In Love by Christmas: A Paranormal Romance by Sandy Nathan Page B

foxes. Wild boar. Elk. Deer. They’re worth hunting.” That earned him more smiles.
    “Will has Leroy fully scheduled through December,” Doug said. “But maybe we can cut him some free time. He goes to Rome soon.”
    “The hunt season starts in November. We could get you up an exhibition game of polo then too. Informally.”
    “Right on! Her Grace and I will expect you at our country house,” said Lord Ballentyne.
    “And then at my place.”
    “And mine!”

9
    Charm School, Week One
    “ T hat wasn’t so bad,” Leroy said, basking in his triumph.
    “That was baby stuff.” Doug looked at him from under furrowed brows. “You hit a home run, but you’re barely into the first inning.”
    “I still don’t get why all this matters. Why don’t I just travel around and see things?”
    “Because you’d still be Leroy Watches Jr., cowboy rancher, when you’re done. Will wants you to be his ambassador. Do you know why Will wants you to make it with these people? Or why he cares about them at all?”
    “No.”
    “They’re gatekeepers. They can open doors that pure money can’t. Doors to bankers, more nobility, and royalty , plus the people who really make decisions. There’s more to being at the top than just money.
    “Will has wanted to expand into Britain and Europe in a big way for years. He wants to beat Donatore on his own turf. Europe is where Donatore is from and where he plays. And he plays; he’s a social bigwig. Will wants a piece of the action.”
    “Will’s the richest man on Earth. Why does he need ‘in’ on anything?”
    “Will is in, but you need to know something else. There’s rich, and there’s rich. Among people who have been rich for four hundred years, Will’s the new kid on the block. Did you know that he couldn’t get invited anywhere when he first got to California? Couldn’t get into a single top country club in San Francisco or the Peninsula, even for lunch?”
    Leroy shook his head. “Why?”
    “Will was raised with a lot of money, but it was from handling industrial waste or something; dirty and definitely not classy. His father was a thug. Will was too rough as a young Stanford grad for society to accept him, even though he was starting the tech industry and making a bundle, on top of his family’s bundle. That was in the 50s and 60s. He had to do the same thing you’re doing.”
    Leroy was dumbfounded. “Will had to learn knives and forks?”
    “Yeah, Will Duane had to learn what people who are truly upper class care about. We’ve got an upper class in the US just as much as here. What got Will’s career in the fast lane was meeting this crazy old lady, Dr. Vanessa Schierman. Her ancestors were the ones who took California from the Indians. Before that, they ruined the lives of peasant farmers back in Germany for a thousand years. That’s old money.
    “Dr. Schierman took a liking to Will and cleaned him up. And she got him in everywhere. They kowtow to her anywhere she goes. Breeding, money, and brains. She’s a physicist. She views Will as a member of the family.”
    “Will got where he is because he had good manners?”
    “No. The right people would talk to him and treat him as an equal when he got into their clubs because he has good manners, and connections to people with money and social power. He got where he is because he’s a ruthless, driven competitor who was in the right place at the right time. Wait until you meet Dr. Schierman.” Doug grinned ear to ear.
    “Why?”
    “You’ll see.” Doug smiled. “I know all this because Will and I were best friends once. I said we fucked our way around the world together; we also talked. I thought he was the best man on Earth once.” Doug shrugged. “I found out he’s OK. Not the best, not the worst.
    “But—you’re gonna be busy. The tailor is coming at one, followed by your hair stylist and manicurist.” The doorbell rang. “That’s your staff.”
    Doug admitted a group of people better