Heated Rush - Leslie Kelly [52]
The Davis home was absolutely nothing like he’d pictured.
Shocked into silence because of his own faulty preconceptions, he drove up the hill. Given how wrong he was about the house, he had to wonder if he’d entirely underestimated the family he was about to meet, too.
A hint of misgiving crawled up his spine. Maybe this wasn’t going to be the piece of cake he’d figured it for.
Parking on the side of the house between two monstrous trucks and an SUV the size of a building, he heard Annie sigh in audible resignation. “What’s wrong?”
“They’re all already here,” she said, staring at the vehicles.
“Your brothers?”
“Uh-huh. I’d hoped to introduce you slowly, rather than to everybody all at once.”
“I thought they all lived here.”
“Randy does. But Steve and Jed both live in their own houses that they built nearby.”
Sean had a sudden suspicion. “On your father’s land?”
“He gave them each a hundred acres to build on when they turned twenty-five.”
He was starting to get the picture.
“Where’s your hundred?” he murmured, watching for her reaction, suspecting what it would be.
He wasn’t disappointed. She rubbed a hand over her eyes, sighed, then waved a hand generally toward the east.
“I see.”
Not only was he getting the picture, he’d begun to realize just how big that picture was. Annie was in no way the simple small-town girl she’d made herself out to be. Her family had to be rich as Croesus, running a highly successful dairy farm, owning the land as far as he could see. Which could explain their overprotectiveness toward Annie.
Sean hadn’t worried too much about meeting them, given his “crash course” and his ability to get along with just about anyone. Oh, he’d been prepared for them not to like him because of how much they wanted Annie to come home, but that was a natural thing, not too much of a concern.
Now that he saw the way they lived, however, he began to understand why, and to anticipate the true depth of their imminent dislike.
She was the only daughter in a wealthy, close-knit family who built their homes within miles of each other to make sure everyone stayed together. While Sean was the only son in a wealthy family who still tried to arrange marriages, for God’s sake.
He wondered what she’d say if she knew just how similar their backgrounds were. That he understood her a lot more than she might imagine.
He also wondered if it was a good thing, or a bad one, that his heart twisted in his chest for her when he realized how serious she’d been about her difficult family life.
He’d come here thinking her a typical I-can’t-go-home-without-a-man single girl. But she’d meant it. Her situation was every bit as tough as his own.
She’d chosen to escape by taking care of small children. He’d done so by taking care of the needs of strange women. Different…but rooted in the same dream of independence from the expectations of family.
He and Annie had the same dreams.
Sean was almost stunned by the depth of understanding—emotion—he suddenly felt toward the beautiful, strong-willed woman sitting beside him. The lengths she’d gone to might not have been as extreme as his, but she’d fought hard to get where she was, and to stay there. Including paying out a large sum of money that he suspected she couldn’t afford—since she didn’t live like her family supported her—to maintain her independence.
By bidding on him.
He’d do anything he could to help her. Anything except confide in her. Because Sean wasn’t anywhere near ready to tell her just how well he understood her plight, and what a similar kind of desperation had driven him to do.
He’d never much cared about his lifestyle, or what anyone thought of it, with the exception of his sister. And now…now, he realized with a sinking heart, Annie.
Shit. He