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“All I do? I keep the farm running.”
“Then it’s less of a farm and more of a ranch.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Seriously?”
“What? If your exports are only animal products, then it’s a ranch. Papa Bennie ran a mixed-use farm and focused on crops.”
“Bennie had far more employees and time. Crops require monitoring and people to pick them?—”
“The farm was U-pick.”
Oh, fuck how pretty she was. I was already starting to hate her.
“Still requires employees, princess.” I was barely able to control my voice, and Eric winced. He knew how mad I was getting. I didn’t ever use this tone with him, but he’d heard it once when Moosley, the resident diva cow, had tried to carry him into the barn to raise him better than I could.
“So, there’s no one else working here?”
“The trust wouldn’t let me hire anyone else. I only have permission to run the farm. Everything else went through the owner.”
“Oh,” she said. “Which is now me.”
“Yep.”
“So, I could just open the farm again?”
Fucking hell.“You would need to find the labor. And the money for thelabor.”
“Money. Does the farm have money?”
“What the—did you just come here on a dime? Did you not look into anything?”
“Not really, no. I thought I’d be fixing it to make it livable.”
“Livable for who?” I asked slowly.
“Me.”
My entire body tensed.Her? Livinghere?
“Listen, I’m not trying to cramp your style. And judging by the look on your face, I’ve stepped on some toes. I just want one of the four bedrooms to stay in for a bit. We can talk about running the farm once I figure out ... anything more than I know now. But for the time being, I just need a place to sleep.”
“The hay bales are free.”
Eric elbowed me.
There was nothing more humbling than being told by achildthat I was rude.
“Seriously? There’s not one free room? What, do you have a hoard of kids? Or a wife that needs her own bed?”
“If I had a wife, she wouldn’t sleep in a separate room.”
She shrugged. “You look like the kind of guy who would snore.”
Eric covered his mouth to hide a laugh.
He fucking liked her. I could tell. Despite how much I hated her, he likely never would.
“I’m gonna ignore that,” I said slowly. “Or else youwillbe sleeping in the hay bales.”