Rich Bitch: Everything's Going to the Dogs Read Free Page A

not asking you to, Ms. Tyler,” he assured her. “Naturally, I’ll pay the wages of their new nanny until the end of the contract.”
    “Well,” she hesitated.
    “And, of course, I’ll pay an extra bonus to the agency to cover your trouble.”
    He privately thought Ms. Tyler would make an excellent shop steward when she regarded his ridiculously generous offer with indifference. “Ms. Veneau will have to be agreeable.”
    “Of course,” he said. After seeing the obnoxious elder daughter, he suspected Sophie would swap her for a poodle any day. At least until she saw the menu plan. But, by then, he’d have her.
    He gave the Tyler woman his phone numbers, a couple of character references, and a hefty deposit.
    “Well,” she said, “I’m making no promises, but I’ll see what I can do.”
    He wasn’t surprised at all when he answered his phone later that evening to hear the sexy tones of Sophie Veneau on the other end. Mimi yipped a couple of times when the phone rang, but soon settled back into his lap, the only place she’d stay put when he was around.
    Great. His own personal chastity poodle. Unless he could get her sorted out, his sex life was over. And he wasn’t giving that up, not even for fourteen million bucks.
    Some things were priceless.
    “Am I speaking to Mr. Grange?”
    “Yes, but it’s Vince.”
    “Very well. I understand you want me to be the nanny for your dog.”
    It hadn’t occurred to him that he might be insulting this woman by trying to hire her for Mimi, and now he was smitten by conscience. “I hope I didn’t… I mean, would you be interested at all?”
    Her sigh fell soft as a spring breeze on his ear. “Frankly, it would be wonderful to spend the day with a creature who doesn’t keep threatening to report me to the Tyler Agency.”
    Vince laughed, the tightness in his chest easing now he knew he hadn’t insulted the woman. “So, when can you start?”
    “I understand it is an emergency?”
    “Yes. I can’t go to work and leave Mimi. She’s …” He looked down at the ball of fluff too tiny to be so much trouble. “She’s a little high-strung.”
    “Surely you want a dog trainer, Mr…. Vince.”
    “No. I want you.”
    There was a moment’s silence, and he shut his eyes. “That, as you French would say, was a faux pas.”
    She laughed. “It was, indeed.”
    “I mean that you speak French and Mimi took to you right away. She doesn’t need dog obedience, and she’s house trained. It’s that she’s used to being with people all the time. French people.”
    “I see. If you don’t mind me saying so, she seems an odd choice of dog for you.”
    “I don’t mind you saying so at all. I didn’t choose her; she was willed to me.” It occurred to him that he probably shouldn’t explain that Mimi would probably head the Forbes list of the country’s richest canines.
    “I see.”
    “She’s a little spoiled. She has to have her food specially prepared. Could you handle that?”
    “I think so. I’m a very good cook.” Of course she was; she was French.
    “So, will you give it a try?”
    “Yes.”
    He beamed, even though she couldn’t see him. “Great. Can you start tomorrow?”
    “You must know I can. The family were quite happy to let me leave early since you’re going to pay for their next slave until the contract is up.”
    He chuckled. “That bad, eh?”
    “Impossible. Give me your address. And what time tomorrow?”
    When he’d done that, he tried to think of something to say that might keep her on the phone a little longer, but she forestalled him.”I’d better get ready for tomorrow, then. I will see you and Mimi in the morning.”
    “Good night,” he said.
    “Tell Mimi
bonne-nuit. A demain
.”
    Vince patted the poodle’s soft blue-rinsed head. 
”Mimi, she said good night. And I’m pretty sure she said, I de man.”

Chapter 3
    Sophie had never imagined when she’d trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris that she’d one day be called