Page 37 of The Mysterious Billionaire
“Mads!” He opens his arms, and I run up to him and throw my arms around his neck. “It’s been ages,” he says, hugging me.
“I know, I’m so sorry. I meant to come before Christmas, and again in January, but… well, you know.”
“Yeah.” He releases me, looking at the man who’s walking up behind me. “You must be Caesar Ashford,” he says, holding out his hand. “Welcome.”
“Thank you.” Caesar shakes his hand and glances at me.
“Bill knows everything,” I advise. “He’s a close friend of the family.”
“You’ve come to see what they’re doing up on Blackridge,” Bill says. “Well, you’re with the right girl, for sure. Mads knows her science.”
“It sounds fascinating,” Caesar says. Can Bill hear the flat tone of his voice?
Bill’s eyes meet mine for a second—yes, he heard it. He’ll know about the problems that Ashford AgriTech has had, and that the family won’t be happy with the Rutherford Group swooping in like vultures on a carcass.
“I read your paper on variable-rate nitrogen application,” Bill says to Caesar. “Most people talk about reducing runoff. You actually made it work at scale. That’s not easy.”
Caesar shrugs. “It was a group effort.”
But I stare at him in surprise. He wrote a paper? “Ohhh…” I say. “So you’re not just a pretty face.”
Bill chuckles. Caesar just gives me a look that says,pu-leeese.
I grin. “Is the Land Rover ready?”
“Good to go,” Bill says. “I’ve restocked the cupboards at Shepherd’s Cottage, but I’ve put a chilly bin with some fresh stuff on the back seat.” He looks at Caesar. “You want a pair of rubber boots?”
“Ahhh… I guess.”
“What size?”
Caesar tells him, and Bill hands me the keys and goes off to fetch a pair.
“Rain’s coming in,” I say, glancing at the clouds on the horizon.
“Looks a long way off.”
“Weather systems move fast up here. We might just make it before the rain starts, but it’ll be close.”
My heart is racing, my stomach flipping uneasily. I’m excited to return to Blackridge, as it’s my favorite place in the world, but the thought of having Caesar there, in my haven, unnerves me. Occasionally Brielle has come with me, and one of my brothers once or twice, but usually I’m alone, and for the first time I feel resentful at the notion of him invading my peaceful space. The fact that we’ve slept together, and the added anxietyof Little Raspberry and his future, are combining to make this a stressful visit, and I don’t want to bring that kind of energy to Blackridge.
Well, it’s too late to back out. All I can do is stay as calm as possible and keep the conversation away from the night of the ball and what happened between us.
Talk about the elephant in the room… this is the size of a blue whale, and it’s not going away.
Chapter Ten
Caesar
I thought this trip was all for show, and that Maddie would introduce me to an estate manager and then take a back seat while he took me around to discuss the nuts and bolts of it all. She obviously knows her science, but I assumed she’d be theory-based, the kind of PhD graduate who’s all facts and figures but has never actually set foot in a field apart from on an enforced practical exercise.
But I’m starting to wonder whether I was wrong. She’s not driving a brand-new car, shiny and spotless inside and out. Her Land Rover is at least five years old, and although I’m guessing Bill has thrown a bucket of water over it, the mud that’s still coating the wheel arches and sprayed across the sides suggests it’s used to off-roading.
The biggest surprise is when she opens the door to the back. The smell of damp earth hit me as she shoves aside all the items inside to make room for our bags. It looks like a mobile mini field lab. Her rubber boots, the soles flecked with mud, jostle with a large green waxed jacket and a hi-vis vest, presumably in case she’s working around any farm machinery. There’s a first-aid kit, a tow rope, and a shovel, and also a large field-testing kit, all items that suggest she gets stuck in.
Bill comes out and throws a pair of men’s boots in the back, says goodbye, and heads inside. We get in, and I buckle myself in as Maddie moves the seat, adjusts the mirror, and starts the engine. It’s a manual, and she puts it into first gear and lets the clutch out as she eases the car across the bumpy ground toward the gravel drive.
I glance over my shoulder at the back seat and spot a hoodie, muesli-bar wrappers, hair ties, lip balm, a couple of sunlotion bottles, two baseball caps, an old, well-used clipboard, and no less than six notebooks, several opened to show rows of figures and sketches.
