Page 5 of Hottie on Her Shelf
Derek crossed his arms. “That’s ridiculous. You don’t have a chance in hell.”
“You mean because my last name isn’t Montgomery? Or because I’m originally from Crow Harbor?” Her hometown, a mere ten minutes away, was literally the wrong side of the tracks from Swan Cove.
“Yeah,” Derek said with a shrug.
The mayor stepped forward, his arms spread wide in a classic nonthreatening pose like he was trying to negotiate with an unhinged hostage-taker.
“What he means to say, Ms. Scott, is that the odds are never in your favor when you run against an incumbent. A campaign would suck up your time. Your money.”
She would give him points for proffering an explanation rather than an insult. “Not my money. We passed that campaign finance cap two years ago, remember? The town funds each candidate equally. Period.”
And then, then, the mayor’s gaze shifted over to Derek as if to check if what she said was true. It was appalling.
“You really don’t remember an important ballot measure that passed during your tenure? We’ll list that as reason number fourteen why I don’t just want to run for mayor now but need to.”
He put his hands together in a prayer position and tapped them against his perfectly aquiline nose. “Ms. Scott, I’m not trying to tell you what to do. I’m just pointing out facts. Facts that will indeed make it difficult for you to get through to an electorate that has proven to be happy with me as the face of this town.”
“People are happy with what they know. Sure, they like vanilla ice cream…until they try caramel fudge ribbon and realize there’s something far more to their liking.”
His charming facade didn’t exactly crack, but it did shimmer. As if she’d disturbed something in its depths. “You’re calling me vanilla?”
This time, Hallie gave a slow up-and-down once-over to the criminally handsome mayor and decided it was okay to make a point with one tiny lie. “At best.”
The shimmer of uncertainty smoothed out. The cocky grin returned. “Rich and decadent?”
Hallie waited a few seconds so that Mayor Montgomery could realize the unfortunate double meaning of his word choice. Great descriptors for a creamy dessert, sure.
Horrible descriptors for a man who held his position merely through nepotism. One who was beyond rich and probably had a lifestyle of disgusting decadence.
She didn’t pay much heed to gossip about anyone. Fictions in her books were so much better drawn than ridiculous stories that flew around town. But with a face so handsome? Money to throw around like beads at a Mardi Gras parade? The probability was high that there were at least a few decadent episodes in his past.
Yup. Hallie knew it hit him when two vertical lines grooved between his dark blond brows.
“For your information, the two top-selling flavors at Baskin-Robbins vacillate between Pralines ’n Cream and Mint Chocolate Chip. My take on that? People prefer a flavor that isn’t one note.”
“So you’re a reverse snob? My family’s bank account is your issue?”
“Not at all.” Mostly not. She’d have to watch herself. Reverse snobbery was just as wrong as actual snobbery. “My issue is that your family doesn’t do enough for this town withall that money.”
Those blue eyes lowered into a baleful squint. “For the record, I have nothing to do with my family’s money. I make my own way.”
Interesting.
Hallie had written him off as a trust-fund freewheeler, which went to show she’d need to dig in and do serious research on Fitz Montgomery. It also showed that she’d lazily made an assumption on appearances—the same thing she detested when people did it judging her background as a Crow Harbor native.
Maybe there was more to the mayor than she’d figured.
Maybe she had stepped into a monumentally more complex task than she’d realized…
Hallie couldn’t let that immediate panic show, though. Only swagger and confidence. “Be that as it may, as mayor, you should have done more to work with the city’s largest employer and biggest taxpayer.”
“You…you…you can’t go around spouting crap like that,” Derek spluttered. “Who the hell do you think you are, lady?”
“There are a plethora of ways to answer that. The most subjective response would be to get all threatening and say ‘your biggest problem.’ I could get aspirational and say ‘the next mayor of Swan Cove.’” Hallie threw back her shoulders. Yes, it made her stains all the more prominent, but this was a moment that called for a strong physicality with these jerks. “But here’s the simple fact of who I am down to my bones. I am a librarian, a repository and hoarder of knowledge. Therefore, I am not to be underestimated.”
With a sharp squeak of her shoes, she turned on her heel and made her way back down the hall and out the wide double front doors.
Only then did she let her trembling knees give way and sink onto the split-log edge of the flowerbed. Bravado was all well and good in the moment.
Living with the spur-of-the-moment decision she’d just made? Hallie wasn’t at all sure she had it in her.
Not even to ensure that smirk got permanently erased from Mayor Fitz Montgomery’s lips.
