“Allie!” Kate said happily, greeting her sister-in-law. Allie had married Carter Holbrook, Grant’s cousin.
I could practically see flames shooting out of Hunter’s nose when he realized that Carter Holbrook was standing a few feet in front of him.
“Get out of my city,” Hunter snarled to Carter. “We don’t want any Holbrooks here.”
“Excuse me, Hunter,” I admonished, wagging my finger at him. “Harrogate is welcoming to all who visit.” I greeted Carter with a handshake. Dark-haired and blue-eyed, he was opposite in coloring to Hunter.
“Welcome to our little town, Carter.”
“Hardly little,” Carter declared, “if you have a train just randomly running down the street.”
“You can’t be serious,” Hunter hissed at me.
I smiled brightly at him. “Is there a problem?”
He scowled at me then slid on his sunglasses. “If you want to play dirty, we’ll play dirty.”
I reached up and straightened his tie. “Bring it. I like it when you get a little naughty.” I winked at him.
The tendon in his neck jumped, and he turned on his heel and stalked down the street.
Allie applauded slowly.
“That’s how you deal with men like that. Grind his ball sack into the dirt.”
She reached out to shake my hand. “I’m here to help for a little bit. Kate wants me to help kick-start your campaign.”
“Plus,” Carter added cheerfully, “if it’s dirty politics you’re after, Allie’s the one you want. She used to regularly break up bar fights.”
Allie tossed her hair. “Oh, that’s just me going through life!”
14
Hunter
“Iam calling this emergency meeting,” I said, pacing around the campaign office later that morning, “because Holbrooks have infiltrated our community right under our noses.”
“I told you last night,” Calvin said. I had allowed several of the kids to skip school if they were working on my campaigning. It was a real-life civics lesson. Also, people in the town liked my cute little brothers, and since the triplets had just been expelled from the third day care in the city, I needed someone to watch them while I was working.
“Am I getting paid to be here?” Isaac complained.
“Everyone else is,” I retorted, “but you aren’t. You’re still on punishment.”
He sighed dramatically.
I stared him down. “You have anything else smart you want to add?”
“No,” he grumbled.
“Too bad, because I need ideas. Meg has teamed up with the Holbrooks, our sworn enemies.” I resumed my pacing around the campaign office. “We are going to crush them; this has become personal.”
“Really?” Garrett drawled. “Because the amount of money you’re spending on this campaign has become personal for me. Honestly. Fifty thousand dollars to the Harrogate Girls Club?”
“It was the Harrogate Health and Wellness committee,” I countered.
“And yet an organization called The Intimate Pickle cashed the check. I’m trying to teach the children fiscal responsibility, and you are ruining my efforts,” Garrett said coldly.
“I’m buying votes,” I snapped.
