The Value of Love

By E.S. Hart

Can Love Conquer Different Worlds?

Billionaire, heiress, Jessalyn Ellington's life was all mapped out for her. She would inherit her family's vast fortune and marry her long-time, boyfriend Reginald Houser III. So when her new gardener, Nick Callaway entered her life neither one anticipated the attraction or feelings that would develop between them. Nick a single father had challenges of his own including raising two young children on his own while holding down a job and going to school. But despite the logic that dictated that they shouldn't be together, Nick and Jessalyn couldn't deny the feelings they shared.

The question remained, was the true value of love far greater than the value of personal obligations and monetary wealth?

• Language: English
• Publisher: E.S. Hart
• Release date: Oct 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386878308

E.S. Hart

E.S. Hart lives in Phoenix, Arizona.  She has been writing since the age of 10. She actually wrote her first story in the 3rd Grade and still has a copy of it today. Although now a lot older, she still gets a good laugh out of reading it.   E.S. Hart also has a great love for creating stories with a lot of drama, and with many twists and turns. She likes to write stories that she knows she would like to read, and hopes that many others would like to read them as well.

Book preview

Prologue

TO MY DAUGHTER, JESSALYN Ellington, I leave the bulk of my estate in the amount of fifty-billion dollars. There is, however, a condition that comes with this money. A man has always governed the Ellington fortune, so Jessalyn must marry before the age of thirty, someone of high social status and wealth of their own. If she cannot do so, the entire Ellington fortune will revert to her male cousins; who would decide what part to give Jessalyn? I do this for my daughter's own well-being and the good of the Ellington fortune, the lawyer said while reading part of Jessalyn's father's Last Will and Testament.

Jessalyn found it hard to keep from smiling. Leave it to her father, she thought, to place such a condition on the vast Ellington fortune. While growing up, he hadn't been happy that he didn't have a male heir to carry on his name. No, he had one child; a daughter whom he obviously felt wasn't good enough to handle the means of his vast estate. Jessalyn thought about her mother, who left her, her own fortune several years earlier, which hadn't been connected to the Ellington's name. It was a modest amount that might get her by for a while, but not in the lifestyle she had grown accustomed to. Jessalyn looked over at the man sitting next to her, who scoffed at the mere mention of what the lawyer had read. She was sure her boyfriend, Reginald Howser the 3rd, saw her father's Last Will and Testament as nothing more than a formality, yet she still felt uneasy about it.

This shouldn't be a problem, Darling? Reginald said in an aristocratic tone. After all, Sebastian planned on Jessalyn and I being married within the year, he told the lawyer. Therefore, the Ellington fortune will be safe, Reginald said, looking over at his betrothed.

Jessalyn smiled over at him, feeling a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't explain why she felt this way, but she did. Maybe it was because her father didn't give her any choice in the matter.

Chapter 1

JESSALYN SAT IN THE bright, beautiful day room of the vast Ellington mansion. The room allowed the natural sun from outside to come in from the large windows and French doors. The north side of the room led to the pool area and the beautiful, vast gardens. This room was one of her favorites because of the natural sunlight. She loved to sketch and draw in this room because of the magnificent lighting. Her other favorite place was the pool house, where she did most of her sculpting and painting, which her father had allowed her to use as a studio for her art to which she dabbled in. Her longtime girlfriends, Penelope Prescott, Ava Chatsworth, and Julia Maxwell, were sitting in the room with her as she told them about the stipulations in her father's Last Will and Testament.

Jessalyn, there is nothing to worry about, Penelope told her. You and Reginald are the perfect match. You both come from old New England money and the finest of aristocratic backgrounds. This is just a formality, nothing more, she concluded.

Jessalyn couldn't help but smile at Penelope; this woman came from perhaps one of the most influential aristocratic families, not just in the United States but in Great Britain. The girl literally screamed of high class and breeding with her tailored, designer burgundy suit and long, honey-blonde hair. She always reeked of style and decorum. If you were in the Prescott family's inner circle, they welcomed you into the upper crust of society.

"What about love? The young girl with shoulder-length, brunette hair and a strong southern accent asked while chiming in.

Leave it to Julia to ask such a question, Jessalyn thought. The girl wasn't from old money, like most in her group of upscale friends. Her father had been a wildcat in Texas who struck it big on an oil well about fifteen years ago. Now, the Maxwell family had one of the biggest oil companies around, and because of the millions they were now sitting on, they welcomed them into the elite. But fitting in was never easy for Julia, so Jessalyn had taken the girl under her wings to teach her about the finer graces of life and eventually got her group to accept her.

Well, of course, they love each other, Julia, Penelope scoffed. They have known each other since they were children, she defended while going on about how the Howser family was as important as her own, but Jessalyn discovered she was only half-listening.  Her attention drifted to looking out of the French doors to the garden area as she saw a man tending to the grounds. Her new gardener, whoever he was, had been hired a few weeks ago, and Jessalyn found there was something about him that captivated her. He had the perfect, muscular body, one that some of the best sculptors in the world-over would have wanted to sculpt. She noticed how his tight, hard-frame body fitted into his jeans. She couldn't help but notice him working in the scorching sun. He had removed his shirt, which made Jessalyn study his six-pack abs. His muscular chest was like nothing she had ever seen before. She was no stranger to the male anatomy, but this man was like none she had ever experienced, not in an art studio or even in a bedroom. Yes, he was quite a fine figure of a man. How she would love to immortalize him in clay or some other medium, she thought.

Jessalyn, Penelope said in a louder tone of voice as she noticed the woman distracted by something outside the window. Are you listening to me?

Jessalyn turned her attention back. She needed to concentrate on the women before her. Yes, of course, Penelope, she lied. How could she explain to her friends she was far more captivated by the man outside the window than talking to them?

Well, Ava and I really must go, Dear, we are due at the Country Club, Penelope told her. We'll catch up with you later to discuss the finer details of your wedding. There is so much to plan, Penelope said as she headed to the front door, followed by the brown-haired coifed Ava.

Jessalyn often wondered how much of a mind Ava had of her own. Ava was the one Penelope led around by the nose. The girl came from an upper-eastside family, but it appeared as if she always had a mousy demeanor where she followed the pack. Jessalyn watched as the two women left.

All right, we're alone, so spill it, Julia said. What were you looking at outside the window? she inquired.

What do you mean? I was just admiring the garden, Jessalyn said, hoping her friend would drop the inquiry.

Chapter 2

JULIA STOOD UP FROM the sofa and headed over to look out the window. She saw the beautiful garden but stopped to look at