Page 60 of The Mysterious Billionaire
She turns and starts walking toward the paddocks, and, thoughtfully, I follow her.
As the sun peeks over the horizon and floods the fields with pinks, oranges, and golds, Maddie and I walk the paths around and through Blackridge Station. She obviously has a path worked out, and she follows the map on her clipboard and circumnavigates each paddock. She takes regular tests of the soil and checks the results against the solar sensors, writing all the figures down neatly on her charts. She cleans each small solar panel and makes sure they’re working properly, and resets a couple. As we walk, she goes through how she’s changed the composition of the pasture in each paddock to maximize its yield.
“It’s amazing,” I tell her when we’re about halfway around. The sun is above the horizon now, and her hair and eyebrows are the color of coral. “You’ve done fantastic work here.”
“Thank you.” Her cheeks glow the same shade. I don’t think she gets compliments very often. “So come on,” she says, “I’m doing all the talking here. Tell me about your pasture intelligence system. Do you think it could incorporate this soil restoration model?”
I hesitate, then nod slowly. “My father developed similar soil sensors to yours that also predict pasture growth, but his system includes livestock tracking collars, and it focuses more on knowing when and where to move cattle for optimal grazing than actually improving the soil itself. If the two systems were combined…” I shake my head. “It would be groundbreaking.”
“I’d love to get my hands on that technology,” she says. “We’ve tried to recreate it, of course, but we haven’t been able to get close to replicating it.”
I don’t say anything, but the back of my neck prickles. I knew the Rutherford Group were carrying out similar research, but it’s the first time someone’s confirmed they’re actively trying to copy us. Our system is patented and we pretty much own the market, but if we enter into a partnership, it’s truly the thin end of the wedge. They could combine our tech with their AI optimization and Maddie’s soil restoration system and produce a truly revolutionary farming system that would undoubtedly end up being synonymous with the Rutherford logo, and not ours.
“I said that wrong,” she says. “I didn’t mean I wanted to take it away from you.”
I look across at her. She obviously saw my frown and realized what she’d said.
“I meant I’d be excited to see if I could help to integrate my soil system with yours,” she continues. “Imagine how much we could improve pasture yield if we worked together, Caesar. Forget this,” and she gestures from herself to me, “and forget our family feud. We have to be bigger than that.”
“I’m not sure I can,” I say. “I wish I was a bigger person, but my company means too much to me, and I don’t trust Tom.”
“Do you trust me, though?”
We stop walking. I look into her violet eyes, feeling a mixture of complicated emotions.
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I’m sorry.”
Her expression flickers with regret, but she says, “I understand.”
“It’s not you,” I say, not liking that I’ve hurt her feelings. “Honestly, it’s not. I’m old and cynical and grumpy, that’s all.”
That makes her laugh. “You’re not old.”
“But I am cynical and grumpy.”
“Maybe just a little.”
I take her hand and pull her toward me, then slide my other hand to cup her cheek. “We shouldn’t have slept together,” I say simply. “It’s complicated things.”
“Because you like my system?”
“Because I likeyou. And your system. Of course I do. It has enormous potential. And I’d love to be able to say let’s put aside our misgivings and concentrate on the science and change lives. And let’s forget about who we are and what families we belong to, and just be a man and a woman who clearly like one another. But…”
“But you can’t.”
I tuck a strand of her pale hair behind her ear. I know I should pull back. Instead, I find myself imagining impossible things.
I look away then, across the fields, as something occurs to me.
She waits, then says, “Unless what?”
I hadn’t realized I’d spoken out loud. “I was just thinking… maybe there’s a way we can work together without Ashford being engulfed.”
Her brows lift.
“I’ll have to think about it,” I say slowly, looking at the sheep grazing contentedly on the hillside. “And there’s no guarantee Tom would agree to anything but the offer he’s made. But it’s worth some thought.”
Her eyes light with hope. “Oh… that’s the nicest thing you could have said to me.”
