Free Weather Witch by Shannon Delany

and the rest of them. “She is my—”
    Meal-ticket, Jordan thought. If he were honest, that’s how the sentence would end. We are not lovers, we have never even kissed … And the idea they might exchange promises had set her nerves trembling just two hours before as she was laced into her gown by her best friend.
    The Wraiths paused, their fingers tightening on Jordan’s upper arms as they hauled her farther from him. The Wardens cracked their canes’ butts against the floor in unified warning.
    Rowen worried them. Jordan might have snorted at the idea had snorting been acceptable ladylike behavior. As it was not, she merely tilted her head in her best imitation of appropriate curiosity. It was imperative she maintain some dignity even when being placed under arrest.
    But the idea of Rowen being worrisome to Wardens and Wraiths?
    Rowen? The man best suited to matching the buttons on his waistcoat to whatever pocket watch he wore on a given day? Rowen—the one who could only duel with a sword if he stood on a designated piste?
    Rowen, to whom “alpha” was merely the beginning of “alphabet”?
    She had known him since they were five and six and the only thing worrisome about Rowen was his willingness to sneak alcohol into the teetotalers’ punch bowl and dance like a mill worker. Or curse like a sailor for the sake of making her blush. Or sing a song he’d heard attending a minstrel show …
    “You cannot take her,” he repeated, fiercer than she’d ever seen him.
    His mother stepped forward, resting a hand on his arm.
    He shook it off and took another step.
    “Do not act the madman!” his mother scolded. “Let her go.”
    Jordan raised an eyebrow. So that was how it would be now, yes? The accusation made, her family’s reputation already tumbling to ruin not even ten minutes since the Wardens’ arrival.
    A few guests slunk toward the door the Wandering Wallace’s assistant held open for their escape. Best not to be remembered as having attended this particular party. Rank by association meant being part of the wrong group at the wrong moment might mar your standing irreparably.
    Jordan should not have blamed them, as she herself would have been among the first to sneak away in similar circumstances. Still, she blamed them whether she should or not.
    “You cannot take her,” he insisted. “I haven’t given her her birthday gift yet.”
    Don’t do it, she thought, scrunching her face up to be as unappealing as possible. Don’t dare ask for my promise now—it would be social suicide …
    With one more step he was toe-to-toe with her. He leaned in— down, she realized, suddenly struck by Rowen’s height. She was certainly no delicate flower but Rowen was … a tree by comparison. His shock of blond hair brushed against her forehead and his lips found hers with a homing ability she would have never imagined in someone who got turned around window-shopping!
    When his lips moved against hers the panic filling her head died away to nothing and she was left with only silence. And sensation.
    That was when he sneaked his fingers into the heavy folds of ruffled lace trimming her sleeve and pierced the fabric there with something cold.
    Her eyes popped open and she gasped but he hardened his kiss as his hands drifted back down her arms and paused to clasp her wrists. Pressing his cheek to hers he whispered, “When you are alone and only then—look. Someday you will learn to more readily wear such a thing in such a fashion.” He broke away then, resting his forehead against hers, his eyes searching her own.
    “ Now, ” the Tester snapped, and they dragged her out the front door of her family’s mansion.
    The last glimpse she had of her seventeenth birthday party was of Catrina stepping up to Rowen and slipping her hand around his to lead him away from his view of Jordan.
    His taste on her lips, Jordan understood a new way Rowen might yet prove worrisome.
    The doors closed behind them and Jordan’s