“I... heard a low whistle. I jerked my head up to see Chris standing on the top of the steps next to Tristan. Pervy little boy. He leaned toward his brother, whispering loudly, “Trist, she looks really pretty!”My cheeks burned and Tristan gave his brother a smack on the back of the head. “Shut up! She can hear you!”

“You'd think I wouldn't even have to say that, but seeing as you two were halfway to Babytown when I walked in here-""Just shut up and go pack," Tristan said."Ooh, feisty." Nate shook his head at Scarlet. "Tristan doesn't like it when I talk about you guys having sex.""Neither do I. Geez." Scarelt was blushing as she shooed Nate from the room.Nate exited and Tristan and Scarlet spent the next half hour lacing arrowed in blood and not making eye contact.”

“Before Charlotte could utter a syllable, Tristan picked up her gloved hand and kissed her lightly on theknuckles.“Good day, Charlotte,” he said.“Good day,” she answered. She turned to bid farewell to Lady Rosalind, but she seemed to havedisappeared.Numbly, she descended the front steps toward a waiting Rothbury, who only had eyes for the Devines’front door, looking quite like he wanted to murder someone.“Perfection, dear brother,” Rosalind proclaimed, while peeking out the little window next to the door.“Utter perfection.”Slipping a finger inside his cravat to loosen it a bit, Tristan craned his neck from side to side, easing thebuilding tension. “If he kills me, I’ll see to it that you get hanged for murder as well.”

“I'm going to kill you." Gabriel pointed at Tristan."For what?" Tristan raised a brow at his twin. "It's not like I asked Scarlet to come lie on top of me. I woke up and she was just...there.”

“He then eyed Tristan and took a step back, stumbling over his cloak. “You must be the earl’s twin brother. But your eyes…how are they so green?”“They were brown until your heathen of a cousin shot me through the heart,” Tristan said crossly.”

“Across the room, she heard a loud clatter. She looked up to see that Roland ahd fallen out of his chair. The last time she'd glanced at him, he'd been leaning back on tw legs, and now it looked like gravity had finally won.As he stumbled to his feet, Arriane went to help him. She glanced over and offered a hurried wave. "He's okay!" she called cheerily. "Get up!" she whispered loudly to Roland.”