Discovered by Her Billionaire

by Sophia Summers

  “Do you need me to help carry the floats?”

  She turned around, and he was still standing there.

  “Yes, would you mind?” She dried her hands and put some popcorn in the microwave. When everything was ready, they headed back to the living room.”

  They both sat on the sofa, and he leaned over to get the deck of cards. “Do you play poker?”

  “Is this one of your questions?” She smiled and took the cards from his hand. The truth was, while her father had her in hiding for those six months, she played poker every night with the security team he had watching her. She became very good and started winning quite a bit of money from the guys. Finally, her father called and said, “Quit taking money from my men. I have to make it up to them in their salaries.” Maggie was smiling as she remembered the kind men who tried to make it easy for her to hide out.

  “What were you thinking just now?” He looked genuinely interested.

  “I just remembered the men who taught me to play poker. They were really good guys.”

  She stood up and took the glasses to the kitchen. “I think I am going to turn in. Maybe we can play poker another time. I have more pain meds for you.”

  “Is Timber going to stand watch over me tonight?”

  “Does he need to?” She looked back into his face, searching. “He will sleep in my room, but you may hear him making the rounds at night. I would stay in your room to be safe.”

  “No worries, I’m in no condition to cause trouble. I will take one of those pills if you don’t mind.” They both went to their rooms to bed. The snow was still blowing across the front porch at what looked like 40 miles per hour. She could barely remember a storm so furious and consistent. The news said that 1600 cows had died in the storm the previous night. People were out helping the ranchers build wind blocks with stacked bales of hay it was so cold.

  Timber jumped up to the middle of her bed and stretched out. His day had been good. One stranger found and guarded, perimeter checked, and frolicking in the snow accomplished. Maggie put on her warmest pajamas and snuggled down under the down quilt next to Timber. She smiled as she reached down to place her hand on his head and fell asleep.

  During the night, Timber nudged her arm. “What is it, Timber?” She heard Jack yelling out, so she got out of bed, carefully walking to the spare bedroom with a flashlight. Timber sat at the door, waiting for her. As she stood there, she realized he was having a nightmare. “Checkers stop, come back, Checkers!”

  Maggie walked closer to his bed. His facial features were twisted in pain. Tears were running down his cheeks. She touched his arm. “Jack, you’re having a nightmare.” He didn’t wake up but grabbed her hand. “Don’t let him go!” She sat there on the side of his bed while he cried about Checkers in his dreams. It was sad. She realized the drug was adding to his misery but felt compassion for him nevertheless.

  “It’s okay, Jack, go to sleep. It’s okay.” He seemed to settle down and started snoring, so she left to return to her bed. It was interesting that he could have so much sorrow. Who was this man?

  Timber laid down in Jack’s doorway. Maggie smiled as she went back to sleep. Knowing he could feel such sorrow was comforting somehow.

  She woke up early the next day. The storm was still blowing hard, and another 3 feet had fallen on the porch as far as she could tell. She jumped into the shower and dressed for the day. The batteries she had for solar power were still at half power, but if this storm kept up, she was going to need some sunshine. She decided to switch to her wood stoves for heating to conserve the power she had. Normally, Timber wanted her to let him out by now. She quietly walked over to the spare bedroom and looked in. Jack was still sleeping, but Timber had gotten onto his bed during the night and was sharing his pillow. Maggie laughed and got out her camera to take a picture. Timber looked up and got off the bed. Jack stirred and turned over but kept sleeping.

  “Well, sleep will be good for him. It’s only seven in the morning now, anyway.” She put on her down jacket and went out to the porch for firewood. When she came back in, she heard the shower in the spare bedroom. She wondered if her Dad would mind sharing some of his clothes with this man. He probably would. One time he had asked a group of young adult men if they would stay at one of his ranches and take care of the animals for a week. It turned out to be a bad decision. They had a huge bonfire, took practice shots at the domestic turkeys, and the worst offense was they got into his dresser and wore his pajamas and socks. He threw away the clothing he now considered defiled.

  She wasn’t planning to cook for this man. To make that clear, she put a couple boxes of cereal and some bowls and spoons on the kitchen table. Just as she was lighting the fire in the living room woodstove, he walked in. “Good morning, I can do that for you if you’d like.”

  “Thanks, I have this one lit, but if you’d take care of the one in the master, I would appreciate it.” She handed him the lighter. “The swelling seems to be coming down on your face.”

  “Yes, it’s a bit of a shock seeing the damage, but I’ve seen worse.” He picked up some wood and looked at her for directions.

  “Oh, over on the other side of the living room.” She pointed. “Go through the hall, and it’s at the end.”

  The master suite shared an open office with the bedroom and the hall. The wood-burning stove sat along the wall, giving heat to both rooms. The office had an alcove with windows looking out to the forest and a little door to a small deck. Looking through into the bedroom, Jack could see a large bed full of pillows and a big Indian blanket. This must be where the wolf slept. He chuckled. The woodstove had a blower and sat centered in the middle of a river rock stone wall with inset shelving on both sides. In these, she had beautiful pottery pieces. He loved the glazes and texture of the pots. He picked one up and turned it over. Colby was etched into the bottom. So, a family member does pottery, maybe Maggie. He was impressed.

  After he had the fire started, a large pottery piece caught his eye on her desk. He walked over to see if it was also stamped Colby on the bottom. As he looked down, there was a pamphlet entitled, “Oil Platform Security Research” on the desk. Oh boy, another opponent against the evil oil companies. He was paying a company a lot of money to make sure security was solid on all their oil platforms. He just hoped it stayed that way. After the British spill, most of the Gulf platforms had been shut down. It was only under a new presidency that oil was pumping again now.

  Maggie walked in. “Excuse me, the wood-burning stove is on this wall.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry, it looks like you are busy here. I was attracted to the pottery. Who is the Colby who makes these great pots?” He raised his eyebrows.

  “That’ll be me. I work pottery when I am close to a pottery shop. I’m also writing my dissertation. I am an oceanographer.” She came over to the desk and straightened up some of the papers.

  “So, what’s the subject of your paper?” Here it comes; evil Oil Company empire destroys the earth.

  “I’m writing about whale and porpoise communication techniques and migrations.”

  He was surprised and relieved.

  “That’s interesting. What’re you finding?” Before Jack could hear her answer, he felt himself turn white as a sheet and quickly held onto the desk. “I think I better eat something, I’m getting dizzy and my head is killing me as well.”

  “I’m sorry, do you need help walking?”

  “No I think I will be fine in a minute.”

  “Let’s get breakfast.” Maggie walked to the kitchen and put milk and a bowl of fruit on the table with the boxes of cereal. They both sat down to eat.

  “I’ve found that whale migration is affected by the air guns they use for mapping the ocean floor on oil platforms. They are affecting whales as much as 3 kilometers away. A whale can send its sounds a thousand miles away, but the ocean is getting noisier, and so it limits the range of the whale song. It’s difficult for the females to find the males by their
songs for mating. This is just a brief synopsis, but you get the idea.”

  “What are you hoping to accomplish?” He now waited for the attack on oil companies.

  “I think knowledge is important. With the knowledge out there, innovative techniques can be developed to minimize negative effects.”

  Well, that is certainly an intelligent approach to any problem. She is assuming people don’t want to do damage and will naturally work toward minimizing ill effects from their business. He was certainly on board.

  He stood up too fast to walk toward the sink with his bowl and started getting dizzy again. Maggie got up quickly and grabbed his arm, but he slipped lifelessly to the floor as she tried to protect his head from the fall. They both ended up on the kitchen flagstone.

  “Jack! Are you okay?” Jack found himself on the floor in her arms, looking up into her eyes. He could hear worry in her voice as she leaned closer to him, listening to his breathing.

  He laughed and gently brushed her cheek with his lips.

  “What do you think you are doing?” Maggie leaned back and pushed him off her lap. She stood up and brushed off her clothes as she sat back down at the table.

  “You looked worried, I was just letting you know I’m alive.” Jack was still smiling with raised eyebrows. He slowly got up and sat in his chair. He looked over to see Timber, whose teeth were showing.

  “I thought I was making headway with Timber, but I see I’ve digressed.”

  “You are not making headway with anyone in this house. Don’t let it get to your head or affect future aspirations.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” He knew he would not forget that delicious moment for a very long time. Judging by the blush on Maggie’s cheeks, she might remember it too. He smiled as he got up and walked into the living room. But he’d be more careful in the future, he honestly didn’t know what had come over him. She was so close and soft, her long slender neck, the closeness of her cheek, it didn’t take much to brush his lips right there.

  The satellite phone rang. Maggie smiled; her father had good timing. “Hi, Dad.” He asked if she was okay and how the weather was. “Well, Dad, it’s still blowing pretty strong, and the snow is coming down like it wants to bury the whole cabin.” He wanted to know about Jack, of course. “I have things under control, Dad, and of course, I have Timber who has been on guard, but,” she laughed, “I found him sleeping with Jack this morning, sharing his pillow.” Her father laughed. He told her Timber had a pretty good sense of people, so that was a good sign, and he said he would call tomorrow. “Bye Dad, love you.”

  She walked into the living room. “Jack, your dizziness might be a sign of a serious head injury. That would also explain this erratic behavior.”

  He looked up from the magazine he was reading. “If you are talking about that kiss on your cheek, I need to apologize for that. I am not denying that I wanted to kiss you but it was totally inappropriate that I took that liberty when you were trying to help me.” Jack stood up from the table. “I have no excuse. Maybe if I take a nap I will return to my senses. ” He walked back to the spare bedroom. Timber followed him in.

  Maggie was relieved to see him leave for a nap. The emotion she felt when he was looking into her eyes worried her. She was definitely not ready for another relationship after the last one. The last man she dated manipulated every situation she found herself in with him. He had to be the big showoff and have all the attention. She found herself staying silent when they went out so he could shine. It was not healthy.

  She might take her Dad up on that offer to send in his men. She could use the excuse that he needed medical care. The sooner he was out of here, the better. She definitely didn’t need another man in her life at this time.

  She called Timber and got ready to make a run around the property. It was still snowing, but at least it wasn’t a whiteout. The second storm was on the way, and it would be good to check the property now before it hit. They stepped out into the freezing weather. “Wow, this is very cold.” She checked the deck thermometer. It read twenty degrees below zero. “Come on, Timber. This is going to have to be fast.” She put on her goggles and her head mask. Not an inch of her was exposed to the weather. She turned on the snowmobile and headed out into what looked like a winter wonderland.

  Timber took off, leading the way at first. He stopped about halfway around, barking toward the interior of the property. She stopped the snowmobile to check it out. “What is it, Timber?” He ran over to one of the trees and started digging. Maggie bent down to look. There seemed to be a dead deer, frozen. She looked closer, and there were two fawns just about dead lying close to their mother under pine needles. It looked like the doe had tried to bury them and then died of exposure.

  “Come on, you poor things.” Maggie picked up each one and tucked them into her jumpsuit. “Okay, Timber, good boy. We have to head back now. Go home.” Timber turned around and raced back to the cabin. He was running along the snowmobile tracks, and therefore had no impediment with drifting snow. After putting the snowmobile in the barn, she carried the fawns into the cabin. “I don’t know if you guys are going to make it.” They were so small they fit in her jacket on each side.

  Maggie looked over, and there was Jack dizzyingly holding on to the counter in the mudroom. He sat down as she handed him one of the fawns. “They must have been born last night. This late blizzard has caught a lot of the animals off guard, I think.”

  Jack grabbed a towel on the counter and wrapped the fawn up in it and then held it close to his chest for warmth. “What are you going to feed them?”

  “I keep some canned goat’s milk around just for moments like this. I water it down a little and use the bottles I have. I had to feed Timber goat’s milk when I found him as well.”

  “I would like to hear that story sometime.”

  Maggie wrapped the other fawn in a towel, and they took them to the living room, close to the wood-burning stove.

  Jack sat close to the fire, and she handed him the other fawn. “I’ll go get the bottles ready. I’m glad you’re here to help.”

  “What about Timber? These guys would make a very tender meal.” He raised his eyebrows as Timber came over to give them both a good sniffing.

  “I don’t know. I’ve wondered about how he would do in the wild, and I don’t think he would survive. He has never hunted. He’s a big baby.”

  Maggie left to fix the bottles. While in the kitchen, she called her Dad. “Hey, Dad, it’s still snowing here, but we have a lull before the next storm hits. I wonder if that crew you were talking about could come and get most of the snow off the roof and then take Jack back to town where he could get medical attention.”

  Her Dad asked if he had been a problem. Yes, he had. He was way too handsome, and she wanted him out of her life. “No, Dad, but he has a pretty bad bump on the head and keeps getting dizzy.”

  “Okay, Maggie, I can have them out there tomorrow morning.”

  “Thanks, Dad. Timber found two new fawns we are trying to save. The mother froze to death. It’s twenty below here.”

  “Yeah, I heard they lost a bunch of cattle up there. Are you sure you want to stay? How’re the solar batteries?”

  “I still have plenty of power, but I switched to wood-burning for heat.”

  “Okay, sounds good. I’ll call you tomorrow. Stay warm.”

  Maggie took the bottles out to the living room. “Here we go, have you done this before?”

  “I’ve fed a few calves in my day. These sweet things won’t be any trouble.”

  It was nice to be in the cabin after being out in the storm. Maggie sighed. She loved it here. She loved the woods, the smell of pine, and the crunchy fallen pine needles on a hot summer’s day. The animals taught her about life as she watched them. This doe had given her life trying to save her fawns. She had once watched a male guinea hen sacrifice himself to a hawk to save the females. This deer was probably one of the herds that preferred to stay within her property. Each gene
ration had sacrificed for the young as her father had for her. Family safety was probably one of the reasons he never remarried.

  “I talked with my father earlier, and he has a crew coming out tomorrow before the next storm hits to get most of this snow off the cabin roof. The weight can be damaging. They will be able to take you into town so you can see a doctor.”

  Jack looked up from the fawn into her eyes. “I’m sorry I took advantage of the situation and kissed you.” He cut to the chase. Does he know that is why I am getting him out of here? It seems like it.

  “Well, it will be better if you go for your health certainly but I also have a dissertation to write and with the roads opening there is no reason for you to stay. She looked back down at the fawn he was holding. She needed to put these little ones in a box close to the fire. If she were going to keep them alive, she would need to get up during the night for regular feedings.

  Maggie felt that the atmosphere in the room was stressful for the rest of the night. Neither one of them said much. When it was time to go to bed, she was relieved. She set her alarm for two feedings during the night. If the fawns made it till morning, they had a good chance.

  “Do you want another pain pill tonight?” Maggie peeked into the spare bedroom.

  “No, thank you, I think I’ll be fine.”

  She closed his door and left. Timber followed her into her room. Her father had told her it was time she settled down, which meant getting married. But he had no idea how she almost lost herself, lost who she was while dating Rodger. It scared her, and fortunately, her father whisked her away to the mountains where she could think about who she was and what she wanted in life. She wondered if Jack would be controling He didn’t seem to need the limelight and surely downplayed his job as a CEO for a major oil company; he didn’t even mention it. Rodger would have been all over that cudo. She would never let a man have that much control over her personality again. It was actually refreshing to spend time with Jack compared to Rodger. As she thought this, she snuggled down under the covers and smiled, thinking of the kiss and her reaction to it.