His Princess - Stacy Gail
Chapter One
“Now remember the plan,” Joelle muttered to Alice as they ascended the gilt-accented staircase leading to the Omni’s main ballroom. “You go in first, ostensibly to find our table. But in reality you’re there as my eyes and ears, scoping the joint for my target. Any questions so far?”
“Jo, this isn’t The Italian Job.” Alice Halliday, her foster sister and lifelong bestie, looked surly as she tottered on the high heels Joelle had talked her into along with a Givenchy beaded evening dress as black as her ebony hair. Her dark mysteriousness was the perfect foil for Joelle’s Elie Saab floor-length backless gold sheath that played up her tanned skin and platinum blonde hair done up in a Grace Kelly-esque chignon. “You know what this is? It’s you wanting to prance your fancy ass in front of Emerson what’s-his-name to show him what he dumped.”
Grrr. “Emerson Van Holland, and for the record, Al, it was a mutual dumping.”
“That’s not how I remember it.”
“It was definitely a mutual dumping,” Joelle insisted, keeping her polished social smile in place while her voice dropped into a snarl. “I decided to dump Emerson when he dumped me after finding out that as the Fielding heiress, I actually inherited nothing but the name.”
“Uh-huh.” Looking less than impressed with her reasoning, Alice fidgeted with the strap of her dress as they neared the top of the stairs. As they did, they could see the flashbulb of a camera going off. “I’m just glad he showed himself to be a shallow social-climber early on. When he found out you were just a working stiff for Buzzword Online rather than a socialite sitting on stacks of cash, he couldn’t find the exit fast enough. Just consider yourself lucky that you wasted only a month on that dick and move on.”
“After tonight, I’ll be happy to move on. I just want him to get a good, long look at the goddess he kicked to the curb. Then I’ll watch, smiling, as regret crushes his soul so completely it brings him to his knees. Once I see that I’ve crippled him emotionally for the rest of his existence, we can leave.”
“Great. A nice, healthy goal is always good to have.”
“Do you have your phone?”
She thought she heard Alice curse. “Yes, Jo. I have my freaking phone.”
A stab of guilt made her steps falter. “Maybe I shouldn’t have dragged you in on this, Al. I guess it seems pretty stupid, from your point of view.”
“It’s stupid from any point of view,” came the drawling reply before she sighed. “But I get it. And hey, if you’d tried to pull this caper off without me, I never would’ve forgiven you, so go ahead. Tell me about the master plan.”
“You’re the best partner in crime ever.” Giving her foster sister’s hand a squeeze, she refocused on the mission. “Okay. You go into the ballroom first, ostensibly to find our table. But in reality you’re scoping the room to find Emerson Van Holland—”
“He’s always going to be what’s-his-name to me.”
“Then,” Joelle went on determinedly, pausing at the top of the stairs to watch a man with a camera take pictures of well-heeled couples before they entered the ballroom, “you’re going to call me to let me know where he is and who he’s with.”
“This isn’t the crowd I normally run with,” Alice pointed out, casting a dubious eye at the line waiting to get inside. “I’m the daughter of your family’s chauffeur and a community college student. How am I supposed to tell you what fancy armpiece Emerson what’s-his-name is with unless it’s that evil chick from that private hell of a high school your parents sent me to?”
“Francesca Osterhaus?”
“There were many, but she was the worst. Which means she’s probably the only one I would recognize.”
“I believe in you, so just try your best,” Joelle whispered as they neared the line of people. “It probably won’t take you that long to find Emerson. Just look for a knot of VIPs, and I’m sure he’ll be buzzing around it.”
“Gotcha.” Alice eyed the ballroom’s entrance like it was the gates of hell. “What excuse have you come up with to keep you out here while I go into a ballroom full of people I don’t know, who are attending a charity fundraiser for a museum I’ve never been to?”
“I’ll be staying out here because I plan to be hung up in a conversation with someone while you go inside and do that whole recon thing.”
“Maybe