"Who would have thunk women would pay so much money for so little?" her grandfather had said, surprised, but actually pleased that Ashley had spotted both a trend and a need, and locked onto it. He hadn't always agreed with her, for Edward Kimbrough was a conservative man, but he had been Ashley's biggest booster.

And now Ashley was in the process of opening two new stores: one in an upmarket neighborhood in the city, and another in a similarly good location in a wealthy suburb. But everything was being threatened by this stupid clause in her grandfather's will: Ashley Cordelia Kimbrough had to marry by the time she was thirty-five or she would lose everything. Her home. The millions of dollars her grandfather had left her. And her investments, including Lacy Nothings, because her stores were originally a part of Edward Livingston Kimbrough's investments, and the monies she was using to open the new stores were part of the estate. They were hers to use only until she was thirty-five. If at that point she didn't have a husband, then Ashley would lose it all to SSEXL, the Society Seeking Extraterrestrial Life. Not that her grandfather had believed in life on other planets. No. He had done it to please his stupid girlfriend, who couldn't be satisfied that she would get a million on Edward's death. So he had added the clause to please Lila. He had certainly never expected that his granddaughter would strike out three times trying to get a man to the altar. A gay fiancé; a sex-addicted fiancé, and a con man.

"My luck with men just sucks," Ashley said gloomily. "What the hell am I going to do, guys, if we can't break the will? Can we prove that Lila took advantage of him? Used her wiles to cajole him into the clause so her cuckoo organization would profit?"