Engaging The Enemy. Reese Ryan

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СКАЧАТЬ So he does have manners. He just uses them selectively.

      “Parker Abbott, what brings you into my shop today?” Kayleigh stood straight as a rod and tried to relax her involuntary scowl.

      She’d returned to Magnolia Lake to start a business after going to college in Nashville and then living in Atlanta. Waging an outright war with the Abbotts would be detrimental to her interests. Besides, despite her disdain for Parker and his father, his mother and sister were nice enough. They’d been longtime customers and had referred lots of other clients. They’d even invited her to sell a few of her higher-end pieces on consignment at the distillery gift shop.

      It was a lucrative partnership. So despite her utter disdain for the man who’d once been her closest friend, but betrayed her without the slightest hint of an apology, she would play nice.

      For now.

      “I wondered if you planned on coming in or if you were auditioning to be a living statue.”

       Okay, maybe not exactly nice, but close enough.

      He glared at her with his typical Parker Abbott glare, but then he did something beyond strange.

      He actually smiled.

      Or at least he was attempting to smile. He looked like Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

      She kept that observation to herself, but she couldn’t help the smirk that spread across her face.

      “Good afternoon, Kayleigh,” Parker said in a tone that was unnaturally cheerful for him. “I was hoping I could have a few minutes of your time, if you’re not too busy.”

      Kayleigh scanned the empty store, but bit back a flippant response. “Sure. What can I do for you, Abbott?”

      Parker relaxed and his smile looked a little more natural. “Actually, I’d like to do something for you.”

      “Is that right?” Kayleigh folded her arms, one eyebrow raised. “Now, what would that be?”

      Parker indicated the two chaises placed back-to-back in the center of the store. “Would it be all right if we sat?”

      Kayleigh shrugged. “Sure.”

      After Parker took a seat on one of the chaises, she sat at the opposite end and turned toward him, glancing at the leather cuff timepiece on her wrist. “You were saying?”

      Parker was one of the most impatient men she knew. Why, for God’s sake, wasn’t he getting to the point? She had orders to complete and ship.

      “I’d like to buy your store.”

      “What?”

      Surely she’d misheard him. Why on earth would Parker want to do that? The man had no use for her jewelry; he only wore a watch. In fact he collected high-end timepieces purchased at seizure auctions and estate sales. But that was the extent of his jewelry collection, as far as she could tell.

      Kayleigh schooled her features, determined not to show her surprise. “I’m sorry, did you say you want to purchase my store?”

      Parker straightened his tie and made another attempt at a smile. This one was better. “Not the store, per se. What we’re after is the building. You’d be free to reestablish the store wherever you’d like.”

      Kayleigh almost laughed. She pointed to the worn floorboards beneath her. “You want this building?”

      She loved this place, but the old girl was falling apart at the seams. She’d bought it five years ago, expecting it to be a long-term fixer-upper. But the building had required expensive repairs to the foundation, new plumbing and electrical rewiring. All of which had cost a bundle but had done little to improve the aesthetics.

      The ancient roof had been patched more times than she cared to admit, and the HVAC system for the store was just about on its last legs. The nicest part of the building was the apartment she rented out upstairs. Her apartment, also upstairs, had plenty of shabby but very little chic.

      “Why would you want to buy my building? The distillery is ten miles from here. And if you want a building in town, why not one built in that new multipurpose shopping center your brother is building up the road?”

      There was a tick in Parker’s jaw and his mask slipped. He seemed to be making a real effort to hide his annoyance, but it flickered in his dark eyes.

      “We have plans for it.”

      It was evident that Parker didn’t want to share those plans. At least not with her.

      “Thank you for the offer, but my building isn’t for sale,” Kayleigh said politely, rising to her feet.

      “You haven’t even heard my offer.” Parker stood, too.

      “It doesn’t matter what you’re offering because the building isn’t for sale.” She folded her arms again.

      “Despite its current condition, I’ll give you the tax-assessed value of the building.”

      Though she knew the information was public, it made her skin crawl to think that Parker had gone through her records. She scowled. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

      She walked behind the counter, hoping he’d get the hint.

      “Kayleigh, you’re being unreasonable. I’m making you a generous offer.” When she didn’t reply, he waved his large hand around the room. “My God, look at this place. No one in their right mind is going to give you full value for this building in the condition it’s in now.”

      “I plan to fix the place up. Flip it, eventually.”

      “We both know that’s not something you can afford. If you could, you surely would’ve replaced that old, leaky roof by now.”

      Kayleigh’s face stung. It was one thing for her to disparage her old, run-down building; it was another thing altogether for the high-and-mighty Lord Parker Abbott to do it.

      “You don’t know anything about me or what I can afford,” she seethed, her pulse racing.

      “Then why haven’t you—”

      “I’ll replace the damn roof when I’m good and ready.”

      Parker sighed, clearly exasperated that she hadn’t fallen to her knees and kissed his expensive Italian loafers, thanking him for his “generous” offer.

      “It’s your first property and it’s where you started your business. You’re sentimental about the place. I get it. I’ll offer you five percent above tax value.”

      “No.” Kayleigh peered at him.

      “Ten percent above.”

      “No.” Her heart jackhammered in her chest. Partly because she was indignant that Parker Abbott thought he could just walk in off the street and steal her building right from under her. As if she was an inconsequential bug he could squash under his heel and then keep СКАЧАТЬ