Page 11 of Kinsey

At four, they quit for dinner.It was early, but he’d not eaten anything since breakfast and was starving.There was just enough leftovers for the four of them to have open-faced sammiches, and there was plenty of tea for them to have with it.Setting up the tea maker to make some more for the four of them, they ate the rest of the cake that Ara had picked up at the day-old grocery store for their dinner.He didn’t see anything wrong with it and was happy for the sweetness after having a big dinner.Exhausted now, he made sure to keep that to himself while they finished up the rest of their chores after dinner.

Kinsey had forgotten to check his phone for messages after the call that had come in.The person had left a voicemail.Getting a pen and paper to write it down, his phone rang, and it was Meggie.Smiling for the first time all day, he thought, he greeted her with his usual charm and laughed when he realized that he didn’t have shit as charm anymore.

~*~

“I have four offers on the land.One is for all of it, the other is…hang on.That line is ringing again.”She’d meant to give him the good news, but it was too busy to do right now.“I’ll have to call you back, Kinsey.The offers are coming in very fast now.I suspect by the end of the day, you’ll have sold the land, making it so you don’t have to farm anymore.I’ll call you back here in a bit.”

Hanging up on Kinsey, she picked up the other line.It was her old friend, Winchester.He wanted to know when the bidding stopped.Stupid question.It would go on until it was finished, and one man was left.She told him that, but in a much nicer way.The man laughed like he knew she was being nice in the way she told him.

“How much is the bid for now?”She said that she was still answering the phone, so she’d have to look.“Well, get on it, girl.My land is wasting away right now.And you know that I get what I want.I should have had you tell them others that so they’d back off.But I want this land, and I’m going tohave to spend some of my hard-earned cash to get it, I’m thinking.Making this Pennington man a very wealthy person.”

“You might not win this time, you know.There are some pretty heavy hitters bidding on this land, and I’m only going to have to deal with one of you.”He doubled his last bid and told her to let him know when she knew anything.“You know I will.I was actually thinking of having conference calls set up in the office so that I could hear them all at once.”

“Excellent idea.I’ll be there in an hour.”Before she could tell him that she was joking, he hung up on her.The only other person she wanted here was Kinsey, and she didn’t think it would be a good idea to have him here fainting when he heard how much the price was up to now.She had her secretary call the other three men and tell them what was going on.They all agreed to come to the meeting room and bid on the land in person.Kinsey was going to shit his pants when he heard the amount that was being tossed around for the land that he wanted rid of.

When the other three men arrived, they sat in the conference room and talked before she came in and told them the last bid on the land.None of them seemed inclined to bid, but she knew better; they all wanted the land and were determined to get it.As she was leaving them to it, David caught her hand.

“You think you can round us up some whiskey and some food, darling?I’d like to get drunk and claim myself as a winner, but I have to get these other men a good showing.”She said that she’d see what she could do for him.“Don’t go cheap on us now, darling.We’re going to be making you have a bit of pocket money too.My momma would say that to me.She’d say, Davey, honey, I need a bit of pocket money, and I’d give her the world if she wanted it.God rest her old soul.You fix us up a bit here.”

Calling back Kinsey, she was glad that he put her on speaker phone for the details, as his brothers were all there, including Raphael.She was catching their excitement even over the phone.She not only told them what the bidding was up to, but how the men were in her conference room right now, having the time of their lives trying to outdo one another.

“They’re the biggest dealers in land that I’ve ever worked with.”Gleason asked her what that meant.“They have the most money.And by that I mean that they’re all billionaires, all of them.”

“So you have four billionaires in your office right now having a bidding war on our land.You said it’s over the asking price, is that normal?”She told Bodi that it was when there was this much land at stake.“How much longer do you suppose they’ll work this over?I mean, will they be in there for days?”

“No, I’m predicting that by the end of work today, they’ll have hashed it all out and one will be considered the winner.I’m betting on Winchester, but I don’t know for sure.He’s a big hitter and is known for having vast land deals in his favor.”Kinsey asked if she’d call them back.“Of course I will.As soon as I know, you’ll know too.How late can I call you guys?I know that you go to bed early.”

“Anytime.”They said that in unison, and it made her laugh a little.“Just when you have news, no matter the time, you call us.We’ll not sleep anyway, waiting for this to be finished.At least I know that I’m not going to be sleeping anytime soon.”

As soon as she hung up with the brothers, she called Kinsey back.He told her that he had a call from someone named Winchester this morning and that he’d left a message about getting together with him about the land.Kinsey asked her if that was normal and how he got his name and number.

“The land has for sale signs all over the place; it wouldn’t take much for a person with money to be able to hunt you down.As for getting the number, it wouldn’t be that difficult either.What did he say about the deal?”Kinsey told her.“So he’s thinking he’s going to win, and decided you could tell him more about the place than anyone else can.I guess I can see that.He’s a nice enough person, but wealthy.It’s up to you if you want to call him back, but I’d wait to see who wins.It’s sort of fun to listen to them tossing around money like they are.You’d have a heart attack.But I’d be there for you.“

“I nearly did when you said they were billionaires.I’ve never met one before.I mean, I know that they’re out there, I just never had the occasion to meet any one of them.”She laughed, then toldhim that he had.“Are you telling me that you’re a billionaire?”His voice told her that he didn’t believe that she was one, too.

“I am because I own this company.We’ve been in business for a good long time and have long-reaching arms when it comes to money.My grannie made this company shine when she was in charge of it, and now I’m doing even better.As I said, we’re an old company and people trust us with their money and businesses.”He didn’t say anything.“Kinsey, it’s all right.It’s just money.”

“Says the person who just told me that they’re a billionaire.”This time, his voice sounded hard, like he was mad at her or something.“I didn’t know when I started out seeing you.”She asked him if it would have made a difference.“Of course it does.You’re rich and I’m barely making ends meet here.”

“We’ll be in the same boat after this sale, though I don’t know why it should matter.You’ll have money too.Do you think I’ve treated you differently because I have money and you don’t?”He said that she’d not, but that didn’t mean anything.“It means everything.Especially if you have any thoughts not seeing me anymore because of a few bucks.”

“It’s not a few bucks, though, is it?I mean, we’re talking a lot of money here.”She asked him when he became a snob.“I’m not a snob, but you told me that you sometimes need someone to take you to dinners, and would you want me at your side?”

“Yes.”She said that without hesitation to him.“Would you do the same for me?Would you want to date me only if I have no money?I’ve enjoyed our time together, meeting at your house and out to dinner at times.Grannie likes you, too.”

“I don’t know how I’d feel taking you out to dinner at what I could afford before this.”Instead of talking to him more, she told him she’d call him when she had a number and hung up.Her heart was broken, and she wasn’t sure why.Could she have fallen in love with the man in such a short time?Her broken heart certainly felt like it.

Making herself be busy, she ignored the pain in her chest and decided that she was just hurt by his words.It couldn’t be that she was in love with the big idiot and now that he’d shown his true colors she—he’d shown his not the other way around—she was going to move on with her life and do what all people did that had been dumped by the man of their dreams.They moved on, she kept telling herself.

It was nearly quitting time when she heard from the group of men.Putting on the best smile that she could, she asked them who had won.It was all she could do not to sob when they told her not only the amount of money that was the winning bid, but who had won it.It had been as she thought all along.It had been David Winchester.He’d now be considered the richest man in the country and the richest landowner in the country as well.Now all she had to do was call the Pennington family—not Kinsey alone but just the family, and let them know that they were wealthy men, all of them.

Dialing the number that was as much a part of her memory as the man to whom it belonged to, she made herself smile and put on a happy face.Once he answered, she told him how much the winning bid was, plus she’d have the checks for him in five days.There was still a lot of paperwork that needed to be processed before anyone could claim anything.

After giving him the information, Meggie hung up the phone and sat at her desk, sobbing.He’d broken her heart, and the only way that he could have done that was for her to have fallen in love with the big ox.

Chapter 6

Kinsey kept himself busy by doing all the work that came with owning the farm.Mr.Winchester had said that he’d take care of the cattle that were on the farm.He said for them to just pack up what they wanted and that he’d take care of the rest.Kinsey supposed he didn’t want them to mess up the sale in any way by taking things that no longer belonged to them.The man was even coming to the house tomorrow night for alook-seeto see what his money had bought him.

---