Read Online Cloudy With a Chance of Marriage by Kieran Kramer - Free Book Online

you’d never be pursuing any woman with any remotely honorable intentions,” she replied instantly, “and second, I wouldn’t in a million years allow myself to be pursued by you.”
    “Oh, is that all? We can work around that .”
    “Oh, really?” Miss Jones picked up the broom again and held it close to her chest. “What you’re asking of me is too much, Captain.” Her voice was fervent with disapproval. “I can’t possibly allow it.”
    He’d been prepared for her to object. “They’re here for only a little while,” he soothed her. “Life with them is going to be difficult enough as it is, but if they think I’m eligible to court their daughter, it will be so much worse. I told them you have no idea I want to pursue you. You may act ignorant of the whole matter.”
    “If that’s true, why did you bother even telling me?”
    She wouldn’t give him an inch, his shrewd neighbor. “Because I wanted you to understand why I’ll be acting rather warm toward you in their presence. And there’s always the chance the obnoxious Sir Ned might say something denigrating about my supposed quest to have you. He’d no doubt like to dissuade your interest. I didn’t want you caught off guard if that happens.”
    Miss Jones’s brows almost crossed over her nose. “Why don’t you simply move out while they’re here?”
    “I can’t. I’ve got repairs on the house to make before I sell it. I’ve got to stay.”
    She said nothing, merely pinched her mouth shut.
    “I know you have no reason to help me,” he said, “but I appeal to your sense of charity. And if there’s ever anything I can do for you in return, I promise, on my word of honor, I will.”
    “No,” she said into his eyes.
    He would wager it was a favorite phrase of hers.
    Sir Ned strode into the store then, the tips of his ears pink. “So, Miss Jones, you’re the favored one,” he announced.
    She gave him a warm but wary smile. “May I help you?”
    The newcomer looked her up and down. “I understand Captain Arrow has his eye—”
    “On those atlases. Do go and look them over for me, Sir Ned.” Stephen spun the man around and gave him a light shove in the direction of the oversized tomes.
    Thankfully, the man, once pushed, kept going, like a boat shoved away from a dock.
    When the baronet was out of hearing, Stephen returned to his appeal to Miss Jones. “Please,” he begged her in a low whisper. “Please go along with it. Otherwise, my life will be a living hell.”
    “Not forever, it won’t.” Her cheeks were rosier than usual. “Besides, there are other women you could have chosen for your imaginary pursuit. How about one of your fancy ladies?”
    He stared at her, at a loss to answer the question. “I saw you outside with your daffodils, and at that crucial moment, it never occurred to me to think of anyone else. Of course, several seconds later I did, but by then it was too late. They’d latched onto you.”
    He wouldn’t tell her he’d been thinking about her before he even saw her—all day, as a matter of fact.
    She stared at him a long moment and then sighed. “Very well, Captain. I suppose saying yes won’t do any harm. I can feign ignorance of your intentions, after all. But I’ll have you know—I do this with a great deal of misgiving.”
    He released a pleased sigh. “Thank you.”
    Now that the pressure was off, he wasn’t able to help noticing she looked extremely fetching in her pale pink gown.
    “But someday soon I might need a favor, and you’ll do whatever I ask,” she said, “or I shall tell your houseguests the truth, that you’re making this charade up.”
    “You’re blackmailing me.” He could hardly credit it.
    “Don’t worry.” She gave him an impish smile. “What could I ask from you? Not much, I assure you. But I shall enjoy thinking on it.”
    “Captain,” called Sir Ned excitedly, “what’s the farthest place you sailed on your last voyage?”
    Stephen never took his eyes off