Page 5 of Miss Christmas

“The guy who was just here isn’t a judge. They’re all from outside the store. Besides, you of all people know I’d never lower myself to seducing a man to get ahead.”

“I suppose you’re right. If you had seduced your agent—or let the jerk seduce you, I should say, he would have pushed harder for you to get that part.”

There were only three people left in the diner at this hour, besides her and her friend and the afternoon cook-manager. Thank God they didn’t serve dinner. It was time to start cleaning up.

“I wonder who he is?” Dee sipped her cup of tea.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Scarlet said. “I have his card.” She pulled it from her snug bra where she’d slipped it earlier without a thought.

“How could you have forgotten about that?” Dee asked on an incredulous laugh.

“I was mesmerized at the time.” She looked at the card. The words made no sense to her for a second. Her heart sped up and her breath quickened.

“What the hell?” William Regal. Regal Corporation. A Regal?

“What’s wrong?” Dee came to her side to look over her shoulder at the card. Then she snatched it from Scarlet’s hand and screeched.

“You can’t be serious. You hit the mother lode. I don’t know why I didn’t recognize him.” Deirdre ran to the rack near the door holding the day’s newspapers and grabbed one, bringing it back to the counter. She flipped through it.

Scarlet held onto her cool, disappointment threatening at hitting the so-called mother lode of meeting a legit hunk who also happened to be a legit gazillionaire. She hated snobby gazillionaires on principle. And because her mother had drilled it into her from birth that men with money only wanted one thing from women without it.

But she truly liked Will, found him intriguing. Could tell he was decent. How snobby could he be if he’d given her his card? But she’d never aspired to the Cinderella role, and in fact the idea turned her off. She was no one’s poor step-sister. If she had to play a Disney cartoon role, she’d rather be Cruella—except the part about being mean to puppies.

If she had any sense, she’d tear up William Regal’s card and toss it into the trash. But she didn’t.

What was the worst that could happen? So what if he was rich and wanted to play games with a girl from the other side of the tracks. She was up for playing games with an exciting hunk who looked at her like she was the only woman in the universe, who took her up on her dare and went with his impulse to give her his card.

It wasn’t as if she was interested in a serious relationship. If she had been, she wouldn’t have dated Jason the unreliable musician. The pounding excitement in her veins made her want to pursue the William Regal to see where it went—even if that was off the edge of a cliff.

“Look, here’s a mention of him going to some charity thing.”

“Any photos?”

“Why? You already know what he looks like.”

Scarlet shrugged. “Maybe he’s not really Will Regal. Maybe he stole his boss’s business cards to impress young impressionable women.”

Deirdre looked up, panic in her eyes for a moment, until Scarlet laughed.

“Don’t worry. I may be young, but I’m not that impressionable. I am intrigued, though.” Scarket calmed the adrenaline kick as she fingered Will’s business card. She was a tiny bit impressed with his boldness. She could overlook his money. Or maybe that was part of the intrigue.

It might be exciting to see how the other half lived. She had to admit that a sliver of her excitement might be fear. But fear of rejection was something she overcame every single day. In fact, conquering it had become addictive and she sought out bigger and scarier challenges all the time. The kick of adrenaline was the same one she’d felt anytime an irresistible challenge presented itself.

Deirdre went back to scouring the society pages for a picture of their man about town and stopped.

“I think this is him. He’s with a group of people—it’s the Regal family.”

Scarlet took the paper from her friend, who was a bit far-sighted, and studied the photo.

“It’s him. Gorgeous hunk among a whole clan of gorgeous people.”

“You would fit right in,” her friend said. No sarcasm, but a little wistfulness in her voice.

“So would you.”

“Sure. I’d be the one in the background—dusting.”

Scarlet shook her head and read the caption until she came to Will Regal. Damn. The level of difficulty in the Will Regal seduction challenge she’d just presented herself ratcheted up a notch.