Page 1 of Rutger

Chapter 1

The house was perfect. He didn’t even mind that the kitchen was slightly outdated and would need work. Rutger went out into the backyard and noticed that the pool had been uncovered and that someone had recently used it. The small wet footprints were all he could see, but it made him slightly mad that someone had been using his pool. Turning to the realtor to ask about it, he noticed that she was talking to another couple. They weren’t going to get his house. He made his way to her instantly.

“Is someone living here?” She looked at him oddly, and he realized how he must have sounded. “It’s just that the pool has been used, and I thought you said that the woman who lived here has moved out.”

“She did. Only just this morning. Had everyone been on time this morning, she wouldn’t have had to rush out of here when people started showing up at nine instead of ten, like it was in the paper.” He knew she was talking about him, but he didn’t care. He’d been patient enough in waiting to see what he was already considering his new home. “Mr. Smith, have you met the Chandlers? They’re thinking of buying this house as well.”

He had to fight his beast to calm himself down. Just then, it was Rance, his best friend in all the world, who calmed him by putting his hand on his shoulder. He said that he wanted to show Rutger something else in the house and nearly dragged him away from the couple and realtor.

“What is wrong with you?” He told him someone had been in the pool. “That’s no reason for you to go unhinged, is it? I mean, you did show up here an hour early. Maybe she wanted to get one last swim in before she has to sell the house. There could be any of a thousand reasons that she was using her own pool.”

He saw his point. He didn’t like it, but he could see where he might have gotten a little overboard with things. Shaking off his beast, he decided that he needed a breath of fresh air and went outside into the beautiful gardens. It was just as he imagined it would be. Just as bright and colorful as it could be.

“You’re going to make an offer on the house?” He told Rance that he was. And he was going to get it. “Don’t go overboard again. Just tell Debbie that you’d like to make an offer and see where it goes from there.”

“You think that the other couple will try and buy it?” He said it was a wonderful house but for the kitchen, and he saw it going for a lot more than the asking price. “The land surrounding it alone is worth the extra that it would cost to have it as my own. I’m going to do it when she’s finished talking to that couple.”

“Just be calm.” He shook himself again and had to take several deep breaths. Going back into the house, he noticed that she was talking to another couple, and he needed to get her attention. As soon as they walked away, he moved to her quickly like his kind could. She was startled a little, but her smile wasn’t as tight as it had been when she’d been talking to him earlier.

“I’d like to put an offer in on the house.” She nodded and handed him the paperwork. “Has anyone else put in an offer as yet?”

“No. It’s only been about twenty minutes since you arrived.” He winced at her tone and knew he’d been too early for the showing. “Do you have any questions about the house? I know that you’ve asked me before about the roof and furnace, but I wanted to assure you that the house is in solid condition. Even the basement is in good shape, with a wine cellar that is full of wines. Have you seen it yet?” He told her he’d see it in a moment; he wanted to get his offer in. “Very good.”

By noon the place was filled with people. Not just couples but businessmen in suits as well. They were going to treat the house as a retreat home so that they could have meetings in it. He could see that. He didn’t like it but could see where the house would be good for those kinds of meetings.

Before he left, having turned in his paperwork for the offer, she told him that there were three more offers on the house and that he was going to have to think about how much he wanted to go before he won the bids. Just as he thought, others were trying to take his home.

Offering more, he was told by Debbie that she’d get back with him. He didn’t think that anyone would be able to outbid him on the house, but he just didn’t know. He’d upped his offer to four million and thought that was a good place to start. He wasn’t going to be stupid with his money, but he thought that for as much as he wanted it, someone was going to outbid him. Going home with Rance, he decided that it was making him crazy being around the others and that he should get away while he was still working well with people. His beast was right there on the edge, and he didn’t want to hurt anyone before getting the bids on the house.

“I have a feeling that she’s going to be calling you to tell you that you didn’t win before too much after six. Isn’t that when she’s going to go to the woman who owns the house?” He said that was what she said. “How much are you willing to go? I know you really want the house, but you should stick to something that you can afford.”

“I can afford a great deal for the house. And I am willing to go up to ten million to have it.” Rance whistled, and he nodded. “I know it’s a great deal, but I’ve crunched the numbers and the land alone is worth a great deal. The house has eight bedrooms and eight baths to go with it. Christ, it’s ninety-eight thousand square feet.”

“And four hundred acres.” Rance offered him a glass of wine to go with his waiting. “Did you go and look at the wine cellar? I heard someone else say they were going to tear it out and make it into a playroom for the kids. Seems such a shame for a nice room.”

“It’s full and not with cheap shit either. I’d be using it all the time.” He added another five thousand to his limit because of the cellar. “I’m going to own that house, Rance. I have to. There is something about it that makes me feel like if I don’t get it, then I’m going to have something terrible happen to me. And that I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

“You kept going on about the pool. Is that the same thing?” He said that it was the same feelings. He had to have the pool already in place, and the house was going to have to be his. “I don’t know. Must be some kind of magic that I don’t know about. But I wish you the best of luck with it. It’s only two now and—”

His cell phone ringing startled them both. “It’s the realtor. I’ll bet she’s telling me she has another bid.” He got on the phone with her, and sure enough, that’s what she was telling him. He bid up to five point five million, and she said she’d take it. “I hope she calls me back and tells me that I’ve won, but I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”

“I don’t either.” They talked about different things about the house and lawn. Rance was trying to keep him from thinking about much else, but he was all right with that. The house had to be his. When his faerie came to talk to him, he had her go to the house and see if there was anything wrong with it other than the kitchen. Her report came back that not only was the house in good shape, but that the land was good land and that it could be planted on as soon as he got a crop to put in.

“It’s being rented out to others right now, from what I understand.” Rance asked him if he’d have a problem with that. “Since I have no idea how to plant anything on that scale, I’d let them rent it out for the reasons that they are now. The income would help too, I suppose. It couldn’t hurt anyway.”

It was nearly six-thirty when he heard from Debbie again. The bid was up to seven million, and did he want to go higher? He gave her seven point five and waited on the phone while she talked to the other person bidding. It occurred to him that the lady that he was buying the house from was going to be making a killing, but he didn’t care. She’d be able to go into a nice nursing home and live out her life in luxury. The other bidder went up to eight, so he went to eight point five.

“I’ll have to call you back, Mr. Smith. The other people want to have an hour to work their numbers. I know you can afford it right now, but they’re having to get things worked out on their end.” He said he was fine with that and would be awaiting her call. “Ms. Richardson also has to approve the sale, though I don’t know why she wouldn’t. It’s well over the asking price.”

“I was just thinking that she’d be able to live out her years in a nice nursing home.” She told him that Ms. Richardson was only in her mid-twenties and was sad to have to sell it, as it had been something her father had purchased before he died. She couldn’t afford the house on her own, so she has to sell it. “I’m sorry to hear that. I thought that she was selling her family home, but I didn’t know she was that young.”

After getting off the phone with her, he decided that he was going to be more careful with his speculations right now. Of course she was going to be happy that the place sold for so much, but to be so young and having to sell bothered him. He looked at Rance when he said his name.

“I have a feeling that I’ve been hoodwinked.” He asked him what he meant. “The woman selling the house is younger than we thought. She’s only in her mid-twenties. She can’t afford the house on her own, and that’s why she’s selling it.”

“Why does that make you feel like you’re hoodwinked? I mean, you wanted the house, and it could be yours in a matter of thirty minutes.” He said that the fates were playing with him. “How? I mean, good that they are, but why do you think that?”

“I have to have a pool, and this house has everything that I want in it. The woman selling it is in her mid-twenties and broke. She won’t be after this, but up until then she was.” Rance asked if she might be his mate. “I’m thinking that before I buy this house, I should have met the young woman that is selling it. I might have saved me a bundle.”