Anything You Ask (3 page)

Drew scratched his head, leaving a clump of blond hair sticking out from his temple. “What did you do wrong?”

“I couldn’t stop one of our barns from burning down. The damage cost my father a lot of money.”

Danielle gave Hale a grateful nod, silently thanking him for softening the truth so the boys’ grandfather didn’t look so heartless.

Drew passed the basket of rolls to Hale. “Didn’t anyone help you put out the fire?”

“By the time everyone got to the barn, the flames were too strong.”

The look in his eyes echoed the soot-stained anguish on his face when he stumbled out of the flames that summer night. She remembered hugging him tight, asking if he was okay. His body shook as he buried his face in her neck with a groan.
The hay caught fire. I couldn’t stop it, Dani. It spread too quickly.
She assumed the hay combusted, which sometimes happened when any type of grass wasn’t thoroughly dried before baling.

She never thought Hale’s father would blame him for setting the blaze.

“Where do you live now?” Drew sopped up some sauce with his bread.

“Oklahoma. I work on a cattle ranch.”

Luke gasped. “Are you a cowboy?”

Hale chuckled as he spread butter on a roll. “Yeah, I guess you could say so.”

The boys traded wide-eyed looks of amazement. Danielle could tell their mysterious uncle suddenly possessed the same star power as their favorite baseball pitcher.

“Our uncle is a cowboy and we have meatballs!” Drew speared one on the tines of his fork and held up the delicacy in celebration.

Hale frowned down at the six grape-sized meatballs on his plate. “Don’t you usually have meat?”

“I’m budgeting, trying not to spend too much.” Danielle twirled a precious strand of spaghetti on her fork as though nothing was wrong. She honed that skill to perfection toward the end of her marriage.

When she looked up, she realized Hale was comparing her meager serving of noodles to the hearty piles of food on the rest of their plates.

Without a word, he pushed his chair from the table and scraped half his dinner on top of her thin lump of pasta.

“I’m not very hungry.” Danielle’s mouth watered as four meatballs tumbled onto her plate, releasing the luscious scent of cooked beef.

He fired a determined look from across the table as he sat again. “I’ll give you money for groceries.”

“There’s no need.” Shame flared across her face in a hot blush. She didn’t want his charity. In this family, asking for help set you up for years of criticism. “We’re fine.”

“I know you are, Danielle.” He met her gaze. “After dinner, I’m heading back into the barn to do more work. Then we need to talk.”

She nodded, unused to seeing such forthrightness in a Cooper’s eyes. Over the last few months of her marriage, guilt had marred her husband’s unsteady gaze. Shaking off that sad memory, she swallowed a mouthful of saliva as she quartered the meatballs to make them last longer.

Luke’s brow crinkled like it did whenever he tried to figure something out. “Is Uncle Hale going to sleep on the couch like Dad did?”

The fork slipped out of Danielle’s hand and dropped onto the plate with a loud clatter. She didn’t dare meet Hale’s gaze, but she watched his big hand grip his water glass tight enough to make the suntanned skin across his broad knuckles turn white.

“W-we don’t have a guest room, so Uncle Hale will sleep in the living room.” Desperate to escape the smoldering tension blanketing the kitchen, she hurried to finish her dinner. Thanks to Luke’s accidental revelation that his father slept on the couch rather than with her, the prized meatballs tasted like sawdust on her dry tongue.

Three hours later, Danielle sank onto the dark navy blue couch in her family room and watched Hale settle on the hassock across from her.

He placed a yellow legal notepad on the coffee table between them.

From what she could tell, he’d written down everything that needed to get done around the farm. She rubbed her fingertips along her brow, trying to remember if she’d ever seen Mark with a to-do list.

“This place is a mess.” Hale stared at the notepad and shook his head. “The workshop is a wreck, none of the machinery has been tuned-up, and the barn needs a lot of work.”

Shame throbbed under her skin as Danielle looked down at her chapped hands. The small red nicks scattered across her knuckles reminded her she’d spent the past four months trying to stop everything from going to pieces.

“You don’t have many options,” Hale continued. “You can rent the fields to other farmers, but that revenue may not cover your bills.”

“I’ve already asked around. Nobody’s interested in renting the land.” Danielle leaned forward, voicing the idea that had been percolating ever since she embraced Hale’s solid shoulders that morning. He was the one man who knew these fallow fields well enough to make them green again. “Would you be willing to form a partnership? If you could help me plant crops, we could split the profits.”

“Won’t be enough money to split.” Hale’s solemn gaze met hers. “How much did you and Mark make last year? Given the drought, you might’ve netted twenty thousand dollars at most. Dividing a small profit will make us both suffer.”

“To be brutally honest, I’m not convinced this place will ever be profitable again.” She sighed and stared down at the long list on the coffee table. “I don’t see how I’ll ever get out of here.”

“I do.” He rested his elbows on his thighs. “I want this place, Danielle. Being kicked off the farm hurt like hell. I’d like to buy this land from you. Problem is, I’ll have to sink my savings into a mortgage. That won’t leave much money to fix up this place, and you’ll still have a ton of debt. I have a solution to both problems.” Eyes narrowed, he drew in a deep breath. “I’m willing to take on the farm and the debt if you marry me.”

“Marry you?” Shock stiffened her muscles, and her voice shot up an octave. “Are you insane?”

He opened his hands and shrugged. “If you marry me, I’ll have a stake in the farm. I can use my money to get things working again and put crops in the ground. The proceeds from the harvest will pay off your debt. Once that’s taken care of, you can get a place of your own and start a new life. I only ask that you give me the farm in return.” The muscle along his jaw flexed and his gaze narrowed. “I can’t walk away from my life in Oklahoma and sink my money into this place without some guarantee I’ll get the farm when you leave. Filing a legal agreement would take too long and cost too much, but we can get married in three days.”

“
No
. I married Mark because I was alone and scared. I won’t make the same mistake again.” She stood and started to walk around the coffee table.

Hale rose to block her escape. “What do you mean by mistake?”

This was a chance to explain why Mark slept on the couch, but she couldn’t. Admitting she and her husband lived separate lives hurt too much. “I knew Mark for five months before we got married. That wasn’t long enough.”

“You’ve known me for over six years.” Hale pointed in her direction. “You’re the only one who stayed in contact with me after I left.”

“Texting each other once in a while isn’t the same as being together every day. We’ve both changed, Hale.” She escaped by winding around the other side of the table.

“Your boys inhaled those meatballs tonight like they haven’t had beef in weeks. There are dark shadows under your eyes, which tells me you’ve been working like a dog to scrape together enough money to feed them, but it’s not enough to feed yourself.”

Anger spurted from the pit of desperation deep in her gut. Was he insinuating she couldn’t take care of her boys?

“Never mind. I can fix this. I’ll think of a way.” She narrowed her eyes and walked past him.

With a swift move, he grabbed her arm. “Damn it, Dani. I thought you needed me.”

“I’m willing to consider a partnership,” she hissed, pulling out of his grip. “Not marriage.”

“Marriage
is
a partnership. You don’t have to do this alone,” he insisted, jabbing his index finger at the list on the table. “This place needs a ton of work. Let me help. Marry me.”

She let out a strangled laugh. “Are you asking me to sleep with you in exchange for bailing me out?”

The corner of his mouth tightened as he drew a hand through his dark blond hair. “I’m asking you to make a commitment to me so I can do the same for you. That’s what marriage used to be about, right? Forming alliances, transferring property, and securing wealth. It’s the only way I can think of to take the farm off your hands and get you out of debt.”

The clock on the fireplace mantel ticked as Danielle tried to think of a better solution, but her brain kept flicking back to the growing pile of bills on her desk.

Hale hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans. “Besides, this place has belonged to the Cooper family for over a hundred years. Give your boys a chance to live here a little while longer.”

Resentment balled up in her stomach. “I don’t want to stay in this weed-infested prison.”

“Then leave. I’ll give you fair market price for the farm.” He spread his arms wide, palms up. “What will you do about the loans? Let them chew up every dollar you earn? Or file for bankruptcy so Mark’s mistakes will stain your financial record for the rest of your life?”

Danielle looked down at the beige carpet in mute fury as she thought how Mark’s bad decisions threatened to destroy her. No way could she erase the loans, not on the salary she earned as an adjunct professor. Even if she were lucky enough to find a full-time tenure track position, she would work for ages to pay off everything.

“You and I can turn things around,” Hale stated in a quiet voice. “How much do you owe?”

When she told him, his eyebrows rose. After a brittle moment, he exhaled and stared down at the floor, shaking his head.

Barely breathing, Danielle rubbed her thumb along her index finger to soothe her nerves until he spoke again.

“With hard work and good weather, our harvest might eliminate a good portion of that debt by the end of September. If you give me the farm, you’ll be free to go in six months.”

“You make this arrangement sound so simple.” Despair’s tight grip made shaking her head difficult. “It’s not.”

He opened his hands. “This is the best I can offer.”

Her legs went weak at the notion of getting married again

to another Cooper, no less. She clamped a hand on the upholstered chair and stared at the fabric’s taupe weave in dazed silence. When she contemplated seeking his aid, she never expected
this
.

“Give me your answer tomorrow morning. If it’s no, I’ll do what I can to get some crops into the ground before I head back to Oklahoma.” The muscles along his jaw flexed and his blue eyes sparked with resolve. “If it’s yes, I’ll work like hell to pay you back for believing in me all those years ago.”

Chapter Three

Hale sat on the couch and held his head in his hands, wondering why Danielle hadn’t slapped him a few moments ago. He winced, remembering the husky hurt in her voice when she asked if he offered to bail her out in exchange for them sleeping together. Her stung expression made him feel like the worst kind of creep.

Truth was, he
did
want to sleep with her, more than ever. Distance and time hadn’t diminished the kick of anguished longing in his gut the minute he saw Danielle again.

A furry muzzle nudged his leg, lifting him out of his bleak musings.

“Sorry, girl. You’ll be sleeping on the floor and I’ll be stuck on the couch for the next couple of days. Don’t know if I’ll be able to improve those arrangements.” Hale stared into Cocoa’s soulful brown eyes while he stroked her soft head. She scooted closer until her wide chest pressed against his. The affectionate way she rested her head on his thigh soothed his bruised heart. He tussled her ears. “Why didn’t you stop me when I sounded like I’d help Danielle for sex? Now she thinks I’m some kind of pervert.”

He’d never force her to do something she didn’t want to do, in or out of the bedroom, but Danielle had no way of knowing that. Years had passed since she’d seen him. No wonder she hesitated to gamble on what kind of a man he’d become.

Then again, she was in deep trouble. Perhaps she’d accept his unconventional marriage proposal if she knew he didn’t expect sex as part of the deal.

Muttering a curse, he looked across the room to the staircase. Now that she’d gone upstairs, he’d have to wait until morning before he could set things right. He’d already made his bed, so to speak. Now he’d have to sleep in it.

He glanced around the room and acknowledged this was a step up from the old cabin he shared with two other guys on the Oklahoma ranch. Those bachelor quarters were cramped and a bit of a dump.

Danielle’s house was the opposite

spacious and attractive. Woodwork around the big windows gleamed in the light thrown off by the lamp. The focal point of the room was a large stone fireplace, flanked by oak built-in shelves big enough to hold a small TV and a large assortment of books.

Hale’s chest constricted when he spotted the oak toy chest tucked in the corner. The neat mitered corners and fine craftsmanship belonged to Mark. Cabinetry was always what he did best.