“Ah, for some time now. I’d have to consult my records to be absolutely certain.”
She nodded and watched him leave. If her intuition was right, she shouldn’t trust this man or anyone else until she’d figured out what her grandfather’s state of mind had been before he died. If there was one thing he’d taught her, it was to trust only herself in life.
* * *
Nathan had seen Jessica in the office when he’d walked past, but he hadn’t acknowledged her, instead letting himself in and sitting in the kitchen so he wasn’t disturbing her. The oversize wooden table was bathed in sunlight, and he was nursing a beer when Jessica finally walked in to join him. He’d thought about not turning up, or leaving a note with the take-out food and leaving, but he’d made himself stay. It was time to start facing up to reality and stop hiding away, even if that did seem like mission impossible to him right now.
“I hope you don’t mind,” he said, raising the glass bottle.
Her smile reminded him of a look his wife had once given him, years ago, when they’d first met, and it surprised him by making him smile straight back at her. She looked a combination of exhausted and determined, but she also looked happy to see him.
“You can drink the lot,” she told him, opening and shutting the fridge, then disappearing from sight. She reemerged with a bottle of wine. “This is more my taste.”
He watched as she searched a few drawers for an opener.
“I think you’ll find it’s a screw top,” he said in a low voice, grimacing when she glared at him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Jessica frowned then shook her head. “I can’t even open a bottle of wine. This is definitely not my day. Un-freaking-believable.”
Nathan jumped up, leaving his beer on the table, and leaned over the counter to take the bottle from her. Her determined look had been replaced with one that verged on defeated, and he didn’t like it. Whatever the lawyer had said had really taken it out of her. He knew what defeated felt like, and it wasn’t an emotion he wanted her to experience.
“Bad meeting?” he asked.
“The worst,” she admitted, turning away only to reach for a glass. She set it on the counter. “I’ve basically spent the last couple of hours listening to some idiot lawyer try to tell me that the one person I admired most in the world, who’s looked after me my entire life, had lost his marbles. Either that or he wasn’t the astute investor I believed him to be—only I don’t buy that theory for a second.”
“That’s rubbish,” Nathan shot straight back, anger flaring within him. “I might have only known Jock a short time, but he was as sharp as a tack right to the end. That makes both theories impossible.”
“Really?” Jessica asked, taking the glass of wine he’d poured and taking a long, slow sip. “Do you honestly believe that? You’re not just saying it to make me feel better?”
Nathan shook his head and moved back to the table, motioning for her to join him. Her gold-flecked eyes were wide again, locked on his as she crossed the room and sat across from him. She tucked her long hair behind her ears, one hand on the glass, the other palm down on the table. He forced himself to glance away, out the window, to stop from staring. There was no denying she was beautiful, even if he was trying not to think about her like that—she was strikingly feminine yet at the same time fiercely strong. And something about that drew him to her as much as it made him want to walk straight out the door.
“Jock was old, but his memory never wavered. We must have spent hours talking every day, and if we weren’t just shooting the breeze talking, he was teaching me about horses,” he told her.
She sighed and took another sip. “So you’re telling me I shouldn’t believe the lawyer? That I could be right?”
“I’m telling you that you need to trust yourself.” Nathan leaned forward and nudged the bags of food in Jessica’s direction. “So how about we eat and you tell me what this so-called lawyer’s been saying.” He was pleased they had something to focus on while they ate—it took some of the pressure off.
Her gaze shifted, moving to the takeout he’d brought. “How many dishes did you order?”
Nathan grinned straight back at her. “I had no idea what you liked, so I went for Chinese and chose a little of everything.”
Jessica was still smiling when she started poking around, taking cartons out and looking inside. “I’m thinking we’ll both have enough leftovers to keep us in food for a week.”
He liked her easy smile, the way she’d gone from not trusting him to confiding in him, and it was as if he already knew her. After hearing so much about her from Jock, he’d been wanting to meet her, and that was before he’d realized how gorgeous she would be. Not to mention he’d been expecting someone a little more...broken. Jessica might be in pain, might have almost died and ended her career, but she didn’t look anything close to broken to Nathan. The fiery blonde was all bent out of shape over whatever the lawyer had said to her, and he wanted to know more. Because if he could help, there was nothing he wouldn’t do, not when it meant helping the granddaughter of the man who’d brought him back from the brink and made him believe he at least had a future ahead of him. He had a long way to go, but life wasn’t as dark as it had seemed when he’d first arrived.
She held up the throwaway chopsticks and broke them apart then pulled a lid off one dish, expertly helping herself to noodles like she was as used to using them as he was a knife and fork.
“So what do you think of this place?”
Her question took him by surprise. “I wouldn’t have stayed so long if I didn’t love it.”
Her sigh made him look up, forgetting what he’d been about to eat.
“Why?” he asked.
She met his gaze, eyes dull as she opened her mouth to answer him. He tried not to stare at her lips, at the way they moved when she blew out a breath.
“Because from what the lawyer’s telling me, it’ll be on the market before the end of the month, so I might need a buyer. You interested?”
He put down his chopsticks. “You’re serious?” He’d realized things were bad, that Jock’s affairs obviously hadn’t been left in order, but to sell the place?
“Deadly,” she answered straight back.
He had no idea what to say. “You’re sure that’s something you have to consider?”
“Honestly?” She shook her head, tears making her big brown eyes look like they were swimming. “I hope not, but from what I heard tonight I don’t know what else I’ll be able to do.”
Nathan picked up a spring roll between his fingers and dipped it in sauce, slowly eating it as he digested her words.
“If it comes to selling, if it’s what you have to do, I’ll buy the place myself.”
She laughed. “Yeah, right.”
Nathan cleared his throat and looked up, not wanting to sound arrogant but needing her to know it wasn’t an empty offer. That he could buy it tomorrow and come up with the cash immediately if he had to. “I’m serious.”
Her laughter died, the uneasy smile wiped from her face. She studied him, eyes no longer full of tears—her gaze was serious now. “You could actually buy this place, just like that?” she asked.
He shrugged, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. A year ago, hell, a few months ago, he’d have had no problem letting anyone know what he could afford, but since coming here...he just didn’t want to be that guy anymore. Staying on the farm had given him the break he’d needed, and it had also given him a fresh start, even if he was going to have to face reality and head home one day soon.