Read I'm Not in Love (Once Upon a Winter Book 2) for Free Online Page B

and she does well. Perhaps the customers can smell desperation on you.’
    ‘Perhaps…’ Ross chuckled. ‘Well, it’s all Greek to me. Give me an engine or a shovel any day and I’m happy as a pig in muck.’
    ‘Which is lucky as you’re a farmer.’
    ‘So I am!’ Ross laughed. ‘So your sister got home ok?’
    ‘Yes, no problems. Not that it would bother her if there were, she’d just rise above it like some serene and chilled disco queen.’
    ‘I can imagine,’ Ross smiled. ‘Not that I know her that well, of course…’
    They fell into an awkward pause, where Hannah wondered if he was thinking about what it might be like to know Gina well. He fiddled with the handle of his spade. It was an uncharacteristically doubtful gesture and showed a hint of vulnerability that Hannah hadn’t seen in him before.
    ‘So I can tell Mum you’ll call in?’ he asked, finally breaking the silence.
    ‘Yes, most definitely. And I’ll tell Gina that you were asking about her.’ Hannah didn’t quite know why she felt the need to reassure him of this, but it seemed like something he’d want to hear.
    ‘Great…’ Ross looked down at his boots as he dug his toe into a pile of upturned soil.
    ‘Well,’ Hannah said, ‘I’ll let you get on in peace.’
    He looked up and smiled, more like his usual self. ‘Enjoy the rest of your walk. Just be careful further down the lane – it’s muddier than it looks down there and I don’t want to have to winch you out with the tractor.’
    ‘I’m going straight home now. I think I’ve wasted enough time for one day; I need to get some work of my own done.’
    Ross tipped his forehead in a little salute. ‘Don’t forget my mum, will you?’
    ‘I won’t,’ she smiled. ‘What sort of cake does she like?’
    ‘You’re going to bake?’
    ‘Not likely! I’m not in the habit of poisoning my neighbours! I was going to pick one up from the bakery.’
    ‘Don’t do that,’ Ross said amiably, ‘she’d be heartbroken if she wasn’t able to make you a cake. She’s always finding excuses to bake – me and Dad will be wobbling around the farm if we don’t get more help eating them.’
    ‘Really? I feel a bit weird turning up empty handed at anyone’s house.’
    ‘What will really make her happy is just that – you turning up. She loves company and sometimes I think the farm is a bit remote. That’s why she gets involved in everything going.’
    ‘Well I can definitely do that then. Maybe I’ll see you when I pop in?’
    ‘Maybe… if I’m allowed anywhere near the kitchen when the girlie conversation is in full swing.’ Ross grinned.
    *
    After a few days had passed Hannah had collected a healthier pile of enquires from prospective suitors on the dating site. Most of them were entirely unsuitable, however, and she didn’t need to read more than a few lines of their message to figure this out. They either talked about themselves with an alarming degree of narcissism, or described their male appendages in an equally worrying manner. The ones who didn’t, sounded like mummy’s boys or the sort who would furtively steal your knickers to add to their private collection. Only one stood out as half human, someone calling himself Chris P. It was a normal name for a start, but that was probably all Hannah was going to get without meeting him. As she considered her options, Hannah asked herself, yet again, what the hell she was thinking of.
    She read the message again. And then she re-read Chris P’s profile. He looked ok. But only ok. Was that good enough? Was there any point in putting herself through this for only ok?
He’s probably much nicer in real life
, she told herself,
most people find it hard to sell themselves without looking like a twat
. She was sure she probably looked like a twat from her profile too. And you couldn’t get any sort of chemistry through a computer screen. There might be an instant physical attraction that she just wouldn’t know about