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Prologue
“Y ou kiss it”
“No, you kiss it!”
Eight-year-old Katie Marcelli glanced fro perched on a log in front of the patterns on the grass and the log thatin the breeze
“Mo a princess,” Francesca said, sounding doubtful “I don’t want to be a princess that bad”
Brenna pushed back the cardboard tiara Katie had carefully cut out, then covered with glue and glitter “Boys are stupid and so are frogs And princes” She crossed her arms over her tattered lace-and-tulle dress-up costume and scowled
Katie didn’t like boys all that much, but princes were different Princes rode white horses and carried girls off to beautiful castles, where they got to eat ice cream any time they wanted and never had to write thank-you notes
But Francesca had a point Was all that really worth kissing a frog?
“Hoe know it’s a ?” she asked
“In the book the frog had a little crown on its head I don’t think this one used to be a prince at all,” Francesca told her
Katie crouched down until she was eye level with the frog It regarded her with big eyes, but didn’t jump away
Francesca was right—there wasn’t any crown No twinkling lights filled the air But they’d never seen a frog here before—not in their special place
She glanced around at the ring of trees and the soft, springy grass Here she and her sisters pretended to be everything fro a boat to a mysterious new land, to Cinderella, to ames were so elaborate they went on for days and Katie helped their Grammy M make special costumes Today they were dressed to be fairy princesses They’d just been deciding as going to be kidnapped by the evil Dark Duke, when they’d spotted the frog
“What if it’s ic and it wants to be sure we believe?” Katie asked
Brenna rolled her eyes “Then kiss it and find out If it’s not et warts all over your face and have to stay in your rooly”
Not a happy outcoht But she really wanted to find a handso, with lots of lace and flowers and a sky full of stars
“I believe you’re a prince in disguise,” she whispered to the frog “I’ht for you to come find me You’ll be my one true love, and we’ll live happily ever after”
She sucked in a deep breath for courage, leaned close, and pressed her lips against the frog’s small face It croaked and hopped away
Brenna laughed while Francesca tried to hide a s, she felt…sole Or a promise
“You’ll see,” she told her sisters “One dayto want only , too”
Francesca looked wistful, but Brenna shook her head “You’ll be waiting until you’re old, because no prince is gonna show up”
“You’re wrong He will and I’ll be right here”
Katie did wait Every night for the next three years, she stood at herand watched the sky, waiting for her prince to ride up on his white stallion and whisk her away
In ti, the kiss, and her beliefs, which was a good thing, because twenty years later there had been a lot le prince
1
K atie Marcelli knew that with the right staff, she could organize the world But as good help was hard to find, she contented herself with s closets, parties, and se, and had a five-year business plan that would h, confident, in charge
On the outside
On the inside her nerves were currently playing baseball in her stomach, and someone had just hit a foul ball down the third base line She pressed a hand to her ulped in her car was about to turn to acid She was tense, wired, and pacing in high heels that azelle’s but also threatened her future ability to ithout a limp
Oh, please, oh, please let ht as she paused in front of a largeoverlooking Century City and Beverly Hills Opportunities like this didn’t co every day She’d wanted to take her co to
The word ht, bubbly, like fine chane that had—
“Ms Marcelli? Mr Stryker will see you now”
Katie turned toward a well-dressed fifty-so woman who held open a thick door and motioned for her to enter
Katie stepped from the nicely carpeted hallway into sink-to-your-ankles plushness in an office the size of Rhode Island A corner office, with floor-to-ceiling s, sleek yet traditional furniture, a massive pair of leather sofas on the walls opposite the s, and an elegantly dressed race one of the billboards that lined Sunset Boulevard
Zach Stryker, one of only three senior partners in the largest faeles est partner He had a reputation for being tough, unflinching, and a hell of a negotiator Oh, and he wasn’t just a winner in the courtroom Rumor had it he broke at least two female hearts a week
The nerves in her sto in a “man-alert” formation which warned her that caffeine overload was not all that far away Perfect, she thought, because staying cal was so overrated
“Ms Marcelli?” the h to make him a fortune in radio “I’m Zach Stryker”
“Mr Stryker A pleasure”