“That’s what I mean.” Madeleine set her jaw against another bump. “You could knock the axle clean off if you’re not careful. Or fall out.” The Gator didn’t have seat belts, just metal hip restraints that didn’t feel very protective right now.

Hæra’s mouth pursed, and she looked thoughtful. “Are you concerned for my safety?”

That was an odd question from a woman obsessed with the dangers of a beach. “Of course I don’t want you to fall. Especially with me in the passenger seat.”

Hæra’s eyes widened. Then she took her foot off the accelerator, and the Gator slowed down. Before Madeleine could exhale in relief, Hæra said, “I wouldn’t let you come to harm. We’ll slow down.”

Madeleine’s right hand—the one Hæra had taken in her own minutes ago—tingled. So did the rest of her skin. She managed, “Thanks.”

“Of course. What do you think of the farm?”

Madeleine looked around at the rolling fields, dotted with sheep and, separately, cattle. It resembled the other farms she’d seen while island-hopping. Indeed, most of Orkney seemed, to her untrained eyes, to be pasture. Jorsay had definitely been the odd island out in that regard the last time she was here. “It’s beautiful, especially on a sunny day. Jonathan started it five years ago?”

“Jonathan and I started it,” Hæra corrected.

Madeleine winced. “Oh, of course. Sorry. I just meant…”

Hæra’s lips twitched into a little smile, although she kept her eyes straight ahead. “That Jonathan masterminded this whole enterprise and his bastard’s just along for the ride?”

Her hands clutched the hip restraint even harder. The metal dug into her palms, as if grounding her from the embarrassment. “I’d never have said that!”

“No. But would you have meant it?” Now Hæra cast her a shrewd glance.

Oh…darn it. Madeleine sighed. “I guess that’s what I was thinking, in less colorful language.”

“‘Colorful’? Oh, I see what you mean.” Hæra guided the Gator into two well-worn tire tracks in the grass. “You’d be wrong. I gave Jonathan the money for the farm.”

That was certainly unexpected. Madeleine would have to revise, yet again, her opinion of Hæra. “Because he…took you in?”

There was a pause. Hæra looked ahead, as if mapping out her answer, which meant it wouldn’t be straightforward. Madeleine had taught enough high schoolers to recognize someone searching for an explanation. She didn’t think Hæra was lying about funding the farm. That said, it obviously wasn’t so simple.

“Yes and no,” Hæra said. “I gave Jonathan the money before I moved here. It was part of an arrangement between us. A year later, I came to him, and he bought the land. We started the farm together.”