The Cattleman's Ready-Made Family. Michelle Douglas
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to sign.’
Blowing out a breath, he pulled the contract towards him and flipped through the pages to the end. And then he stilled and rubbed his forehead. ‘You don’t want any payment at all?’
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. What kind of people was he used to dealing with? ‘Of course I don’t want any payment! I’m not entitled to any payment. Rightfully the land is yours. If you want to pay anyone a fee for leasing the land, then pay your mother.’
He sat back. ‘I’ve offended you.’
Why did the wonder in his voice suddenly make her want to cry? Since Sarah’s death, the silliest, most unexpected things could make her cry. ‘You will if you keep going on in that vein.’
Her voice came out husky and choked. His gaze lowered to her mouth and it gave her a moment to study him. He had a strong jaw and lean lips and she couldn’t tear her eyes away. She could keep telling herself that he wasn’t sexy, but he was. His eyes darkened. A pulse throbbed in her bottom lip, swelling it and making it ache. The heat in the air between them sizzled with such unmistakable intensity it made her head whirl. With an oath, Cam pushed away from the table. He seized the teapot and started making tea. She closed her eyes. She’d been surrounded by death, preoccupied with it. Life wanted to reassert itself. This—her body’s rebellion at her common-sense strictures—was normal.
The explanation didn’t make the pounding in her blood lessen any, but it did start to clear the fog encasing her brain.
She jumped when Cam set a mug of tea in front of her, his face a mask. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just used to paying my own way.’
She wasn’t. Not really. Her cold realisation dissipated the last of the heat. She’d always relied on staff or assistants to take care of her day-to-day needs. But she could learn. She was learning.
He hooked out his chair again and sat. ‘A free ride feels wrong.’
‘It’s not a free ride. A free ride is if I also did the planting for you. You’d discussed that land with your mother. You had her permission to use it. Like you said, the fact it ended up on my lease agreement was simply an error or an oversight. Cameron, I have no plans for that land. I’m not losing out on anything.’
He didn’t say anything.
‘Besides, don’t knock a free ride. I’m getting one—a dollar a week rent! Who’d have thought that was possible?’
His lips turned upwards, but it wasn’t really a smile. ‘You’ve brought two school-age children into the area. You’re boosting the school’s numbers and increasing its chances of remaining open. The town will think it a very good swap.’
Speaking of children…She rose and went to the window again to check on them. She laughed at what she saw. ‘Are you sure they won’t wear Boomer out?’
‘I’m positive.’ He eyed her as she took her seat again. ‘They are safe with him. I promise.’
‘Oh! Of course they are. I didn’t mean…’ She could feel herself starting to colour under his stare. The thing was, most days she felt as if she didn’t know a darn thing about parenting at all. Maybe she did fuss a little too much, worry too much, but surely that was better than not fussing enough.
That was when the idea hit her.
He leant towards her, his eyes wary. ‘What?’
She surveyed him over the rim of her mug. ‘You’re obviously not very comfortable with me just handing the land back to you.’
‘You could make a tidy profit from the lease.’
‘Believe me, the one thing I don’t need to worry about is money.’ Sarah had seen to that. ‘But maybe,’ she started slowly, allowing the idea to develop more fully in her mind, ‘we could do a kind of swap. I’ll give you the land…’
‘In exchange for what?’
She rose and went to the window again. She loved those kids. Just how fiercely amazed her. She’d do anything for them. Anything. And what she needed to do most was provide them with a positive start here in Bellaroo Creek.
Cam stared at Tess as she peered out of the kitchen window again. She had a stillness and a straightness, even when agitated, that he found intriguing.
And she had the cutest little butt he’d ever seen. There’d probably been a hint of its perfect roundness in her tartan skirt yesterday if he’d been looking, but there was no hiding it in a pair of fitted jeans that hugged every curve with enviable snugness.
And today he was definitely looking!
For heaven’s sake, he was male. Men looked at—and appreciated—the female form. It was how they were wired. It didn’t mean anything.
But he hadn’t looked at a woman in that way since Fiona, and—
With a scowl, he dragged his gaze away. He needed to keep on task. Tess was proposing a deal of sorts. He glanced up to find her watching him, her brow furrowed as if she couldn’t figure him out. Not that he blamed her.
‘You can take the contract and run,’ she said. She walked back to the table, seized the contract, signed and dated it and then handed it back to him. ‘Nothing more needs to be said. I don’t believe you’re beholden to me, not one jot.’
Honour kept him in his seat. Tess hadn’t taken advantage of the situation as she could’ve done. As Lance and Fiona would’ve done. He did his best to clear the scowl from his face. She’d been reasonable and…generous. ‘What kind of bargain were you going to propose, Tess?’
‘I want to make moving to Bellaroo Creek a really positive experience for Ty and Krissie.’
She hadn’t needed to say that out loud. He could see how much it meant to her. He wanted to tell her how much he admired her for it, but he didn’t. He didn’t want her to think he’d mean anything more by it than simple admiration. Because he wouldn’t.
‘But frankly I’m clueless.’
That snapped him back. ‘About?’
She lifted her arms and let them drop. ‘Everything! I didn’t even know that was a lemon tree and yet you heard all our plans for it.’
Something inside him unhitched.
‘I don’t know the first thing about keeping chickens, but Krissie has her heart set on it. I expect I need a…a hutch or something.’
‘Henhouse.’
‘See? I don’t even have the right vocabulary. And what about a vegetable garden? Other than supposing there’s a lot of digging involved, I haven’t the foggiest idea where to start.’ She frowned. ‘I expect I’ll need compost.’
And, suddenly, Cam found himself laughing. ‘Believe me, Tess, the one thing we aren’t short of in Bellaroo Creek is compost.’
She gripped her hands on the table in front of her and leant towards him. ‘Plus I need to get Ty a puppy, but is a puppy and chickens a seriously bad combination?’
‘They don’t have to be.’ He leaned across and covered both of her hands with one of his own. She stiffened and he remembered the way he’d stiffened at her touch yesterday and was about to remove his hand when she relaxed. Her hands felt small and cold and instead of retreating he found his hand urging warmth into hers instead.
‘So you want help building a henhouse and a veggie patch, and in selecting a dog?’
‘It has to be a puppy. Apparently that’s very important.’
Cam understood that. He nodded.
‘And maybe some help choosing chickens?’
She winced as if she were asking too much, but it was all a piece of cake as far as he was concerned. ‘Tess, helping