Summer on Kendall Farm Read online

  Kelly wasn’t supposed to feel this way. She wasn’t usurping his place in the Kendall. The farm belonged to her. It was her domain. And she had no choice about the open house. This was the only solution. She wished Jace would embrace it.

  * * *

  THE NEXT DAY arrived sunny and warm. Mrs. Templeton and her assistants were already busy in the kitchen. The smells permeating through the air were bound to make people want to purchase the cakes and cookies on offer. Kelly hadn’t heard Ari or Jace that morning. She looked out the window where they often rode, but saw only empty lawn. For a split second, she wished she was with them. She wanted to go to Ari’s doctor’s appointment, wanted to know if he would get better.

  The clock in the hall read nine-thirty. All the students were in their places. Suppose no one comes? The thought crossed her mind. She clenched her teeth. She’d spent so much money on this venture. The first car pulled into the lot at nine forty-five. Five people got out of it and went to the ticket booth. Kelly let out a breath. “This might work,” she said to no one.

  Kelly’s day was filled with small accidents, things that needed to be fixed, questions that needed answering, places she needed to keep the public away from. She didn’t have enough hands to cover everything.

  “The china is authentic to the house,” she told a woman wearing jeans and heels high enough that her back should hurt. Opening the cabinet, she took out a dinner plate and turned it over. Imprinted there was the date and name of the pattern.

  “My,” she said. “I’m impressed. My grandmother had this pattern and I’ve lost a lot of them. Would you be willing to sell any of these.”

  Kelly could truly use the money, but she couldn’t part with the history of the house. Smiling sweetly at the woman, she said, “I’m sorry, but they are part of the Kendall. The house wouldn’t be the same without them.”

  The woman smiled, handed her a card and said, “If you change your mind, I’m interested.”

  Kelly slipped the card in a pocket, said good day and went off to the next emergency. By noon, the place was crowded, but the college students she’d hired seemed to be handling the traffic with skill. Kelly had to rush out to the ticket counter and provide more money to make change for entry fees. By one o’clock they were running low on pastries.

  Kelly didn’t see Jace and Ari return. She was too busy. As she came down the stairs with an armload of flyers, she stumbled at seeing Jace. His arms came out and quickly caught her.

  “Where do you want these?” he asked, taking the flyers from her hands.

  “Gift shop, by the exit,” she said.

  He left her, heading for the door with Exit written over it. Stunned for only a moment, before someone called for her attention, she wondered what had brought him back early. And where was Ari?

  Jace turned and looked at her from the doorway. She silently thanked him with a smile and a nod. Surprisingly, several of the people she used to work with at the PR firm in New York, including her ex, Perry Streeter, showed up. “Your big debut! We’ve been anticipating this for some time now,” Perry said.

  “Oh, have you?” Kelly asked flatly. The small group of six were standing in the front parlor as crowds milled around them.

  “Certainly,” Perry said.

  Kelly’s frustration was growing. She had no wish to encourage Perry on any level.

  “I noticed a brochure in the Maryland House as I was traveling several weeks ago,” Cass Martin said. She was good at what she did. And Kelly had called her a friend while they’d worked together. But since Kelly had bought the Kendall, Cass hadn’t so much as called her cell phone. “You’ll have to excuse me,” Kelly said. “I have a lot to do.”

  “No problem, we’ll talk after the tour,” Perry said.

  “Enjoy yourselves,” Kelly called as she left them. What could they want? They didn’t travel all the way from New York to see the Kendall. Did they expect her to fall on her face? And wanted to bear witness to the deed?

  “Who are they?” Jace asked indicating the group from New York.

  “My former colleagues from the advertising firm where I used to work.”

  “What do they want?”

  “I haven’t any idea,” she said. “I’m more surprised than you that they showed up here. I can’t imagine there’s anything to gain.”

  “Maybe they’re here to see you fail,” Jace suggested.

  Kelly’s head came up quickly. She’d had the same thought.

  “Don’t worry. We won’t let that happen.” He winked at her and left to go see to whatever was needed.

  We, Kelly thought. Are we a we?

  She didn’t have time to ponder that. One of the guests came up to her, a very tall statuesque woman with dark hair. She wore long pants, a short-sleeve blouse and a man’s vest. On her feet were expensive leather boots.She looked every bit the horsewoman.

  “You’re the new owner, right?”

  “Kelly Ashton.” She offered her hand and the woman shook it.

  “I knew your father. He’d be so proud of what you’ve done with the Kendall.”

  “I’m sorry. Your name?” Kelly asked.

  “Oh, Susan Johnson. I used to work at the same farm where he worked.” Susan’s smile was warm and affectionate. “I was one of the people who exercised the horses. Of course, they never let me race one, but I always wanted to.”

  “I know what you mean,” Kelly confided. “I love the feel of the wind when I ride.”

  “One night just as the sun was setting, your dad came to me and said one of the horses needed exercising. I thought it was strange, since I usually did this in the morning. But he led me to the track. There was a horse already there. It was Silver, a golden palomino. I’ll never forget it. He told me to get in the saddle and to ride it as fast as I could all the way around the track three times.”

  Kelly was smiling and tears collected in the corners of her eyes.

  “Do you still ride?”

  “I own a horse farm in Kentucky, but when I heard the Kendall was opening and an Ashton was responsible, I couldn’t stay away.”

  “Thank you,” Kelly said.

  “No, thank you. And thanks to your father. I’ll never forget him.” She patted Kelly’s hand, kissed her on the cheek. “I signed the guest book. You’re ever in Kentucky, please come and see me.”

  She sounded sincere. “I will,” Kelly told her. With a smile, she went back to her tour.

  The crowd began to thin around five. Kelly was dead tired, but she was also exhilarated. She didn’t know if they’d broken even according to her budget for day one, but she’d made at least five trips to the ticket counters to provide change for the entry fees. People left smiling and carrying boxes of the baked pastries to their cars.

  As Kelly waved at a couple leaving, she was surprised to find her New York friends still there.

  “I thought you’d gone hours ago,” Kelly said, going to where they stood.

  “We wanted to talk to you,” Perry said.

  “About what?”

  He looked around. “Do you think there is a more private place we can go?”

  “My office,” Kelly said. It was clean and clear of any debris. She wanted them to know that she had a neat mind and a neat office, even though six people would make it crowded.

  Cass closed the door after the last of them came inside.

  “I apologize for the space. I rarely have more than a couple of people in here at a time.” She rarely had anyone in there. Jace had come and Ari. The modeling agency sent a crew, but they wanted to walk the property and scout locations. Mainly the place was her sanctuary.

  “All right,” Kelly began. “Let’s have it.”

  “What?” Perry asked.

  “What’s the real reason you’re here. This is an awfully long way from Madison Avenue. And you six didn’t make this trip to look at an old house.”

  “You’ve done wonders with it,” Cass complimented. “From what I hear the place was a relic and
you’ve brought it back to life.”

  “And I love the costumes,” Alex Wheatly said. Alex had been her friend, giving her advice and keeping her abreast of the office gossip. It was Alex who informed her of Perry Streeter’s promotion over her. And it was Alex who let her know that the account she’d been working on was leaving the agency.

  “So you like what I’ve done with the place,” she said, trying not to allow the sarcasm she felt to filter into her voice.

  “We like the marketing ideas you used to get this place up and running,” Cass said.

  “They were nothing short of brilliant,” Perry added.

  “Thank you,” Kelly said. There has to be a shoe ready to drop, she reminded herself. Kelly looked at them, allowing her gaze to settle on each face before she responded.

  “The truth is, Kelly, we want you to come back to your old job,” Perry said.

  Kelly was stunned. “Return?”

  “You’ve done a great job here. This will undoubtedly be an ongoing concern for some time,” Cass explained. “But don’t you miss the drumbeat of New York? You were right there with the best, coming up with the ideas, working with the staff.”

  Cass handled a lot of the advertising at the firm.

  “Everyone liked you,” Alex said.

  “But according to you—” Kelly looked directly at Perry “—I lost the Grissom account. As I remember it, something in the neighborhood of six million dollars.”

  “Grissom is back,” Alex interjected. “And they want you.”

  “Me, why?”

  “When they left us, they didn’t know what they were doing. We, and by that I mean you, gave them more customer service and better ideas than anyone else. So they want to work with us—you—again.”

  Kelly grinned. She understood. There was a six-million-dollar contract with a provisional clause in it.

  “I’m sorry,” Kelly began. “I have other obligations.”

  “Where?” Cass asked. “Here?”

  “Yes,” Kelly said, her brows rising. “Here.”

  “You’ve done an amazing job, but to handle the Grissom account...” Cass left the sentence hanging as if there was no contest between what she’d spent the past two years doing and what they were offering.

  “We’re prepared to double your salary,” Perry said. “Think of it, twice what you made before, corner office, expense account. You can move into a swanky apartment in Manhattan and live the good life.”

  “You’re assuming I don’t have a good life here.”

  “Let’s not rush into anything,” Perry said. “Take some time to look over the offer, get used to the idea,” Perry said. He pulled an envelope from his pocket and laid it on her desk. “As added incentive that loft you wanted to renovate in Soho is available. With the added salary you’d be able to afford it.”

  “I’ll give that some consideration,” Kelly said.

  “Take a couple of weeks,” Perry said. “I’ll give you a call then and we can work out the details.”

  She watched as the entourage left her office and subsequently the property. Alex hung back and gave her a hug.

  “I’d love to work with you again,” he said.

  “We were good together,” she agreed. She’d enjoyed working with Alex. As the artistic director, he complemented her ideas and transformed them into visual beauty.

  Admittedly Kelly was glad to see them go. Their offer was flattering, but she’d worked herself silly, put every penny she had to get this operation running. No way was she giving it up now for a loft in Soho.

  With her former colleagues gone, the parking lot was empty. Kelly left her office to collect the receipts of the day. She had to pay the staff and make sure they would show up next week. Their checks were already written and in envelopes. They’d gathered in the large ballroom. Jace and Ari were there when she went in.

  “Great day,” one of the women said. “I had a very good time.”

  “Does that mean you’re willing to come back next week and do it again?” Kelly asked with a smile.

  “Absolutely,” she said.

  Kelly passed out their paychecks and said she’d expect them next week. “If anyone can’t make it, please let me know as early as possible, so I can find a replacement.”

  “Will do,” someone said.

  They filed out, leaving Jace and Ari as the only people in the room with her.

  “You look tired,” Jace said.

  “I’m exhausted,” she confided. “But my day is not done. I have to count receipts.”

  “Want some help?” Ari piped up.

  Tension drained out of her at the small child’s willingness to take some of the weight off her shoulders. Dropping down to his level, she hugged him. “Thank you, but you’d better eat your dinner.” She ruffled his hair. “That is if you didn’t eat too many of those cakes.”

  “I didn’t. Dad wouldn’t let me.” Ari twisted around to check his dad’s compliance.

  Kelly glanced at Jace. She stood up. “Thank you for coming back and helping. I know you didn’t want to.”

  “You were spread too thin,” Jace said.

  She realized his comment wasn’t censure on her decision about the house. She was glad because she was too tired for a debate.

  “I have to go back to the office, but before I go what did the doctor say?”

  “I don’t have asama,” Ari stated proudly.

  “Asthma,” Jace corrected. “They have to get some test results back, but he doesn’t believe Ari has asthma.”

  “What?” A smile spread across her face. “How?”

  “The doctor said he may have been allergic to something in Colombia that caused restricted air flow.”

  “Do they know what it was?”

  Jace shook his head. “Whatever it was, we didn’t bring it with us. And apparently, it’s not here.”

  “That’s why I breathe,” Ari said.

  “I was concerned when I bought the horses that he wouldn’t be able to ride, but he’s taken to them.”

  “What about his leg?”

  Ari skipped around the room. “All gone,” he said, then ran back to Jace.

  “Lack of activity. And he has a shorter tendon in one leg. With exercise and time, it’ll be unnoticeable.”

  “He does appear to have less of a limp now than he did a couple of months ago.”

  Jace nodded, putting his hands on Ari’s shoulders.

  Kelly studied the tiny face. “You’re going to be fine,” she told him, still smiling. Ari left his dad and ran to her. She bent down and caught the small bundle. “Congratulations. This is the best news I’ve had today.”

  “Me, too,” he said. “Best news.”

  “You’d better go in to dinner. I’ll be in as soon as I finish the receipts.”

  “You’re exhausted,” Jace said. “Why don’t you come to dinner first and then check the receipts.”

  “I’ll be right there,” she said. “I need to find out if I’m going to meet the bills this month.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  JACE LOOKED AT his watch. Kelly hadn’t come to dinner before he and Ari had finished and cleaned up. Ari practically fell asleep at the dinner table. The doctor’s office and the excitement of a long day took its toll on him. It had been long for Jace, too. He went to the kitchen and made Kelly a sandwich and poured a glass of milk. Carrying the tray to her office, he went inside. She was asleep at her desk.

  He hated to wake her. From the way he’d seen her rushing about, she’d had to be dead on her feet. He couldn’t allow her to stay like that. It was uncomfortable and, besides, she could possibly fall. Jace put the tray on the table. Turning her chair and holding her, he lifted her into his arms with the greatest care. She stirred, but didn’t come fully awake.

  He refused to look at her sleeping face, but he couldn’t stop her pretty scent. She used some kind of floral shampoo and the sweet smell filled his nostrils. Her skin was silky smooth and warm to his touch. Jace carefully
carried her up the stairs. Gently, he laid her on the bed. He removed her shoes and pulled a spread over her. Then, taking one last look, he left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

  Jace knew she worked hard to make the Kendall a going concern. And she was starting from scratch. He’d heard some of the comments today from people who knew the Kendall. They spoke of its transformation. Of what Kelly had done over the past two years to make this the showplace of the county. She had done it proud, according to one of the locals.

  She’d even had the people from her former job come to visit. Jace wondered what their purpose was here. What had they discussed while cloistered in her office? And what would happen now? There was a major complication Kelly didn’t know about. Yes, he’d taken Ari to the doctor this morning. But after that appointment, he’d spoken with Doug Thurston, who’d given Jace the news he wanted to hear. There was a loophole in the contract of sale.

  Jace could get his home back.

  * * *

  THE LETTER SAT on the dresser. It had been there for three days. Sheldon hadn’t mentioned it to Audrey. The return address was the Kendall and it was in Jason’s handwriting. Sheldon could hardly believe it. How could Jason be living there? Sheldon was too afraid to read the letter. Strange because he’d never been afraid of anything his brother once said or did.

  But now he understood Jason. In many ways, he walked in his brother’s shoes and they hurt. He knew what it was to be looked down on.

  He was curious to know what Jason had to say, though. The Kendall logo on the envelope was different, but it was definitely the Kendall. Had Jason found some way to...what? He couldn’t own the place. Sheldon knew it was sold to a woman. Had she and Jason somehow gotten together? Many women in Windsor Heights were interested in Jason. Laura had told him. Jason was good-looking and had that strong image of the bad boy. Women loved that, she’d said. It made the guy more virile in their eyes. And women loved the challenge of taming all that strength. Well, some women.

  Sheldon could possibly find all the answers to these questions if he’d just open the envelope. He would, he told himself. But not today.