Wild Man Creek (Virgin River #14)(43)

This whole situation with Colin was not a world she was familiar with. In her world people exchanged phone numbers and if a man interested you, you gave him your business card, email address and office number. You didn’t go after him like a hungry cat on the back porch and then yell at him for not going all the way! She didn’t even know how to reach him or where he lived and the only way he could reach her was by driving to her house—without an appointment.

“I’m completely out of my mind,” she muttered.

“What’s that, Miss Matlock?” Denny asked.

“I’m completely out of my mind…. To think I can grow Purple Calabash. And, for the love of Christ, will you please call me Jillian! Or Jill!”

He laughed at her. “Sure thing, Jillian. And if anyone can grow it, I bet you can. You know, there’s something I’ve been meaning to say.”

She turned toward him. “What’s that, Denny?”

“I don’t know how to say it. I like the work here—I guess that’s how you say it. I’m kind of into it. I hope you still need me when the seedlings sprout, when the fruit comes in.”

She smiled happily at that. “I like that. I’ll keep you busy as long as I can. It all depends on the plants.”

“I get that—if they don’t come in strong, it’s not working.”

“That’s about it.”

“So there’s this other thing,” he said. “I know I’m younger than you by about eight years, but—”

She stiffened. She got serious. “You aren’t going to ask me to adopt you, are you, Denny?”

“No,” he said with a laugh. “I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner. Just to Jack’s, but it’s about the best dinner around.”

All of a sudden she had a cold feeling rush through her. “We can’t ever,” she said, maybe a little more harshly than she meant to. She took a deep breath; this young man was the furthest thing from a schemer she knew. “If we have dinner together at Jack’s, which I’d like to do, we have to go Dutch. You work for me. I would be exploiting you by dating you.”

“Seriously?” he asked with a laugh.

“As a heart attack,” she said.

“Whoa,” he said. “I wouldn’t see it as exploiting. I’d kind of see it as a miracle. But I wasn’t really thinking of it as a date, Jillian. I was more thinking of it as a thank-you. For the work, the job.”

She caved; she smiled back. “You are the best guy,” she said. “Okay, here’s a secret. Are you good for it? A secret?”

“They’ll have to rip my tongue out,” he said.

“I’m kind of seeing someone.”

“Oh, let me guess. The painter?”

“Now why would you say that?” she asked, hands on her hips.

“I don’t know. Because no one else came to mind? But I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.”

“It’s casual….” Jill said self-consciously. “Unofficial. That’s why I said ‘kind of’ and never expected you to guess….”

“I won’t tell. But I notice you do get a little happy when he comes around.” Oh, happy didn’t touch it, she thought. She got crazy, liquid, wild and demanding—a complete out-of-body experience. That’s what happy did to her.

“Well, if it doesn’t work out with the painter, let me know,” Denny said, grinning at his own joke. “Seriously, Miss…Jillian, I was just being social. I wasn’t planning to propose or anything. I just thought it might be good if you got out more.” Then he smiled. “You know, do the town.”

“That’s cool. I guess I misinterpreted your intention. Because rule number one—you can’t get away with dating your boss.”

“Aw, I never thought of it that way. I admit, I didn’t expect the boss thing—I expected the age thing.”

“Well, there’s that, too,” she said. And then, because he was such a darling young man and such a hard worker, she added, “but you are mature for your age.”

His chest puffed up and his eyes twinkled. “Thank you, Miss Matlock. So are you.”

At that, she threw a fistful of manure at him.

When you’re basically a farmer and not sure when your brand-new potential lover could be coming to call, it’s hard to know when is a good time to shower off the dirt and grime. Now that the sun was setting later, Jillian liked to put in a longer day in the garden, but given the possibility that Colin could show up unannounced, she sent Denny off at five and then jumped in the shower.

She shaved above the knees, a desperate and obvious move. She put lotion on her entire body, blew her hair so it would be thick and soft, even put on a little makeup. But when she dressed it was in a comfy sweat suit—a soft, clean, powder-blue set. She slipped into the fluffy slippers. When she walked out of the maid’s quarters, there he was, sitting in her recliner, feet raised up, paging through a seed catalog. She put her hands on her h*ps and let out a sigh.

“I heard the shower and didn’t want to scare you,” he said. “But if you’re really determined to keep people like me out, there are always locks.” She wasn’t determined to keep him out! She had never been so glad to see anyone and tried not to let that show on her face. “I’m kind of surprised you came back,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me last night. I don’t think I was very nice to you.”