by Zoe Chant
Honey for the Billionbear
By Zoe Chant
Copyright Zoe Chant 2015
All Rights Reserved
***
Isabella pressed her nose against the window as her Aunt Sally drove them along the winding road that led to Mountainville.
Majestic mountains rose up on one side of the street, while the other side offered a breathtaking view of the untamed wilderness surrounding them. Hardly anything had changed since the last time Isabella had been here, ten years ago, when she'd spent the summer on Sally's bee farm as a 15-year-old girl.
One thing was different, though. "Oh, the old mansion's been cleaned up! Is someone living there now?" Isabella asked.
The last time she'd been here, the mansion had been uninhabited for a decade already. It had been so overgrown with weeds, you could easily imagine Sleeping Beauty inside the picturesque old stone building. But now, while ivy and roses still tangled around the high walls surrounding the grounds, the driveway had been cleared and the crooked old cast iron gate had been restored to its hinges.
"Oh, yes. Ryan Steele moved in there two years ago."
Ryan Steele. The name rang a bell, but it took her a moment to remember where she'd heard it.
"The billionaire?"
"Yes, that's him," Sally said.
Ryan Steele had become one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the country when he'd invented a new solar panel that had revolutionized renewable energy. The gossip magazines loved him, even though Steele, who had a reputation for being unfailingly polite and modest despite his money, did his best to stay out of the press and never gave any interviews. It probably didn't hurt that he was incredibly handsome. He used to show up on a lot of magazine covers with titles like "most eligible bachelor." Isabella vaguely remembered having read about his engagement a couple years ago. She hadn't heard anything about him since then, though.
"Do you think I'm going to meet him?" Isabella asked excitedly.
Sally laughed. "I don't think so, no. He's very reclusive. He hardly ever leaves his mansion. I've been delivering a pound of honey a week to him for two years now and I've seen him maybe twice in that entire time. I don't think we've ever exchanged so much as two words. He never has any guests, either." Sally sighed. "All that money and no one he loves to share it with. He must be very lonely."
"I don't know, it sounds pretty nice to me," Isabella said wistfully. After what had happened with her ex-boyfriend, Greg, she didn't feel like being around people right now, either. It must be nice to have a mansion to retreat to. All she wanted right now was to hide and nurse her broken heart, like a hibernating bear in his den. If you didn't love anyone, no one could play with your feelings and lie to you.
"Aww, kiddo. But I suppose it's understandable, after what his wife did to him," Sally said.
"Why, what do you mean?"
Sally shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up. All I know is a bunch of town gossip. And I may be a crazy old bee-keeping woman, but I'm not a gossip."
"Forget it, I shouldn't have asked," Isabella said. She had her own heartbreak to nurse. The last thing she needed was to dwell on anyone else's. Even if it did sound like it might be a terribly romantic story, the heartbroken billionaire all alone in his big deserted mansion.
But she knew there was nothing romantic about heartbreak when it came down to it. It wasn't beautifully tragic. It just hurt.
"Aww, now I've ruined your mood, and you were actually smiling for a minute there," Sally said. "But don't worry, kid, it'll get better. You just spend a little time with my bees, eat some delicious honey, you'll feel better in no time."
"Don't tempt me. You know I love your honey, but the last thing I need is to start comfort eating," Isabella said. "I mean, look at me."
"I am looking at you. And I see a beautiful woman with gorgeous feminine curves. Men like something to hold onto at night, you know?" Sally said. "One day, you're going to find a man who appreciates what you have to offer. I mean, look at me! I'm a curvy woman and I was married for 45 very happy years."
"That's different," Isabella said. Sally was tall and statuesque. Even now, at 63, she looked like a Valkyrie. She had the gravitas to carry off her full-bodied figure. Isabella, on the other hand, was small and plump and plain. But Sally would never see it that way.
Isabella decided to change the subject. "Tell me more about your vacation plans," she said.
"Oh, I'm so excited!" Sally said. "Sweetheart, I can't thank you enough for taking care of my bees while I'm gone. I've wanted to go on this trip since I was a little girl. My mom travelled to Australia on a cargo ship when she was young, and she always told me how exciting it was. I've wanted to do this since I was a little girl. It's going to be so romantic—just me, the waves, a big ship, a couple burly deck hands with their shirts off…"
"Aunt Sally!" Isabella chided, laughing.
"What? I can't enjoy looking at a nice young man? You're much too easily scandalized, kid. I'm old, not dead. Your uncle Peter, God rest his soul, wouldn't have wanted me to sit around and cry into my tea for the rest of my life."
"All right, all right," Isabella said. She was smiling. Aunt Sally had always known how to enjoy life. It didn't surprise her that even as a widow, Sally had managed to hold on to her sunny nature. It was good to know that at least for some people, life went on, especially now that her own life had so abruptly crashed down around her.
***
Sally's bee farm had hardly changed at all since the last time Isabella had been here. It was still the same oasis of peace and quiet it had always been.
Isabella had spent every summer holiday here from the time she was a little girl to the time she turned 15. A wave of nostalgia hit her at the sight of the little log cabin with its bright flower garden. Bees buzzed busily from flower to flower, and in the woods surrounding the house, birds were singing.
Why hadn't she been back in so long? Life had gotten so busy, somehow she'd almost forgotten how beautiful the place was. Just looking around at the peace and quiet beauty, her broken heart ached less.
As a teenager Isabella had craved the excitement of the big city instead of the peace and quiet of the country. She'd had her head in the clouds, always hoping for love and excitement around every corner.
Well, love had found her. And then it had torn out her heart and stomped on the remains. Greg had been everything she thought she wanted in a man: kind, gentle, compassionate… But it had all been an act. He'd gained the trust, and then he'd disappeared with every cent of her life's savings, the small trust fund her parents had left her, and the little box of her mother's jewelry. Worse than that, he'd somehow managed to gain access to an account she'd managed for work. So not only had she lost the man she'd thought was the love of her life and all her money, he'd also gotten her fired from her job as a bank teller.
If it wasn't for Sally, who'd offered to let her stay at the farm to look after her bees while she went on her trip to Australia, Isabella would have hardly known what to do with herself. She might have ended up on the street.
Sally startled her out of her gloomy thoughts.
"All right, put your suitcase in the house and let's see if you still remember how my girls like to be treated," Sally said.
Sally watched with eagle eyes as Isabella collected her supplies and swathed herself in the protective nets.
Isabella had loved taking care of the bees as a teenager, and she hadn't forgotten how to do it. Wreathed in a delicate cloud of smoke and nets, she opened one hive after another, checking for parasites and har
vesting just a little bit of honey from each one. All the boxes were brimming with honey, she saw. The girls had been busy this year. They'd have more than enough to last them through the winter.
Isabella smiled, holding a glass of golden honey in her hands. It felt good to have something to do with her hands. With the bees buzzing around her and the late summer sun warming her back, she felt like she could finally imagine her broken heart beginning to heal.
***
They had a few days left before Sally had to leave on her trip. Isabella relearned her way around the house with Sally's guidance. They tended the garden and the bees, and spent the evenings in front of the fire, sharing a couple glasses of wine and catching up.
But then it was time to drive Sally to the airport.
They parted with a hug.
"Don't go too far into the woods," Sally said. "Remember, it's easy to get lost around here even if you know the area. And there have been people claiming they've seen a bear out here recently, too. Huge big grizzly bear. I think someone's just making that one up, honestly—you don't usually get grizzlies around here, and the farmers would have noticed if any of their sheep went missing. But you never know. Better safe than sorry."
"I'll be careful," Isabella promised.
That night, returning to an empty house, the next few months suddenly loomed large in Isabella's mind. The farm sat a couple of miles outside the town. People sometimes came by to buy honey, and on the weekends, Isabella would drive into town to sell honey at the farmers' market. But other than that, she was going to be all alone up here, nothing but the bees to distract her from her broken heart.
Well, no use sitting and brooding. Isabella threw herself into the work: weeding the garden, tending the bees, packaging their honey in glass jars decorated with homemade labels. Today was Friday, so she'd be delivering the weekly pound of honey to Mr. Steele, too.
The main gate will be unlocked, Sally had said. Just leave the honey on the front steps and ring the doorbell. Don't expect to see him, though. He never answers his door. I've been delivering his honey for two years now, and I've only seen him once.
Still, Isabella couldn't help but hope to catch a glance of the elusive billionaire.
As Sally had said, the main gate was unlocked. It swung open soundlessly. The way to the old stone mansion was lined with big elderberry bushes. Large, gnarled trees hung their sheltering branches over the path. Ivy wound around them, swaying gently in the breeze. With every step Isabella felt more and more like she was entering some kind of forgotten fairytale castle.
She left the little box with its two jars of honey on the front steps and rang the bell, like Sally had told her. She waited a couple of minutes. Maybe someone would open the door after all?
But the door stayed firmly closed. Disappointed, Isabella started walking back towards the gate.
Halfway back to the front gate, she heard a loud splash from the direction of the woods. There was a pond there, she knew. A small waterfall fed into it from a river running out of the woods. As a kid, she and some of her friends from the village had explored every inch of the deserted grounds around the mansion, sneaking around and giggling, feeling like daring explorers. On hot days, they'd bathed in the little pond. There was an overhang you could jump off into the deep end of the pond. That was probably what that splash had been. Someone was bathing in the pond. Could it be Mr. Steele?
Curiosity overwhelmed her. Isabella ducked between the tall bushes that lined the path and snuck into the woods, trying not to make a sound. A veil of ivy parted in front of her. There was the pond, right where she remembered it, and—
Her breath caught. It really was Ryan Steele. He was swimming in the deep end of the pond, his powerful muscles flexing. He was naked. Isabella stared, wide-eyed, as Ryan reached the shallow end of the pond and stood up, water sluicing off his broad shoulders.
He was one of the tallest men she'd ever seen, well over six feet, and powerfully built. Drops of water glistened on his golden skin, running down the smooth expanse of his strong chest and his long, long legs. The water only came up to the middle of his thighs, revealing his firm, muscled ass and, when he turned a little—Oh boy.
Isabella pressed her hands to her mouth to stifle an ill-timed giggle. Ryan wasn't hard, but even so Isabella could tell that his cock was perfectly in proportion with the rest of his large, powerful body.
She shouldn't be watching this, as breathtaking a sight as it was. Isabella reluctantly tore her eyes away and turned back towards the trees. A branch cracked loudly beneath her foot.
Isabella froze, but no angry shout let her know that her presence had been detected. Phew! That had been close. Best get out of here before she got discovered and banned from the grounds for life. What Sally would say if she managed to lose their most regular customer, she didn't even want to imagine.
Isabella hastily made her way back to the road, her heart still fluttering in her chest. She probably shouldn't have done that, she thought. She was a grown woman, much too old and sensible to get caught sneaking around other people's properties!
On the other hand… At least she'd gotten to see the elusive Ryan Steele in person. And what a sight he'd been!
Isabella kept thinking of Ryan again and again during the next few days. She wondered what had happened to him to make him retreat out here into the country, whether he was lonely… and she kept thinking of the little glimpse she'd gotten of his body. It wasn't like she'd never seen a handsome man before, but there was just something about him… Isabella blushed, trying to make herself think of something else.
She spent Monday and Tuesday cleaning the house and weeding the garden. But there was only so much work to do in her little cabin out in the middle of the woods. Wednesday dragged on, and by Thursday she was more than ready for any distraction at all. It really didn't do her any good to spend so much time inside her own head. She hardly slept that night, regret and worries chasing each other around and around in her head.
Somewhere around five am she finally gave up on sleep and climbed out of bed. If you're going to be brooding, bake a cake. It'll give you something to do with your hands. And if you're still in a bad mood after, at least you'll have a cake, she remembered her mother telling her. Isabella smiled at the memory while she leafed through Sally's worn, battered cook-book for her special honey cake recipe.
The familiar tasks of measuring and stirring did make her feel a little better. Isabella took a deep breath of the delicious scent of fresh-baked cake when she pulled it from the oven, golden brown and perfect.
But the problem with baking for yourself when you were living alone was, afterwards you had an entire cake to yourself. And as tempting as the thought of eating the entire thing was right now, her hips were soft enough without the extra help. She'd certainly regret it when she was done.
Reluctantly she set the cake aside. Mr. Steele's delivery was due today. If he liked honey so much, he'd probably appreciate Aunt Sally's special honey cake. Isabella packaged it up in a box along with his two jars of honey and added a note in her nicest handwriting: As a sign of appreciation for our most loyal customer.
She left the box on his front steps. Again, no one answered the door when she rang. Isabella walked back along the path. She could hear the waterfall rushing to her right, and for a moment she was tempted…
But no. She certainly wasn't going to sneak through Mr. Steele's woods again in the hopes of catching another glimpse of him.
Isabella spent the early afternoon packaging jars of honey for mail orders. When she was done, she could feel herself getting restless again. It was beautiful and sunny outside. The weather report had warned of an upcoming storm, but so far the sky was clear and blue. It seemed safe enough to go for a short walk around the woods. She wouldn't go far from the house.
Late summer was one of the most beautiful times of the year around here. The woods were lush and green and gorgeous. The elderberry bushes bent under the weight of their deep purp
le berries. She should come back with a basket tomorrow and collect some of those berries for syrup, Isabella thought.
She took a small, tart wild apple from a tree and ate it in three crunchy bites. The first mushrooms were beginning to poke their heads out of the forest floor, too, but it had been so long since she'd gone collecting mushrooms with Sally that she wasn't certain anymore which ones would be safe to eat.
Distracted by the rich beauty of the words, Isabella only belatedly realized that she'd walked farther than she'd planned to. A rush of wind stirred the leaves around her, and dark clouds were rapidly blowing in from the west. She really needed to get back now if she wanted to make it home before the storm broke.
Isabella turned around—and froze.
There was a bear sitting beside the road, half hidden behind a tree. It must be the grizzly Sally had warned her about, the bear she hadn't believed really existed. It was an enormous animal. If it reared up on its hind legs, it would probably be close to ten feet tall. Right now it was just sitting there, though, its brown eyes watching her with unsettling intensity.
Isabella hardly dared to breathe. You weren't supposed to run from bears, she knew that much. Running prey triggered their hunting instinct. Slowly now. Carefully.
She took one slow, cautious step back. The bear didn't move. Another step back, and another. A loose rock shifted beneath her foot. She stumbled, almost fell. The bear lurched forward. Isabella screamed. Blind panic took over. She whirled around and started running. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the bear leap forward.
Isabella ran, dashing headlong towards a dense stand of trees, hoping the bear wouldn't be able to follow her through the thicket. Thorny vines tangled around her arms and legs. Branches whipped back into her face. Her heart hammered in her ears. She couldn't tell whether the bear was still following her. It might have given up already. It might be directly behind her, getting ready to lunge.
She slipped on damp patches of moss and stumbled over loose rocks. Around her, the wind was whipping up into a storm. She gasped for air, running as hard as her burning lungs would allow. The first cold drops of rain hit her naked arms, but she hardly felt them.