Designed for Love (Texas Nights) by Kelsey Browning

deliver.”
    “Sometimes it doesn’t make financial sense.”
    “Even when home sites are sold because of the amenities the buyers believe will be coming in the future? That’s just wrong. I want to go at this a different way. If we build a few of those amenities first, that will be our good-faith promise to homeowners about what they can expect from the Community at Lily Lake. Additionally, these amenities won’t be gated. They’ll be open for use by anyone in the surrounding community.”
    “That bullshit won’t fly.” Cravens’s face took on a red hue bordering on purple. “Folks don’t plunk down this kinda money so that every Tom, Dick and Harry can come tromping around on their
amenities.
A development of this scope? Land this valuable? People want it all to themselves, and they’re willing to pay damn well to get it.”
    “So what about Shelbyville, the people who live in town?”
    “They’ll get their economic benefit—weekenders shopping at the local stores and the like.”
    Even if they descended on the Piggly Wiggly in droves, the manager wouldn’t forgive Ashton anytime soon. “You mean until they begin demanding gourmet grocery stores and high-end specialty shops.”
    Cravens lifted a bushy eyebrow at Ashton’s designer pantsuit. “I’d think that’d be right up your alley.”
    Might’ve been at one time. Seeing as she couldn’t afford the Piggly Wiggly even if she were allowed inside, she had no business shopping for
foie gras
or champagne or anything else she used to take for granted. “Look, this area has been hard hit by the economic downturn the past few years. They’re doing everything they can to pull themselves out of it. But a development like this? It could not only bring in new business from the weekenders, but it could also change the quality of lives around here. The last thing I want to do is foster an us-versus-them attitude between the townspeople and those who purchase lake property. That will only bring resentment. What I want is a development that the permanent residents embrace, that they feel a connection with. The way to do that is to consider them from the start, rather than as an afterthought.”
    “You know, that’s a real nice gesture, but what those people want won’t matter a hill of beans when you go dead broke because you don’t have any money coming in.”
    She understood what he was saying, but she’d also seen the amount of the financial draws Gigi had outlined for the project. If Ashton was careful, she could build an event pavilion and an over-water deck before she was forced to begin selling lots. “Oh, and the lakeside lots? I don’t want houses crammed together. So we’ll need to change the plat to show each home site at somewhere between one and three acres. But lot prices will only increase marginally.”
    “The hell you say.” Cravens’s face had lost all tint of red and now matched the eggplant color of her suit. “You do that and you’ve effectively screwed the pooch on all your profit.”
    She wasn’t as concerned with profit as she was with the well-being of Shelbyville and the surrounding county. If people loved the Lily Lake concept, felt they had a stake in it, they would not only get behind the construction, but would accept Ashton herself.
    And that had become the most important thing to her. All her life, she’d been surrounded by people who were supposedly on her same social plane. People who accepted her because of the Davenport name, the River Oaks mansion, the assload of money in her bank account. Now she’d left everything but her last name behind and she wanted to be wanted, respected for herself and what she accomplished on her own.
    The people around here wouldn’t let her near their insiders’ club if she didn’t do something for them. Put them ahead of a bunch of weekenders from Houston.
    “I’ve worked out the numbers.” She flipped to another page on her clipboard. “No, the project won’t make money