Page 25 of The Farmer Has a Wife

Danni started to giggle. “That’s the poshest problem I’ve ever heard. And I’d pay good money to see a video of it.”

“You haven’t got any money,” Eleanor reminded her, picking up the pitchfork again. “But I’m sure you have got plenty of other chores to do. So get to them.”

A couple of hours later, Danni found Eleanor sweaty, covered in dust, and oddly triumphant. She watched her grin in satisfaction at the work she’d done, and had to admit, she was impressed. “Nice job.”

“I deserve a medal,” Eleanor declared.

Danni smirked. “I’ll get you a sticker later. Ready for lunch?”

Eleanor disappeared upstairs to clean up while Danni, feeling magnanimous, made sandwiches from thick cut tomatoes and cheese that Hector had brought down the day before. When Eleanor came down, she was wearing jeans, neatly ironed, and a shirt with rolled up sleeves.

“What?” Eleanor said, catching Danni’s look. “I thought I should be more appropriately dressed.”

Danni wasn’t at all sure that appropriate was the word for the way those jeans curved over Eleanor’s backside, but she didn’t say anything. Eleanor sat and took a bite out of a sandwich.

“Delicious,” she said. “I wouldn’t have thought you capable of making sandwiches.”

Danni narrowed her eyes. “What do you think I eat? Grass?”

“I assumed you survived on raw meat and determination,” Eleanor said with a sniff.

Danni gave her a look, but was fighting back a grin. “Got another of those letters on Friday,” she said. “They’re coming in about once a week now.”

“Sounds about right,” Eleanor nodded. She wiped her hands on a napkin and sat up straighter. “Which reminds me, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”

“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” said Danni, taking another sandwich.

“It’s about ways to legally protect your farm from predatory buyers,” said Eleanor, dabbing the napkin to the corners of her mouth.

Danni blinked. “Legal protection?”

“I’ve been doing some research,” Eleanor said, pulling another of her neat notebooks to her. “There are ways to tie up the land in so much red tape that any investor would find it more trouble than it’s worth.”

Intrigued despite herself, Danni frowned. “Like what?”

Eleanor launched into an explanation, and Danni listened carefully, nodding along, genuinely interested in what Eleanor was saying. For a moment, she forgot that Eleanor was just a posh woman she’d crashed into with a tractor, a businesspartner in a business marriage. Her explanation was to the point, useful, and Eleanor herself was clever, quick, and actually trying to help.

Then Eleanor reached over to hand Danni a document, heavily highlighted, and their hands brushed.

For an instant, nobody moved.

Danni felt that odd shiver again, like her blood was warming up inside her. She gulped and pulled her hand away, even though it felt like pulling iron from a magnet.

Eleanor cleared her throat and slid the paper the rest of the way across the table to Danni. Danni leaned over it, feigning more interest than she really had, while she waited for the flush to dissipate from her cheeks.

THE REST OF the afternoon passed in a strange, new rhythm.

Danni found that she was unexpectedly observant, noticing things about Eleanor that she really hadn’t seen before. The way she chewed her lip when she was thinking, the way her hands moved when she talked. But then, she told herself, they hadn’t exactly spent a lot of time together before. In fact, this was probably more time than they collectively spent in each other's company in total.

For her part, Eleanor seemed to be relaxing more, laughing more, responding to Danni’s sarcasm with chuckles instead of rolling her eyes like a school prefect.

It was, Danni decided, quite nice actually.

Having someone to help with the farm was nice. Though she supposed it was no different than having Tommy around. Except it was different. Different in ways that she didn’t quite want to think about, thank you very much.

They were just finishing up for the day. Danni had corralled the chickens back into their coop, Eleanor had given Sam his evening oats. The sun was still warm and Eleanor stretched and sighed.

“What?” asked Danni.

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