Undeniable Demands

“My guess would be about a hundred and twenty-five thousand. There’re no utilities run out here yet.”

Tori refused to look at him. Of course the real estate guy could nail the price within a few thousand dollars. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that I’ll offer you double what you paid for it.”

At that, Tori fumbled the jar of organic honey and sent it crashing to the Marmoleum floor. Fortunately, it didn’t shatter. She quickly crouched down to grab it, but he had reached out for it as well and beat her to it. He held out the jar to her. Tori looked down at him, only inches away, and felt a familiar and unwelcome tingle deep in her belly. When she took the jar from his hand, her fingers brushed his and the tingle turned into a surge right to her core.

Jerking upright as though she’d been burned by his touch, she quickly recovered and removed the infusers, then added a dollop of the honey to each cup. She plunked his tea down in front of him and took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

“That’s ridiculous.” She said the words knowing she meant both her reaction to him and his offer for her land. Tori knew better than to let herself fall for Wade’s good looks or his seemingly good offer.

“Maybe. But that’s what I’m offering.”

“You’re hiding something,” she accused. “You’re the guy who built your business buying cheap buildings and flipping them for a fortune. No way you’d pay one penny more than is necessary to turn a profit on whatever project you’re wanting to build out here.”

Wade turned to look her in the eye. A lock of brown hair had fallen into his face, giving him a boyish charm she had to steel her resolve against. “I’m not building anything out here. This isn’t about money.”

Tori scoffed. “You don’t get to be a millionaire before you’re thirty unless you’re born into money or driven by it. Either way, everything is about money.”

Wade watched her. He took a sip of his tea before he answered. “This is about family. That’s more important to me than even money. This property belonged to my parents. They sold it without telling me or my other siblings. We never would’ve let them do that if we’d known. They worked too hard their whole lives for this land. We grew up here. Our childhood was here. If we’d known they were having financial problems, I would’ve taken care of things before they resorted to this.”

Tori felt herself being sucked in by his story. The expression on his handsome face was one of sincere concern. The words sounded so convincing. But this was the same man who had praised her potential and work ethic, then fired her the next day. Ryan had also seemed sincere, and nearly every word out of his mouth over the past two years had been a lie.

She had been raised with a naive spirit by hippies who wanted only to experience life and culture. They didn’t have a malicious bone in their bodies and never thought other people did, either.

Life had taught Tori differently. Wade had taught her differently. He had heard her pleas of innocence and turned his back on them. He hadn’t believed her. So why should she believe him now?

The people who had sold her this land—Molly and Ken Eden—were a very sweet older couple. No way they’d spawned a son like Mitchell. They didn’t even have the same last name. It wasn’t even a well-planned lie. She wanted to be insulted by his lack of faith in her ability to see through his crap. Did he think she would just melt into a puddle at his feet the minute he knocked on the door and flashed those deep green eyes at her? Or started waving cash?

She didn’t need Wade’s money. She’d paid cash for this property. She was one of the most highly sought after green architects in America. She’d traveled thousands of miles in this Airstream to build environmentally friendly buildings, homes and businesses. Tori had several large and successful projects in Seattle, Santa Fe and San Francisco. She was wrapping up one in Philadelphia just after the first of the year. She did well enough that she could laugh at his offer. But it couldn’t hurt to push him and see how far he was willing to take this.

“What if I said I would sell it back to you for half a million?” There was no way the land was worth that much unless there was oil, gold or diamonds hidden beneath her feet. She doubted it, though. She’d never heard of Wade Mitchell being interested in any of those things. The only thing about land he cared for was what he could build on top of it.

Wade didn’t even flinch. “I would get out my checkbook and sign on the dotted line so you could find an even better piece of land and everyone would be happy. Let me assure you that nothing is more important than preserving my family and my history.”

Wow. He was certainly desperate for this land. She almost felt bad for him. Any other person might have immediately given in and made his day. Four times the value was a great offer. A crazy offer. One that she was probably crazy to turn down. Even with her success, half a million was quite a lump of cash. Tori could certainly do a lot with it: buy new land, build her dream house without a mortgage attached to it, get a new hybrid pickup truck. She had to admit, if it were any other person sitting across the table from her, she’d probably take the money and tow her trailer off into the sunset.

But it wasn’t any other person. It was Wade Mitchell. And she wasn’t about to sell him this land. Not for any price. Just because it was worth it to watch him squirm. This would be as close to payback as she would ever get. It was his bad luck that he wanted her land.

“You’re really quite good,” she said, nodding and watching her tea instead of his handsome face. She wouldn’t let herself get pulled in and swayed by his mesmerizing eyes and fabricated sob story. She’d already caught herself being a sucker once this year, and that was enough. Maybe if he came around in a few weeks, she’d let him be her dumb mistake of the New Year. “Did you practice that speech long or was that off the cuff?”

Wade stiffened, pushing the half-empty cup of tea aside and shelving the charm. “Is all this animosity over your termination years ago?”

Now it was Tori’s turn to stiffen in her chair. He made her seem petty for holding that over him all these years later. “Absolutely. I don’t take affronts to my reputation lightly.”

“You weren’t worried about your reputation when you slept with one of our suppliers and put my company in jeopardy.”

“I didn’t sleep with anybody. I told you then that I didn’t do any of the things you accused me of. Nothing has changed. Just because you didn’t believe me doesn’t mean I wasn’t telling the truth.”

“They were serious charges, and I needed to deal with them as such. I did what I had to do.”

“And I’m doing what I have to do. I’m keeping this land. It’s mine. Whether or not I like you or resent what you did is irrelevant.”

“This isn’t about me or you and your damaged pride. This is about Ken and Molly Eden and everything they worked for. I want to give them back what’s rightfully theirs.”

Tori straightened and shot him as lethal a gaze as she could manage. “You mean, mine. I signed those papers at the lawyer’s office two months ago. I didn’t hold a gun to their heads and make them sell me this land.”

“Wouldn’t have surprised me if you did,” he said bitterly, glancing over at the shotgun sitting on the counter.

“They sold it all on their own. I paid them full asking price and covered all my own closing expenses, so it’s not like I cheated them, either. I don’t know whether you’re their son or not, Mr. Mitchell, but let me just tell you that if you are their son, you’re a crappy one. They told me about Ken’s heart attack and all their medical expenses. Where have you been? In Manhattan? Worrying about making money?”

“You think I don’t know that?” he challenged. Wade’s eyes flashed with a touch of a temper she’d seen years before. “I’m not proud of it, but I can fix it.”

Tori stood up from her seat. “You’re just going to have to find another way to soothe your conscience. Send them on a cruise or something, because you aren’t going to browbeat me into selling this land. And that’s final. Please leave.”

Wade stood, bringing his head a hairbreadth away from scraping the top of her camper. He took a step toward her, and his body loomed large and intimidating in such close proximity.

Tori couldn’t help the surge of awareness that ran through her body as he came near. Apparently it was far easier to despise him from a distance. It had been a long time since she’d been in the same room as Wade, and she’d certainly never been this close to him, but her body remembered him. With him inches away, looking down at her with a focused, penetrating intensity, her spine wanted to turn to jelly. His warm scent, a familiar mix of spicy cologne and salty skin, swirled around her with every breath she drew into her lungs.

She finally took a step back, pressing herself against the kitchen counter. She didn’t like being this close to Wade. It messed with her focus, and that just made her even more irritated. Tori couldn’t let him use his size or sexuality to intimidate her.

“This isn’t over,” he said, pinning her with his dark green eyes before grabbing his coat and walking out into the cold.

Two

Wade remembered Victoria Sullivan as being smart and beautiful. Apparently she was also the most infuriating and stubborn woman he’d ever encountered.

Wade stomped back to his four-wheeler and stood there a moment, letting the cold sink in and douse the aggravating mix of anger and attraction surging through his veins. When he was back in control, he shrugged into his coat, jumped on the ATV and peeled out of her yard in a doughnut as he used to do as a teenager. The back tires sent a sheet of snow flying against the side of her trailer. It was juvenile, but she seemed to bring out the worst in him.

He was fuming as he plowed through the snow. It should be illegal for a woman that gorgeous to have a mouth that irritating. Honestly, once she’d peeled out of her jacket and revealed a snug pair of jeans and a fitted, long-sleeved T-shirt, he’d almost forgotten why he was there. It wasn’t until she picked up her shotgun again that he realized he’d followed her inside without her permission.

Victoria had been one of his best and brightest architects. He’d hired her straight out of college when the company he and Alex had started was still small and spending more than it earned. She’d contributed quite a bit to making their first few big projects a success. He’d even considered asking her out to dinner. But then his assistant had come to him with concerns about seeing Victoria at a restaurant looking a little too cozy with one of their potential suppliers. She had been quite vocal about giving the man an upcoming contract, and the implication was clear. He fired her on the spot. Part of him regretted that. And not just because she had knockout curves, flawless skin and long, fiery red hair that made him warm under the collar.

He had wanted to believe her when she said she didn’t do it. The thought of her with another man nearly made him crazy. But the logical part of his brain was infuriated by her audacious attempt to influence corporate contracts like that. Sleeping with a potential contractor was just as bad as taking bribes from one. Both compromised a person’s objectivity and put the ethics of his company in question.

He would not have it, so he terminated her. He never dreamed the decision would come back to haunt him.

If she were any other woman, he would’ve asked her to dinner to talk over his offer and kissed her to keep the inflammatory words from flying out of her mouth. Her temper, as spicy as her hair, was a massive turn-on. He had a weakness for redheads.

But she wasn’t another woman. She was holding on to seven years of bitterness along with the key to something more important to him than anything else. Protecting his family was his number one priority. Toying with Victoria like a cat with a mouse could cost him dearly. He needed her to sell him this land. He couldn’t fail. As much as he’d like to resolve their differences between the sheets, it wasn’t the answer in this situation. He doubted it would sway her, and she’d probably shoot him if he tried to kiss her.

“Arrogant and pigheaded,” Wade grumbled, turning to steer the four-wheeler down the center aisle of trees toward the entrance. She thought she knew so much. Well, she forgot rich, powerful, ruthless and determined Wade Mitchell came in the same package. He would secure that land and protect his family one way or another.

Wade came to an abrupt stop as an old pickup truck, draped in Christmas lights and garland, pulled in front of him. Piled into the trailer it towed was a crowd of bundled-up people sitting on bales of hay and singing Christmas carols. The driver, Owen, threw a hand up at Wade, then continued back toward the house.

Hayrides, Santa visits, sugar cookies and hot chocolate. Picking out a tree at the Garden of Eden wasn’t just a shopping trip. It was an experience. On the weekends in December, the farm was a madhouse. And it had to be. A good portion of their income came from just this one month. Sure, they did other things throughout the year, but Christmas tree farms depended on a good Christmas to stay afloat.

And lately, it hadn’t been enough.

Wade blamed himself for that. When the boys grew up and moved away, the Edens had to hire in help. Owen had always worked on the farm, but as each year went by, more staff was added and their expenses went up. Throw in a mountain of hospital bills and competition from increasingly more realistic fake trees, and the Edens were lucky they’d survived this long.

Wade followed the truck to the house and then veered off to park the ATV back under the awning where they kept it. The farm would be closing soon, so he skipped the house and headed around to the tree-processing area. Heart attack be damned, he found his dad out there with a couple of teenage boys. They were leveling, drilling, shaking and net-bagging all the trees selected by the last round of customers.

As though he’d never left, Wade grabbed a tree and put it on the shaker to remove any loose needles. When it was done, Ken laid the tree out to drill. They carried special stands in the gift shop that ensured a perfectly straight tree.

Wade held it still while Ken drilled.

“You haven’t lost your touch, kid. Need a job?”

Wade smiled. “I could work for about a week. Then I’ve got to get back to town.”

“That’s fine, fine. We’ll be closed by then, anyway.” Ken lifted the tree and gave it to one of the boys to run through the netter. When he turned back, he gave Wade a big welcome hug. “Good to see you, son.”

“Good to see you, too, Dad. Is that the last of the trees for tonight?”

“Yep. With perfect timing, you’ve shown up just when all the hard work is finished. Come help me haul these trees out to the parking lot and we’ll go see your mother.”

Wade grasped a tree in each hand and followed his father through the snow to the parking lot where the last few cars waited for their trees. He watched his father carefully for signs of ill health as he hauled around the trees and helped families tie them into trunks and onto roofs. The man wasn’t quite sixty yet and had always appeared to be at the peak of health. His brown hair was mostly gray now, but his blue eyes were still bright and alert, and he didn’t hesitate in his physical work. Ken had always been a lean man, but a strong man. If nothing else, he looked a little leaner than usual.

“There’s nothing wrong with me, so quit looking for it.” Ken snatched the last tree from Wade and hauled it down to the pickup truck waiting for it.

Wade followed him, then stood quietly until the truck pulled away. “I wasn’t looking for anything.”

“Liar. Everyone has been doing it since your mother told Julianne about that damned attack I had. It was no big deal. I’m fine. They gave me a pill to take. End of story. Don’t be sitting around waiting for me to drop dead so you can inherit this place.”

Both men chuckled, knowing Wade could buy and sell the farm ten times over and had no interest in getting his claws on any inheritance. “You’re looking good to me, Dad.”

“Yeah.” He slapped Wade on the back and started walking toward the gift shop. “Most days I feel okay. I’m slowing down a little. Feeling my age. But that’s just reality. The attack threw me for a loop—just came out of the blue. But between the pills and your mother’s dogged determination to feed me oatmeal and vegetables, I should be fine. What are you doing up here so early, Wade? You kids don’t usually show up until Christmas Eve.”

“I had some time in my schedule, so I thought I’d spend it with you guys. Help out. I know I don’t visit enough.”

“Well, that’s a nice lie. Be sure to tell your mother that. She’ll eat it up. All of you boys are in a panic since you found out we sold that land.”

“I wouldn’t call it a panic.”

“Wouldn’t you, now? Four out of the five of you kids have been here in the past month, just randomly checking in. I’m sure Xander would’ve come, too, if congress wasn’t in session fighting over the stupid budget.”

Wade shrugged. “Well, what do you expect, Dad? You kept your heart attack a secret. You’re having financial trouble and you don’t tell any of us. You know we all make good money. There was no need to start selling off the farm.”

“I didn’t sell off the farm. I sold off some useless rocks and dirt that were costing more money than they earned. And yes, you make a good living. I haven’t made a good living in quite a few years. One doesn’t make up for the other.”

“Dad—”

Ken stopped in front of the gift shop, his hand on the doorknob. “I don’t want any of your money, Wade. I don’t want a dime from any of you kids. The unexpected medical bills just sucked up our savings. The past few years had been lean and we’d cut back on things, including our insurance, to weather the rough patch. Selling off the extra land let us pay off all the bills, buy a new insurance plan and stick some money away. Less land means less taxes and less for me to worry about. Everything will be just fine.”

He pushed open the door to the gift store, ending the conversation. Wade had no choice but to let the subject drop and follow him in. They were instantly bombarded with lights and sounds straight from Santa’s workshop. Jingling bells chimed from the door; Christmas music played from overhead speakers. A television in the back was showing holiday cartoons on a constant loop near the area where children could write letters to Santa and play with toys while Mommy shopped and Daddy loaded the tree.

Multicolored lights draped from the ceiling. The scent of pine and mulling spices permeated the room. The fireplace crackled on one wall, inviting customers to sit in rocking chairs and drink the hot chocolate Molly provided free.

“Wade!” The tiny and pleasantly plump woman behind the counter came rushing out to wrap her arms around her oldest boy.

He leaned down to hug her as he’d always had to do, accepting the fussing as she straightened his hair and inspected him for signs of stress or fatigue. She always accused him of working too much. She was probably right, but he’d learned his work ethic from them. “Hey, Mama.”

“What a surprise to have you here so soon. Is this just a visit or are you here for the holiday?”

“For the duration.”

“That’s wonderful,” she said, her eyes twinkling with happiness and Christmas lights. “But wait.” She paused. “I thought Heath told me you were in Jamaica this week.”

“Plans changed. I’m here instead.”

“He’s checking up on us,” Ken called from the counter where he was pouring himself a cup of cider.

“I don’t care,” she called back. “I’ll take him however I can get him.” Molly hugged him again, then frowned at her son. “I don’t have anything prepared for dinner,” she said, aghast at the idea. “I wish I’d known you were coming. I was just going to feed your father a sandwich.”

“Whole wheat, fat-free turkey, no mayo, no flavor,” Ken grumbled.

“Don’t worry about feeding me, Mama. I was going to run into Cornwall to meet a couple of the guys at the Wet Hen and grab a few things from the store. I’ll get something to eat at the diner when I’m done.”

“All right. But I’m going to the store first thing in the morning, and I’ll get stocked up on everything I need to feed a household of boys for the holiday!”

Wade smiled. His mother looked absolutely giddy at the idea of slaving over a stove for five hungry men. He recalled times from his youth when he and the other boys were hitting growth spurts all at once. They couldn’t get enough food into their stomachs. Hopefully now they would be easier to take care of.

“Why don’t you just give me a list and I’ll pick it up while I’m out.”

“We don’t need your money,” Ken called from the rocking chair by the fire, though he didn’t turn to face them.

Molly frowned at her husband, and Wade could see she was torn. They did need the money, but Ken was being stubborn. “That would be very nice of you, Wade. I’ll write up a few things.” She returned to the counter and made out a short list. “This should get us through a few days. I’ll go into town for a fresh turkey on Monday morning.”

“Okay,” he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “I’ll be back soon. Maybe I’ll bring home one of those coconut cream pies from Daisy’s.”

“That would be lovely. Drive safely in the snow.”

Wade stepped through the jingling door and headed out into the newly darkened night in search of pie, a dozen eggs, a sack of potatoes and some information on Victoria Sullivan.

When Tori got into her truck, she had every intention of going to Daisy’s to get something to eat. Maybe swing by the store for some quick and easy-to-prepare food to get her through the holidays when the diner was closed. And yet before she could help herself, her truck pulled into the parking lot of the Wet Hen, the local bar.

“Let’s face it,” she lamented to her dashboard. “I need a drink.”

Just one. Just enough to take the edge off the nerves Wade had agitated. And if it helped suppress the attraction that was buzzing through her veins, all the better.

Tori slid from the cab of her truck, slammed the heavy door behind her and slipped through the door of the Wet Hen. The sign outside claimed the bar had been in business since 1897. Truthfully, it looked as if it had. A renovation wouldn’t hurt, but she supposed that was part of its charm. The bar was dark, with old, worn wood on the walls, the floors and the tables. The photos on the walls of various local heroes and the sports memorabilia from the high school seemed to be there more to camouflage cracks in the plaster than anything else. The amber lights did little to illuminate the place, but she supposed a bright light would not only ruin the atmosphere but force the local fire department to condemn it.

The place was pretty quiet for six on a Friday. She imagined business would pick up later unless people were tied up in last-minute holiday activities. She made her way to the empty bar and pulled up a stool. It was from her perch that she heard the laughter of a group of men in the back corner. When she turned, Tori quickly amended her plans. She needed two drinks. Especially with that cocky bastard watching her from the back of the bar.

What was Wade doing here? It was a small town, but wasn’t there somewhere else he should be? At home with his all-important family, perhaps? But no, he was throwing back a couple with an odd assortment of old and young men from around town. She recognized her lawyer, Randy Miller, and the old bald sheriff from one of the local television advertisements about the dangers of holiday drinking and driving. There were a couple others there she didn’t recognize.

And at the moment, every one of them was looking at her.

Had Wade been talking to them about her? The arrogant curl of his smile and the laughter in the eyes of the other men left no doubt. The irritation pressed up Tori’s spine until she was sitting bolt upright in her seat.