Free Some Girls Do by Leanne Banks

Wilhemina,” she wailed, rushing toward him.
    “Wilhemina,” he repeated. The vendor returned on the line, but Michael disconnected the call. He could feel his blood pressure rising. “What are you talking about? What happened?”
    “I thought Wilhemina was sleeping in this morning, but she wasn't. When I checked her bedroom, she was gone and she left a note. She has run away,” she said, looking as if she were going to hyperventilate.
    Michael saw his juicy contract with Ivan slipping from his grasp and shook his head. He wouldn't let that happen. He couldn't “Where did she go?”
    “I don't know,” Katie said, thrusting the note at him. “She didn't say. But Michael, this woman is helpless. To my knowledge, she's never made travel arrangements for herself let alone traveled without a companion. Turning her loose out there is like—” She shook her head. “Anything could happen to her. Anything…”
    Michael studied the note while Katie continued to rail. Katie, please forgive me, but I must leave. You and I both know I won't find the right man for me in Philadelphia. I just don't fit in and I never will. But your wonderful story has inspired me. It's time for me to venture out on my own to find my future and I have you to thank for giving me the courage. Please don't try to find me. I'll be back before Daddy returns, I promise. Love and kisses, Wilhemina.
    Michael stared at Katie. “'What the hell kind of story did you tell her?” he demanded, feeling his head throb with the beginning of a monster migraine. “How did you give her courage? And why did you plant this insane idea in her head?”
    “I didn't mean to give her that kind of courage, “Katie retorted, her face regaining some color. “You could tell the poor woman felt lower than snail spit and I just wanted to make her feel better. And I absolutely did not suggest that she go tearing off on her own to find her future.”
    Michael sucked in a breath and counted to three. That was all he could manage. “Tell me the story you told her,” he said in a deadly calm voice.
    She pulled back slightly and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “It was just a little fairy tale my mother used to tell me when I was a little girl.”
    “And it went like…”
    Clearly reluctant, she pursed her lips. “It was about a lonely little girl who lived in a castle who wished on a star every night.”
    “And?” Michael prompted, not liking where this was headed.
    “And the little girl traveled to a far-off land and had many adventures and found an injured knight on the side of the road,” she said in one breath, then paused with a wary expression in her eyes. “And the knight and the girl—”
    “Oh, no. Let me finish. The knight and the girl fell in love and lived happily ever after.”
    “Well, those weren't the exact words,” she said.
    “But the sappy sentiment was the same.” He shook his head, a bitter taste filling his mouth at the memory of his own disastrous engagement. His fiancée had been one more person who taught him to rely on himself. “I can't believe you filled her head with these crazy ideas.”
    “It was either that or she was going to eat two packages of cookies and sink into a funk,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “Besides, I told her the story while she was drinking margaritas, so I figured she wouldn't remember much of it.”
    “You women and this white knight romance forever crap. Those fairy tales should come with warning labels.”
    She looked down her nose at him. “Well, I can see why you wouldn't appreciate the concepts of white knight and romance since you're clearly so far removed from chivalry or anything remotely romantic,” she retorted.
    He heard the drawl in her voice again and tilted his head to one side trying to place it.
    “But that's beside the point. We have to find Wilhemina,” she said. “And Chantal.”
    Michael felt the throbbing in his head kick up another notch in intensity.