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“Whodoesthat?” She looked truly dismayed, and for the life of him, Luke hadn’t a clue what she was talking about. When he just looked at her blankly as he tried to figure out what had gone wrong, Andie lost it.
“Are you such a jackass that you don’t even know what you did?”
“Jackass?” Now, Luke was getting a little steamed, and he crossed his arms over his chest. “What could you possibly be upset with now?” he asked.
“Oh my God,” she exclaimed, only he was too riled to be charmed by her. “You don’t get it. Do you? God! Why do I keep letting my guard down with you? You seriously expect me to believe you weren’t deliberately and blatantly trying to seduce the farm away from me?”
“What?” He couldn’t have been more surprised. “Where the hell did that come from? What gave you that idea?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Arms crossed and that eyebrow gone again, only this time he was too pissed to appreciate it. “Maybe because you just told me we can sign the papers in bed.” A glare. “After.”
“Now, hold on a damn minute,” he said as his words came back to him minus the fog of desire, and he again wanted to kick his own ass. “You took that all wrong, and if you take a minute to cool off, you’d know that yourself. I’m not a complete ass.”
“Yes, you are. And no. No, I’m done. You need to leave now, Luke.”
“Fuck that, Andie. We need to talk.”
“No, we really don’t.” Her look was cold and stony.
“Yes, Andie, we do.” He took a chance and stepped close again. This time, she backed up and held out a hand in warning to keep his distance.
“I’m not asking you, Luke. I’m telling you. Go home.”
“No. Andie—”
“I think you better leave, Luke.” Jax stepped out onto the porch and stood with his feet spread and his posture braced. “Now.”
No way in hell he’d let Jax fucking Blake order him around. Luke stabbed a finger in his direction. “Get your ass back inside, Blake, before I kick it for you.”
“Oh for the love of God.” Andie was clearly exasperated. “I told you to remember whose house you are in, Baxter,” she said, placing herself directly between them. “Leave. Now, before I call the sheriff.”
“Shit, Andie.” Luke couldn’t believe things had escalated that drastically or that quickly. He couldn’t believe things had gone so bad with her… again. “This isn’t over, Andie. I’ll go, because the last thing I want is to upset you all over again. But this is not over. Not by a long shot.” Then, with a last glare at Jax, he got his ass out of there before he forgot his good intentions and worked his frustrations out by pounding on the other man for a while.
He drove away with both his thoughts and his guts churning, while in the rearview mirror he watched Jax wrap his arm around Andie with the night sky twinkling to life behind them.
* * *
For the next three weeks,life settled into a grueling yet wholly satisfying routine for Andie. Jax became a regular visitor, showing up at least twice a week to fix dinner. Since Logan was usually there, he would normally join them, so the atmosphere was always relaxed and friendly.
Andie worked all day. Every day. She remembered this from her frequent childhood visits; there were no weekends or holidays when you lived on a farm. It was a never-ending parade of chores that recycled themselves faster than she could keep up. Amazingly, she was keeping up though. She had a suspicion she wasn’t doing as great as it appeared she was. Thanks to Logan. He always denied it, but she was positive he was taking on a lot of her chores. Like the fencing. When she worked up the nerve to try to face it again, the entire fence had been patched. He denied knowing anything about it, but she’d given his paycheck a nice bonus regardless. That wasn’t the only thing either. Every day, there were chores that were her responsibility already completed before she got to them, and although he continued to deny any knowledge about it, she knew it had to be him.
Although the orchard wasn’t huge by some standards, Andie decided to hire out another full-time field hand. Logan argued that they were doing a good job on their own, but Andie was very afraid she just couldn’t keep up, and she couldn’t expect him to always be picking up so much of her share. Logan brought his young friend Abram to meet her. He was a boy from the neighboring Amish community, and Andie was charmed by his thick accent and shuffling shyness from the start, so she offered him a job on the spot.
Abram was quiet and kind, and Andie felt a sort of warm affection for the young man. He worked hard and never uttered a word of complaint, no matter how grueling the work or how long the day. Her uncle had several close friendships within their community and had a deep respect for their way of life. He used Abram regularly to help out around the farm, and the boy was more than grateful to be back and on a full-time basis now. Working side by side with Abram, Andie was reminded daily of why her uncle carried such an affection for the Amish. He was such a calm and kind person, with a quiet air of competence about him that always put her at ease.
“Abram?” she asked him one lovely morning in the orchard. “Is it all right for me to ask you about things in your life? I don’t want to accidentally offend you or anything.”
His pleasant face flushed at that before he answered. “Miss Andie, you can ask me anything you like. A lot of people are closed off about our life and don’t want our secrets getting out, but I’m not like that.”
“Really?” Andie was intrigued by his forthright answer, considering how stoic and monosyllabic he usually was. “Why is that?”
“I think most of the elders in my community are so set on protecting and preserving our way of life that they just get a little carried away in the guarding part of it all. We can still lead a simple, God-fearing life and make friends with outsiders at the same time.”
“I take it your elders don’t share that belief?” she asked.
“Not that I’ve seen.” He took his hat off and used a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the sweat from his brow. “I had my rumspringa and took the time to explore not just America but other countries and cultures at the same time.”
“You did?” Andie was seriously impressed. He looked completely the part of an innocent Amish young man, and yet from what he just said, he was more worldly and well-traveled than she was.
