The Dating Game by Shirley Jump

Author:Shirley Jump
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Bowden stood on the steps of the mansion and toyed with the box in his hands while he waited for someone to answer the door. He’d caught last night’s episode of Love and the Average Jill and seen Mattie waltzing with all of the men, then, in typical Mattie fashion, breaking all the rules with David Simpson and doing a very sexy dance to a Hootie and the Blowfish song. There was definitely something between her and that man. Today Bowden hoped to help it along by giving Mattie something to show off her best assets. He’d remembered the address from when he’d switched Mattie’s letter. Being a man who dealt with street numbers and zipcodes for a living came in handy sometimes.

“May I help you?” said the man who opened the door, his features so rigid, they might as well have been set in concrete.

“I have a delivery for Mattie Grant.” Bowden held up the box.

Larissa Peters, the host of the show, peeked her head around the butler’s tall, lean form. “A delivery? For Mattie? I think that’s against the rules.”

“I don’t want to break any rules, ma’am,” Bowden said, putting on a nice smile, “but I’d sure hate to see Miss Grant miss this. She’s been waiting on this delivery for a while.”

Larissa’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know she was here?”

“I watched it on Lawford Channel Ten, of course.”

“You’re watching the show?” Larissa pushed past the butler and sidled up to Bowden’s side. “Do you have a minute?”

“Well, I…” he let his voice trail off and gestured toward his green-and-white Speedy Delivery Services truck, sitting in the circular drive.

“This will just take a minute.” She turned to the butler. “Find Steve. Now.”

The butler pivoted, his features still unreadable, and headed into the depths of the house.

“Come in, come in,” Larissa said, waving Bowden into the front room of the mansion. She gestured toward a fancy settee and asked him to take a seat. She, however, remained standing, clad in a purple satin suit and matching heels so high she teetered like a sapling on a breezy day.

Bowden placed the box on the seat beside him. “May I ask why you needed me to stay?”

A bearded man with a generous belly and a package of fries to accompany it entered the room from the opposite end. Larissa gave him a smile, then turned to Bowden. “If you don’t mind, we’d like you to be a…well, a temporary focus group. Just get your impressions on the show and how Mattie Grant is faring as our Average Jill.”

They wanted his opinion? Oh, he’d be glad to give that, and hopefully influence the show a little bit—in the right direction, of course.

Bowden smiled and settled back against the seat. He couldn’t have created a better plan if he’d tried. True love was going to find Mattie Grant before the week was out—and if it didn’t, Bowden had a lot more packages he could deliver.

It wasn’t enough that they had to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.