Cinderella & the CEO

by Maureen Child

“Right. Okay then, what is it you want from me?” The instant the words came out of her mouth, Ivy wanted to call them back. She’d sounded a little more seductive than she’d intended.

  His eyes narrowed briefly, then, as if he were deliberately mentally moving on, he said, “How long will it take you to clean and make a meal for me every day?”

  She had to think about it. Big house. Lots of rooms. Still, it wasn’t as if he were a partier. Everything she’d seen so far had been organized to the point that the beautiful house was more like a model home than a real one. She half expected to see a realtor pop out of a closet, talking about staging.

  “A couple of hours a day, probably,” she said, knowing that would be stretching it. She could probably clean the whole house in a half hour considering how barren it was. The cooking was different of course, but still doable.

  “All right then.” He nodded. “Then we’ll try it for a week. See how it goes.”

  A week wasn’t very long, she thought. But she would be here. On his turf. She could wear him down inside a week, she told herself. Wasn’t her grandfather always saying that nobody could take a stand against Ivy Holloway and come out the winner?

  Well, she was going to put that theory to the test this week.

  And she couldn’t afford to lose.

  “I still say this is a bad idea.” Mike Angel’s voice sounded like sandpaper on stone and his deeply tanned, weathered face folded into lines of disapproval.

  Ivy sighed, knowing her grandfather was not going to stop trying to argue her out of her plan. From the moment she got home from Tanner’s house an hour ago, Mike had been muttering and grumbling. “Pop, we’ve already talked about this.”

  “I talked,” he countered. “You’re not listening.”

  “I did, too,” she told him. “And I made my own decision. Just like you taught me to do. Remember?”

  His scowl only deepened. “Hardly fair play throwing my own words back at me.”

  Ivy smiled at him. Her grandfather had always been there for her. He’d been a constant in her life since the first week she and her mother had moved in with him following Ivy’s father’s death. She was ten that year and the older man had stepped into the void left by Tony Holloway and had become both father and grandfather to Ivy. She had spent countless hours walking the acreage of the tree farm at his side. She’d learned early where to plant, when to plant and when to cut. She’d worked alongside him and his employees to trim the pines into Christmas tree shape and along the way she’d become as much a part of the land as Mike was.

  Which was exactly why he’d felt comfortable retiring to Florida to join his daughter while leaving the tree farm in Ivy’s hands.

  The only problem was, Mike was having a bit of trouble letting go. Especially with the problem of Tanner King hanging over their heads.

  “The man’s been trying to shut us down for the last two months, Ivy.” Mike settled deeper into his worn, brown leather chair. “I don’t see how you going to work for him is going to make the situation any better.”

  Ivy grinned at the older man. “To quote my grandfather… ‘Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?’”

  Mike snorted and shook his head until his flyaway gray hair nearly did fly away. “That’s Abraham Lincoln, not me.”

  “Yes, but you’re the one who always said it to me.”

  “So I’m supposed to feel better that at some point you actually did listen to me?”

  “Exactly!” Ivy crossed the room, sat down on the brown leather ottoman in front of him and placed her hands on his knees. “You said you trusted me to take care of the farm. To protect the Angel family legacy. Did you mean it?”

  His mouth worked furiously as he sucked in a gulp of air. “Course I meant it, but that doesn’t—”

  “So that means you trust me to make the right decisions for us, right?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Pop…either you trust me or you don’t. So which is it?”

  “You know all the right words to use when it suits you, don’t you Ivy?” He reached out, patted her cheek and sighed. “Just like your mother, God help me. Never could win an argument with her, either.”

  While Mike went on to complain a bit more, Ivy took a minute to simply enjoy the sound of his voice. In a few days, he’d be on a flight headed for Florida. Even if she had to tie him into his seat.

  “I don’t feel right about leaving here,” Mike said, his voice a low grumble. “Seems to me until this gets straightened out, I ought to be here. Backing you up. In case you need help.”

  Though she loved him to pieces for wanting to stay, Ivy was just as set on his leaving. Oh, she was going to miss him desperately, she knew. But sometimes change was a good thing. And it would be for the beloved grandfather whose arthritis was bothered more every winter on the mountain. Besides, Ivy’s mom really needed him.

  Her mom had moved to Florida two years before and now she wanted her father—Mike, to move out there with her. He had been excited about the move, too. Until Tanner King had started making trouble for them. Her grandfather was too much of a mother hen to want to leave.

  “Pop, you know as well as I do that Mom needs you. She’s started that nursery and you’re the plant guy in the family.”

  He rubbed his cheek with a work worn hand. “You need me, too, Ivy. Going up against a King isn’t going to be easy. That family’s practically royalty in California. If he goes to a judge, he might shut you down. Then where will you be?”

  “Fighting him in court, if I have to,” Ivy said, wincing at the very thought of it. She couldn’t afford a court case. Heck, she probably couldn’t afford to hire a lawyer at this point. She had every spare dime invested in the tree farm. Not to mention the loan she’d taken out to finance her dreams.

  She had such plans for the place. And some of them were already working out. For the last few months, they’d been hosting weddings at the farm and had made such a name for themselves that they were getting couples from as far away as Los Angeles and Seattle. With the acres of trees, a wildflower strewn meadow boasting a fast-moving stream, Angel Weddings was fast becoming one of the hottest spots for a romantic setting in the state.

  Then there were the birthday parties.

  She cringed a little, remembering Tanner’s grumbling about the kids running from her property to his. But in her defense, it wasn’t always easy corralling fifteen or twenty kids. A few of them might have strayed onto his yard, but mostly, they were content to play in the bounce house. Or to help feed the animals Angel Farm kept in a small petting zoo. Hmm. She was willing to bet that Tanner didn’t know about the pygmy goats or he’d have been complaining about them as well.

  But the thing she was most proud of was her new Adopt-a-Tree program.

  People could choose their Christmas tree months in advance and then come whenever they wanted to, to help care for the tree, water it, shearing. Kids learned how trees grew and how important the environment was to everyone and their parents enjoyed spending time with their kids.

  Adopting a tree stretched out the Christmas season and to Ivy’s way of thinking, kept families wrapped in that lovely spirit all year. And, while the people were at Angel Christmas Tree Farm, they usually had lunch at the newly established café and bought decorative items and crafts made by the ladies in town at the gift store.

  She was turning their family business around and helping the local economy. She was so close to making Angel Christmas Tree Farm a year-round financial success. At least, she would be, if she had the chance. But if Tanner King did end up hiring a lawyer, all of her plans would drain away. She might even end up losing the home she loved so much to pay for lawyers she couldn’t afford.

  “It’d be different if only David hadn’t—”

  Her grandfather’s words ended abruptly, but it wasn’t soon enough to keep an old familiar ache from settling around Ivy’s heart. David. The man she had been about to marry four years ago. Until the car
accident that had killed him instantly.

  “I didn’t mean to bring it up,” Mike said quickly. “But damn it, if David were here, it’d be different. I could leave knowing you were safe.”

  She forced a laugh she knew he needed to hear. “Pop, I’m perfectly safe here and you know it. I’m not some fragile flower in a hothouse. I’m a tree farmer and most of the people who work here helped to raise me.”

  “It’s not the same.”

  “No,” she said wistfully. “it’s not. But David’s gone.”

  She’d mourned his loss for a long time, but as her grandfather reminded her, you couldn’t bury yourself along with your heart. You had to move on and keep going.

  Besides, it wasn’t as if she would be really alone when Mike moved, anyway.

  Not with ten part-time employees, people constantly running in and out of her house and an entire small town far too interested in her life. Still, she thought as she watched her grandfather worry, it was going to be hard, not having her family with her every day.

  All too soon, she’d come home to an empty house, with only the memories of laughter and arguments and conversations to keep her company. Her gaze swept the familiar front room, lightly touching on the books haphazardly stacked in bookshelves and piled on tables. The handmade quilt her late grandmother had fashioned draped across the back of the sofa. The stone fireplace Mike had built when he and Grandma had first taken over the Angel family home. Scarred wooden floors, pale peach walls and the scent, as always, of evergreens.

  Ivy’s heart was in this old house. In this farm. In every tree on her acreage. And she would do whatever she had to do to protect every last seedling out there.

  “At least tell me how you think working for this guy is going to help the situation any,” Mike said, catching her attention.

  “It was actually Mr. King’s lawyer’s idea,” she said and continued despite Mike’s snort of derision. Everyone in the county knew how Mike Angel felt about lawyers. “Mitchell Tyler is his name and he was very nice when he called last week. You know, right after Sheriff Cooper came out to see us about the latest complaint?”

  “I remember.”

  And judging by the look in his eye, the memory only fueled the flames of his anger. Being told by the local sheriff that the new guy in town was out to get you was not something anyone wanted to hear.

  “Anyway,” she said, trying to distract her grandfather from his anger, “Mitchell explained that he needed to hire Tanner a housekeeper and that he thought it would be a great way for me to convince Tanner that I’m not his enemy. He thinks that if we just get to know each other that Tanner might be more willing to listen to reason.”

  “Tanner.” Mike snorted. “What kind of name is that, anyway? And Mitchell. Who names these people?”

  “I like the name Tanner,” she said. “It’s masculine and strong and—” She broke off when she caught her grandfather’s raised eyebrows.

  She sighed. “The point is, Mitchell’s trying to talk Tanner into relaxing and to stop making the complaints. But he says if I can worm my way into his good graces that could help the situation.”

  “And how did he hear about you? This Mitchell, I mean.”

  “Remember, I met him several months ago when he was up here delivering building permits and things for the crew that redid Mrs. Mansfield’s house for Tanner.”

  “Harriet Mansfield. Now that was a good neighbor.”

  “Yes, but she’s gone and Tanner’s there now. We have to make him like it here, Pop, or he’s going to make trouble for us.”

  “Like to see him try it,” her grandfather muttered.

  “Well I don’t want to see him try it,” Ivy said, leaning forward until she could meet her grandfather’s steely blue eyes with her own. “He’s rich and powerful and crabby. Not a good combination to have in an enemy.”

  “And you’re gonna turn him around, are you?”

  “I’m going to try,” Ivy told him.

  “If you fail?”

  “I won’t,” she insisted. “Tanner’s not a bad guy, Pop. He’s just too…closed up. I’m going to open up his world for him.”

  Her grandfather’s eyes narrowed on her thoughtfully. “You’re not thinking of maybe…”

  “Maybe what?”

  “You know. You’re young and pretty. He’s young and rich.”

  “POP!”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time a woman’s head was turned by a rich, powerful man.”

  “I don’t care about his money. And I’m not looking for romance.” She shook her head. “I already had my shot at true love.”

  Her grandfather chuckled. “You really are young, Ivy, if that’s what you think. You loved David, I know. But it won’t be the last time you love, I sincerely hope. There’ll be someone else for you along the road. Just don’t look for it where you’ll only find disappointment.”

  She flushed a little, remembering that swamping sensation of heat she’d felt at first sight of Tanner King. How just looking into his eyes made her stomach swim and her knees go weak. How the sound of his voice had seemed to shiver along her nerve endings.

  But Mike was right, she told herself. Being Tanner’s friend, introducing him to life in a small town and with any luck getting him to be less of a Scrooge was one thing. Romance was something else entirely. Men like him didn’t go for women like her. And if they did, it wasn’t a long-term commitment they were thinking about.

  “I promise,” she said softly. “I’m not looking for anything from Tanner except a cease-fire.”

  Mike studied her for a long minute, then patted her cheek again. “Well then, I say Tanner King doesn’t stand a chance. Once Ivy Angel Holloway gets going, there’s not a power on earth to stop her.”

  Four

  The next morning, Ivy and Mike were in Cabot Valley Bank to talk about the balloon payment due on the loan she had taken out. She was as nervous as a child at the dentist waiting to get a cavity filled.

  While she and her grandfather sat quietly, the bank manager, Steve Johnson, looked over their loan papers with a slow shake of his head. Finally, he looked up and met her gaze.

  “Thanks for coming in, Ivy,” he said. “I just wanted the three of us to have a sit-down to talk about the due date on this loan.”

  “Trust me when I say that I know the payment is almost due,” she told him and was grateful when Mike reached over and gave her hand a pat. “It’s not going to be a problem.”

  She sincerely hoped.

  Ivy had taken out a big loan to improve and expand the farm, and she’d gotten a terrific interest rate—because she’d agreed to a huge balloon payment that would come due all too soon. If she didn’t pay up, she could lose everything. The moment that thought entered her mind, she shoved it away and buried it. No room for bad karmic thoughts, she told herself.

  Besides, as long as the big wedding they had scheduled came off without a hitch, there wouldn’t be a problem.

  “Steve,” Mike said softly, “I’ve known you since you were a kid sneaking onto the farm at night to play hide-and-seek with your pals.”

  Steve squirmed uneasily in his chair. “That’s—

  “My point is,” Mike said, “you know the Angel family well enough to know we never fail to pay our debts.”

  “Of course I know that,” Steve answered.

  “Good.” Ivy interrupted before either man could speak again. She appreciated her grandfather’s support, but she was the one who’d taken out the loan It was her responsibility to pay it off. “I’ll see you in a couple of weeks to make that payment, Steve. You can count on it.”

  When she stood up, so did the bank manager. He held out one hand across his desk and Ivy took it in hers. Mike nodded at him, and as they left, Steve said, “You know I only wish you the best, Ivy.”

  “I know that,” she assured him and didn’t speak again until she and Mike were in the main room of the bank.

  The old building shone like a well cared for je
wel. Wood walls were polished and the windows and floor gleamed from careful cleaning. Three or four people were lined up waiting for the tellers. Even a whisper carried in the room, since the high ceilings acted like an echo chamber or something. So Ivy was very quiet as she told her grandfather, “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

  He slung one arm around her shoulder and steered her toward the front door. “I know you do, Ivy girl. I just want it all to go well, is all.”

  “It will. I promise.”

  As they stepped outside, Ivy took a deep breath and made a solemn, silent vow. She would make the balloon payment, then finish paying off the loan. She’d keep her farm, her family’s legacy and once this loan was paid off, she’d never again take such a high-risk gamble.

  Three days later, Tanner was no closer to solving the problems with the game. He blamed it on Ivy, of course. The woman was everywhere. And even when she wasn’t actually in the house, her scent lingered, the thoughtful touches she’d left in her wake remained.

  The fresh flowers she brought in and arranged in vases and pitchers to leave all over the house. The sandwiches she made and left wrapped for him in the refrigerator. The fresh fruit that he’d become accustomed to snacking on when he wandered through the empty rooms searching for inspiration.

  Everywhere he looked, Ivy was there.

  He should be trying to find a way to get rid of her, he knew. Instead, he’d spent most of his time wondering when she would be back. A dangerous situation but one he didn’t seem to be able to avoid. Thoughts of her stayed with him long after she was gone.

  Even the Christmas tree farm seemed different lately. He’d noticed that the volume on the damn carols had been cut way back—a fact for which he was grateful. Now the incessant music was no more than a background hum of irritation rather than the overpowering aggravation he was used to. Though he was curious as to why they were suddenly being so accommodating.

  He looked out the window at the tree farm and the late afternoon sun speared into his eyes. That was another thing. He’d been waking up earlier since Ivy had been coming around. The only explanation he could come up with for the switch in his sleeping pattern was that his dreams were so full of her, his subconscious was waking him early so that he had more time with her.