Harte Strings: The Billionaire Matchmaker, Part Two (12 page)

“Good luck with that!”

“Don’t sell yourself short. With legs like yours…”

“Oh, shit.” He laughed and rolled his eyes. “Are you going to make me wear a kilt as part of it?”

“The rumor is you look great in one. From what I hear, utility kilts were all the rage in Seattle at one point several years ago. Maybe you can resurrect the fad.”

“My grandfather wore a kilt from time to time,” Austin said.

“He did?”

“Well, my last name’s MacDougall. That’s a good, old Scottish Highlander name. My great grandfather immigrated here as a boy.” Austin spread a few more pickles on his burger from the pile on his plate.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. That’s where the red hair comes from. Scotland has the highest percentage of redheads in the world. And no amount of breeding with non-Scotties seems to make a difference. Red hair wins.” He paused to enjoy a bite of his burger. “I wore a kilt regularly in high school.”

“What?”

He nodded. “I played the bagpipes, at my grandpa’s insistence. And marched with a band of bagpipers in competitions for a year or two. Until I wiggled out of it. I wasn’t very good. My dad finally got tired of listening to me squawk and let me quit.”

“That’s interesting,” I said.

“More like embarrassing. At least they didn’t make me learn Scottish dance.”

“But you have the legs for it,” I teased. “How’s the app coming?”

“Great. You ladies were concerned about the location feature. We’ve worked a lot of the bugs out.” He pulled his phone out and brought the app up. “This is the latest version. Want to give it a try?”

I nodded enthusiastically. We sat, heads bent together, talking and smiling at each other intimately as we ran through some of the latest features.

“This is like playing a game of Clue or something—a ballet dancer, female, wants male mate, and a short commute,” I said. “And the answer is…”

We laughed at the answer and plugged in more combinations.

“Look. Female programmer looking for college-educated man in a city that scores high on the quality-of-living scale and has rampant job opportunities with strong chance of career advancement—ta da! Seattle!” Austin bumped me with his shoulder. “The app works. Impressive, huh?”

I grinned back. I liked Austin. Really liked him.

“Get out your phone,” he said. “Let’s try the single man/woman finder function.” He pulled it up on his while I grabbed mine.

“Look. I’m finding my location. Ah! Here it is, Lazer Lodge. I select it and choose one-time use.”

He walked me through doing the same on my app.

“Are you ready?” He was excited. It showed in his voice and on his face. “When I push this button, it should show me all the available women at Lazer Lodge—you! And you should see one, me.

“We won’t be specifically identified. We could be any of these people. If you were walking into this place, it would be your job to find me. You first.”

I hit a button and the display popped up with a blue silhouette of a man with the number one inside.

I clapped. “Good job! Now you.”

Austin did the same. We both watched the screen of his phone excitedly. A pink silhouette of woman popped up with the number two inside it.

We gave each other puzzled expressions.

“Maybe Lottie has her app on.” I texted her. She responded immediately that she didn’t.

“Uh-oh,” I said. “Potential flaw. Can a guy set his app to show that he’s a woman? Is one of the other men playing with his app?”

Austin frowned. “Good point. You’re a great beta tester. We’ll have to make sure people can’t cheat and change their gender. That would make this app pointless.”

I felt Lazer watching us. When I glanced at him, he looked away.

“Let me text the guys and see if any of them are monkeying with it.” He frowned as the responses all came back negative.

As I looked around the deck, they shook their heads as they caught my eye. All of them but Lazer. He shook his head, but he had a devilish look, a smirk he was trying to hide.

Austin and I tried the app again. With the same result.

“What the—” Austin shook his phone like it was the culprit, grinning at me as he did.

Just then, the buzz of chatter on the deck ceased. All of the men turned toward the glass doors from the lodge to the deck.

A beautiful woman stood in the open doors, her hair flowing in the gentle breeze. She held her cell phone up, screen toward us, revealing the app. “Add another woman to the party.”

I could make out the pink and the number two.

She scanned the group. Her gaze landed on Lazer. “Hello, darling!” She waved and strolled to him, hips swaying.

He held his arms open to her. She stepped neatly into his embrace, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him on the lips.

My heart raced out of control. Who was this unwelcome interloper? And how did she know Lazer?

L
azer and Ashley’s
story continues. You’ll want to pick up
Pair Us
,
the third episode of the series
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T
he Billionaire Matchmaker Series

Part 1—
Lazer Focused

Part 2—
Harte Strings

Part 3—
Pair Us

The Billionaire Duke Series

Part 1—
The Billionaire Duke

Part 2—
The Duchess Contest

Part 3—
The Temporary Duchess

Part 4—
The American Heir

The Switched at Marriage Series

Part 1—
A Wedding to Remember

Part 2—
The Virgin Billionaire

Part 3—
To Have and To Hold

Part 4—
From This Day Forward

Part 5—
For Richer, For Richest

Part 6—
In Sickness and In Wealth

Part 7—
To Love and To Cherish

The Billionaire’s Christmas Vows

Gina Robinson’s Contemporary New Adult Romance Series

The Rushed Series

Book 1—
Rushed
, Zach and Alexis’ story

Book 2—
Crushed
, Dakota and Morgan’s story

Book 3—
Hushed
, Seth and Maddie’s story

The Reckless Series

Book 1—
Reckless Longing

Book 2—
Reckless Secrets

Book 3—
Reckless Together

G
ina Robinson is
the bestselling and award-winning author of the popular Switched at Marriage and Billionaire Duke romantic comedy serials, featuring a billionaire in a surprising marriage of convenience and a billionaire who inherits a British dukedom, the Reckless and Rushed contemporary new adult romance series, and the Agent Ex series of humorous romantic suspense novels. Her books have delighted readers and received praise in
Publishers Weekly, Booklist
, and
Romantic Times Book Reviews.

She writes romance and women's fiction across a wide variety of subgenres--romantic comedy, new adult, contemporary, historical, and romantic suspense. Her love stories are infused with a blend of romance, adventure, a bit of mystery, and humor. Readers are drawn to the light touch she gives even serious topics and the fast, fun, easy-to-read pace of her books.

You can get the Gina Robinson Starter Library by signing up for her mailing list at
www.ginarobinson.com

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