Because of His Fortune (For His Pleasure, Book 25) by Kelly Favor Read Free Book Online Page A

was like something she’d have
expected to see on the Cooking Channel, or perhaps from the kitchen of a
five-star restaurant.
    He’d made a chicken breast with a zesty
wine sauce, and a mushroom risotto, along with a vegetable medley.   Everything looked fresh, perfectly
cooked, and her mouth was watering just looking at it.
    Liam sat down across from her and raised
his own glass of wine.   “To the most
beautiful, most caring, most insightful woman I’ve ever met,” he said.   “I’ll never let anything stand in our
way again,” Liam said.
    Grace felt tears in her eyes, but this
time they were happy tears.   She
clinked glasses with Liam and said, “thank you for saying that.”   She took yet another long sip of wine
and then put the glass down and dabbed at her eyes.
    Her first bite of chicken was a
revelation.   It was mouthwateringly
good, and tender and the complexity of tastes Liam had brought out was simply
amazing.   She moaned, chewing it,
savoring each bite.
    “Is it okay?” he asked, worried.
    “Okay?” she said, astounded.   “Do you not know how good this food is?”
    “I hoped you’d like it,” he replied.
    “I love it,” she told him earnestly.   “You have a real talent.   This is one of the best meals I’ve ever
eaten.”
    “Me too,” he said.   “But for me it’s the company.”
    Grace smiled again and shook her
head.   “You’re too good,” she laughed,
eating more of his food, drinking wine, and wondering if all of this was too
good to be true.
    Liam seemed to be in great spirits
despite his recent loss and what Grace knew must be in the back of his mind—that
his last conversation with his mother had been a horrible argument.
    He poured both of them more wine.   “So,” he said, “how was work today?”
    Grace made a face and rolled her
eyes.   “It could’ve been worse,” she
said, and then thought about it.   “Actually, I’m not sure if that’s true.”
    “What was so bad?   Was Easton giving you a hard time
again?”
    “He was okay,” she said, waving at the
thought of him.   “I mean, he hates
me, that much is obvious.   But he
did compliment my work from yesterday, so that’s something.”
    “That’s great,” Liam told her.   “So what was so bad, then?”
    She explained how her brother had come
into the office and given her a hard time about the newspaper article and the
picture of Liam with her in it.
    Liam started laughing.   “Your brother is the best,” he said,
laughing harder.   “I need to hang
out with him.”
    “Oh, he’d love that.   Scott worships at the feet of wealth and
celebrity.”
    “I’m much more than that,” Liam
said.   “I’m also a pretty face.”
    “True,” she said, smiling.   “But he doesn’t approve of my
involvement with you.   He says you
and your kind will never accept me.   He says we’re from different planets, different universes—all
that.”
    Liam’s smile faded.   “Do you believe that?”
    “No, not exactly,” she said, frowning a
little.
    “So you believe it to some degree, then.”
    “I don’t know what I believe.   But it does seem like I’d be more
welcome if I was rich and from a powerful family and I’d attended private
schools and ivy league universities.”
    Liam sighed.   “Just because some people are snobs,
doesn’t mean we’re all snobs.   And
it also doesn’t mean we have to listen to the opinions of fools.   We’re not living in the fifteenth
century.   Things have changed, and
in the modern world, there’s a thing called social mobility.”
    “It sounds so simple when you talk about
it,” Grace said.   “But I’m not sure
it’s really like that.”
    “What matters is you and me and what we
think,” Liam said.   “So tell
me.   Do you agree with him that our
differences in education and wealth should keep us apart?”
    She shook her head.   “Of course not.”
    “Then let’s not allow that kind of
ridiculous to attitude