Wicked in Your Arms by Sophie Jordan Read Free Book Online Page B

anything would.
    She cleared her throat and lifted her chin. “It’s unlikely they’re lingering—”
    â€œThey’re properly wedded,” he reminded in his rolling accents, her skin tingling in the most bothersome way. “They have no cause to hurry back. And knowing Lady Kirkendale, she’s probably distracting him along the way.”
    She loathed his logic. The couple had sounded quite amorous moments ago, after all. She should put nothing past their salacious natures.
    She crossed her arms and gazed at the . . . prince . Her thoughts still stumbled over the fact that he was royalty, that he was here. With her. That he had propositioned her and seemed unmoved by that fact. Her chest tightened. He probably did it all the time to lowly females such as her.
    Who would have imagined that Grier, more comfortable in trousers and astride a mount, would ever find herself in such a scenario? The Grier of old had spent several evenings a week at the local tavern, drinking ale with lads who viewed her as one of them. Simply another low-born lad. As a game master, she’d spent little time in dresses and even less time in ball gowns.
    She swallowed. The blasted prince was right. She would make a poor queen. And that wasn’t something she regretted. She didn’t aspire to be a queen. She only sought a marriage to a gentleman. She knew how hard life could be. She wanted to make sure she was shielded from the worst of its storms. Nothing more.
    Leaning back on his elbows, the prince continued to stare at her as she made no move to leave. “Thought you might see my point.”
    â€œConcerned with being caught with a lowly serf such as me, are you?” She could not stop the biting question. He, a prince. She, a bastard who’d fallen into some money. The two did not mesh.
    He tilted his head, firelight gilding the dark strands. She swallowed again, vowing to stop letting his looks addle her head.
    â€œNot especially,” he answered. “ My reputation shall not suffer if we’re caught together, after all.” A corner of his mouth pulled seductively. “Sorry. That man thing again.”
    He mocked her. Her fingers dug into her palms, the nails cutting into the tender flesh. She stared at him for a moment, cocking her head. “You mean I alone would bear the shame of being caught alone with you in a bedchamber?”
    â€œNaturally.”
    â€œSuch an occurrence shall not affect you in the least.”
    â€œYou needn’t sound so indignant.” He nodded a single time. “ ’Tis the way of things. In your country and mine.”
    Yes, she thought grimly. It was the way of things. She’d suffer scandal, and he would merely become more desirable in the eyes of the ton . Men would admire him and women would only think him more the dashing rake.
    If she thought the whispers about her were bad now, they would be nothing if she was caught alone in such intimate quarters with the bloody Crown Prince of Maldania. She bit her lip, looking anxiously to the door again.
    He certainly wouldn’t salvage her honor by offering to marry her. A bitter taste filled her mouth. Make no mistake, he did not deem her worth saving from ruin. She was merely a bastard. Too old. Too freckled and sun-browned.
    â€œThen I best not linger here,” she retorted at last. “Since every moment with you places me at risk.”
    She turned for the door, determined that this time, he would not stop her.
    And he didn’t. He didn’t utter a word as she fled the room.
    And why should he? As she hurried down the corridor, she grasped her skirts in two clenched hands, chasing her repeating shadow and reminding herself that she was nothing to him. Nothing. Just as he was nothing to her.

Chapter Five
    S ev stared at the closed door that Miss Grier Hadley had departed through as if the hounds of hell chased her heels. He scratched his jaw in bemusement.
    Grier,