He was wearing an expensive-looking gray suit. Somehow he had gone from being a sheep-ranch manager to a well-groomed, sophisticated and suave businessman. But then the chestnut-brown hair flowing around his shoulders gave him a sort of rakish look. She wasn’t sure what to make of the change and just which Callum Austell she most preferred.
“Good morning, Callum,” she heard herself say, trying not to get lost in the depths of his green eyes. “You’re already dressed and I’m not.” She glanced down at herself. In addition to not wearing shoes, she had slipped into one of those cutesy sundresses Bailey had given as a gift for her birthday.
“No problem. The house isn’t going anywhere. It will be there when you’re ready to see it. I thought I’d go into the office today and let everyone know that I’m back for a while.”
She lifted a brow. “The office?”
“Yes, Le’Claire Developers. It’s a land development company similar to Blue Ridge Land Management. But also under the umbrella of Le’Claire are several smaller sheep ranches on the same scale as Ramsey’s.”
“And you are…”
“The CEO of Le’Claire,” he said.
“You named it after your mother?”
He chuckled. “No, my father named it after my mother. When we all turned twenty-one, according to the terms of a trust my great-grandfather established, all four of us were set up in our own businesses. Morris, being the firstborn, will inherit the sheep farms that have been in the Austell family for generations as well as stock in all the businesses his siblings control. Colin is CEO of the chain of hotels my family owns. The one we stayed in the other night is one of them. Le’Shaunda received a slew of supermarket chains, and I was given a land development company and several small sheep ranches. Although I’m CEO, I have a staff capable of running things in my absence.”
Gemma nodded, taking all this in. Bailey had tried telling her and Megan that she’d heard that Callum was loaded in his own right, but she really hadn’t believed her. Why would a man as wealthy as Bailey claimed Callum was settle for being the manager of someone else’s sheep ranch? Granted, he and Ramsey were close, but she couldn’t see them being so close that Callum would give up a life of wealth and luxury for three years to live in a small cabin on her brother’s property.
“Why did you do it?” she heard herself asking.
“Why did I do what?”
“It’s obvious that you have money, so why would you give all this up for three years and work as the manager of my brother’s sheep ranch?”
This, Callum thought, would be the perfect time to sit Gemma down and explain things to her, letting her know the reason he’d hung around Denver for three years. But he had a feeling just like when his father had tried explaining to his mother about her being his soul mate and it hadn’t gone over well, it wouldn’t go over well with Gemma, either.
According to Todd Austell, trying to convince Le’Claire Richards it had been love at first sight was the hardest thing he ever had to do. In fact, she figured he wanted to marry her to rebel against his parents trying to pick out a wife for him and not because he was truly in love with her.
Callum was sure that over the years his mother had pretty much kissed that notion goodbye, because there wasn’t a single day that passed when his father didn’t show his mother how much he loved her. Maybe that’s why it came so easily to Callum to admit that he loved a woman. His father was a great role model.
But still, when it came to an Austell falling in love, Callum had a feeling that Gemma would be just as skeptical as his mother had been. So there was no way he could tell her the full truth of why he had spent three years practically right in her backyard.