Small-Town Billionaire. Renee Andrews

goes to the hospital for his rehab each morning, and we’re pretty busy the rest of the day.”

      “That’s right,” Nadia said. “I’ve only seen him a couple of times.”

      “Oh, okay,” Jasmine said, her disappointment evident in her tone. “It’s probably best anyway that I can’t help out this week, since I’m already scheduled to work tomorrow and Saturday at the Sweet Stop.” She shrugged. “But I’ll see if I can adjust my hours for next week so that I work later in the day. Then I could volunteer with the camp...and maybe I’ll see him at the ranch, too.” Her switch from hopeless to hopeful in the span of two sentences reminded Maribeth of how she’d been at that age, seeing every glass as half-full.

      Not anymore.

      Maribeth felt certain she could keep Jasmine busy enough that she wouldn’t have time to seek Ryan out, so she gave her a smile and said, “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll put you down to help.” She’d protect Jasmine from her infatuation. She had to. She couldn’t bear to see her own history repeated with this sweet girl.

      “Okay if I help again, too?” Nadia asked. “I really enjoy spending time with the kids and the Bible studies.”

      “Sure. We’ve got sixteen kids coming to the next camp, so I could use the extra help.” Maribeth didn’t mind the chance to spend more time with Nadia. Since she’d first moved to Claremont seven years ago, Maribeth had grown very close to the preacher’s granddaughter. Brother Henry had been instrumental in bringing Maribeth back to God when she was certain He’d turned His back on her, and after she’d confided in the preacher about her mistakes, the kindhearted man had recommended that Maribeth work with the youth at the church and help them to stay away from the pitfalls she’d found herself in as a teen.

      Maribeth had grown close to all of the kids, but Nadia and her friends, with their love of fashion and their love of God, held a special place in her heart. Often, the teen girls would visit Maribeth’s store to shop, like Nadia and Jasmine were doing now, and they’d chat about God, life and boys. Not always in that order.

      Today, though, Jasmine chose to skip talking about boys in lieu of talking about men. One man in particular.

      “It’s just that he’s so gorgeous. And he’s here, in Claremont. Things like that don’t happen every day. I mean, can you imagine dating someone like Ryan Brooks? Or, wow, marrying him? I mean, guys marry younger girls all the time, especially, you know, guys who are stars and everything. He’s not a star like an actor, I don’t guess, but you don’t look like that and not be considered a star. And money. He’s probably got more money than all of the star actors combined, don’t you think? He is a Brooks, after all.”

      Maribeth cringed, remembering a time when she’d said something very similar and thought the whole world would be hers if she could date one particular man. But before she could spout some words of wisdom, Nadia beat her to the punch.

      “Love isn’t about money. It’s about trust and faith, and about having your priorities right before anything else. You both need to love God, first and foremost.” She gave Jasmine a silly smile. “And he’s like, what, ten years older than you?”

      Jasmine giggled. “Eleven. He’s thirty, according to what it says under this photo. And it isn’t like I’ve even talked to the guy, so I’m just saying that it’d be cool to marry him, not that I have any chance of it.” Her smile crept into her cheeks and she lifted a blond brow. “But hey, if I did run into him, and if he happened to be smitten by me...”

      Nadia playfully shoved her friend. “Come on. You’ve got to get to the Sweet Stop for work, and I’ve gotta go place another order for beads at Scraps and Crafts.” She nudged Jasmine, still grinning, toward the door. “I’ll see you at the ranch tomorrow, Maribeth.”

      “And you might see Ryan there, too,” Jasmine said.

      Nadia shook her head and waved goodbye to Maribeth, and then the two girls headed out the door while Maribeth turned the volume up on the sound system piping out Christian music and allowed the lyrics to fill her head instead of the memory of the rich guy who dominated her past...and the reality of the one currently dominating her present.

      * * *

      Ryan shifted his hip in the passenger seat and prepared for more walking than he’d done in the past two weeks. Rehab was one thing; taking on the Claremont town square was something else entirely. But if he planned to get into full swing so he could get back to Chicago as soon as possible, he might as well get started.

      Would a broken leg have kept his father away from the business this long? Probably not. Lawrence Brooks had only missed two days of work when Ryan and Dana’s mother passed away. He hadn’t even taken the time to mourn his wife; a broken leg and rehab certainly wouldn’t have slowed the business magnate down. Then again, Ryan hadn’t stopped running Brooks International. He’d held two conference calls today and seemingly kept to business as usual in spite of the distance.

      Ryan grimaced. Why did he always compare himself to his father and find himself coming up short? Maybe because the media found the task so easy? They were quick to point out that the newest Brooks CEO merely followed his father’s proven path for success. The statement that’d been penned by a reporter at the Chicago Tribune had been picked up by practically every business magazine and summed up the public’s interpretation:

      “Though the company continues to hold its own, Ryan Brooks has brought nothing original to the stellar real estate empire founded by his father, the late Lawrence Brooks.”

      “Did you even hear what I said?” Dana asked, and Ryan realized he hadn’t heard anything she’d said since they’d passed the tiny city-limit sign.

      “Sorry, had my mind on something else,” he said. “Repeat the question?”

      She sighed. “It wasn’t a question. I said that I can’t believe we’ve never taken you to the square before.” Dana pulled into a parking spot behind a row of brick buildings. Judging from the store names hand painted above each door, this was the back side of one section of the square. “But usually you come and go so quickly that we don’t have time.”

      “Yeah, getting thrown from a horse extends a visit. Go figure.” He wondered how big this town square was and how long it’d take them to deliver camp materials to Maribeth, his sister’s purpose for the impromptu outing.

      Dana laughed. “I do want longer visits from you, but I’ll try to find another way to make that happen. And John warned you that Onyx might not be ready to ride.” She grabbed her purse and the craft supplies from the backseat. “Then again, telling you that you can’t do something is about the same as waving a red cape in front of a bull, isn’t it? You’ve never been able to back down from a challenge.”

      “A challenge is merely another chance to prove something that someone else thought impossible simply hadn’t been done yet,” he said.

      Dana had her hand on the car handle but stopped her exit. “You sound just like him, you know.”

      Ryan didn’t have to ask whom she referred to. He could almost hear their father’s voice echoing each word as he’d spoken. “He gave us a lot of good advice.”

      “And before he died, he realized that his priorities were out of whack,” she said. “I’ve told you before, he changed in those last days. I think if he could’ve talked to you one more time, he’d have probably pulled a one-eighty on a lot of that advice you’re still following.”

      Ryan didn’t want to hear about Lawrence Brooks’s final days again when, according to Dana, he’d changed his mind about life, business and faith. Basically, he’d wished he’d done everything the opposite of the way he had. But Lawrence Brooks had single-handedly built a Fortune 500 company, and while Dana had stayed with their dad during his last days, Ryan had kept that company running. Still kept it running, in fact. So their father had done something right, and Ryan would keep that something going.

      He opened his mouth to