for holding that over him all these years later. “Absolutely. I don’t take affronts to my reputation lightly.”
“You weren’t worried about your reputation when you slept with one of our suppliers and put my company in jeopardy.”
“I didn’t sleep with anybody. I told you then that I didn’t do any of the things you accused me of. Nothing has changed. Just because you didn’t believe me doesn’t mean I wasn’t telling the truth.”
“They were serious charges, and I needed to deal with them as such. I did what I had to do.”
“And I’m doing what I have to do. I’m keeping this land. It’s mine. Whether or not I like you or resent what you did is irrelevant.”
“This isn’t about me or you and your damaged pride. This is about Ken and Molly Eden and everything they worked for. I want to give them back what’s rightfully theirs.”
Tori straightened and shot him as lethal a gaze as she could manage. “You mean, mine. I signed those papers at the lawyer’s office two months ago. I didn’t hold a gun to their heads and make them sell me this land.”
“Wouldn’t have surprised me if you did,” he said bitterly, glancing over at the shotgun sitting on the counter.
“They sold it all on their own. I paid them full asking price and covered all my own closing expenses, so it’s not like I cheated them, either. I don’t know whether you’re their son or not, Mr. Mitchell, but let me just tell you that if you are their son, you’re a crappy one. They told me about Ken’s heart attack and all their medical expenses. Where have you been? In Manhattan? Worrying about making money?”
“You think I don’t know that?” he challenged. Wade’s eyes flashed with a touch of a temper she’d seen years before. “I’m not proud of it, but I can fix it.”
Tori stood up from her seat. “You’re just going to have to find another way to soothe your conscience. Send them on a cruise or something, because you aren’t going to browbeat me into selling this land. And that’s final. Please leave.”
Wade stood, bringing his head a hairbreadth away from scraping the top of her camper. He took a step toward her, and his body loomed large and intimidating in such close proximity.
Tori couldn’t help the surge of awareness that ran through her body as he came near. Apparently it was far easier to despise him from a distance. It had been a long time since she’d been in the same room as Wade, and she’d certainly never been this close to him, but her body remembered him. With him inches away, looking down at her with a focused, penetrating intensity, her spine wanted to turn to jelly. His warm scent, a familiar mix of spicy cologne and salty skin, swirled around her with every breath she drew into her lungs.
She finally took a step back, pressing herself against the kitchen counter. She didn’t like being this close to Wade. It messed with her focus, and that just made her even more irritated. Tori couldn’t let him use his size or sexuality to intimidate her.
“This isn’t over,” he said, pinning her with his dark green eyes before grabbing his coat and walking out into the cold.
Two
Wade remembered Victoria Sullivan as being smart and beautiful. Apparently she was also the most infuriating and stubborn woman he’d ever encountered.
Wade stomped back to his four-wheeler and stood there a moment, letting the cold sink in and douse the aggravating mix of anger and attraction surging through his veins. When he was back in control, he shrugged into his coat, jumped on the ATV and peeled out of her yard in a doughnut as he used to do as a teenager. The back tires sent a sheet of snow flying against the side of her trailer. It was juvenile, but she seemed to bring out the worst in him.
He was fuming as he plowed through the snow. It should be illegal for a woman that gorgeous to have a mouth that irritating. Honestly, once she’d peeled out of her jacket and revealed a snug pair of jeans and a fitted, long-sleeved T-shirt, he’d almost forgotten why he was there. It wasn’t until she picked up her shotgun again that he realized he’d followed her inside without her permission.
Victoria had been one of his best and brightest architects. He’d hired her straight out of college when the company he and Alex had started was still small and spending more than it earned. She’d contributed quite a bit to making their first few big projects a success. He’d even considered asking her out to dinner. But then his assistant had come to him with concerns about seeing Victoria at a restaurant looking a little too cozy with one of their potential suppliers. She had been quite vocal about giving the man an upcoming contract, and the implication was clear. He fired her on the spot. Part of him regretted that. And not just because she had knockout curves, flawless skin and long, fiery red hair that made him warm under the collar.
He had wanted to believe her when she said she didn’t do it. The thought of her with another man nearly made him crazy. But the logical part of his brain was infuriated by her audacious attempt to influence corporate contracts like that. Sleeping with a potential contractor was just as bad as taking bribes from one. Both compromised a person’s objectivity and put the ethics of his company in question.
He would not have it, so he terminated her. He never dreamed the decision would come back to haunt him.
If she were any other woman, he would’ve asked her to dinner to talk over his offer and kissed her to keep the inflammatory words from flying out of her mouth. Her temper, as spicy as her hair, was a massive turn-on. He had a weakness for redheads.
But she wasn’t another woman. She was holding on to seven years of bitterness along with the key to something more important to him than anything else. Protecting his family was his number one priority. Toying with Victoria like a cat with a mouse could cost him dearly. He needed her to sell him this land. He couldn’t fail. As much as he’d like to resolve their differences between the sheets, it wasn’t the answer in this situation. He doubted it would sway her, and she’d probably shoot him if he tried to kiss her.
“Arrogant and pigheaded,” Wade grumbled, turning to steer the four-wheeler down the center aisle of trees toward the entrance. She thought she knew so much. Well, she forgot rich, powerful, ruthless and determined Wade Mitchell came in the same package. He would secure that land and protect his family one way or another.
Wade came to an abrupt stop as an old pickup truck, draped in Christmas lights and garland, pulled in front of him. Piled into the trailer it towed was a crowd of bundled-up people sitting on bales of hay and singing Christmas carols. The driver, Owen, threw a hand up at Wade, then continued back toward the house.
Hayrides, Santa visits, sugar cookies and hot chocolate. Picking out a tree at the Garden of Eden wasn’t just a shopping trip. It was an experience. On the weekends in December, the farm was a madhouse. And it had to be. A good portion of their income came from just this one month. Sure, they did other things throughout the year, but Christmas tree farms depended on a good Christmas to stay afloat.
And lately, it hadn’t been enough.
Wade blamed himself for that. When the boys grew up and moved away, the Edens had to hire in help. Owen had always worked on the farm, but as each year went by, more staff was added and their expenses went up. Throw in a mountain of hospital bills and competition from increasingly more realistic fake trees, and the Edens were lucky they’d survived this long.
Wade followed the truck to the house and
