Free Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part One (BWWM Romance Serial) by Mia Caldwell

He moved out here permanently, and began transforming the
property into what you see today.”
    “Did he enjoy working out here?”
    “He loved it. He told me that he’d always thought the
measure of a man’s success depended on his ability to carve out his own niche
in the world while having the power to tell anyone who tried to keep him from
it to go straight to hell.”
    “Good one,” Jada said.
    “So back to you being sorry he was a tough man. Well, look
around the place. He made this happen, the docks, the paths, the bubbling
brooks, the conservation efforts, and yes, the huge house over there. Whenever
I take a moment to appreciate the place, I’m reminded that there can be
fanciful romanticism in even the hardest, most ruthless of men.”
    Jada’s eyes glistened and she slowly looked around the
shoreline and toward the house. “You’re right. He was a romantic at heart,
wasn’t he?”
    “One of the biggest, in part of it, anyway.”
    She smiled at him. “I’m not sad anymore.”
    “Good, because he lived a long, happy life and on his own
terms for most of it. And he died surrounded by family who loved him even
though he could be a mean old bastard. The rest of us should be so lucky.”
    Ian picked up the oars and began leisurely rowing again.
    “That was a great story,” Jada said.
    “Thank you.”
    “Is it actually true?”
     
     

Chapter Eight
     
    IAN BURST OUT LAUGHING. “DAMN, Jada. What do you take me
for? Do you think I’d lie about something like that?”
    “I don’t know. Would you? It’s kind of tidy. Complete with a
moral and everything. In my experience, life is never that tidy.”
    “Are you sure your name isn’t Jaded?”
    “Haha. Like I’ve never heard that one before. But seriously,
you had to make some of that up.”
    “Okay, you got me. Grandfather’s father didn’t abandon him.
He was a mason and made a good living and even sent grandfather to college. He
also gave grandfather the seed money to start his first business and bailed him
out more than once in the early years. There. That’s all. The rest of it’s
true, I swear. Story’s not as good, though, without the rags to riches
beginning.”
    “I don’t know. I think it’s still pretty great. I don’t see
why we make the most fuss out of those who start with nothing. Sometimes, it
can be harder to motivate yourself toward greatness when you’ve got it easy,
when you don’t have to fight for every scrap of food and every dollar in your
pocket. It’s hard to work for something, when you want for nothing.”
    Ian’s heart gave a hard thump. Was she talking about him?
“Yeah, well, most people don’t see it that way.”
    “They probably just haven’t thought about it much. If they
did, they’d see that it’s so.”
    He admired her certainty, even as he doubted that she was
right. He realized he’d arrived at the spot near the south shore that he’d been
heading for and secured the oars.
    Jada needed no instruction from him on preparing the rods
and reels. She baited her own hook with one of Mrs. Best’s famous stinky dough
balls without comment or complaint. Then she made an expert cast, leaving Ian
impressed, though he didn’t embarrass her by saying so.
    He launched his own baited hook a good distance away then
opened a couple of beers and handed one to Jada.
    She took a long drink from the icy bottle and sighed.
“That’s delicious. I don’t recognize the brand.”
    “I special order it from Germany.”
    She inspected the bottle and label, then took another drink
and looked off toward the house. “Hey, I still don’t know why you call that
behemoth a cabin.”
    “It’s because, technically, it is the cabin. Or, it’s where
the cabin once stood. It sat where the theatre and bowling alley are now.
Grandfather lived in the cabin while they built the new house, and they didn’t
tear it down until a section of the new house was livable enough to move into.”
    “Oh, too bad. He should have