And then she told me exactly how.
By the time she finished, I was smiling into the phone.
"Thank you, Grandmother."
"I will send some money to your account. Buy yourself something beautiful, something that will make my grandson forget his own name. And Tasha?"
"Yes, Grandmother?"
"Call me when it is done. I want to hear that my grandson finally came to his senses."
A laugh escaped me, and it surprised me, because I had not thought I had one left. "I will, Grandmother."
We said our goodbyes, and I paced up and down with the phone pressed to my chest, feeling the strangest lightness. The old woman believed in me. She had looked at my situation, handed me a plan and the money to carry it out, and she knew her grandson better than anyone alive. If she said he could be won, then he could be won.
My appetite came back with a vengeance, and I ate the breakfast Scarlett had made. After I received the money, I grabbed my bag and went out.
The boutique assistants swarmed me the moment I walked through the door, and I let them. I tried on dresses until my arms ached, until I found the one that made my breath catch in my throat.
Blue, the color of a summer sky, so short it barely covered the curve of my ass, cut low in the front and lower still behind. The kind of dress Scarlett wore often, the kind that made men's eyes go dark and their mouths go dry. I knew Sparrow would be attracted to it, because he was attracted to her, and she wore clothes like this like a second skin.



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