Blaze: A Texas Heat Novel Read Online Free

you give the town something to celebrate like a wedding perhaps.”
    Dylan groaned. Here we go again. Menerva clapped her jeweled hands with glee.
    “Social media would explode,” Jordan said. “Even an engagement announcement would be enough to clinch the victory, it’ll be a slam dunk.”
    Dylan ran a hand through his golden brown hair. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
    “What about that European heiress?” Dad asked. “I liked her.”
    “You liked her father’s billions,” Dylan said.
    “That too,” George said with a twinkle in his eye.
    Dylan shrugged. “She bored me.”
    “What about the actress?” Jordan asked.
    “We had nothing in common.”
    “Are you gay?” Menerva asked with all the subtly of a sledgehammer.
    Jordan and George chuckled. Dylan grinned. “Ah no.”
    “Didn’t think so,” Menerva said, “You’re twenty-eight years old. Now is the time to strike.” She pounded her fist in her palm.
    “Don’t hold back on the romance,” Dylan said. He winked at the old girl.
    “Don’t try to charm me boy it won’t work,” she said gruffly.
    Dylan knew better.
    “A wedding will turn out the soccer mom vote and your vision for the town will fire up the base.”
    Dylan came close to matrimony only once in his life. Ten years ago, he was only eighteen, but God – how he loved that girl. Of course, no one in the room knew about that.
    Dylan shifted uncomfortably. He slammed the door shut on that memory years ago. He had to, for the sake of his sanity. Emerson Riley had been a weakness, a momentary lapse of judgement on his part. Letting her go was the hardest thing he’d ever done. Dylan shook his head as if to clear it.
    “I’ll get married,” he said, all business, “Make a list.”
    His grandmother whipped out a type written page. “I have a short list handy,” she said.
    “Of course you do,” Dylan drawled.
    Jordan peeked at the names before handing the list over. “Portia Langley, have you seen the tits on her?”  
    “Yes,” his grandmother said, “My plastic surgeon did them, her perky D cups come with a money back guarantee. Her grandfather is Supreme Court Justice Edward Langely. Need I say more?”
    “Brittania Wentworth,” Dylan said with a shudder.
    “What?” Menerva asked, “She’s a beautiful young lady, her father is the Earl of something, her mother is-”
    “The White House Chief of staff, I know,” Dylan said, “But she’s dumb as a box of rocks.”
    “You’re being kind,” Jordan said, “She has a single brain cell, maybe two.”
    Grandmother Menerva was undaunted. “Even idiots need love.”
    “Who said a damn thing about love,” Dylan muttered.
    “Not me,” Dad said with a cynical expression.
    “I second that,” Jordan said.
    “Marriage is the ultimate corporate merger,” the matriarch said, her blue eyes aglow, “What about Lea Saint James? She’s my top choice, you dated her for ages, a proposal would hardly come as a surprise.”
    Dad grunted his approval. Jordan rubbed his jaw. “Oh yes, she will do, stunning beauty, brains, PhD.”
    “From the right stock,” Menerva said wistfully, “She has a president and a British royal in her family tree.”
    Dylan nodded. They dated off and on for years. Lea was the complete package – a blue blood, sophisticated, gorgeous and intelligent. “Lea fits the criteria.”
    “To a tee,” Menerva agreed.
    “Okay, call her people, invite her family for brunch,” Dylan said.
    “Consider it done,” his grandmother said eagerly. She rushed out the door to plot his love life.
    “God help me,” Dylan said. “I haven’t seen her that happy since that televised all night session of Congress.”
    Jordan shook his head. “If I were you I’d say a few Hail Marys and pray to every Saint there is.” For good measure, Jordan did the sign of the cross over his chest.
    As political stunts go, an engagement was the ultimate. Dylan drew up a spreadsheet agenda for the dating period, detailed