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With a glance over her shoulder to make certain no one else lurked about, Grier inated Pressing her ear close, she listened

"Listen carefully toas possible Do you understand?"

"But Lady Libbie, your papa will beatto him Please take oing?

"I need you to stall anyone fro out I’ve snuck away Allow no one into my room Tell the--Hannah presu, quite above tears

"Oh, co"

"Oh, my lady, I’m sorry I’ of you--so happy that you’ve found your prince at last! Ever since you were a girl you dreamed of this" The rest of the maid’s words faded away

Your princeA prickly sensation washed over her skin Lady Libbie and Sevastian

Grier felt ill She pressed a hand to her suddenly roiling stomach She shook her head, told herself to walk away Everyone kneas here to court Lady Libbie This shouldn’t come as a shock It shouldn’t matter that he’d kissed her It didn’t h of exasperation drifted through the door "You ht serve soues when they learn of the elopement At least I can claih Ialone with my love on the journey Now I must contend with you I do hope you won’t complain the entire time"

My loveGrier rolled her eyes She hardly knew the prince Did anyone truly know the man? He held himself as aloof as a Grecian statute

Of course, Grier had thought she limpse of him, of the real man beneath the façade Evidently she was just as foolish as Lady Libbie The girl actually thought the presence of a irl Did she think that would matter? One need only look at the virile prince to be assured that Lady Libbie did not reach the altar with her virtue intact

As she stood there, with her ear pressed to the door and her palainst the polished wood, the utter awfulness of theaway To un to read so beyond a prince trifling with a woenuine for her Clearly she’d been naught but a distraction until he and Lady Libbie made their escape

She stepped back fro at her sides as cold fury swept over her He was quite the seducer When had he even wooed Lady Libbie? She scarcely saw theined he spoke to any female at the house party as much as he spoke to her

She was filled with a sudden vision of hi away her qualht rail as he lowered her to the great bed

Feeling like a total and utter dupe, she strode from the door as quickly as her feet would carry her How dare he flirt with her-- kiss her--while planning to elope with another wo he was here to court Lady Libbie She knew that he’d eventually wed the lovely girl or some other such acceptable female He did not hide the fact that he was on the hunt for a bride Just as she did not hide the fact that she was here to find a husband

But learning that he was strategizing an elopement in the same hour that he flirted with her--it was abominable Were all men so duplicitous? Were they all as wretched as Trevis?

It onlyto wed for practicality Security, respectability She required nothing nation burned hot to know that while he toyed with her he already had a secret understanding with Lady Libbie The wretch

And as he so anxious that he must elope with the lady? Did he lack all patience? Or was there another reason? Did he fear the earl would refuse his proposal?

Well, whatever the scenario, she wouldn’t let hiet aith it She was not the spoiled and na&iu hiirlhood fantasies

No, Grier knew hied one’s soul, whose kisses could trick a young girl with less experience into believing he was the stuff of girlish fantasies

For a otten who she was She had per his whispered words weave a seductive fog inside her head to such a degree that she had begun to ask herself ould be so very wrong with engaging in a brief liaison

She’d created quite a convincing arguirl Sentiment would not be involved She would receive carnal satisfaction Perhaps that was right, justified, given that she was preparing to enter a union that promised none of that

Her stride increased, every step quick and agitated It only took secret whispers in a corridor to jerk her back to reality

Hardening her heart, she slipped inside her bedchaht thwart the prince froht She rationalized that a et what he wanted At the very least, she intended to give His Bloody Highness a piece of her ht with his wealthy and eligible bride, but not before she let hiht of him, and that she was not soet

Chapter Fourteen

Sev retired early He’d never located Lady Libbie as he’d set out to do, so he felt little desire to indulge in cards and drink with the gentlein wooing Lady Libbie in earnest--and stay as far as possible froed to entice him

As he passed the library, he took heed of the viscount with his jacket removed and sleeves rolled up to his elbows at the card table

Sev had noticed the dowager’s grandson had a particular affinity for faro and was quite willing to lay down a considerable wager His horse, his curricle in Towneven his ruby cuff links Fleetingly, he wondered if Miss Hadley knew of his proclivity and then he told himself it was none of his concern Grier Hadley’s future was none of his concern Whoht not choose to ently shook Ilian awake from the chair in the corner Sev disht with a fond pat on his bent back It didn’t matter how many times he told Ilian not to wait up for hi his cravat loose when a slight knock at his balcony doorhis head, he stared hard at the draperies shielding the glass door, certain he hadout there He was three stories fro caain, this time louder His every nerve snapped into alert with familiar tension The same tension he’d lived with for too many years to count He’d survived both assassins and countless battlefields over the last dozen years only because he’d learned to be alert, constantly vigilant

He moved to the balcony door carefully, on the balls of his feet--and pulled back the drapes