“Well, we don’t need you either,” Margo snapped.“Not if you’re going to drive away customers with your moping.”
“I can’t leave,” Logan sniped back.“Do you know how far the Cove is on crutches?No.I’m here now.Use me.”
Margo looked ready to throw one of Logan’s crutches at his head.Lilian couldn’t entirely blame her.
“Of course, you can’t leave,” she interjected.“It’s Pirate Weekend.And we need the sexiest pirate in the faire to help us woo some customers, so take this book and do what you do best.”She handed him a copy ofThe Princess Bride, which, as far as Lilian was concerned, counted as a pirate book.She gave Logan an encouraging smile, waiting for him to agree.
But all he did was give the paperback a scrutinizing look.
She fought down a sigh.“What is it?”
“I don’t like fantasy novels,” he told her primly.
Lilian was beginning to understand why Alex sent him away.And she was beginning to hate her friend for it.
“All right.”She snatched the book back.“Then do your best to try to get them in the door.Surely, Pirate King Devlin Locke can do that.”
Logan shrugged.“I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“That’s the spirit.”Lilian slapped him on the shoulder and retreated inside her shop.
Margo gave her a look.“We have to do something about him,” she whispered.“We can’t have a depressed, irritable pirate outside our shop.He’ll scare away customers.”
And they couldn’t risk losing momentum.Lilian nodded, looking around the shop thoughtfully.The shelves were already stocked with seafaring novels.TheHunt the Hunkwall had Logan’s picture, along with a few other members of his crew.
Then her eyes landed on the pile of fake flowers left over from Romance Weekend.A plan started to form.She scooped them up and carried them outside.One by one, she tied and twisted the plastic stems around the edges of Logan’s chair, surrounding him in a pastel explosion of flowers.The colors clashed wildly with his black wardrobe, but somehow it made Logan look like he belonged in front of her soft little bookshop.
“What are you doing, Ms.Bodice?”He frowned at the flowers.“I’m the pirate king.Not some springtime fae!”
“Every king deserves a throne.”Lilian smiled, adding a bundle of plastic roses to the arms of the chair.
“This is unbecoming of a pirate.”
“I think it makes you look dashing,” Lilian said before she could stop herself.
There was something about Logan that made him easy to tease.He could be overdramatic, but that only made it easier to play along with his character.It was easy to be Ms.Bodice around him and David.But when Hawk was nearby, the shield slipped away, leaving only Lilian.
Logan’s protests caught the attention of a woman and her daughter, who paused in front of the shop.The teenager giggled, and the mother looked amused.
His complaints paused as if he were coming to the same realization.His eyes darted from the flowers to Lilian, to the mother and daughter, who were suddenly making their way over.Just like that, his scowl tipped into a grin that would make any woman swoon.
“Well, if you think so,” he purred loud enough for their small audience to overhear.
“Excuse me,” the mother greeted timidly, phone in hand.“Would it be all right if I took a picture with you and my daughter?”
“Of course!”Logan cheered.“Why not both of you?Ms.Bodice here would be happy to snap a… what was it again?A pick-ture?”
The woman giggled while Lilian shook her head.She took the camera, waited while the two sidled up beside Logan, and snapped the picture.When it was done, she checked to make sure it turned out right.“Whoa…”
Her little flower throne photographed well.Reallywell.Logan’s black attire set a nice contrast against the vibrant flowers.It looked… almost professional.
His attention quickly deviated to the new arrivalsm where his charm went on full display.Lilian shook her head and ducked back into the shop where Margo stood watching in awe.
“What was that?”she asked.“One minute, the man won’t stop complaining, and the next, he’s exuding freaking Jack Sparrow charisma.”
“That,” Lilian said, “is acting.And this”—she gestured toward the mother-daughter pair who had wandered into the shop and were already picking through the pirate novels—“is marketing.”
Soon, a crowd had gathered.Their space was filled with women looking to take a picture with the faire’s very own pirate king.They quickly became a well-oiled machine: Logan smiled and flirted, Margo took the picture, and then the guests dutifully stepped into the shop to claim their reward from the wanted poster.
