Read Online Anything You Ask by Lynn Kellan - Free Book Online

to protect his expensive hearing aid from damage. He twisted so he landed belly first in the water, and slick mud seeped through the front of his jeans. No time for self-pity.
    The hen flapped wildly as she encountered the slop.
    Hale snatched the bird and stood, tucking her under his arm as he walked to the coop.
    Once the cantankerous hen was settled in her new home, Hale trudged back to the house.
    Cocoa trotted beside him with a rueful wag of her tail, her lower half slightly less muddy than his.
    Luke and Drew watched with something akin to adulation on their faces, but their admiration did little to assuage Hale’s embarrassment over Danielle witnessing his mud bath.
    Her mint green eyes widened. “Are you okay?”
    Hale pretended he didn’t feel downright humiliated. “I’m fine.”
    “G-good.” She flicked the curly ends of her ponytail off her shoulder and bit her lip.
    He frowned. Six years ago, this sort of thing would’ve had her in stitches. Back then, he never minded making a fool out of himself if it made her giggle. What would her laughter sound like with the help of his new hearing aid?
    “No wonder Cocoa panicked.” He braced a hand on his hip and acted like he wasn’t dripping in mud. “That was one vicious bird.”
    “Vicious?” Danielle shot an uncertain glance toward the coop.
    “Nothing is more terrifying than an angry hen.”
    “Didn’t you herd cattle in Oklahoma? Aren’t two-thousand pound bulls more intimidating?”
    “You definitely don’t want to stand too close to a Texas Longhorn. They can gore a hole straight through you, but did you see the look in that hen’s beady little eyes? Heck, one well-aimed peck could leave a mark.”
    Pointing out the absurdity of his chicken escapade was starting to work, because humor lifted the corner of his wife’s remarkable mouth.
    “I couldn’t believe Cocoa ran away from the chicken.” Danielle covered her mouth to conceal a smile. “When she bumped you into the puddle, mud splattered everywhere.” Two seconds ticked past and then she dissolved into laughter.
    Hale felt a sharp twist of triumph. In any given instant, Danielle took his breath away, but seeing her like this allowed him to hope he might burst through the wall she’d erected around her heart. As he watched her go into hysterics, he recognized the girl he once knew  the grad student who could critique a piece of literature one moment and catch the giggles the next.
    For the first time since they got married, she looked at him in undisguised interest. Her gaze started at his muddy boots and traveled up the length of his muck splattered jeans, pausing at the sludge caking his upper thighs. The effect was akin to getting zapped with a cattle prod. He would’ve gone anywhere she led him.
    Having his beautiful wife stare at his lower half in awe sent his testosterone levels sky high. Working hard to appear calm, he pointed to the filthy hem of his t-shirt. “This is why I try not to wear my hearing aid when I work. This crap would destroy it.”
    Danielle managed a nod before she again broke into giggles.
    Her mirth sounded like the best kind of music to a deaf man’s ears. Hale grinned. “Did you come out here just to watch me make a fool out of myself?”
    “No. I have a m-message for you.” She tried to take a deep breath. “Do you remember Ben Murphy? He went to Selinsgrove High School with you. He mentioned the two of you played on the baseball team together.” She glanced at the glop of mud on Hale’s belt buckle and her voice went up two octaves. “He said he…”
    She bent over to brace her hands on her knees and shook her head.
    “Maybe you should just write this down.” Hale chuckled.
    “No, I can do this.” She straightened and pulled a strand of hair from the corner of her mouth. “Ben owns a dairy farm across town. He heard you were here, and he offered to help if you need anything. He gave me his cell phone number so you can text