At his explanation, she felt as if a tiny weight had been taken off her injured pride.

“Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate you giving me a chance while I get everything straightened out with the authorities.”

“Don’t thank me yet.”

Ever since she had stepped out of the truck, an eerie feeling had overtaken her, as if something or someone was aware she was there. She glanced toward Silas as he talked; fear assailed her at his serious expression. Tensing, she prepared to run if he so much as …

“I should have asked you this before you took my job offer,” he continued. “There’s a part of the job that you might not want to do that only a woman can.”

Alanna swallowed the lump of fear in her throat. “What?” she asked, expecting the worst.

“Have you ever milked a goat?”

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

“No.” Breaking into relieved laughter, Alanna started walking again. “But I’m game. I like animals.”

“Have you ever been around goats before?”

“No. Why?” she asked curiously.

“Never mind, then. They’re wonderful creatures.”

Alanna was finally catching on that Silas was teasing her, as he had caught on to her nervousness.

“Is there a reason why only a woman can milk the goats?”

“Nope. None at all, other than the goats prefer a woman’s touch. Ginny will show you how.”

“Okay.” She didn’t know much about animals and had never been within ten miles of a goat. They looked cute in pictures. She couldn’t imagine it being hard to do.

Coming out of the trees, Alanna saw a trailer set in a small clearing.

“It doesn’t look like much,” Silas went up the three steps to open the metal door.

Haltingly, she went up after him to enter the trailer. She was out in the middle of nowhere, with a man she knew little to nothing about. If not for Greer Porter, she would have asked Silas to drive her back to town. She’d lived in huge cities her whole life. Treepoint presented one culture shock after another.

The small trailer sitting alone, removed from neighbors within shouting distance, had her pulse leaping in fear. She was a city girl at heart, so living here was going to be an adjustment.

Stepping inside the trailer, she was immediately struck by how homey it felt.

“Jody moved in with Jacob so you’d have your own place.”

The trailer was farther away from the road, so unless anyone was familiar with the Colemans’ property, it would go unseen. The con was it was even more isolated than she had expected.

“Thank you. I don’t want any of you to be displaced from your home just to accommodate me. I would be perfectly happy anywhere—”