No. She didn’t care what he thought. He sucked.
Well. He didn’t totally suck. She needed his help. And if he totally sucked, she wouldn’t seek out his help. Not at all.
“Trust me on this,” she said. “People likeme. They likeyou.Wedon’t like each other, but that is one of life’s great mysteries.”
He stared at her still, those uncompromising green eyes making her heart flutter.
Maybe it wasn’t so much a mystery why they didn’t like each other. No. She suppressed that thought.
“Walk me through this,” he said. “Danielle is descended from politically active people in this town.”
“So are you,” she said.
He huffed a laugh. “You know that part of my bloodline has never counted for much of anything. I’m a Wilder through and through.”
“I do know that,” she said. “And here’s what I think: I think the average person in this town is actually tired of the status quo. I think they’re tired of … this narrative. Aren’t you?”
“No. The present narrative gets me laid. That’s actually all I care about, Jessie.”
She ground her teeth together, holding back what she really wanted to say. Holding back a reply that was going to get them both in trouble. “Well,I’mtired of it. Danielle is no good, that’s the thing. She’s petty, and she wastes the town’s money. She hurt your sister-in-law, she’s hurting my family business with her new anti-noise ordinances, and suggesting a dining tax for people who want to eat here is ridiculous.”
“Yeah. It is. It’s also a town filled with cowboys and ranchers and people who have nothing to do with the tourism circus.”
“I know,” she said. “But she also wants to gut the historic society, the library, she wants to go back on the plaque changes. It’s not just your outlaw angle that I’m after. You’ve got the rancher angle too. Together we are as local as it gets. And we have a different perspective from Danielle’s.”
“Your family also has a reputation for scamming people. You yourself spend a good amount of time right here, parting fools from their money.”
“A bet is a bet. I also have connections with a lot of people in town.”
“Connections?Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
“Well,” she said, feeling her temper ignite. “Even if that is what the kids are calling it these days, between the two of us …”
“Point taken.”
“Come on. You have nothing to lose.”
“I don’t have to marry you, do I?” he asked. He sounded so horrified by the thought, it was almost funny.
“No. It’s going to start tonight. We’re going to make everybody think that you and I hooked up. And from this point on, we’ll be totally inseparable.”
“That is insane,” he said.
“Maybe. Maybe it is. But maybe it’s genius. We will be the subject of so much gossip,somuch gossip. People are going to be fascinated. Everyone knows we don’t like each other. A Wilder and a Hancock? Becoming physically and emotionally intimate? Insanity. Me running for mayor, double insanity.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “I don’t know whether I’m terrified of you or in awe of you, because this is starting to make sense.”
There was that cult leader skill set shining through.
“You know I’m right. People are tired of Danielle and her minions. Hell, half of the town isn’t even going to bother to vote, or they’re going to write inAustin Wilder. Not your brother, the dead one. Because they’re just so bored. So let’s make them not bored.”
“Am I actually helping you execute some evil, maniacal super-villain plan to take over the world?”
She crossed her arms. “Rustler Mountain isn’t the world.”
“Maybe not. But I’m a little bit nervous about helping you ascend to power.”
“I have good intentions. I …” She ignored the strange hitch in her chest. “I care about this town, okay? Or at least I care about my ability to exist here. And what I want to do is going to help preserve small business, and not just small businesses my friends own.”
