Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Trying not to focus on the sisters meant focusing on work. And focusing on work only reminded me that I’d married Allegra for her money. That had been fine when it was just a business deal. But now that we were together for real, the money element left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t want her to believe I was with her for her money. I didn’t want other people to think that. I certainly didn’t want to feel like money sat between us as an inevitable wall. Allegra would always have more money than me. Something that wouldn’t bother me so long as I didn’t feel like I, or the farm, was beholden to her financially.
Now that was definitely the case.
But if I could get the glamping pods up and running, then perhaps over time I could build enough capital to invest in more holiday lets on the land. Granddad wanted the land to remain a farm, but in this economy it couldn’t exist as that. The land needed to bring in profit in other ways, and holiday lets seemed like the thing that made most sense. Perhaps I could even build a holiday park with facilities. It was something to consider. There was enough unused land to do it.
The alarm cut through the bedroom, and I reluctantly eased from my wife’s warm body to switch it off.
I felt her sigh as she awoke.
Rolling back into her, I pulled her into my chest. “You okay?” I murmured in her ear.
Last night the sisters had talked for hours. Allegra had asked Aria to stay, but she’d insisted on calling a guard from the estate to pick her up and take her home. As soon as the SUV had driven out of sight, Allegra had hugged me tight.
“Did you tell her … anything?” I asked.
“No.” She raised her head, eyes lit with guilt. “She’s hurting enough right now without finding out about our dad. I meant it when I said that she doesn’t need to know.”
“I’m sorry if I caused trouble.”
“You didn’t,” she assured me. “You actually … Aria used to believe that something had happened to me to drive me off the rails as a teen. But I think over time, because I didn’t confide in her, she started to think I was kind of a natural-born disaster. You reminded her tonight that I’m not. And that’s enough for me.”
“Is it enough for her?”
Allegra shrugged sadly. “I don’t know. But right now she has more on her mind than me.” Tears filled her eyes. “I hate seeing her in pain. I mean, I know she and North will figure it out, but I hate that it’s going to be a struggle for them to have a baby. And … oh, Ari is so tough on herself. She feels like she’s letting North down, which is ridiculous. I …” She nibbled on her bottom lip, looking very much like her sister. “I texted North while Ari was in the bathroom. He needs to know how upset she is.”
“Will he come home?”
“Already on his way. He literally texted back in two seconds ‘on my way.’” Allegra smiled. “Nothing matters more to him than my sister.”
The longing in her voice did something to me. I … I realized that I wanted her to know that’s how I felt about her. But I couldn’t quite find the words.
Instead, I’d led her upstairs and helped her undress for bed, pulling her into my arms and telling her to sleep because she needed it after the emotional intensity of the evening.
Now, Allegra turned in my arms to face me. She pressed a soft kiss to my mouth and nuzzled her temple against my beard like a contented cat. “I’m good.”
And that’s when I finally found the words. “I want you to know that you are what matters most to me now.”
She lifted her gaze, those big brown eyes gleaming with wonder. “Really?”
I rested my forehead against hers. “Really.”
“I feel the same,” she whispered, voice hoarse with emotion. “You matter more than anything.”
Too much feeling coursed through me, I couldn’t speak. How the hell did I get so lucky to have found a wife who was … my best friend?
“No one makes me feel as safe as you do, Jared. I didn’t think I would ever find that.” She wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my neck.
And I vowed then and there that I would always be her safe place, and I’d never let anything harm this woman ever again.
Twenty-Eight
Allegra
These last few weeks I’d lived in a strange haze of unbelievable happiness and contentment, tinged with dread and anxiety. Last week, another ewe was found dead. Jared could put security cameras in the dairy to keep his cattle safe, but the sheep were out in the fields and there was no way to look after them twenty-four seven. He’d made the difficult decision to sell the flock again for their own safety. I’d stood holding his hand tight in mine just that morning while the sheep were loaded onto the truck to leave for their new home.