Page 28 of Daddy's Little Farmer

“Yes.”

Her brows pinched together in confusion. “Will I be a maid or something?”

“You’ll be my woman. Your only responsibility will be to obey me and take care of your animals.”

She probably should have taken exception to the “obey” part, but she realized she’d been obeying him from the first day he was here, and it seemed natural.

“You have a barn?”

“Yes. You’ll have everything you’ll ever need or want.”

“I can always sell the milk and eggs for extra money.”

He squeezed her hand. “No, baby. I don’t want you to ever worry about that.”

She stared down at their hands. His were so much bigger than hers and hard. She noticed the nicks and calluses he had, and if she remembered correctly, his hands had been softer than hers. She decided she liked them better right now.

“I don’t want you to spend money on me. Joseph, my late husband, left a good amount of it, so I don’t have to worry about paying the bills.”

“I’ll tell you as often as you need to hear it, but I have enough money to last us through ten lifetimes. Probably a lot more.”

Mara smiled a bit. She’d never heard him exaggerate, but it made her feel special that he’d make everything seem better to get her to go home with him.

“Okay,” she said to make him feel better. “What about the animals? How will we get them there?”

“I’m having trailers with several experienced people load them and take them to your new farm.”

It seemed inconceivable to her. “Do you realize how much work that is?”

He smiled. “Yes.”

“Are these friends of yours?”

He looked confused. “No.”

“Then they’re doing you a favor?” she asked.

“We can say that.”

That confused her. “When would this happen?”

“As soon as tomorrow,” he said.

Her mouth dropped open. “But we’ll need several trailers. How long is the drive?”

“Seven to eight hours.”

“So, we could do it in one day?”

He nodded.

That will help. “Will these people listen to me?”

“Of course.”

“God, I don’t know. What if you decide you don’t like me?” she asked.

“Do you trust me?”

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