The next morning over breakfast, Jayne goes into high gear with my lessons. She puts me through a crash course in how to act like the perfect lady at fancy dinners and how to talk “smart” to the intellectual elites in Grayson’s industry. I’m a Business Economics major at Barton University, a small college in Missouri, so I’ve been around brains before. But I know I’m about to enter a next-level different world, so I soak in everything she tells me. Since Grayson is going to be keeping track of every move I make and every word I utter tonight at dinner with Dr. Vangelis, I can’t afford to ignore any advice.

Jayne also takes me shopping again. Abiding by Grayson’s wishes, we return the gowns and outfits from yesterday, although Jayne has already tucked away the lingerie in my closet with another saucy wink at me. In the end, we buy a bunch of new, very conservative ensembles that are sure to please the jerk.

Throughout the day, I’m dying to confess to Jayne what happened last night with Grayson. The girly girl in me wants to share notes about what it’s like to be with a man, but I don’t say a word about how excited I got when Grayson kissed me, caressed me, did things to my body that made me moan and explode with wet ecstasy. I don’t tell her how I was aching so badly for him afterward that I yearningly watched him swimming in the pool. Even now my pulse ricochets around me as I think about how the muscles in his back worked with every swim stroke, how he stood up in the shallow end to his powerful height and water trickled down the smooth skin and streamlined muscles of his broad shoulders and ridged abs. I especially don’t confess how all I wanted to do was go down to the pool and dive in, swimming over to him and pressing myself against his body, feeling all the wonderful sensations he brought out in me last night.

But I keep everything inside, even as Jayne dresses me in a vintage Chanel beaded black silk evening dress with strappy black heels, then turns me toward the full-length beveled mirror. An unfamiliar girl stares back at me. My blond hair is swept up into a gleaming bunch of beautiful curls, some of which softly trail down my neck. Diamond drop earrings sparkle and frame my face, where Jayne has applied soft makeup with a light touch — pink lipstick, a hint of mascara, and a wisp of eye shadow.

Jayne steps back and adjusts her glasses while wiping a finger beneath them as if a tear has slipped out. “Not to toot my own horn at my styling skills, but toot toot!” She holds a hand over her heart. “Oh, just look at you!”

I run my hands down the sides of my gown, feeling the curves of my hips below the lace and silk and wondering what Grayson will say when he sees me. “Do you think he’ll like it?”

“I don’t think like is a word that covers what Mr. Royal will feel when he sees you.”

“I doubt that, Jayne. Remember how, last night, Grayson said no to the outfits we purchased the first time? Nothing was good enough for him.”

Until I flagrantly came out in that nightie and he pounced on me.

But if I think about that, my nerves are going to burn me alive.

“Give him another chance, Harlow.” Jayne seems so confident about my appearance that I can’t help feeling the same confidence myself. “Just look into his eyes when you walk into the room, and then tell me if he’s disappointed. I don’t think any man on earth could be.”

I take one last glance at myself. The clock has struck the magic hour for me to be downstairs, and Dr. Vangelis should be here by now. I know from the schedule that Grayson gave Jayne — a schedule that he expects us to follow to the second — that he and his mentor will already be in the study, having pre-dinner cocktails, awaiting my arrival.

As a last touch, Jayne clasps a diamond necklace around my neck. It sparkles, and I think it’s even making my eyes sparkle too.

Then she leads me down the stairs.

It’s like my heart is running around inside of me, bouncing off the walls of my chest, leaving a shivery trail of nerves. Before I know it, Jayne and I arrive at the closed door of the study.

“Okay, baby cakes,” she whispers. “This is where I have to leave you. You’re going to blow them away!”

Before my heart can explode with anxiety, she opens the study door. Then she puts her hand on my shoulder, gives me a squeeze, and lets go.

I try not to stumble like an idiot into the room, and much to my amazement, I manage a rather graceful entrance — so graceful that when Dr. Vangelis looks up from his brandy snifter at me, I actually feel like I’m walking on a cloud. The older man stands up, revealing how tall and thin he is in his beige suit. His light brown eyes are kind, and they crinkle at the corners as he smiles at me.

“Harlow?”

I smile at him as if I was born to this role of bride to the rich and infamous. I’m just about to walk over to greet him when I see Grayson out of the corner of my eye.

Oh, crap. Will I be good enough? Will he send me back upstairs with another no?

Will he resent me even more for what we did last night?

He stands slowly, and when I meet his blue-gray gaze, something jolts deep inside of me, shaking me to my core.

Look into his eyes, Jayne said.

As I do, a violent frisson of desire tears down the center of me. A damp blast in my pussy nearly makes me puddle to the floor. Grayson is looking at me the way he did before he kissed me, tore off my nightie, made me come with his mouth. He covets me, and the sight of it is raw and miraculous.

I don’t think it’s just the dress, either.

Is something else going on here?

I hear a murmur around us, and as the seconds pass, I realize it’s not just my blood rushing through my veins with white heat — it’s Dr. Vangelis’s voice.

“I’d venture to say that Jake Foreman is going to be very impressed.”

As I rip my gaze away from Grayson’s, I flush madly. I fix my eyes on Dr. Vangelis as he proudly adjusts his necktie.

“Can I pick a mail order bride or can I pick a mail order bride?” he asks. “Harlow, you’re everything I hoped you would be.”

At the reminder of who I am and what I am to Grayson, the room’s temperature seems to lower about ten degrees.

“Dinner should be ready by now,” he says levelly. “Shall we go to the dining room?”

Dr. Vangelis smiles grandly and comes over to me, extending his arm. I slip my arm through his.

“I am truly pleased to meet you, Harlow,” he says.

Thank God he’s so courteous and able to put me at ease. “Pleased to meet you too, sir.”

“Call me Rick. You’re my business partner’s significant other, so we should be on familiar terms.”

“Yes...Rick.”

I look over my shoulder at Grayson, whose jaw is so tight that I fear it might crack. Is he that on edge? Or is he...?

He can’t be territorial. Then again, I’m not sure. I might not know a lot about guys, but I’m still a woman with instincts, and every one of them is shouting that he gives more of a damn than he lets on.

He was just as into what happened last night as I was.

But I have to be misreading him, and when we’re seated next to each other at the long table in the dining room, he doesn’t look at me again — not even when the catering company he employs for parties and events serves Caviar Tartare with a Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m still as nervous as all get out, absolutely aware this is a high-stakes dinner. This is my test, and if I don’t pass it, Grayson is going to kick me out and I’ll be short the $50,000 I need to start saving Mom.

I’m going to do this.

When Dr. Vangelis engages me in gentle conversation about Colossus Pharma while we eat the appetizers and salad, I actually think I’m really doing great here. But then we get into the entrée course of Crab-Filled Calamari, and things get real.

Dr. Vangelis starts eyeing the space Grayson and I constantly keep between us, and I can tell he isn’t happy that we never touch like a serious boyfriend and girlfriend would be doing. I’m sure he even senses the high tension between us.

Dr. Vangelis dabs his lips with his linen napkin and then sits back in his chair. “So far, Harlow, you’ve been absolutely wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

A muscle ticks in Grayson’s jaw as he narrows his eyes at his mentor in obvious suspicion.

“But,” Dr. Vangelis says, “it’s time to act as if Jake Foreman is present at this dinner. He’s going to want to know how you two met.”

Grayson dives right in. “I was on a business trip in LA when I saw this beautiful woman walk into a bar. It was love at first sight.”

I smile pleasantly in agreement. I might’ve picked a more romantic story, but I’m going to follow Grayson’s lead.

Dr. Vangelis frowns. “A bar isn’t very wholesome. Remember that entire image overhaul thing, Grayson?”

Grayson and I just sit there staring at him.

“How about this, instead,” the doctor says. “Harlow already told her loved ones that she needed to be gone for a month because she had an opportunity to work with a charity organization here in Boston. Our PR team has taken pains to back that story up by making it seem as if Harlow is involved with a charity Colossus supports. So I think it would be prudent to say that you, Grayson, attended one of the functions Harlow was at. You met her there, and you haven’t been away from each other since.”

“Suits me.” Then Grayson sends me a look that I guess is supposed to be fond. Faker.

I send him the same “adoring” look right back. Then we return our gazes to Dr. Vangelis at the same time.

Dr. Vangelis is giving us a lowered gaze. “Now let’s talk about what you have in common. Favorite foods, for instance?”

Silence.

Dr. Vangelis rolls his eyes. “Surely, you two have eaten together at some point.”

Grayson sighs roughly. “I always allow Harlow to speak for herself. Darling? Favorite foods?”

Things have clearly taken a turn for the worse.

Dr. Vangelis wipes a hand over his face. “Let’s try this again, but with a different topic. What do you two like to do on the weekends?”

Grayson and I slide a look to each other and then speak in stereo.

“Netflix,” Grayson says.

“Polo matches?” I say.

Dr. Vangelis tosses his napkin onto the table. “And how about your goals? Do you have any idea what each other’s basic ambitions are, or will that be like pulling teeth too?”

I’ve got this one!

“Grayson is going to save the world,” I say, beaming at the doctor as if I’ve just aced it.

Dr. Vangelis gives Grayson a pointed look. “And what is her big goal in life?”

“Saving the world with me.” Grayson nonchalantly crosses his ankle over his knee. “Which is what I could be doing right now if I weren’t here wasting my time with this shit.”

“Grayson,” Dr. Vangelis says. “Are you aware yet of how much of a disaster this is? You’ve got one more shot to even remotely impress me.”

I see $50,000 circling the drain, so I sit on the edge of my seat like a game show contestant. I can save this. I will.

Dr. Vangelis looks at Grayson, then at me. “When can we expect you to get married, and how about children?”

As I side-eye Grayson, he just sits there like a marble chess piece that refuses to be moved.

“Okay.” Dr. Vangelis sounds like he wants to throttle us both right now. “One more chance, and God help you if you have no clue about this either... How did Harlow get her name? It’s a distinct name, so surely you have talked about that!”

I try to be smooth when I whisper to Grayson cheater-style. “My mom is a fan of old Jean Harlow movies.”

Dr. Vangelis ain’t no fool, and he stands out of his seat. “Have you talked to each other at all?”

Grayson stands too, and he looks so unconcerned about this unfolding catastrophe that I wonder if he’s missed the fact that Dr. Vangelis is about to blow up. “Jayne can inform Harlow about my less obvious personal details before we meet Jake Foreman.”

Dr. Vangelis lifts a finger and wags it at him. “You will get your ass handed to you if you don’t put a little more effort into this.” He starts walking out of the room. “You need to sort this out right away, because you’re not even close to ready for prime time. Jake Foreman will eat you two for breakfast!”

And then he’s out the door.

The air seems to crackle as I’m left alone with the jerk. I can almost hear him growling low in his throat because he’s so pissed off at me. But you know what? I’m pissed off at him too. He can’t exactly blame me for this, because he’s the one who wants nothing to do with me. I’ve done everything I can within my power to succeed.

Even so, he turns a heated gaze on me. “Well. I would certainly call that a fail.”