Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 95756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
“I wouldn’t. . .Macca, that’s not why I said it.” Shoot. She’d mucked this up. “I was worried you’d get sick of paying for everything, not that I would ever feel stuck here with you. That won’t ever happen.”
He leaned in and kissed her gently. “I know that’s not why you said anything. But it’s still something I should have thought of.” He rubbed his chin. “I’m going to set up a bank account for you and deposit money in it each week.”
She shook her head. “Nope. No way. I don’t want more of your money.”
This conversation wasn’t going how she wanted at all.
“But then you’ll have your own money and you won’t have to ask me for things. It’s something I should have done as soon as we arrived. I was just too busy showing you off.”
She blushed at the idea of him showing her off.
“I don’t want your money, Macca. I won’t use it.”
He gave her a stern look but she wasn’t budging on this. “You won’t use it?”
“Nope.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m putting my foot down about this.”
His eyes narrowed. “Your foot down?”
“Uh-huh. Do not open that account for me. It will be a waste of time.”
He studied her then he sighed. “All right.”
She blinked. Okay. That was easy. Not that she wasn’t grateful, the last thing she wanted to do was argue with him. But it was unexpected. “All right? You agree?”
“Yep. But there’s only one other alternative.”
“Me finding a job? I can try but I’ll have to get paid under the table.” Then there was the whole getting to work part. Driving on the other side of the road with different rules. Yeah, she wasn’t looking forward to that. She didn’t have her Australian driver’s license, even though she could drive.
“You’ll need to sell me half of Nan’s house.”
Her mouth dropped open. Sell him half the house? She couldn’t do that, could she? The house should be his anyway. She still couldn’t believe that Penny had left her the house when she’d died.
“I’ll give you the house,” she told him. “Not sure how it will work—”
He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Gigi, you’re not giving me the house. Nan wanted you to have it. It’s yours. But you’re letting my cousin live there rent-free when you could be earning an income from that. Or you could have sold it.”
“I don’t want to sell it.” That just felt wrong. That house was the first place she’d ever truly felt safe. Penny had taken her in, given her somewhere to live, she’d been more than a friend. She’d loved her. She wouldn’t sell her house. It was part of her.
“Then will you consider letting me buy half. Or let me pay you some rent on Everly’s behalf.”
“No way,” she said quickly. That was just the same as letting him open an account for her with his money.
“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d go for that one,” he replied dryly. “Think about it, all right?”
The idea did have some merit. Then he’d own part of Penny’s house. And he could be certain that she wouldn’t sell it. Not that she would. But it would give him some security. She didn’t want to take his money, though.
“Could I decide the price?” She could make it something ridiculously low.
“No,” he replied sternly. “It will be a fair market price and you will take what the market decides.”
She chewed at her lip. “But you’ll let me start paying for half the bills.”
“Baby, there’s barely any expenses living here. The cabin is provided as part of my job. All I pay for is a bit of food and cable.”
“But you’ll let me pay my share? If I sell you half the house?”
He sighed. “Gigi, you moved half-way around the world for me. I like taking care of you. You can’t work, and to be honest I’d be worried about you if you were working off the ranch. Especially when I wasn’t around to make certain you don’t get overtired or stressed. I know it sounds selfish, but when I’m working, I like knowing you’ll be safe here with people watching over you.”
He didn’t need to be worrying about her while he was away working. She got it.
“I don’t want you to worry. And I’m not really in any hurry to leave the ranch, particularly if I have to drive.” She grimaced.
“We do need to teach you to drive. You might eventually want to go places. Although there’s usually someone coming and going who can take you. I’d rather you focus on adapting to life here and on your health and on me than worry about money. Let me take care of you and keep your money for yourself.”
She sighed.
“I’m sure if the roles were reversed, you’d look after me.”