Page 55 of Taken By Storm

God, he saiddessertsuggestively, like he considered himself a sweet treat.

“Tonight’s not a good night. I still need to do a lot of baking for the stand.”

Scottie’s jaw clenched. He really didn’t like being rejected.

“I’ve been crunching the numbers,” she hastily said, trying to change the subject. “And I’m going to call Herb tomorrow to see about setting up a payment plan.”

Scottie didn’t reply at first, but given his frown and the way his lips were pursed tightly, she could tell he was about to discard the suggestion.

“We would only need about six months,” she continued. “A year at most. We’re going to start planting carrots, and once we sell the yield from that?—”

“I hate to burst your bubble, Kasi, but the town council voted a few years ago to do away with payment plans because too many people were taking advantage of them. Herb couldn’t agree to that even if he wanted to.”

“Oh.”

“As I said, the town is only able to function as well as it does due to the tax money we collect. This isn’t the kind of thing you can nickel or dime your way out of, Kasi. Plus, you didn’t just miss one year. You missed two.”

“I know, but?—”

“I’ve spent some time considering your dilemma, trying to figure out a way I could help you. Wehavebeen neighbors for nearly two decades, after all.”

Kasi wasn’t sure how to reply to that. They may have lived next door to each other for nearly two decades, but Scottie had always struck her as the kind of guy who wouldn’t spit on a person if they were dying of thirst, and she’d never seen any trace of neighborly concern from the man prior to last fall. Which was when he’d started stopping by the stand, giving her that smarmy smile he thought was flirty and charming but actually made her skin crawl. Counting tonight, he had asked her out a dozen times and alluded to marriage a few times, which she’d flat-out discounted.

She’d always turned down his invitations to a date, claiming she was too busy with chores, which was true.

“Okay,” she said, wondering—and almost hoping—he was proposing a loan because that would be preferable to marrying the idiot. Of course, knowing him, it would most likely be one of those high-interest loans that only benefited him because she could totally see Gracemont’s mayor in the role of loan shark, shaking people down for more cash. Which would only land them in deeper financial trouble farther down the road.

“The perfect solution is still staring us both in the face because it’s something that will solve not only your problem but one of mine as well.”

The look he was suddenly giving her had her stomach twisting itself in knots because she knew where this was going. She shook her head. “No.”

“Yes. You and I will get married.”

Kasi had a bad habit of laughing when she was nervous. The bark of laughter that followed his proposal was completely the wrong response and she knew it the second it happened.

Scottie’s smile faded and his eyes turned black with anger. “You think that’s funny?”

“No, I don’t,” she hastened to say. Then she searched for some excuse for the laugh and came up with nothing.

“I wouldn’t joke about something as serious as marriage.”

Kasi was out of her league in this conversation because…

What. The. Fuck.

“I know you wouldn’t. It’s just marriage seems like a rather extreme step to take. We’re not in a relationship.”

“And whose fault is that? I’ve asked you out countless times.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to point out that a man with half a brain, who was a hell of a lot less narcissistic would have figured out by now that she wasn’t interested in him. Scottie unfortunately possessed all the ego and none of the smarts.

“It’s the perfect answer,” he pressed on. “Our farms adjoin. After you and I wed, we simply tear down the fence and make one big farm. By joining your family’s land together with mine, Grover’s Farm would become the largest farm in the county.”

Kasi didn’t like the way he used the words “after you and I wed,” like it was a foregone conclusion that the nuptials would happen. She also didn’t know why the combined land suddenly became Grover’s Farm instead of Lucky Penny Farm.

“But your family doesn’t farm your land,” she pointed out. “You breed horses.”

“That’s right. And we hope to extend our business to include training as well. In order to do that, we need more land.”

---