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“If you asked…”
“What?” he interrupted, almost as if taunting her. “You’d what? Would you say ‘yes’ and be stuck with me? Hmm?”
She opened her mouth and closed it again.
Lena couldn’t answer as she saw a flicker of something in his eyes as he stared at her. Was he wanting her to say no? Or did he want her to say yes? What would that be like to have someone by your side that never left you, never abandoned you, or wouldn’t turn you away?
She’d had so many guys dump her, so many lies had been promised and twisted, that she hated dating men. The problem was she hated being alone worse. Was it so wrong to want someone for yourself? But was Jake the one; because they were at each other’s throats from almost the very beginning.
That pregnant pause seemed to speak volumes as his eyes softened.
“You’d be stuck with me,” he repeated softly.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, not holding back and saw him swallow as he nodded, looking away.
“Let’s eat,” Houghton said gruffly. “That’s a conversation best had alone between the two of you and not with spectators. Daphne, if you are jealous of people getting married, then you can be next.”
“What?” the woman whispered, paling. “Wait a second. I was just commenting on…”
“Pass the whipped cream, please.”
“Can I have the bacon?”
“Who has the salt?”
The conversation started to flow around them, but Lena was still reeling from the fact that Jake had thrown that out there between them like it was nothing – especially after this morning.
Maybe that was the reason why he’d said it? Because he was attracted to her? He was certainly flirting quite a bit and referred to intimacy almost as much as breathing…but marriage?He leaned his head toward hers, turning his face away slightly as he whispered.
“It’s fine. We both know how the saying goes, and just so you know? I can get my ‘milk for free in town’…if I want it bad enough.”
Lena turned to look at him in horror.
The rogue didn’t even look ashamed or disgruntled by what he said. His face was so blasé, so bored looking, that she nearly threw her coffee at him.
Instead, she picked up her plate and moved to sit between Gideon and Chris in the empty seat and wasn’t sure what was worse.
Listening to Gideon, who chuckled off and on the entire meal, Chris’s silence as she ate, ignoring them all… or Jake glaring angrily at his plate, stabbing at his food with his fork.
The entire atmosphere was tense as the small bits of conversations faded away, replaced with silence. Both of them just ended up shoving their meal around on their plate, neither eating, as those words echoed in her head over and over again.
It was the same at lunch – and again at dinner.
They were not talking just so they could remain civil toward each other, and it was painfully obvious.
Washing the dishes that evening as Daphne dried and Chris put them away, she only half-listened to the two women talking as her mind worked. Was there seriously something wrong with her? She had come here to build her confidence, get clean, and find her way, and the moment Jake arrived had turned her whole world upside down.
She had never been quite so bothered, hurt so much, or so very attracted to someone who was such a…
“… Donkey,” Chris said simply, startling Lena’s thoughts.
“Houghton laughed and told me that he didn’t want to mess with having a bunch of ‘jacks’ or ‘jennies’ around the farm. They could be temperamental, and then I suggested a mule. He said no immediately. They don’t reproduce. He only wants cattle, horses, and suggested goats in the spring if I really want to expand the selection of animals.”
“What were we talking about?” Lena said quietly.
“I was telling Houghton that it would be a lot easier to bring in the firewood and help clear some of the downed trees if we could get a pack animal instead of Gideon and Jake dragging that tree into the clearing for him to chop it up.”
“Houghton got really mad and took off to stop them,” Daphne admitted, “…And that is why Jill isn’t here helping us.”
