Her Three Entrepreneurs [The Hot Millionaires #8] (21 page)
“What about Angela from the pub?” Athena asked with an impish smile. “She’s got her eye on you.”
Her grandfather actually blushed. “She’ll get over it. I’d only disappoint her.”
Athena looked severe. “We’ll see about that.”
Bay listened to this exchange, knowing that it would never be possible for things to return to normal for Athena and her grandfather. It would be a long time before Mr. Lloyd could pull his weight at the farm. With only two workers and Athena to rely on, and the winter fast approaching, he would fall further and further into debt. He left Athena alone with her grandfather and motioned for the others to join him outside. He needed to run a plan that he’d been formulating past them and allow Athena to spend a little private time with her grandfather.
“All set?” he asked her when she emerged a short time later.
“Yes.”
She seemed withdrawn and a little sad. Bay exchanged a glance with his buddies. He could only hope that her sadness was the result of their imminent separation.
“There’s something I forgot to mention to your grandfather,” Bay said, slipping back into the ward. “Take Athena home, Dex. I’ll be right behind you.”
When he got back to the farm a short time later, he found Athena sitting outside in the late afternoon sunshine, flanked by his buddies. The guys had beers and Athena was sipping at a glass of wine. Max and George had left for the day.
“Hey,” he said. “You all look comfortable.”
Actually, Athena looked distraught. Bay sat at her feet, nodding his thanks to Dex when he passed him an open bottle of beer.
“We shouldn’t be drinking beer, strictly speaking. It ought to be champagne.”
“To celebrate getting to the bottom of Gramps’s problems, you mean?” Athena shook her head. “Sorry, we don’t have any champagne.”
“Actually, that’s not what I meant.” Bay smiled at her. “I figured we ought to drink a toast to your new life.”
She wrinkled her brow. “What new life?”
“We have a proposition for you,” he said.
“I knew it. You want to buy the farm and figure you’ve earned the right.” She shook her head. “Sorry, I know it’s going to be tough for us until Gramps gets back on his feet, but he still won’t sell.”
“We know that,” Dex said.
“We thought we might ask him to sell us the big barn,” Marty said. “The one we park our cars in.”
“Why?”
“Barn conversations are all the rage nowadays.”
“I’m not following you. I guess I’m a little slow today, but are you saying that you want to convert it into living quarters and then sell it on?” She frowned. “Gramps could certainly use the money, but I’m not sure he’d like strangers living right on top of him.”
“Not strangers,” Bay said, “but us. And he likes us.”
“You?” Athena shook her head. “You want to live here?”
“Only if you’ll marry one of us and live with us,” Bay said, taking her hand and gently squeezing her fingers.
Athena gaped at him. “Did you just propose?”
“Yep. We haven’t known you for long, Athena, but it’s long enough for us all to agree that you’re the one for us. We want to share the rest of our lives with you.”
“But we know you can’t leave your grandfather,” Marty said, “nor would we ask you to.”
“If we buy the barn, it means he can pay off his loans and hire more help,” Dex explained. “The barn’s plenty big enough for the four of us.”
“And he will sell. It’s what I went to ask him earlier,” Bay explained. “He said he would do it because he wants to see you happy.”
She blushed scarlet. “He knows about us.”
“I think he’s probably guessed.” Bay chuckled, amused by her coy response.
“But you work in America.”
“Only some of the time. We’re concentrating on expanding over here right now,” Dex reminded her.
“Besides, when we go to the States, what’s stopping you from tagging along?” Marty asked.
“Well, nothing I suppose, not if Gramps has all the help he needs.” She looked at each of them in turn. “I think I must be dreaming. I was dreading you all leaving, and now you’re saying you want to stay.”
Bay scowled. “You don’t want us to? Did we get that bit wrong?”
“Oh yes, no question, but will I be enough for you? You seem so demanding and…well, there’s only one of me.”
“We love sharing you,” Dex said. “We love you. It’s as simple as that. We never thought it would happen, but it has and we’re all pretty damned pleased about it. What do you say?”
What did she say? Her heart swelled with love and happiness. She was too choked up to speak, but she figured she didn’t have to say anything. By the looks on their faces, her expression had done all the talking for her.
THE END
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Zara Chase is a British author who spends a lot of her time travelling the world. Being a gypsy provides her with ample opportunities to scope out exotic locations for her stories. She likes to involve her heroines in her erotic novels in all sorts of dangerous situations—and not only with the hunky heroes whom they encounter along the way. Murder, blackmail, kidnapping, and fraud—to name just a few of life’s more common crimes—make frequent appearances in her books, adding pace and excitement to her racy stories.
Zara is an animal lover who enjoys keeping fit and is on a one-woman mission to keep the wine industry ahead of the recession.
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