Billionaire Flawed 1(41)

“We are glad to have you here!” She turned to her husband again, and Gary held out his hand. Joyce shook it but noticed that Gary looked unhappy or anxious. She had already been worried on the train for the last six hours. His demeanor did nothing to change her feelings. She looked back at Anne.

“Has anything happened?”

“Oh no.” Anne shook her head, and her curls danced their own jig. “We just do a lot of things for Tom because he is a very busy man. He is very businesslike and concentrates a good deal of his time to his work.”

“He oversees all of his land?”

Anne nodded. “There are several…Gary, would you fetch her bags, please?”

Gary looked as though he should have thought of that himself first and nodded to her. “Yes, of course.”

“There are several businesses being run on Tom’s land.” Anne continued as Gary walked to the clerk’s desk. “And other threats that he must guard against.”

“I see. Indians and poachers.”

Anne nodded. “Not really the Indians. Their reservation is not as close as it may seem. They do not need to come into town for anything, so we don’t see much of them. They are more friendly than hostile toward our little area.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” When Gary came back carrying Joyce’s bags, the three of them set off for the carriage, which awaited them outside. Joyce was impressed the moment she saw the horses and carriage. The vehicle was drawn by two large majestic horses. The carriage was large, white and a driver was propped up top, holding the reins loosely in his hands. He smiled at her. She smiled back.

“This is very nice,” she said. Anne looked at her.

“I think we begin to lose appreciation for the beauty of things after you get used to them,” she said in a very low voice as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear. Joyce looked down at her, realizing Anne was several inches shorter than she. “I have been riding in this carriage for over a year, and I don’t think I’ve ever really looked closely at it.”

Joyce raised her eyebrows, taking in the whole of the large carriage. It was white – a glowing white that made it seem brand new – trimmed with gold edges. The curtains inside were gold with long, thick tassels on the ends. The steps they were to use to get in the carriage were also gold and made of metal. She had to assume they were gold-plated. She couldn’t imagine spending the kind of money it would take to simply have even one step made out of gold.

At first, their ride was quiet. Joyce was still uncomfortable with the nervous look that Gary couldn’t seem to get rid of. She wondered if he always had that look on his face. Perhaps he was worried about something that was completely unrelated to her arrival.

“So please tell us a little about yourself.” Anne prompted after a short time. “We have about a half hour drive until we reach the house.”

“I was born in Ireland, in Meade County,” she replied. “My family immigrated to America when I was ten. We were in New York for a few years and then traveled to Virginia to live.”

“Did you have trouble leaving your family and coming so far away?”

Joyce shook her head. “I will miss the family I left behind,” she replied. “But I lost my parents early on in a boating accident, and my aunt and uncle raised me. I have two brothers, a sister, and many cousins.”

“So you come from a large family?”

Joyce nodded. “I do, but I have been living on my own for several years. I prefer solitude and quiet to what I was raised with.”

“I imagine you do!” Anne replied, nodding. “You… won’t have to worry about that here. There’s hardly any people in the house.”

Gary made a small noise in his mouth and gave Anne a look. Anne’s face tensed, and she gave him a return look. This action confused Joyce. She wrestled with whether or not she wanted to say anything about this strange behavior.

“You should tell her,” Gary said. Joyce was immediately on alert. She narrowed her eyes.

“What is it?”

Anne licked her lips and pulled in a deep breath.

“There’s something about Tom you should know.”

Joyce tried to prepare herself for something horrible. She clenched her jaw and tried not to let her fiery temper take over before she even knew what the deal was. “Please tell me,” she said, clenching her hands in her lap, gathering up her skirts in her fingers.

“He’s…he’s been very upset since the death of his wife 16 months ago.” Anne’s voice was low again, and Joyce sat forward a little. “He took to building on to his house and has added about a dozen rooms to it since then.”