick her up, too?”
“I’m afraid that’s up to her, Trey. She’s a person, not one of your products or an employee.”
Trey held onto the frame as they took a turn a little too fast. “Well, technically, she is my employee. And I think it’s time she gets out of this backwater and returns to her desk.”
“She seems to think you’ll fire her for leaving you at the altar.” He took a shortcut across a newly irrigated field, taking pleasure in the droplets of water and mud speckling his brother’s bespoke suit. “So you have no claim on her whatsoever.” He wore yet another pair of old jeans and a T-shirt with Cedar Valley Cougars splashed across the front. His old clothes were coming in very handy.
His brother shifted in his seat to look at him. “Why should you care what my fiancée and I do? Or…oh, no. You always did want everything I had. Don’t tell me you’ve made a move on Sarabeth. That’s carrying sibling rivalry a little too far, don’t you think?”
They climbed the hillside toward the orchard while James tried to decide how much if anything to tell him. If Sarabeth did decide to go back with Trey, it would be better if he never knew what happened between them, wouldn’t it? What would it serve to let him know his bride had spent the afternoon in his arms?
“The balloon is right in here. I don’t think it’s too damaged, but it did do a number on one of our oldest trees.” He slowed to a stop, and Trey stepped out, brushing at the mud on his slacks.
“Your tree has caused damage to my product. I think my lawyers will agree we have a case here to sue you on this.”
His brother made him nuts now, just as he had years ago. He was a fine one to talk about wanting what the other had. James had started construction on his building six months before Trey even bought the land for his. And James had done it without any parental help—although his stepdad had offered. The only thing he’d ever taken from the man was a little help with some of his educational expenses. After that, he’d made every dime himself.
“Whatever, Trey. I know you love lawsuits, but this one is over-the-top and nobody will believe an apple tree that has stood in that spot for over 100 years leapt out and attacked your balloon. If you want to sue, I can counter for damage to that tree, the others it hit along the way, and all the apples lost because it knocked them from their branches. So think carefully.”
They both stood looking up at the balloon and the tree for a long moment before Trey shrugged. “I will have the device off your property by morning. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to the press. Our fly away from the wedding was to be the big reveal to the public of this product, and now my idea guys are working on another plan.”
“No problem.” Like he’d run to the press to tell them all about the big red heart-shaped balloon. Sure, that would happen. “Want to go see Sarabeth?”
“She’s at your house?”
“Yeah, I left her there to rest. She had a pretty terrifying trip getting here.”
“I guess she did. I wonder what made her do that?” If James had been angry before, the hurt in his brother’s voice wiped that entirely away and replaced it with sympathy and with guilt. Sure, he hadn’t known Sarabeth was Trey’s fiancée, but maybe he should have. Maybe he shouldn’t have let his boyhood rivalry keep him away from his brother’s wedding. They weren’t close, but they were family. How jealous had he been of Trey growing up in a family where he fit in, where his goals and desires were in line with his dad’s.
Nobody wanted Trey to go out and dig in the fields or pick potatoes. To fix fences or chase hoards of bunnies out of the experimental cabbages so they wouldn’t turn orange. The bunnies, that is. The cabbages were already orange.
Trey’s dad took him to the office and exposed him to the business world. Bought him a briefcase and introduced him t
o important people. Maybe if he and Trey had been able to be civil for five minutes, he’d have taken him, too.
And maybe he should have thought of all these things before he’d done the one thing he would never be forgiven for. They drove toward the house in silence, each lost in his own thoughts. James didn’t know what Trey was thinking, but his guilt fought with a lack of regret. He couldn’t regret spending time with Sarabeth. He’d remember the afternoon for the rest of his life. But his brother deserved to know the truth. He couldn’t live with himself otherwise.
His ulcer-on-the-way kicked up, and he rubbed his stomach. “Before we get home, before you see Sarabeth again there’s something I want you to know.”
“Mr. Jim!” One of the zucchini pickers from earlier came running up. Juan…Sanchez. He and his family had been coming every year to work during the summer and fall since James could remember. “I found something in the field.”
James pulled to a stop.
“Hi, Juan, how are Maria and the children?” His father knew everything about every one of his employees, year round or seasonal. He’d taught James and the others how important it was to know them as people. That it was their responsibility so they could meet their needs. That it made for mutual success.
He used that lesson every day in his own business.
“They are fine, Mr. Jim. But one of my sons found this in the field.” He held out a muddy lump. “I thought I should turn it in. Who would lose a gold box in the zucchinis?”
Jim took it and wiped off a corner. “Well that is nice, isn’t it Trey?” He handed it back to Juan and waved him away. “Maybe Maria would like it to keep earrings in or something.”
The man beamed at him. “I know she would. Thank you.”
“I don’t believe you’ve met my half-brother, Mr. John Felix. We call him Trey in the family. Trey, this is one of our very best workers at Cedar Valley Nursery.” He cut his gaze to the side, enjoying his brother’s reddening face.
Melody Anne's Billionaire Universe: Floating Hearts (Kindle Worlds Novella) (MacKay Destiny Book 1) Page 6