Wicked in Your Arms by Sophie Jordan

tired.”
    His eyes flashed. “Tired? You can sleep later. You agreed—”
    â€œYes,” she snapped. “You needn’t remind me. I’m to court the dowager’s grandson and any other gentleman of worthy rank.” Her voice sounded as tired as she suddenly felt. “I can do that well enough tomorrow. I won’t even see the gentlemen again until then. It’s just the ladies in the drawing room.”
    He motioned wildly behind him. “You should be in there with Cleo cozying up to the dowager, winning her over so that she pushes her grandson into proposing!”
    â€œFear not,” she bit out, feeling the heat creep up her face. “I’ll get a proposal. Some fine lord desperate for funds won’t pass up the fortune you’re offering. Who I am, what I am, or how I behave won’t overly signify. If it did, neither one of us would have been permitted past the gates.”
    He rubbed his hands together with excitement, not registering her bitter tone. “It is splendid. We’re actually at a house party with the Crown Prince of Maldania! I never thought such a day would arrive.” His gaze snapped back to her. “You need to put on your best performance. A fat dowry alone won’t do the trick with these swells. Use your feminine wiles. You’re your mother’s daughter. You must have some skill in that arena.”
    The heat in her face was blistering now. His words shouldn’t sting her—her skin was tougher than that—but they did. “Don’t speak of my mother.”
    He shrugged. “I’ve a right to do so. After all, she and I were—”
    â€œAnother word on the subject and I’ll leave.” She knew next to nothing of her mother’s relationship with Jack Hadley and she preferred to keep it that way. The knowledge that they conceived her was enough. She wanted to keep the stories Papa told her about her mother as her only facts. Not whatever sordid tale Jack would spin.
    Jack puffed his chest and tugged at his waistcoat. “You need to make your mind up if you really want to do this.”
    â€œI do!”
    â€œThen make yourself amenable and stop being such a contrary creature.” He looked her up and down. “Aside of my fortune there’s not much to recommend you to this lot.”
    â€œNor you,” she bit back. “You eat your soup like a pig at a trough.”
    For a moment it looked like he might explode at her, but then a grin split his weathered face. “Yes, I’ve my share of flaws. Perhaps that’s what makes us family. As ourselves, we’re thoroughly defective.” Without another word he turned and left her standing in the corridor.
    Defective . The word sat like a boulder in her stomach. Yes, that’s how the prince probably saw her. In that moment, she wished she’d never met her father. Never discovered just who he was. The mystery of him that she’d lived with for most of her life was better than this reality.
    But then Trevis swam before her eyes and she recalled that she’d come because she had to. There had been nothing left for her in Wales. She couldn’t have remained on as Trevis’s game master after everything.
    Her fate rested in her hands now.
    Turning, she fled down the corridor, away from her father, away from the library and the deep voices of the men.
    She would forge her destiny in her own way and time. Not because Jack Hadley demanded it of her.
    S ev stepped from the shadows, watching thoughtfully as Miss Hadley fled the corridor. As far as he was concerned, her father was as foul and brutish as the lowest fishmonger. And yet Miss Hadley stood toe to toe with him. Dignified even. Regal as a queen.
    He winced and shook his head, quickly banishing that thought. He’d seen queens. Known several, including his own mother and grandmother. Miss Grier Hadley was nothing like them. Not at all refined and