PERCHING ON THE arm of the big leather couch, Natasha shrugged. “What’s up?”
“I wanted your opinion on this week’s wardrobe,” Spencer said, stopping just a foot away. For a second there she detected that hint of uncertain cowboy she’d seen in him a time or two before.
But no less macho cowboy.
And it occurred to her that he hadn’t been posing on her porch. That he’d been the same Spencer Longfellow she’d met the first time she’d been on his ranch. And every time since.
Maybe she was the one changing.
Or…
She shook her head. Didn’t like being confused.
“If that’s it, it’s fine,” she told him, sipping again. It seemed the most prudent thing to do. The safest. Sip. Swallow. Distract her senses. “The idea for your commercials is to look natural,” she told him. Her crew would direct the actual ads. And edit them. With Angela’s input.
She’d have final approval when all was said and done, before the finished product was sent to Spencer for his sign-off. Generally their national sponsors had their own firms to produce their advertising. Some local ones did, too. But Natasha and her team offered their services, as well.
He was watching her. A strange look in his eyes.
She didn’t appreciate feeling like a bug under a microscope. “Was there anything else?”
“I had a call from a meat packing company,” he told her. “They want to sit down and talk about packaging Longfellow Beef, starting sometime next year.”
She wasn’t surprised. “When’s the meeting?”
“Next week.”
“I’d talk to more than one before I made a decision,” she told him.
“They’re local.”
“There’s something to be said for that, but I’d still talk to more than one.” She’d been at this a long time. And knew that the more people you talked to, the more you learned about what you didn’t know you didn’t know.
He nodded.
So…they’d discuss business. As partners should. Good. She glanced at her watch—a smartwatch that showed her fifty unread emails from the time it had taken her to drive out from Palm Desert.
Showed her, too, that she had another half hour before she was expected at the studio on the other side of the half-mile compound.
“She said no.” He hadn’t changed positions any, still stood there with his thumbs in his pockets. So when it seemed that Spencer’s entire demeanor changed, Natasha couldn’t be sure if it was her imagination or something to take note of.
“Who said no about what?”
“Jolene. She said she wouldn’t marry me.”
The sweating tea glass slipped in her fingers. She caught it before it fell to her knee. “I didn’t realize you were going to ask so soon,” she said, buying herself time while she tried to comprehend why the news was so huge to her.
Even if they’d become friends as well as business associates, whether or not he married his first choice was not a life-changing event for her.
Or shouldn’t be.
He shrugged. “I wasn’t necessarily going to ask so soon, but I called Claire Williamson,” he said. “Sunday morning while the kids were in the chicken coop with Betsy. She was back on the East Coast but had given me her cell number. She picked up on the first ring. Said she’s planning another trip out at the end of October. She wants a formal introduction to the kids at that time. And to take them to Palm Desert for the night.”
“You don’t have to let her do that.”
“I know. And I told her so. If she wants to see them, it has to be here.”
“And?” Natasha was standing now, having set her glass on the coffee table and her hands on her hips. She’d spent much of her life dealing with entitled people like Claire Williamson. The woman might think she had the upper hand dealing with a naive rancher, but Natasha could help Spencer—who was far more aware than the other woman apparently gave him credit for—fight this battle.
“She conceded that, in the beginning, it would be best for the children if the visits were on familiar territory. Because they’re so young.”
The threat implied in those words, that Claire was only biding her time before fighting for the right to take the children for private visits in her world, was hardly concealed.
“Why is she doing this? Why now? Why the sudden interest?” She shook her head. He’d said she hadn’t known about the kids, that her daughter had recently married, but…
Spencer shrugged, looking…vulnerable…again. “The way Kaylee talked about me…about the kids…there in the end…we were clearly an embarrassment to her. Dusty, small town rats, I believe were the words she used in her worst moments.”
Natasha saw red. Blinked. Thought about how her mother would sit on the bench in court and remain calm no matter how horrifying the circumstances being presented. She’d asked her how she did it. Susan had said it was a matter of will. Of taking deep breaths and disassociating. A matter of focusing on the job, the law, the words, the facts and solution, not the emotion attached to them.
Natasha had been about ten at the time. And had been practicing ever since.
“But if you’re a nationally known rancher with coveted Wagyu beef…” She didn’t want it to be that. But it made sense. Not that they cared about his money…it was the clout. Beef, ranchers…lobbyists could use those votes. “Did she tell you how she’d found out about the kids?” she asked. But then it dawned on her.
“The show.” She should have thought of it before. But her show, Family Secrets, while hugely successful in its venue, was still just a reality cooking show. On a cable station. Not prime-time television. And the kids…probably just Tabitha at that point…had been on air for only seconds…
“We played up the fact that Longfellow Ranch children…your children…were guest judges.”
She felt sick. Ads had been running for the ranch segment for six weeks. If the Williamsons had known that Spencer was going to be featured and tuned in to see him, to see what their daughter had married, and escaped, they’d have seen at least a mention of the kids. Of course, she’d had no way of knowing that Spencer’s current life needed to be hidden from any aspect of his past life. He clearly hadn’t, either, or he’d never ever have taken the chance…no matter how much financial remuneration he stood to gain.
He was looking slightly sick to his stomach. “That explains why she said that it wasn’t proper for little girls to be raised solely by philandering fathers… She saw the first segment. Saw you and me and…”
For a second she started to panic. And then she focused. “We still don’t know why she cared,” she said slowly. “Do they suddenly want to parade their grandchildren around because they are no longer an embarrassment? Or did she really not know about the kids, and she has a genuine desire to get to know them? A desire made more critical in light of Kaylee’s recent marriage and the certainty she won’t have more kids?”
Studying her, he said, “I almost think it’s the latter,” he told her. “Unfortunately. Because that will make her a determined powerful woman on a hunt she’s not about to lose.”
“A mama bear,” Natasha agreed.
“She said she’d just landed in the city and rented a car,” he was saying. “I didn’t think about it at the time, but that could imply that the trip was spur-of-the-moment. Which it would have been if she’d just found out she was a grandmother. And cared.”
“She didn’t approach the kids,” Natasha was remembering. “As though she had their best interests at heart…”
“…and yet she couldn’t leave without seeing them,” Spencer added. “She said that. When I spoke to her on Sunday.”
Natasha considered the facts. The consequences and potential consequences.
“You said you had a second choice in mind if the kids and Jolene didn’t hit it off.”
He nodded, his chin jutting slightly. His reticence could be so irritating sometimes. Didn’t he get that she was trying to help him?
“So…have you called her?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know her yet. I’ve signed up online and had responses, but so far, none that I would consider meeting, let alone bring home to meet my children.”
“And Jolene said no.” She still couldn’t believe that one. What woman wouldn’t want to marry Spencer Longfellow?
Other than the fact that he didn’t love her, of course. Even she had been a little put off by his attitude about not marrying for love.
“I didn’t tell you why she said no.” His gaze became intense. She tried to read the message there.
But couldn’t decipher it…
“Why did she say no?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Because of the way I look at you.”
“What? That’s crazy!” What was wrong with people?
“I told her it was all for the show. Told her about the stage chemistry thing. But she said a woman knows. She was willing to think about marrying me without my being in love with her because she knows me and thinks I’d make a good husband. And because she’s already falling in love with the kids. But in light of the recent contract you and I just signed, she’s not willing to go through with it, knowing that you and I will still be in contact.”
Her heart was pounding. This wasn’t her fault. “That’s ludicrous.”
His shrug didn’t offer any solution whatsoever. They needed a solution.
“We can tear up the contract.” It was between him and Family Secrets, which meant her. Not the studio. And if it meant the kids would have a traditional home that would keep them out of a future court battle with a wealthy and powerful grandmother manipulating them…
“No.” He shook his head. “The money I’m going to make is a godsend, coming at the same time I’m faced with the possibility of an expensive cross-country battle. Without the show, I’d lose not only that money but also all of the advertising, the beef packaging… I’d go back to being a small cattle rancher with the distinction of raising Wagyu. It would take me years, the rest of my life, to get this operation making anywhere near the money that it’s going to make with your help. Instead of raising my herd from scratch, I’ll be able to purchase more purebreds to breed.”
She nodded. Good. This was good. Her heart was still pumping like there was no tomorrow.
Now, solution…
“Maybe you should sign up for multiple dating sites…”
“And hinge everything on the hope that I get someone perfect right away?”
When every potential candidate would know about Natasha, her show and the impression they were giving?
She needed to think. Considered calling her mother.
The man needed a wife. Not a lover. Just a wife.
“So, I’ll marry you.” Everything inside her froze as the words popped out of her mouth. Everything but the thoughts that were tripping over themselves. “It would be the perfect stop to any hope Claire could have of eventually getting anyone to believe the kids are better off with her. Who would dare take children away from America’s sweethearts? Or even think about doing so? Dedicated dad, great family cooking show mom…
“We could get married on Family Secrets,” she went on. “Have contestants provide our wedding dinner. Our cake. Everything. Think about it. It would be the romance of the year, televised nationally. Viewers will eat it up. Public perception will be set. And there’s a silver lining, too. Ratings will soar, which means Family Secrets’ value soars. And our signature beef will soar, too. It’s what’s called in the business world a win-win.”
She was rambling. But not like an idiot. Every word made perfect business sense. It was the deal of a lifetime. And she was putting it together on the spot.
The feeling she got when she knew she was onto something big, something winning, had never been stronger.
Until she noticed Spencer Longfellow standing in front of her, mouth open, staring at her like she’d lost her mind.