Big Sky Bride, Be Mine!. Victoria Pade

known, maybe I could have done something….”

      Jenna wasn’t sure how this conversation had gotten so heavy, but she was battling her own emotions and Ian was watching her intently, a frown pulling his eyebrows together, his expression very somber.

      “That’s a whole lot of guilt you’re carrying around,” he said softly. “Is that what’s behind the sticking point to keep the farm a farm? Are you trying to make up for what you didn’t do along the way, by keeping it some kind of monument to your parents?”

      Jenna shook her head. “No, that isn’t it at all. My dad loved the farm and being a farmer. He was proud of what he did, of the contribution it made. He believed that the farmer was the backbone of this country, and he liked being a part of that. He wanted it to continue, even if it wasn’t his own family doing it, so his last wish—his last request of me—was that his farm remain a farm. Simple as that. And that’s what I’m trying to help happen. If I don’t sell to you for your training facility, and you don’t buy it at auction, there’s at least the chance that someone else might buy it and maintain it as a working farm, the way my Dad wanted, and that’s really all I’m trying to accomplish.”

      “Now I feel guilty!”

      “Good!” Jenna said with a laugh that helped make her feel better. “Does that mean you’ll back off?”

      He flinched. “It was me who brought your place to the attention of the powers-that-be—for that I’m completely to blame. But in my defense, I had no idea there were these kinds of personal and emotional issues on the other side of it.”

      “And now that you do, you’ll back off?” Jenna repeated hopefully.

      “Even now that I do, it’s too late. The moneymen, the land people, the contractors—everyone connected with the project—has agreed that your property is ideal on all counts. That takes it out of my hands. I’m sorry.”

      He might have been a very convincing liar, but Jenna had the sense that he genuinely meant that apology.

      “And even if I went to my father at this point and said let’s let it be,” he continued after a pause, “I’d get shot down. The first thing my old man would say is that there’s no guarantee that if the property goes to auction, it’ll stay a farm. Potentially the Monarchs would just lose the best site for their training center to some housing developer or something.”

      Jenna knew that was a possibility, too. But still, she was trying to hang on to what hope she could. For her father’s sake.

      “I guess it just isn’t possible for us to come down on the same side of this,” she concluded. “And I think you might be trying to find my weak spot or something—”

      “I’m not,” he protested.

      But before either of them could say more on the subject, Chase appeared at the entrance of the showcase. “There you are, Ian,” he said. “I’ve been looking for you.”

      Chase paused to say hello to Jenna, to tell her how nice she looked and tease her that it was nothing like a new mom was supposed to look.

      After they’d joked back and forth for a few minutes, Chase’s gaze went to Ian again. “I wanted to introduce you around—there are a lot of people who want to meet you.”