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get excited…and don’t think you can profit from throwing the show.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding,” Bella said, rounding on her. “You think I’d give up five million dollars to be Mrs. Evan…Whatever his name is? That’s insane!” Even if the man was as handsome as a rugged movie star.
    “What’s five million compared with five billion?” Madelyn arched an eyebrow. “Surely you’re smart enough to do the math.”
    “I wouldn’t want five trillion if it came with a man attached to it.” Bella shook her head at the woman’s stupidity. And she was the one in charge of this show?
    Madelyn considered her, a calculating look in her eyes. “You’re really that dead set against marriage? Even to a guy like Evan?”
    “Hello—if I lose, it’s bye-bye Chance Creek Pet Clinic! What do you think happens to all the animals living there? You think magically they’ll all get adopted? Even the ones missing a limb or an eye or maimed by the neglect of their previous owners? No—they won’t. They’ll be killed. Murdered! And people like you won’t even bat an eyelash. Just another dead kitten—no big deal! Who cares about that puppy—I want more wedding cake!”
    Bella knew she was losing it. A number of people in the corporate waiting room had turned to stare at her as her voice raised, but she couldn’t help it. She’d never been away from the clinic for a single night since she’d accepted her first batch of unwanted puppies, and now she’d been gone for eighteen hours. What if something happened and her brother was too busy to come and help?
    A wave of panic crashed over her, and suddenly she knew for certain disaster had struck back at home. Hannah couldn’t handle emergencies like she could, and her brother would never prioritize a pet over a useful animal , as he termed horses and cows.
    “Give me your phone.” She snatched at Madelyn’s state-of-the-art device. “Give it to me—I need to call the clinic!”
    Madelyn looked over her shoulder and made a strange, rolling gesture with her right hand. Bella turned to follow her gaze and was horrified to see that the camera crew had crept up behind her to film this interchange. She looked up and ducked in alarm at the microphone boom one portly crew member dangled over her head.
    “What the hell? What are you doing?” Crimson with rage and humiliation, Bella ducked and covered her head with her arms. Damn it, she must look and sound like an utter fool, and they were planning to broadcast that? Now she understood all too well what she’d let herself in for. She would have to be in perfect control for the next seven days and never betray her true thoughts to the show’s producers or its audience. She couldn’t let them turn her into a laughing stock or ruin in her life.
    If they hadn’t already.
    “Cut!” Madelyn said with a sigh. “We’re filming back story. Our viewers want to know what makes you tick and I think we just found out. You care more about those animals than you care about your own sex life. Kinda sad, but makes for great television. There’s our plane. Come on, everyone—get your gear together. We’ll board in ten minutes.”
    Now, viewing their first night’s rustic accommodations, Bella wondered for the thousandth time how she’d survive this week. If she won, she’d have smooth sailing for the rest of her life and the means to save thousands of animals. If she lost, she’d lose everything—including herself, body and soul, for a year to a man who cared for nothing except making money. What a lonely, awful year it would be as the puppet wife for a callous, jaded businessman. And then what would she do? She’d have to go home to her parents, her tail tucked between her legs until some other veterinary clinic took pity on her and hired her on.
    Maybe she could move to a larger town where the pound was separate from the veterinary clinics and she wouldn’t have to see the animals who were doomed to die.
    She’d