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to her.
    “Just like that. After I called my mother and asked her to recommend you, she called Hurst House Human Resources and informed them you’d be arriving tomorrow morning. The vice president of HR still has a guilt complex over defecting to Hurst House, so he’d pretty much do whatever my mom says.”
    “I see.” How crazy was that? If only the rest of Meredith’s appointed task went so easily. “And that’s it? I show up, help one of the designers and wait around for Avery to stroll by? What if I never even see her?”
    Why had she agreed to this again?
    “You’ll have to wing it. If you want the divorce badly enough, you’ll figure out how to get the information I need.”
    Oh, so that’s why he needed leverage. He didn’t have any idea how this was supposed to go and hoped she’d be desperate enough to figure it out for him.
    She snorted to cover her rising panic. “Lucky for you I’m a fast thinker.”
    “It’s not luck.” He shot her a strange look. “If I didn’t think you could handle it, I never would have suggested this idea. You’ve got one of the sharpest minds of anyone I’ve ever met and I have no doubt you’ll put your own spin on the assignment. In fact, I’m counting on it.”
    He thought she was smart. The revelation planted itself in her abdomen and spread with warm fingers. And of course, that alone motivated her in a way nothing else could. “You got it. I’m gonna be the best spy you’ve ever seen.”
    Jason was the only man who’d ever seen past her skin to the real Meredith underneath. She’d never dreamed it would come to mean so much. Being here in his presence again, after all this time, had solidified why no other man did it for her.
    But it had also brought home an ugly truth.
    In Vegas, it had been okay to be clueless and spill all her uncertainty because Jason was at the same place. He’d grown up after coming home, like they’d planned. She hadn’t. And that seemed to have everything to do with why he was so different.
    She wanted the Jason of two years ago. And this unexpected extra time together gave her the perfect opportunity to peel back the layers of this new version of the man she’d married to see if she could find him again.
    * * *
    By ten o’clock the next morning, Meredith wished for a mocha latte, a bubble bath and that she’d never heard of Hurst House. Allo, the only-one-name-required in-house designer she’d been assigned to assist, hated her. Allo hated everyone as best Meredith could tell.
    Allo called for shears yet again—the third time he’d changed his mind about whether he wanted chalk or shears—so Meredith trotted obediently to the table where all of Allo’s tools had to be carefully stored when not in use. Even if he planned to use them in the next five minutes.
    She placed the shears in Allo’s outstretched hand and waited for the next round of barked instructions.
    “Non, non, non.” Allo threw the shears on the floor and kicked them across the beautiful blond hardwood. “I said pins. Take the cotton out of your head and pay attention.”
    “Pins. Coming right up,” she muttered and cursed under her breath as she crossed to the cabinet yet again.
    Tomorrow she’d wear flats. And bring cyanide to flavor Allo’s chai tea. Not really, but she’d fantasized about it more than once after being told to remake the beverage four times.
    Who was Meredith to question the genius of Allo, who had single-handedly launched Hurst House into the stratosphere with his line of ready-to-wear evening gowns? She’d even been a little tongue-tied when she’d first met him and secretly hoped she might absorb some of that genius. She still might. If she didn’t kill him first.
    None of Allo’s assistants lasted longer than two months, according to the gossip she’d overheard in Human Resources that morning.
    No wonder Bettina’s phone call had netted Meredith a job so fast.
    Now all she had to do was figure out how to casually run