2. Sly Fox
Chapter 2
Sly Fox
K nox watched the woman’s face fall. After his years in the army, he knew false bravado when he saw it. She was afraid and nervous.
As a small woman, alone in the woods with a stranger who was taller and stronger, that made sense. But the fear had been in control until he’d asked why she was still here and still working.
He’d only meant why was she working when she wasn’t getting paid, but her reaction showed she was afraid of the answer. He assumed that meant she was desperate for the job. Which meant she’d like to be paid.
He didn’t have a clue about the financial end of things. That would be Burke’s area of expertise, but his brother had a full-time job that often took up eighty hours of his week.
Another reason for Knox to push for the family to keep the farm. They could reduce the hours of work and replace them with family time. Normal time. As far as he could tell, every one of his siblings worked too much. Himself included. They needed something to put life back into their lives.
But that didn’t mean he wanted to take anything away from this woman’s life. And it wasn’t because she was sexy as hell with eyes that tried to reach right into his soul. Nope. That had nothing to do with it.
He decided it was up to him to try to reassure her, although he didn’t know what was going to happen. Might as well be honest.
He tried to look non-threatening. “Sorry if that sounded abrasive. This inheritance came as a huge shock to us all. We didn’t know Jay. Hell, we didn’t even know about Jay. He was our grandfather’s brother, but our grandfather never spoke about a brother. We had no idea he existed until we got letters in the mail telling us we’d inherited this farm.”
Her eyes widened. “That must have been a shock.”
He agreed. “A huge one. We’re not sure what to do about it.”
That flicker of fear in her eyes returned. “What does your grandfather have to say?”
And that zing to his heart still hurt. “He passed away just about a year ago. Heart attack.”
“I’m so sorry. Jay passed away after a heart attack as well.”
That was a hell of a thing to have in common with a brother he hadn’t seen in decades. Knox ran his hands through his hair and stared at the trees overhead. They were starting to flower, beginning to bud. Signs of life and growth.
Something his great-uncle had apparently wanted him to experience.
What would it be like to watch those tiny buds grow into flowers, and then magic themselves into apples? The idea intrigued him like nothing had for years.
And that wasn’t due to the woman standing a few yards away. Well, he was intrigued by her as well, but the entire orchard fascinated him. He’d been strolling for over an hour and hadn’t seen anything to discourage him. In fact, he’d doubled down on his desire to talk his family into this.
He could get Lawson hooked on the required machinery. Jolie would be fascinated by the ecosystem and how to make it better. Burke breathed in numbers and breathed out spreadsheets, but Knox bet he’d love the place too, if they could get him out of the office. And Amber had a thing for old buildings. She’d love the farmhouses. Before Amber had gone into the hospitality field, he’d figured she’d go into renovations or interior design. She’d been full of ideas how to fix up Fox’s house. Despite the tiny space being suddenly full with five kids, it had become a home.
Amber could do that here. The entire family all could.
Knox pulled his attention from his thoughts, and back to Thea who studied him intently. “I can’t make any decisions without my siblings, but I can promise you that I’ll try to talk them into taking over the farm, into making it a profitable business. At the very least, you’ll be paid for the work you’re doing here.”
Her eyes flared with hope and it was all Knox could do to keep his feet planted instead of walking forward and pulling her in for a hug. The woman was magnetic.
He gestured to the mounds of dirt and plant matter. “The more I know, the more info I’ll have to convince my family. Why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here?”
A smile lit up her face, and he felt his insides go a little gooey. Holy hell, this woman could bring him to his knees with nothing more than that smile.
With the hand not holding the giant stick, Thea waved at the dirt with pride. “This is the composting center.”
“Compost?” Why in the hell would compost light up this woman?
Her husky laugh had his body tightening with desire, and he took two seconds to shut it down completely. The discipline he’d learned in the army had honed his ability to control his body. He wasn’t freaking her out with uncontrolled lust when they’d just met.
Thea nodded and waved her stick. “Compost. The most important component of any farm. Without good compost, you can’t have good soil. And good soil is magic.”
He loved her enthusiasm. “Magic?”
“Absolutely. Over the years, the soil has been depleted. We have to bring it back to its full glory. The key to doing that is proper nourishment. We don’t have a good composting facility here yet, so we’ve been doing it by hand while Jay saved up for it. This section is the most recent, so you can’t see much progress.”
She used her stick to point and then led the way. She moved without getting closer to him. “Each section was started in a different month over the last year. You can see how the branches, apples, and other material are breaking down the further we go back. This batch is the first one we created last year when I arrived. See how the material is so much further along in the process than that first pile? It’s not quick, but it’s working. By next year, we’ll have doubled our compost, even without a modern facility.”
She squatted down and ran her bare hand through what Knox would have called a gross, decaying mess. It appeared he’d have to change his perspective if he wanted to be a farm owner.
Thea picked up a handful of dirt and stood to show him. She used words like nitrates, and microbial, and microorganisms . He hadn’t come across any of those concepts in the research he’d done. But his research had involved running the farm itself. It appeared he had a lot to learn.
And with Thea as a teacher, he might be the most enthusiastic student ever.
A bout twenty minutes into her talk about the thrilling world of composting, Thea realized she’d barely stopped to breathe. It was her pet topic, and once she got going, it was difficult to reign herself in.
She stood up and brushed her hands on her jeans. “Sorry about that. I’ve been blathering on, and you probably don’t want to hear any of that.”
Knox tilted his head and studied her with amusement lighting his eyes. Not derision. Not even annoyance. At least she hadn’t pissed off her potential employer.
He grinned at her. “I actually found it fascinating. I learned a lot and hope to learn more.”
Well, that was nice to hear. Thea hoped it was true. “What are your immediate plans for the farm?”
He shrugged, and some of the light dimmed from his smile. “Not sure yet. Step one is to get a good overview of exactly what Jay left us. I want details to take back to my siblings so we can make an informed decision about what to do next.”
“I can tell you everything I know, but I’ve only been here for a year. Jay bought the property a year before that. Sadly, it hasn’t been a producing apple farm for more than a decade.”
Disappointment showed on his face. “That’s too bad. It would be easier for me to convince everyone if it was a productive business already.”
Thea needed Knox on board. If he was the most enthusiastic about keeping the property, she had to prove to him the place had enormous potential. “It could be. That was Jay’s plan. He’d hired me as his soil consultant, and that’s the most important step. Without healthy soil, nothing else matters. Not everyone has learned the values of regenerative farming, but it’s the healthiest way to bring soil, and what it produces, back to life.”
Knox studied her compost and looked back at the trees. “Are the trees still producing apples? Is there potential to make at least some money this year?”
Thea nodded. “Definitely. There will be apples in the fall, and they’ll be delicious. It’ll take some work to harvest them, but there will be a crop. The fact that the property has been let go for a decade isn’t a bad thing. A lot of the re-wilding has been happening naturally, and that’s a bonus.”
“How so?”
“To thrive, the trees should be supported by a complex biome. If you strip the soil of a variety of sources, you strip the land of its potential. By letting the orchard lie dormant for years, the biome is already more complex. Natural flora and fauna are returning.”
Knox frowned. “So it’s better to grow apples in a forest?”
“No. We don’t want it to get too far. We need to have flowers, grasses, legumes, and more, but it’s better if we choose what will work to support the trees in the best way possible.”
When he nodded and walked toward the trees, she followed but didn’t drop her stick. So far, Knox appeared to be a good human being. Unfortunately, her experience had taught her she couldn’t trust her own senses all of the time.
Knox squatted down beside the tree and studied the bark and the ground cover. “What parts of what’s here would you keep? What needs to change?”
The man asked good questions. His easy grace and confident manner spoke to strong mental and physical training. He trusted his body and himself.
“The trees in this section are mature and in their prime. They can handle cover crop being this close to their roots systems.”
“Cover crop?”
It was the same kind of conversation she’d had with Jay so many times. The old man had been interested in learning new things. He’d also loved to play devil’s advocate about every point she made. Every single point.
Her heart ached. It had been fun to debate with Jay, and she wanted to do it again. Instead she gathered her thoughts about how best to explain it all to this beginner. “Cover crop consists of the plants covering the ground throughout the orchard. Some plants are better than others. Weeds can choke out the good plants, including young trees, and take over the area. To be most effective, the helpful plants should have roots that grow down to different levels. That helps retain water and slow erosion.”
Another frown of concentration. “Isn’t erosion usually connected to rivers and moving water?”
“Sure. But water moves in lots of ways. When it rains, the water lands on trees and the ground quickly. It also drips down at different speeds from plants of various heights. It seeps into the ground the same way. Sometimes fast, other times slow. If there aren’t enough roots, the fast water will wash away the top layer of soil and all its nutrients. Slow water can be captured by the roots at different levels, keeping everything healthy.”
He grinned at her. “Why do I feel like you’re dumbing it down for me?”
She laughed. “If you’re new to farming, there’s a lot to learn. I’m trying not to overwhelm you and scare you off.”
He stood with that easy grace and smiled. “I take it you liked working for Jay.”
It wasn’t a question, but she nodded. “I did. Jay was a feisty old man who loved to grump about everything, even while he loved learning new things. He didn’t like to give away a penny without getting a quarter’s worth of value.”
Knox barked out a laugh. “That’s a damn good description of my grandfather. The brothers must have been a lot alike.”
She smiled. “Sounds like you loved your grandfather.”
He nodded. “I miss him a lot. His grumpy attitude. His challenging questions. His interfering pushiness.”
She wondered if he was even conscious of how he rubbed his chest as if he could ease the pain resting there. She understood the need, as she’d found herself doing that often over the past few weeks.
A happy bark had Thea smiling and turning to the far side of the orchard. The dog made everything better. He was a great judge of character, and she would see how he reacted to their new boss. Well, hopefully, their new boss.
Knox was interested in the process, but he was only one voice in his family. How many would she have to convince if they were going to take on the project?
She caught the flash of white as he bounded through the trees with another bark. The Great Pyrenees could be sloth-lazy or baby-bunny energetic. He loved these woods, and he was a great friend.
Knox drew her attention. “I take it this is your dog?”
She shrugged, wishing she could say the animal belonged to her. “He belongs to the land. Jay said he was here when he bought the farm. He roams at will and keeps the bobcats and coyotes away.”
The dog loped around a few trees and ran straight at Thea. Having learned from her bruises, she planted her feet firmly and held out her arms.
He jumped joyfully at her and put his forelegs on her shoulders, giving her a hug. She wrapped her arms around his warm body and squeezed. He rested his head against hers and they cuddled for a long moment. She figured he was the best friend she’d ever had.
Fox wiggled and hopped down, then turned his attention to Knox. The fact that the names rhymed made her smile. She waited to see how the two would react to each other.
Knox’s grin was huge. The man obviously loved dogs. He squatted and held his hand out for Fox to sniff. “Hey, there. You’re a beauty.”
While Fox sniffed at him, Knox turned his smile to her. “Not your dog, my ass. He’s a hundred percent your dog.”
Her heart warmed at his words.
Fox decided Knox was a good guy and licked his hand. Then he moved right in, forcing the man to pat him.
Knox laughed and complied. “What’s your name, bud?”
Thea smiled. “Knox, meet Fox.”
Knox stared at her in astonishment, giving the Pyrenees the opportunity to sit him on his butt. Then Fox crawled into the man’s lap.
Lucky dog.
Knox kept petting the dog, but his eyes were locked on hers. His voice was thick, and she watched him swallow hard. “Who named him Fox?”
“Jay did. He said some might think it was a ridiculous name for a dog, but it fit. What does that name mean to you?”
He closed his eyes as he ruffled the dog’s fur. “My grandfather’s name was Fox. Jay named the dog after his brother.”