obviously suffered some sort of a fire. We’ll enter through the double front doors into what I’m told is a spectacularly grand hallway. Manuela! Key! No, to the house, you stup—er . . . silly girl. Yes, that’s the one. Open the doors, please, so that we might take the camera inside. No, both doors.”
Trudy glanced over her shoulder to the camera, and gave a hopeless, “good help is so hard to find” smile when Manuela threw open the double doors with an awkward flourish.
“Follow me now, dear ones, into the opulent and gracious world of the rich and—oh, hello!”
Trudy stopped suddenly when a figure loomed up out of the darkness. The cameraman only just missed bumping into her.
The man who stalked forward looked angry as hell. Ernst slid cautiously behind both the cameraman and the director.
“What the hell? Who are you? And how did you get into my house? The door was locked, I know it was!”
Trudy gave him her very best smile, the one she reserved for paparazzi. “Goodness, you’re every bit as gorgeous as they say you are. You are Grayson Soucek, are you not?”
“Who the devil are you?” he snarled, narrowing his eyes (which Trudy couldn’t help but notice were far closer to shooting ire than to smoldering in a seductive manner).
“I’m Trudy Bennes from Lifestyles of the Rich and Undead , and we’re here to feature you and your beautiful old house on this week’s show—”
“I don’t want to be on your show!” Gray’s expression went from suspicious to outright hostile.
“You can’t mean that,” Trudy said with a bright smile at the camera. “You’re just shy, and let me tell you that from a feminine point of view, that’s a very adorable trait in a man—”
“I’m not shy, I’m not adorable, and I don’t want you here. I don’t know how you got past a locked gate and locked front doors, but you can just take yourself out the way you came and leave me the hell alone.” As he spoke, he shooed them all toward the open door.
“You don’t understand,” Trudy said soothingly, putting one graceful, pale hand on his arm and upping the wattage in her smile until it must have almost blinded him. “We’re here about your woman.”
He stopped, looking startled. “My woman? What woman?”
“Your ideal woman.” She gave him a demure look, one that she felt conveyed to a nicety the possibility that he could, if he expended an appropriate amount of charm, steal her away from her newscaster fiancé. “You are one of this year’s most eligible bachelors, Grayson.”
Now he looked downright appalled. “Well, stop it! I don’t want to be an eligible bachelor!”
Trudy gave up what was obviously going to be the less successful role of seductress for that of hostess, gesturing with grand movements as she spoke in a voice rich with emotion. “There are thousands of women out there, Grayson, nay, millions of women who are even right now watching this show and sighing to themselves over you. They want you, Gray. They want to know all about you, what your likes and dislikes are, what leaves you cold, and what makes you burn with desire.”
She paused, feeling obligated to offer him one last seductive look, but the expression of profound horror on his face left her grumbling to herself about men who didn’t know a good thing when it was standing right in front of them.
“I don’t want any woman! And I certainly don’t want thousands, nay, millions of them hanging around my neck, sighing and getting in my way. I will thank you to remove yourselves from my property and leave me alone.”
Before Trudy could do more than sputter a few protests, Gray pushed them all out the doors, which were then slammed shut with a finality that Trudy felt bordered on obnoxious.
“Well, I have never—” The words stopped abruptly as the door was wrenched open again. Gray glared quickly past Trudy to where the sun shone fully on the front door, and he sidestepped a stream of sunlight as
Trudy glanced over her shoulder to the camera, and gave a hopeless, “good help is so hard to find” smile when Manuela threw open the double doors with an awkward flourish.
“Follow me now, dear ones, into the opulent and gracious world of the rich and—oh, hello!”
Trudy stopped suddenly when a figure loomed up out of the darkness. The cameraman only just missed bumping into her.
The man who stalked forward looked angry as hell. Ernst slid cautiously behind both the cameraman and the director.
“What the hell? Who are you? And how did you get into my house? The door was locked, I know it was!”
Trudy gave him her very best smile, the one she reserved for paparazzi. “Goodness, you’re every bit as gorgeous as they say you are. You are Grayson Soucek, are you not?”
“Who the devil are you?” he snarled, narrowing his eyes (which Trudy couldn’t help but notice were far closer to shooting ire than to smoldering in a seductive manner).
“I’m Trudy Bennes from Lifestyles of the Rich and Undead , and we’re here to feature you and your beautiful old house on this week’s show—”
“I don’t want to be on your show!” Gray’s expression went from suspicious to outright hostile.
“You can’t mean that,” Trudy said with a bright smile at the camera. “You’re just shy, and let me tell you that from a feminine point of view, that’s a very adorable trait in a man—”
“I’m not shy, I’m not adorable, and I don’t want you here. I don’t know how you got past a locked gate and locked front doors, but you can just take yourself out the way you came and leave me the hell alone.” As he spoke, he shooed them all toward the open door.
“You don’t understand,” Trudy said soothingly, putting one graceful, pale hand on his arm and upping the wattage in her smile until it must have almost blinded him. “We’re here about your woman.”
He stopped, looking startled. “My woman? What woman?”
“Your ideal woman.” She gave him a demure look, one that she felt conveyed to a nicety the possibility that he could, if he expended an appropriate amount of charm, steal her away from her newscaster fiancé. “You are one of this year’s most eligible bachelors, Grayson.”
Now he looked downright appalled. “Well, stop it! I don’t want to be an eligible bachelor!”
Trudy gave up what was obviously going to be the less successful role of seductress for that of hostess, gesturing with grand movements as she spoke in a voice rich with emotion. “There are thousands of women out there, Grayson, nay, millions of women who are even right now watching this show and sighing to themselves over you. They want you, Gray. They want to know all about you, what your likes and dislikes are, what leaves you cold, and what makes you burn with desire.”
She paused, feeling obligated to offer him one last seductive look, but the expression of profound horror on his face left her grumbling to herself about men who didn’t know a good thing when it was standing right in front of them.
“I don’t want any woman! And I certainly don’t want thousands, nay, millions of them hanging around my neck, sighing and getting in my way. I will thank you to remove yourselves from my property and leave me alone.”
Before Trudy could do more than sputter a few protests, Gray pushed them all out the doors, which were then slammed shut with a finality that Trudy felt bordered on obnoxious.
“Well, I have never—” The words stopped abruptly as the door was wrenched open again. Gray glared quickly past Trudy to where the sun shone fully on the front door, and he sidestepped a stream of sunlight as
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