"Absolute worst date of my life!" Zara cried, as she strode into the matchmaker's office.

Ebony looked up from her computer, swamped by a familiar sinking feeling. That feeling grew as her client sat on the other side of the desk. Zara's normally glamourous face was covered in tiny red welts! Add the dark circles under her eyes and the pallid complexion, and Ebony feared to ask more. "What happened?"

Zara fiddled with her phone. "First of all, James was so late picking me up that we lost the reservation you'd booked for us."

"Not a good start, I agree." Okay, that was one cross for James, thought Ebony, doodling a cross onto her notepad. "Please tell me you found another table?"

"We did. Half-an-hour later. As soon as we made it to our table, James began ordering from the wine list, even though I'd already told him that alcohol did bad things to me. He apologised. I could tell right away that he wasn't sincere. I should've left then, but I went to the Ladies' room to calm down. When I returned, a chocolate milkshake was waiting for me. Supposedly, it was a peace-offering."

Ebony smiled encouragingly. "Well, that doesn't sound so bad."

She scoffed. "It tasted so good that I drank the concoction in seconds. A minute later my throat felt constricted. Then came the hot flush, and then this rash!" she said, patting her lightly blistered cheeks.

"It was a cocktail?!"

Zara nodded, her eyes tearing up. "Last night I looked more hideous than this! Can you believe that?"

Ebony tried not to wince. "You don't look that bad."

"Oh, please. I look like I've got a crab shell stuck to my face."

"Maybe...a little."

Zara laughed. "At least you weren't lying when you said you were honest."

"Honesty isn't all that fun, believe me."

"That's why I've avoided all mirrors in the past twelve hours. The truth hurts."

Okay, Zara did look bad on the Zara scale. But to the rest of us, her two looked pretty good, like a case of acne on a supermodel. On an allergy-free day, Zara's ten was a blonde bombshell, with dimples and dazzling blue eyes. More than that, Zara genuinely wanted to meet a good guy, and Ebony was trying to bring that dream to fruition.

Ebony still didn't understand why this client was so hard to match. Zara as a client should have been a matchmaker's gift, which is precisely why Aunt Sage had handed Ebony the case—a way for Ebony to prove she could be a successful matchmaker. So far, Zara had been on five failed dates. Ebony's newest client, James, had seemed great during the interview, and Zara had raved about him after their first date.

That sleazy, arrogant, slime ball...

"I'm very sorry about the date, Zara." Putting on her glasses, Ebony fumbled through her client's file, checking the matching score for the woman's date the previous night. "This doesn't make sense. James was an eighty-three percent match."

"Then either your matchmaking methods or your questionnaires must be wrong, because he smiled when I got that rash. I couldn't believe it! He said he was smiling out of embarrassment, thought that when I'd said alcohol did bad things to me that I'd go a little crazy. Probably thought I'd be easier to seduce. The only nice guy there was the waiter, and he drove me to the emergency ward. But he had to return to work."

"Any chance you know the waiter's name? I'd like to thank him personally for rescuing you." And me, thought Ebony.

"Bailey, I think? I was in a state of anaphylaxis at the time. Details like that kind of slipped past me," Zara said, letting out a laugh.

Bailey... Why him? Over the past couple of months, he had asked Ebony out several times. If they hadn't been at work, she might have broken her vow. Because it was true—Bailey was a nice guy. At the time, Ebony had questioned this repeatedly.

On the upside, at least Zara could laugh about it all. The last thing Ebony needed was another bitter client walking from her office and complaining to the other matchmakers at Kismet. Then it came to her, an epiphany of sorts. The waiter still might be single. Zara might forgive this fiasco of a date if she was matched quickly. "I'll have a word with James, and I'll scour the ends of the earth until I find you the perfect date."

Zara nodded, but she looked unsure as she rose from the chair. "I like you, Ebony. I trust you. That's why I'm willing to stick this out a bit longer."

"Thank you," she said quietly.

As her client exited the glass office, Ebony let out a long breath. At least Zara was willing to give it another shot. If the other matchmakers—Aunt Rose, Aunt Sage, and Sage's daughters—found out about this latest disaster, a second warning would be beckoning at Ebony's door. As her desk was clearly visible from the reception desk, she would see that warning coming from a mile off.

Ebony's gaze wandered through the glass door and windows. At first glance they looked innocent enough, stylish with the white silhouette of a couple touching hands for the first time, but the agency's slogan stared back at her like a cosmic joke, 'Kismet Matchmaking Agency—Find your perfect match!' As if she needed another horrible reminder of her failed attempts at finding others love! In the six months she'd worked at Kismet she'd had ten successes, and they'd been in the first two months. Aunt Sage had been over-the-moon. Since then, not a single success. What was more devastating, out of those ten successful couples none were still together.

Thoroughly depressed, Ebony rolled her mother's bracelet around her wrist. When the world got too heavy to withstand she liked to believe that her mother was with her, bearing some of the load. She rotated one of the small amethysts on the string, enjoying how it caught the light. A rough nugget of silver was threaded beside it. She frowned, realising she hadn't examined the bracelet closely since its repair. There were a few extra coloured stones and crystals. A silver nugget had been placed after every three stones, forming a nice sequence. The silver nuggets were new. She spun the first and squinted at the tiny 'J' imprinted into the silver.

Jake mustn't have seen the letter when he'd selected it, she thought. He probably wanted the bracelet finished in record time.

She spun the second nugget and discovered the letter 'a'. She started to frown.

He wouldn't! Would he?

Ebony spun the third and final nuggets and cringed as she read the four letters, "J-a-k-e." If she ever saw him again, she was going to give him a piece of her mind! And James, too, for that matter!"

Ebony was one click away from deleting James from the agency's database forever when her finger paused over the delete button. The professional thing to do would be to corroborate Zara's story first. A quick visit to The Peach Tree was in order.

The Peach Tree was used as a safe-haven for first dates during the matchmaking process, and it was owned exclusively by Kismet Agency—or more specifically Ebony's two aunts. The restaurant was Rose's pet project, and word of this matchmaking disaster would no doubt reach her ears first. Considering Rose had taken great pleasure in giving Ebony her first warning last week, Ebony had to fix this fast.

With only five minutes until knock-off time, she picked up her bag and strode from the room. First Stop—Peach Tree. Second stop—a jewellery repair at Mrs Harrostone's. Last stop—home. At least that was her plan until she came face-to-face with a very smug Rose, who was sitting behind the curved reception desk.

"Ebony, a word," Rose said.

"Is everything alright?" What was she saying? Everything was not alright!

Clinging to the reception desk, Ebony almost broke into hysterical laughter.

"Is something funny?" Rose asked.

"No." Ebony cursed. "No. Sorry."

Rose scrutinized her niece, while Ebony tried not to wither under the woman's pale gaze. It was so unfeeling that Ebony wondered how Rose had been in the business of matchmaking for the past thirty-five years. With the coiffed hair of pepper grey and the tailored suit complete with a pearl brooch, she could have passed for a prima donna. As for the woman's eyebrows, they'd been plucked to near extinction.

"And everything is not alright," Rose said. "There was an incident at the restaurant last night. A young man named James tried to take advantage of his date, leading her to be rushed to hospital. Both were your clients, I believe."

"Yes. I was on my way to The Peach Tree to investigate it now," Ebony replied, rushing towards the elevator.

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