Page 82 of The Bad Boy Prince in Love

“Please, I’ve seen what you wore to that dance,” he said with a world-weary sigh.“It’s fine for rural festivities, but an outfit like that is not going to cut it here.”

“I thought you said you wanted a salt-of-the-earth kind of person.”

“There’s a fine line between salt-of-the-earth and country bumpkin.Now, if you don’t mind,” he got up to collect his darts from the wall, “I’ve got a lot of pressing work to do.”

Chapter 43: Dressed for Dinner

“Okay, let’s make thisquick,” Miss Santer said sourly.

They were surrounded by the sumptuous atmosphere of Giamattoni, one of the city’s finest clothing stores.Hallie had actually never set foot in the place, knowing that she could not afford any of the dresses and handbags artfully displayed in its showcase windows.

“Excuse me,” Miss Santer said snappily to one of the store employees.“We need to pick out a dress for her.Could you give us a few options?”

“What’s the occasion?”the young woman asked.

“Fancy dinner,” Miss Santer replied, “not that putting a fancy dress on you is going to make you look any more of a lady,” she muttered to Hallie.

“I guess we’ll see about that,” Hallie said cheerfully.She liked how irritated Miss Santer was with the task of finding her a dress.It went even further to confirm her theory about a love-lorn Santer.

The assistant promptly gathered some dresses and showed Hallie to a change room.

“I’ll be right outside,” Miss Santer said glumly.

Hallie went along with it.After all, she would have had to drive all the way back home to get one of her own dresses, and even if she did, any dress she owned would probably not meet Luke’s approval for his perfect dinner date.

The first dress she tried was not super exciting, but it had all the class and elegance Luke was probably looking for.Its black satin fabric was cut in a simple, figure-hugging style with a halter neck.

“Hmm...”Santer craned her neck sideways.“Could be better.”

Hallie returned to the change room and put on the next dress, which was a rose colored creation gathered at the waist with interesting folds.

“I like this one,” she said, emerging from the curtained change room.

“It looks great on you,” the shop assistant said, nodding.

“I don’t know,” said Miss Santer, “Let’s try another one.”