Page 113 of The Promise Of Rain

I guess you two don’t spend much time talking.

I understood her anger, but it had nothing to do with me.

But she was right about one thing, we needed to start talking.“How’s it going on the farm?”

He grimaced.“They don’t need my help, and as you know, it’s not my first choice.”

“What have you been doing all these weeks?”

“Research, paperwork, dealing with investments, and courting you.”He grinned.“That alone is a full-time job.”

I tried to smile but failed.“Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t working on the farm?”

He pressed his lips together, his brow lowering.“I don’t want my family involved in us in any way.Not yet.”

“Eventually?”I asked lightly.Did he hope things might iron out?

“Perhaps,” he allowed.

“Is it likely?”I asked softly.

He frowned.“They’re not happy I’m seeing you.And they’re even less happy that I won’t have much to do with them if they don’t accept you’re my choice.”

“I don’t want to come between you and your family.”

He leveled me with his gaze.“And that’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“Deacon,” I began.“Are you sure?”

He nodded.“You’re not looking at this from the right angle.You and me, we’re one.You’re worried about coming between me and my family.I’m worried about them coming between me and you.I’m not going to let that happen.”

I nodded, wondering how long he could hold out.

“Will you?”he asked, his eyes as serious as I’d ever seen them.

I blinked, my eyes skittering away as I thought about what he asked.The truth was, I had let them come between us.

And I still was.

But I could change.It would be hard enough for him to take a hard line with his family, he didn’t need to fight me on it as well.

“No,” I answered firmly.“I won’t.”

Hours later, after curling up on a couch I could well imagine being mine, he took me to bed, making love to me until the wee hours of the morning.

While he pulled my back to his chest, tucked his face into my neck, and fell into a deep sleep, I stared unseeing into the darkness.

Our relationship was a wild, off-the-tracks, rollercoaster with neither of us at the controls.And I was living a double life.

On one side, I fought off my mother, his mother, and the women who wanted him, while doing my utmost to avoid his father, and shield him from the dirt they flung at me.

On the other side, I pretended everything was perfect.

The more I kept from him, the harder it was to come clean.

It was a fine balance.

And I was teetering.