Page 57 of The Fiancée Farce
It was a reflex, letting the growling dog hop to the floor. As soon as Prudence’s paws hit the hardwood she was off like a shot, bounding toward the door, earring still clutched between her sharp little teeth.
“Prudence! Get back here!”
The dog disappeared through the doorway.
Tansy stood, scrambling after her, feeling a little like an idiot as she called out the dog’s name as if that would stop her. “Prudence! Prudence, come back!”
Tansy made it to the door just in time to catch a glimpse of Prudence’s fluffy white butt turning the corner.
“Prudence!”
Ow, ow,ow, these shoes had been a bad idea, and running in them was even worse, but she couldn’t let Prudence make off with her earring.
“Come back here!”
Prudence woofed, short little legs covering a surprising amount of ground. Tansy struggled to keep up, not nearly as agile in these damn shoes. Kitten heels, her ass. They might as well have been stilettos for how nimble she wasn’t.
Tansy caught herself against the corner, skidding on the rug, nearly careening into the wall. “Prudence.”
That damn dog looked over her shoulder, earring between her teeth, looking for all the world like she was smiling. Tansy set off after her, passing the painting of the tulip field in bloom.Anotherpainting of a tulip field in bloom? How many paintings of tulips could they possibly have?
“Don’t walk away from me, Gemma. I’m not finished.”
Tansy froze.
Lucy.She sounded, for lack of a better word, pissed, so pissed that even Prudence paused.
“There’s nothing else to say, and I need to get back to Tansy.”
“Sure. Run on back to your fiancée. Sorry, or should I saybusiness associate?”
“Lucy—”
“Did the file I stayed up all night painstakingly putting together for you mean nothing?”
“The questionably acquired dossier of information you dug up on Tansy that I never asked for, you mean?” Gemma scoffed. “I told you I knew everything I needed to know.”
What the hell? What dossier? Full ofwhat? How did someone—who even—God. Had anyone ever heard of boundaries?
“And her obsession with your cousin? What about that?”
Tansy clasped a hand over her mouth, muffling her gasp of—shock? Outrage? Both?
So that was why Gemma had shown up at her place asking questions.
“That friend of yours from Montlake? Your source? Either they’ve got some questionable motives, or they’ve got their facts wrong.Waywrong. Anything more isn’t for me to speak on. However you want to slice it, your source is far from reputable.”
“Tansy told you that? And you’re just going to take her word? Over mine?”
“Over yourfriend’s, yes.” Gemma’s footsteps slowed until they stopped altogether. “She’s my fiancée. What do you want me to say, Lucy?”
Prudence sat down in the middle of the hall, staring at Tansy, tail wagging.
“Come here,” Tansy whispered, pointing to her feet.
“What do I want you to say? Let’s see . . . I wouldn’t mind the truth,” Lucy said, footsteps light as she approached the place where Gemma had stopped. “You told me it was a business arrangement. If I remember, I suggested you needed to know who you were getting into bed with, andyoutold me you had no intention of getting into bed with Tansy at all.”
“Well, Luce, not to split hairs, but Tansy and I were up against a shelf, not in a bed.”
