narrowed her eyes. “Did you look me up?”
Caught. He’d been…curious. It was good to know one’s adversary.
“Didn’t you do the same with me?” he asked, feeling certain she had.
Her mouth twisted a little. “If I say no?”
“You’ve got more willpower than I do. I like to know who I’m dealing with.”
“What did you find out?”
“You don’t fail. Or rather you didn’t, until recently.” Mainly because she got a lot of help along the way. “What did you find out?”
“That you are pretty much off the radar.”
He liked things that way. “Yup. No newsworthy successes or failures. No arrests or convictions either.”
“So I assumed, or Karl wouldn’t have let you on the place while I was here.”
“Thereby saving you nineteen ninety-nine for the whole people-finder report?”
“Maybe.”
“Where’d you interview?”
She shook her head and started walking again, leaving Cole to carry the box.
“You don’t think you’ll get the job?” he guessed.
She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. “Oh, I’m going to get the job.” He tilted his head in a questioning way, and she drew in a breath. “I don’t talk about things until they’re settled. Good business practice.”
“Or you’re afraid of jinxing yourself.”
“I’m not afraid of jinxing myself,” she snapped just a little too quickly. “And just so you’re mentally prepared, I’m not moving immediately.”
“Why not?”
She turned back toward him. “I have some catching up to do financially.”
His eyes narrowed. “I assumed—”
“Incorrectly, it seems.” She gave him a cool smile.
“This wasn’t what we agreed on,” he said in a low voice.
“How so?”
“Karl told me you could stay here until you got a job. You just said you were going to get this job, therefore, you’re going to leave once you do.”
She blinked at him. “That wasn’t the deal.”
“It was. Trust me.” He leaned closer. “Better yet, call your grandfather. Ask him.”
He watched her jaw set as she considered his words.
“I leased a farm because I wanted to get away from people, not so that I could share my life with them. I entered into the agreement in good faith. I let you stay here temporarily for Karl’s sake. But what I really want is for you to make your own way in the world. Like everyone else.”
“I don’t have the resources to move again immediately.”
“How long do you need? After you land this job?”
She quickly jerked her head to one side, giving him a perfect profile. “I’d planned to stay for six months.”
He let out a disbelieving snort. “You need to alter your plan.”
“You have no idea how costly it was staying in Seattle while I looked for work. I need those six months.”
“And you have no idea how long it took me to save up to afford this lease.”
“It wouldn’t kill you to let me stay.”
“And it wouldn’t kill you to stand on your own two feet.”
The corner of her mouth twitched, but that was the only way he knew that the arrow had hit home. “I have always stood on my own two feet.” She pressed her lips together and swallowed. “You know nothing about me,” she said in a low voice.
Not exactly true.
“Kind of the way I want things to stay. I like your grandfather and wouldn’t hurt him for the world, but I’m not letting you take advantage of that fact.”
She reached out and snatched the wooden box from him. He let go a little too soon and she almost lost her balance, so he reached out to take her arm. Her muscles tightened beneath his grip, but he didn’t let go. “I know you feel like you’re the one getting the shaft here, but Taylor, you’re not. This is business. I won’t be taken advantage of.”
“I don’t understand how my being here results in you losing any kind of advantage.”
“Imagine if you rented an apartment and the landlord told you that he’d arranged to have someone living in your closet. You could try to ignore them, but they’d still be there, encroaching on the property you’d paid for.”
“I can’t afford to leave until I get a job.”
“I know. That was the agreement. You stay until you get a job.”
“I’ll need at least four weeks after that to get a paycheck and rent a place.”
“Four weeks is agreeable.” It was a pay period. And giving her that was generous of him.
She lifted her chin, and he couldn’t tell if she was angry or on the verge of tears. Maybe both. Maybe because she wasn’t getting her own way.
“I’m not the bad guy here.”
“Do you really believe that?” she muttered. She gave a small snort and then continued on past him, across the driveway to the door of the bunkhouse. She yanked it open with one hand, then shut it almost too carefully, as if doing her best to keep from slamming it.
Cole shook his head and followed the walk around his house. He wasn’t the bad guy. He just wanted what he’d bought and paid for—privacy. And damned if he was going to let Taylor’s needs supersede his own.
TAYLOR’S JAW MUSCLES were aching by the time she closed the bunkhouse door and set down the box. Max peeked out from under the chair where he’d taken sanctuary, then trotted across the floor to jump into the box, crouching so that only his ears showed above the edge.
“Wait for the pad, okay?” She bent to pick him up, noting that he must have gained at least a pound while in Carolyn’s care, and heaved him against her chest. He pushed his head against the underside of her chin, and she automatically sat so as not to have to keep supporting his weight.
“Damn it, Max, we’re in trouble again.” Almost, because she wasn’t about to allow herself
