Page 29 of Hard to Love
Chapter Nine
Greer spent the next couple of days busting her ass, calling the other two leather toolers Delaney was barely still considering and asking them to return to Prophecy for the competition that would conclude the final stage of the decision-making process. She also set up a website describing the competition, asking for entries in everything from blacksmithing to quilting to wood carving with chainsaws, explaining the top overall artist would be awarded the grand cash prize, with the next two in line winning a much smaller amount but also a guaranteed spot in the co-op.
In addition to posting the announcement on the major social media sites, she contacted the arts councils in all fifty states and reached out to her contacts closer to home. Within forty-eight hours, she already had thirty artists registered for the competition.
Now, she was on her way to Sweetwater because it was time to show Alex what else she’d accomplished since she’d seen him last. Raylene had told Delaney that he’d kept to himself for the past couple of days, but that when she’d straightened his room she tossed a wastebasket full of drawings she thought were good enough to grace a museum exhibit.
So he was a perfectionist.
Do not think too hard about what that says about his skills in bed.
Greer pulled her car into Raylene’s driveway. When Greer knocked on the front door, Raylene answered with a smile and flour dusting her hands. Her ears looked as if they were getting ready to take a vacation, sporting a tangle of suitcases, passports, and tiny airplanes. “You here for lunch?”
“Only if you’ve got something I can take to go. I’m picking up Alex, then I need to scoot.”
Raylene’s sunny expression soured as though Greer had shoved a grapefruit into her mouth. “That boy. I swear he’s the most antisocial person I’ve ever met in my life. Damn shame too with as good-looking as he is. Old Mrs. Calhoun called yesterday trying to set him up with her newly divorced granddaughter. He wasn’t interested.”
Well, that tidbit warmed Greer’s heart more than a little. Maybe their mouth-to-mouth in front of her brother’s house hadn’t slipped his mind either. “You don’t say?”
“And you know how women are. The more elusive a man is, the more they want him. I’ve had a parade of single ladies traipsing through here with casseroles and baked goods. Baked goods! They’re bringing muffins and cookies and pies into my house.”
“They should be shot.”
Raylene rolled in her lips, but it didn’t cover her smile. “I admit to filching a piece of Sissy Duzsik’s peach pie.”
“Well?”
“Crust needed more butter.”
“Has Alex enjoyed this parade?”
“Damn man locks his door.”
“Well, he is renting the room. He has a right to have it to himself if he wants.”
“If you think you can do better, then good luck to you.” Raylene leaned forward, scrutinized Greer’s face, then sniffed. “You have on makeup and you’re wearing something sweet smelling.” She gave Greer’s sundress an up-and-down scan. “What are you up to?”
“Can’t a girl put on a skirt once in a while?”
“A girl who’s normally a hot mess because she can’t be bothered with fru-fru stuff? There’s a reason you’re wearing a dress. ’Fess up.”
Hmm…so Delaney hadn’t mentioned Greer’s scheme to her aunt. Did that mean Delaney thought Greer would be a big, fat failure, or was she just respecting the process?
Didn’t matter, because Greer had no plans to fail.
“I’m working on a new business idea, and Alex could make me or break me.”
“Break a heart, you mean. Because that looks like a man-snagging dress to me. And with those gorgeous boots, how could anyone resist?”
That was what Greer was hoping, but today wasn’t about persuading Alex to want her as a woman. It was about making him want what she could give him professionally. “That’s not why I’m here. This is business.”
Raylene glanced down at Greer’s prophecy boots again, twirled her finger toward the toes. “Do you think he could be…you know.”
Yeah, her subconscious had been mulling over that soul mate possibility for days now. She was still attracted to him, but he was more Dark Prince than Prince Charming. Not good soul mate material. “I’m not betting on it.”
Because something told her he wouldn’t be an easy man to love.
But something else told her that being loved by him would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. He obviously hadpassion for his art. He was intense. If he put those two gifts together and focused them on one woman.
