Mold Me [Dungeon Masters 4] (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) by Cara Adams Page B

cattle. Maybe exploring in our barns and even in the house while we’re gone.”
    Phoenix had never thought about that. A city person could lock their apartment, garage their car, and their property was safe. Well, pretty safe. But except when it snowed, the animals were all out in the fields, walking free and eating grass. To lock them in barns all year around would be both cruel to the animals and expensive as well. And there was no way to lock up crops.
    “What do your other neighbors think? Are they worried, too?”
    “Most of them are concerned. We’d all hoped it would just be bought by another farmer. Ideally by one whose fields border it to add to their property, but none of us can afford it,” said Lachlan.
    “Because the price is high so they can entice a developer? Likely it cost a bit to get all the permits and approvals they’d need to have it rezoned as housing.” She nodded, understanding the logic. Obviously the sellers wanted to get the best possible deal for their property.
    “Not tract housing, but houses on large allotments, yes.”
    Phoenix looked at the men. They both seemed very concerned, and rightly so. It was a worry.
    “Can we walk though there and look at the house and land? I’d like to read the signs, too, please.”
    “They have a security fence around the property. It’s been empty a long time. It was the subject of a disputed will. But we can drive around to that road and the front of the house if you’d like,” said Callum.
    “Yes, please, I would.”
    Phoenix couldn’t imagine herself coming up with a solution to the dilemma, but anything that worried two such strong and capable men had to be a major problem. So she’d look and learn, and see if she could think of any way around the problem. She was a fresh mind, a new set of eyes. Maybe she could think of something different they could do.

Chapter Six
     
    Lachlan was touched that Phoenix wanted to help them. As an admin in a publishing company he didn’t imagine she’d have any expert knowledge to advise them, but she was a clever woman, a quick thinker, and some different ideas might come to her. He really should talk to his neighbors again, he supposed. None of them was interested in the idea of the area becoming housing. All of them wanted to remain on the land and none of them was so rich they could consider buying the extra land for themselves.
    Lachlan collected the keys to his car while Callum took the bags of fruit inside. Callum got out to open and close all the gates on the way down to the road.
    “That’s a hell of a lot of gates. Don’t you get tired of opening and closing them all the time?” she asked.
    “It’s only once or twice a day. It’s not a big deal,” said Callum.
    “Can’t you get electric gate openers, like you can get electric garage door openers?”
    Lachlan took his gaze off the road to stare at Phoenix. He drove in and out every work day opening and closing all four gates, and it had never once occurred to him to think of a solution like that. Fuck, she was smart. Maybe she could solve the problem of the land behind them after all.
    Deliberately, he drove a circuitous route, wanting to show Phoenix their neighborhood. He had to concentrate on the road—not that there was a lot of traffic—but he knew Callum would be watching her every moment of the journey. He also let Callum answer her questions, only replying to some of her comments when he couldn’t help himself. She was very alert and had a real sense of appreciation, commenting on everything they passed, from the horses looking over a neighboring farmer’s fence, to a bush vibrant with purple and blue flowers.
    He stopped at the entrance to the property for sale, where Phoenix could read the signboard without getting out of the car if she wanted to. She bounced out of the backseat the moment he stopped the vehicle. Callum jumped out after her, following her the few paces to the signboard where she read everything. Lachlan