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Danni handed her a chipped mug of tea. “First, we drink this. Then we complain about our lives and realize that we’re both up shit’s creek in different but equally annoying ways.”

“You make it sound so appealing,” Eleanor said, taking the mug hesitantly.

“You’ll love it,” Danni said with a smirk. She sat down and wrapped her long-fingered hands around her mug. “So what’s up with you, then?”

Eleanor looked at her in surprise. “Nothing. Other than my car, of course.”

“No, come on. You said you’ve got your own problems. So what are they? Educate the uneducated masses. You might as well tell me. You’ve got to sit here until you drink your tea anyway,” Danni said. “And it might help me have a bit more sympathy for you.”

“Charming,” Eleanor said again. But she took a breath, looked into her teacup, and then, to her immense surprise, found herself explaining her predicament. The house, the renovations, the chances of her getting concussed before breakfast, which made Danni chuckle in a most annoying way. And then the inheritance clause, the trust, the sheer absurdity of needing a husband just to claim what was rightfully hers.

And Danni listened, nodding along as she took large, scalding sips of her tea, seeming genuinely interested. When Eleanor finished, Danni leaned back in her chair. “That’s crazy,” she said. “Your rich ancestors really said, ‘no house for you unless you bag a husband’?”

Eleanor sighed. “In essence, yes.”

Danni tilted her head. “Why don’t you just sell it?”

Eleanor blinked at her. “Excuse me?”

“The house,” Danni shrugged. “If it’s causing this much of a headache, why don’t you and your grandmother just sell it and move on?”

Eleanor gaped. “Because it’s my home.” She raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you just sell this farm?”

Danni’s smirk faded slightly. “Right,” she said. “Yeah. I suppose I get it. Sometimes… a place can define who you are, what you are.”

The words cut right to the heart of it and Eleanor was surprised that Danni, of all people, had said them. A moment of silence stretched between them. The kind of silence where two people unexpectedly recognize something familiar in one another. Eleanor didn’t like it.

Danni took another mouthful of tea and leaned forward. “Well, sounds like we’re both in a right mess.”

“Yes,” Eleanor said in agreement. “We are.” There was another pause until, without thinking, Eleanor muttered, “Unless you’re in the market for a bride.”

To be clear, she had meant it as a joke. An utterly ridiculous, impossible joke.

Which was why it was deeply alarming when Danni said, completely straight-faced, “Alright.”

Eleanor stared. “Excuse me?”

Danni shrugged again. “Why not? Unless…” She narrowed her eyes at Eleanor. “Have you got money? Or are you one of those aristocrats that hasn’t got two pennies to rub together and you kill your own deer, that sort of thing?”

“A lady does not discuss finances,” Eleanor said primly.

“Only asking,” said Danni, grumpily.

And Eleanor, stung by the idea that Danni would think that she would run a failing estate, took a breath. “There are accounts that go along with the house,” she said. “We are not… bankrupt.”

“Alright then,” Danni said, more cheerfully. “In that case, why not get wed? You get to keep your house. I can get a bit of financial help to fix my farm up from your ‘accounts that go along with the house’. Win-win.”

Eleanor laughed, half in disbelief. “Why not? Because we don’t live in an eighteenth century romance novel, that’s why not. Honestly, I do think that marriages of convenience have ratheroutstayed their course.”

“Really though?” Danni asked with a thoughtful sniff. “I mean, rich lady, poor farmer, marriage of convenience. It all seems a bit on-brand.”

Eleanor opened her mouth and then closed it again. It was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. And yet… The idea did make a certain amount of sense, she supposed.

Danni leaned back, arms behind her head. “We could do it, you know? Just a business arrangement.”

And the quaint kitchen suddenly felt a little suffocating. Eleanor pushed her chair back. “I have to go.”

Danni grinned. “You do that. Give it some thought. See what you come up with. I don’t see why we shouldn’t both help each other out, though. I think it’s a great idea, actually.”