She glances at the landing at the top of the stairs.

“Interesting. Are those the Titebottum sisters?” she asks. “Penelope and Sarah?”

My voice softens involuntarily when I gaze up at them. “Yes. Do you know them?”

Franny’s expression sobers. “I know of them. Quite a bit.”

“Good. Now that I think about it, you could be helpful to Sarah. She’s terribly shy and you’re so . . . not. I’m trying to bring her out of her shell.”

“Everyone knows the best way to get a turtle out of its shell is to stick a finger up its arse. Have you tried that?”

I snort. “I would if I could, believe me.”

She sighs. “Mmm. All right then, I’ll go introduce myself to the shy sweetling.”

She climbs the steps, her black heels clicking, to do just that.

I watch as the trio exchanges pleasantries and then Franny loops her arm through Sarah’s. “I like you already. Let’s be best friends.”

As the afternoon fades into night, Penny, Elizabeth, Laura, and Cordelia head upstairs to change for dinner and Sarah tags along with her sister. Apparently, it’s a group date night—they’ll be filming as I take all four ladies out to dinner to “shake things up,” as Vanessa put it.

Simon and Franny sign release papers in case they’re caught on camera. Before they start rolling, Sarah comes down the stairs. Her hair is down and shiny and curled at the ends. She’s wearing an elegant, form-fitting silk cocktail dress and I lose the ability to speak. Granny would be so pleased.

She looks beautiful, but she rarely looks anything else. The reason I’ve gone mute is because instead of her typical black clothes, the dress Sarah’s wearing is . . . red.

Ruby red.

The color warms her skin and brings out the gold in her eyes.

“Wow,” I whisper.

She smiles, cheeks going pink, and flattens her palm against her stomach, fidgeting. “Thank you. It’s Penny’s. Franny helped me give it a quick alteration—did you know she sewed?”

“Franny is a multifaceted woman.”

“Yes.”

Then I’m the one fidgeting. “What’s the occasion? Hot date?”

Sarah swallows and looks up at me, hopefully. “No. I just thought it might be time to . . . try something new.”

“New looks really good on you.”

She seems as if she’s about to say something else, but then the director calls for filming to begin. Sarah heads off to the sidelines, while Penelope comes down the stairs, with her shoulders back, tits out, and blond head high—in a nice little royal-blue number.

When she reaches the bottom of the steps, I bow and kiss her hand. Penny giggles for the cameras, then takes her spot near the door.

Laura descends the stairs next, in a light-pink, swishy-skirted dress. She looks better than she did a few weeks ago—her cheeks are fuller and her pallor is all but gone. She gives me a peck on the cheek and I return the favor.

And while Penny and Laura are gorgeous girls, my eyes keep drifting over to Sarah, where she chats with Franny and Simon.

I can’t stop looking at her.

Then there’s a commotion at the top of the landing as Cordelia and Elizabeth argue over who’s supposed to come down next. And even better?

They’re wearing the exact same dress.

For ladies—especially noble ladies—it’s the cardinal sin. You can screw their man and insult their mother, but you’d better not fucking be wearing their dress.

Cordelia and Elizabeth don’t notice right way, but you can tell the moment they do—because right after, they start screaming and tearing each other’s hair out.

Vanessa Steele watches the drama with glee—looking like a kid in a candy shop on Christmas Day.

The restaurant is a low-key pub—comfortable like The Goat but more upscale, with a small stage at one end. It’s crowded, nearly every table filled to capacity, and there’s a loud din of chatter—like background static noise. The reactions of the patrons to me are . . . off, strange. They glance my way but continue their conversations as if they’re not surprised a prince just walked through the door, as if they know they’re not supposed to be noticing me. And they don’t look at the cameras at all.

“Who are these people?” I ask Vanessa as we take our seats.

“Extras. American extras—we flew them in this morning, but the audience won’t be able to tell.” She wiggles her fingers. “The magic of television.”

I sit with the girls at one table, where the cameras focus, while some of the other crew, as well as Sarah, Simon, and Franny take a table beside ours.

I order shots for all of us—tequila. Three rounds later, Elizabeth and Penelope are playing a rock, paper, scissors drinking game. When the drinks don’t come fast enough, they wager bets instead. Loser has to pop up on that little stage and sing her heart out.

Penny loses. And then she starts to flip out. “Oh my God, oh my God, I can’t sing . . . I’m a terrible singer . . . I can’t sing on television—I’ll look like a fool. Maybe I can dance instead, a snappy tap number?”

“No.” Cordelia points her finger. “We said singing. That was the deal. If you welch, we get to cut your hair off.”

Penny frowns and preemptively grabs at her scalp.

“No one’s cutting off my sister’s hair.”

Every set of eyes turns toward the end of the table in surprise. Because the voice is firm and semi-threatening. And it comes from Sarah’s lips. I wonder if this is part of her “trying something new” resolution.