I felt his gaze on me longer than was comfortable. Hank didn’t like blondes, I had to keep telling myself. Even though that felt suspiciously like very hot and dirty flirting. The man didnotlike blondes. I got myself and Hank a glass of ice water and we munched down our tacos silently. I wasn’t going to get those two chapters in today, but that was okay. The company was prettynice.
“It’s going to take me awhile to study your property,” he said after he wiped his mouth and took a long drag of water. “Is that going to botheryou?”
“I need to talk to you about that. I have some land here. Were you just wanting to do the front landscapingbeds?”
His gaze sharpened with predatory interest. “How much land do youhave?”
And here’s where things got tricky. No one except Pepper knew how much land I had. I kept it pretty quiet because I was a single girl and there were things in Midnight Cove that didn’t just go bump in the night. I didn’t want anyone trying to take advantage of me or to fully discover exactly how much land I had. But Hank? For some reason I felt like I could trusthim.
I usually didn’t feel like that with anyone except for Pepper. It wasn’t just that Hank was cute, because he was. I sensed a quiet soul within him. Someone trustworthy andhonest.
Plus...permaculture. Could he really be a bad guy if he chastised me about plants and saving the Earth? Possible butdoubtful.
“Ummm,” Ihedged.
Hank’s gaze narrowed. “Helen, I’m a gardener, not a businessman. The only thing I want to do to your land is make it beautiful. Andfunctional.”
I snorted. “I don’t tell a lot of people. I saved up a lot of money to buy thisproperty.”
He shrugged. “This used to be Old Man Haverstock’s property, right? I don’t think he had much land. Maybe anacre?”
“He was notoriously private. There are seven acres attachedhere.”
Hank’s brows drew together in surprise. “Wow.”
“I haven’t walked all of it yet, but I’ve gone about 2 ½ acres sofar.”
“Helen,” Hank’s voice was full of disapproval. “You don’t know what’s on yourproperty?”
“Some of it.” I shrugged. “The rest didn’t seem pertinent at the time. I own it. It’s not goinganywhere.”
“You should always know what you have,” he said. “Otherwise how are you going to know if it’smissing?”
I tilted my head. “A regular philosopher you are, Mr.Gardener.”
“Especially if you’re a young woman alone. “We’re going to walk the rest of your property today,okay?”
“I have another appointment. I’m not sure how long it’s going totake.”
“I’ll wait,” Hank said. “I’ll still need to draw up some sketches of your house and land. It will take meawhile.”
“Hank, when I do a raising...it’sprivate.”
He shrugged. “That’s fine. I won’twatch.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it. “I work outside. There’s an area in the back with a slab and some other things around it. If you could stay out of that area around 4:30 I’d appreciateit.”
Hank nodded and stood to rinse his cup out. “I’ve got my notebook in the truck.” He patted Margo, who had been suspiciously silent, on the head and walkedout.
“That man is weird,” I told thepuppy.
Margo gave me a strangled whine. “Hush now. You know it’s true.” I tossed a piece of chicken at her and she grabbed it right out of the air. “Goodgirl.”
I cleaned up the taco mess, slid off my shoes, and curled up on my couch with my paperback. I could read for a solid thirty minutes before I needed to freshen up for my next appointment. Margo jumped up beside me and rested her head on mylap.
“Helen?”
I startled awake and saw a pair of curious warm eyes staring atme.
