Free The Trouble With Princesses by Tracy Anne Warren

wishing the room weren’t quite so warm.
    She sensed someone slipping into one of the seats in the row of chairs behind her. She did not turn, but forced herself to sit up straighter and refocus on the speaker as the woman launched into a detailed comparison of the educational levels of females in southern versus northern European regions.
    “Are these things always this dull?” mused a rich masculine voice near her ear, “or is this one just particularly deadly?”
    She stiffened and whipped her head around to find Rupert leaning forward in his seat, his arms folded casually atop the back of the chair beside her.
    Her lethargy disappeared. “What are you doing here?” she said under her breath.
    Devil take it. Was there nowhere she could be safe from him?
    He shrugged. “I had a spare hour. I thought I’d see what was so interesting that you would come halfway across Town for it. From what I’ve heard, you would have had more fun staying home and taking a nap.”
    “This is an intellectual discussion. Just because the subject is not to your liking does not make it unworthy.” As for its excitement level, she refused to comment. Not everyone could be counted upon to be a scintillating speaker.
    “It still sounds like a great load of trifle to me.”
    “Then why do you not go away?” she shot back, careful to keep her voice down.
    “And miss an opportunity to watch you try to keep your eyes open? I’ve rarely been so entertained.”
    Just how long had he been here watching her? she wondered in outrage.
    “Besides,” he said quietly, “I wished to speak with you.”
    She glared at him. “You are speaking with me.”
    “Privately. Why do we not go somewhere less crowded?”
    She bit back the first retort that sprang to mind, which was to tell him that he could go to Hades for all she cared. Yet loath though she was to admit it, Rupert was right: the speaker was exceedingly dull, however worthy her philosophy might be.
    “Very well,” she agreed with a barely veiled sigh.
    Careful not to be any more disruptive than necessary, she secured her pencil and pad inside her reticule and rose to her feet. She ignored the few stray glances that came her way, including a chastening frown from the lecturess herself, and followed Rupert from the room.
    The town house had one other small parlor, on the opposite side of the hallway. She led him there, grateful there were no servants in sight. “Now, what is so colossally important that you felt the need to disrupt my afternoon?”
    “I’d hardly say that was a disruption. More like a rescue, in my estimation.”
    She crossed her arms. “What do you want, Rupert? Or have you come merely to give me another lecture on the evil of my ways?”
    He arched a golden brow. “If I thought a repetition of the sentiments I expressed during our last private encounter would have any effect on you, then yes, I would recite my warnings afresh.”
    Strolling toward the window, he gazed out on a narrow side garden before turning back toward her. “But from what I have observed over the past couple of weeks, you do not seem to have taken my words to heart.”
    “If you mean that I refuse to see villains around every corner, then you are right. The men with whom I choose to be acquainted are gentlemen, who treat me with care and respect. I have no need to fear them any more than I fear you. I shall not allow you to frighten me out of my decision to take a lover, Your Royal Highness, simply to appease your sense of propriety.”
    “Is that what I’m doing? You think it is the potential loss of your virtue and reputation that concerns me?”
    “In the main, yes.”
    “Then you would be mistaken, although those are assuredly considerations that are difficult to overlook.”
    She opened her mouth to argue, but he held up a hand to forestall her. “However,” he said, “I can see that continuing to debate the point is of no use.”
    “Absolutely none. I am quite determined, you