Romancing Miss Right Read Free Page B

first
time around.
    Jack was a great guy—certainly qualifying for
the appellate Mr. Perfect, or Dr. Perfect in his case—but while
they’d gotten along wonderfully, something had always been a little
off between them romantically. Then she’d seen him with his long
time best friend and live-in nanny Lou and the scales had fallen
from her eyes. The fool was in love with a girl who wasn’t even
among his Suitorettes and he didn’t even know it. Thank God he’d
figured it out before he’d proposed to the wrong person.
    Marcy only hoped she didn’t make the same
mistake—getting so wrapped up in following the producers'
instructions and making the show a success that she stopped
listening to her own heart and missed what was right in front of
her face.
    She didn’t think she was that girl. She had
too fierce a thread of cynicism at her core to be swept away by the
contrived romance of it all. She needed to trust her instincts,
trust that she would know Mr. Right when he appeared—even if it was
hard for her to buy the idea that a reality dating show really
could lead to happily ever after.
    It could certainly lead to sales.
    She knew her part, knew all the lines to say
to make America believe the love story—hell, she was a romance
writer. She’d written half of those lines. But it was different
now. Playing the heroine. Much less comfortable than sitting at
home in her pajamas with her fingers on her keyboard. Everyone was
watching and she had to give them a show.
    Her stomach knotted and she was glad she
hadn’t eaten much today. She didn’t think she would have been able
to keep much of anything down.
    Dinah lifted the untouched Mimosa from the
pedestal table at her side and took a sip. “Look on the bright
side—they’re all going to be hotter than crap. Thirty insanely hot
men chasing after you? Where do I sign up?”
    “You won’t hear me complaining.”
    Dinah’s gaze veered back toward the open
balcony. “You aren’t even a little curious?”
    Frankly, she was dying. She just wanted it to
be tonight so she could meet them already, but she pasted a blasé
smile on her face. “I’ll meet them soon enough.”
    “I guess,” Dinah grumbled, clearly
disappointed by her unwillingness to climb the wall for a sneak
preview. “And I guess even if they’re all douche bags, you still
get a fancy new wardrobe.”
    “And a wider readership.”
    “Exactly.” Dinah raised her glass in a
mocking toast. “To Miss Right, may she have her socks romanced
right off. All the way to the bank.”
    Nerves coiled in Marcy’s stomach as she
lifted an imaginary glass and pantomimed chiming it against
Dinah’s. “To true love, hot men, and reality television.”
    Or two of the three.

Chapter Three
    “Are you ready for the
adventure of a lifetime, Marcy?”
    Marcy hooked her arm through Josh Pendleton’s
and strolled with the host along the path that would lead them to
the Suitors’ Mansion. “Actually I was thinking that you and I could
run away together. What do you think? You’re a good looking guy.
We’d make a cute couple.”
    Josh shot her a look that was equal parts
amused, confused, and horrified. “I can never tell if you’re
serious or not.”
    “I could be. What do you say? Wanna blow this
joint and run away to Vegas?”
    It was entirely too tempting to run. Not
because Josh was handsome—which he was, though he was also rumored
to be hot and heavy with a supermodel, so Marcy wasn’t holding out
much hope for a romantic future with him. No, it was tempting to
flee because she was scared out of her ever-loving mind about what
she was about to put herself through for the next eight weeks.
Scared she wouldn’t find love. Scared that she would. Scared that
America would grow to hate her as they sometimes did the second
time someone came on the show. Scared that they would all see what
a fraud she was, peddling true love for a living when she wasn’t
sure she believed in it herself.
    So fucking