Page 6 of His Impossible Heir

Emma waved Amanda’s concerns aside. “I’m shorter than you are, so hemming it to your height won’t impact the dress when you’re finished with it. Besides, the palace has an excellent seamstress who can adjust the length when I finally do wear it.” The seamstress looked hesitant for a moment, but Emma nodded encouragingly. With more confidence, the seamstress stepped forward and knelt at Amanda’s feet.

The seamstress looked up at Amanda, a teasing glint in her eyes. “You will have all the men doing this tonight,” she teased, her French accent making the compliment seem all the more sincere.

Amanda chuckled, but didn’t reply. Men never fall at her feet. It was a nice concept in fantasy, but she suspected that, if a man ever fell at her feet, she’d be oblivious and step on the poor sap.

Everyone laughed and the salesperson brought out delicate flutes of champagne to sip while the seamstress got to work.

The rest of the afternoon was lovely. They dined at one of the famous French bistros for lunch and shared a bottle of wine. Then they spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and, because of the wine, Amanda bought several dresses, not at the designer showrooms but at one of the smaller boutiques. She also purchased a pair of shoes and several body sprays in different scents.

They were laughing by the time Amanda stepped out of the limousine. She had two hours to get ready for the event tonight and Amanda was determined to look her best. She’d be next to Emma and her influential husband tonight so she needed to look perfect! Amanda didn’t want to humiliate her best friend at an important gala where the press would be present.

So for the next hour and a half, Amanda showered and put on makeup, then twisted and contorted her body so that she could pull her hair up into an elaborate twist. By the time she finished, Amanda was exhausted, but thought that the final result was pretty darn good!

“You look fabulous, dahling!” she told her reflection, then giggled at her goofiness.

Grabbing the small black purse that matched her black cocktail dress, she stuffed her id, room key, and lipstick into it, then snapped the small clutch closed. The black purse didn’t match the green dress very well, but it was the best she could manage right now.

Glancing at her phone to check the time, she knew she’d need to hurry. Emma had texted that she and Rayed were on their way to pick her up and Amanda didn’t want them to have to wait for her to come down to the lobby. There were too many security risks and if she could do something to help keep her friend, and her friend’s husband, safe, then she would do it. Especially if it was merely hurrying to meet them.

Stepping out of the room, she checked the time once more, then paused to text Emma.

“Will meet you in the lobby,”she wrote.

Emma immediately texted back.“We’re almost to the parking lot.”

“Darn it!” she whispered, then stuffed her phone into her clutch under her arm and, reaching down, slipped her heels off. Then she took off at a run to the elevators. Since the strapless dress wasn’t made for running, she had to hold her breasts with one hand. Amanda was pretty sure that she looked ridiculous. However, she knew that she’d never meet any of these people again, so she didn’t care what they thought of her.

“Excuse me!” Amanda whispered as she slipped around a familiar looking couple as she hurried down the long hallway.

“Good grief!” the woman hissed, clearly annoyed.

“Sorry!” she called back over her shoulder, not sure what she’d done to the woman. She’d slipped around on the man’s side of the hallway. Regardless, she pressed the button and was relieved when the elevator door opened immediately.

The woman waved and called out, “Hold that for us!”

But the couple was only halfway down the hallway. Amanda waved back apologetically and smiled as she said, “Gottta go!” and pressed the “close” button. Ignoring the woman’s offended huff, Amanda waited for the elevator doors to close and then shifted the strapless dress back into place, using the mirrors on the elevator’s walls to check her appearance. A swift readjustment here, a tuck of hair there and she nodded her approval of her appearance. She was ready! Or as ready as she could be. As someone who spent most of her life alone, with only her computer for company, she might have lost track of what “ready” was these days.

Down in the lobby, she slipped her shoes back on, using her clutch purse to block her overflowing cleavage so that they didn’t make an appearance as she bent over. She stepped out into the chilly night and took a slow, deep breath to compose herself as she wrapped her serviceable, black trench coat around her shoulders.

The limousine came to a stop right in front of the hotel doors and Amanda smiled her thanks to the bodyguard who jumped out to open the door for her.

Ducking into the backseat, Amanda smiled to Rayed and Emma as she settled into the soft leather passenger seat. “You look fabulous, dahling!” Emma drawled and both women laughed. It was the phrase they’d always used whenever the other was heading out for the night during their university and early working years back when they’d lived together.

When the limousine pulled away, Amanda eyed her friends, thinking that Emma and Rayed made a beautiful couple! “Love the velvet cape!” Amanda gushed with obvious envy.

Emma rolled her eyes and snuggled closer to her husband. Giggling, she teased, “Like anyone will notice me when you’re walking around withthoseboobs inthatdress!”

Amanda groaned, pulling the lapels of her coat closer so they overlapped her chest. “This isyourdress, remember?”

Emma chuckled. “No way am I going to wear that after you’ve stretched it out!”

Amanda sighed heavily. “You’re taking it back, woman!”

“You look lovely,” Rayed interjected, halting the back and forth.

Amanda blinked, then smiled brightly at the handsome, charming prince. “Thank you,” Amanda replied, sticking her tongue out at Emma who laughed. Amanda turned back to Rayed. “And you look extraordinarily handsome tonight, Your Highness.”

“Hey!” Emma snarled mockingly, leaning her head possessively against her husband’s arm. “Get your own guy!”

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