Page 3 of Fire in My Heart

She wasn't safe? My heart twisted.

“Make sure she gets settled in.”

“I can do that.” Now, I wanted to know why she needed to hide out on Calloway property. It was a nugget of information about her that I couldn't let go.

With a renewed sense of purpose, I grabbed two more suitcases and carried them to the porch.

Charlotte had left the door open because she was a trusting person. Why wasn’t she safe? It was going to drive me crazy until I could find out.

Charlotte turned and ran right into my chest. “Oomph.”

I grabbed her shoulders to steady her. We were close enough; I could smell the flowery scent of her shampoo.

Her gaze flitted to mine. “I thought you’d left.”

I raised a brow. “I’m not going to let my dad move your stuff.”

Her forehead creased. “Of course. I wouldn’t want him to either.”

“That’s why he was here.”

“I can handle it myself,” Charlotte said as she stepped back.

I let my hands fall to my side. “I’ll get you situated.”

“I thought you didn’t want me living here?”

My throat tightened. “I don’t want a neighbor, but like you said, it’s in the contract. My dad wants you here for some reason.”

Charlotte stepped outside onto the porch. “It will be easier to manage the farm if I’m staying here.”

“Manage?” My heart rate kicked up. I was the one who managed the farm year-round.

“Yeah, my position is to manage the marketing for the season. Your father thought it would be easier for me to make changes if I was working alongside the employees and managing the day-to-day.”

“He never mentioned that.” Lately, whenever we wanted to talk about Charlotte, I’d shut him down. That was clearly a mistake.

Charlotte pursed her lips as we headed toward her car. “You haven’t been involved whenever we’ve discussed it.”

That was an understatement. “I’ve been busy.”

The trunk was still propped open, but it was empty. I closed it more out of habit. I liked things to be orderly.

She opened the rear passenger-side door that was piled high with boxes and clothes strewn over them. Charlotte carefully hung the pile of dresses over my outstretched arms. If my fellow officers could see me now, they’d give me shit.

I was obviously a chump when it came to Charlotte Monroe.

I’d been avoiding her for months, hoping she’d go away. But now she was a part of the farm, helping my father.

I should walk away and let her do her thing, but I couldn’t let go of the control I’d had since Mom died. Could Dad handle Charlotte? What if she was here to take advantage of him?

The familiar panic clawed its way up my throat.

Charlotte piled on more clothes, then said, “Can you take those to the bedroom?”

I nodded, not bothering to speak because my throat wasclosing in on itself. I had to protect my father from this woman who could be here for nefarious reasons. The logical part of my brain said she could have done that in the past year, and she hadn’t.

But she was living here now. She was the manager. She would be in control of more things.

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