Princess Charming (Legendary Lovers 1)

Garbed in a ball gown of emerald green to match her sparkling eyes and highlight her shining auburn hair, Lady Katharine Wilde was the picture of vibrant beauty.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Maura stepped forward.

“How did your meeting go with Deering?” Katharine asked at once, which made Maura grimace.

“Truthfully, it was a disaster …” Quickly she recounted the viscount’s ignominious proposition and her own wrathful response.

Kate looked outraged on her behalf, but immediately protested Maura’s decision to quit the ball early.

“But you cannot leave just yet!” she insisted.

“There is no point in my remaining,” Maura repeated the argument she’d made to Katharine’s provocative older brother. “But you know I am immensely grateful for all you have done, dearest Kate. I will return your lovely dress tomorrow.”

Katharine had loaned her the ball gown of amber silk, since she had nothing fine enough to wear to a grand ball and little money to waste on fashion in any case. Additionally, Katharine had sent her own carriage to collect Maura from her stepmother’s house, since Maura only had a gig in London and no coachman. She loved Katharine dearly, like a sister, but she still felt uncomfortable having to accept her generosity. No doubt it was pride that made her want to be independent and stand on her own two feet.

At the mention of the ball gown, Kate gave a dismissive shrug, then suddenly changed the subject. “What about Ash?”

“What about him?” Maura responded warily.

“I saw him follow you outside onto the terrace. And you remained out there with him for aeons. What happened between the two of you?”

“Nothing happened,” she lied.

“Then why is your face so flushed? Come now, Maura. I know you too well.”

She sighed, knowing her friend would never give up until her curiosity was appeased. “Your brother kissed me, if you must know,” she confided in a low voice.

Rather than look startled, however, Katharine smiled slowly in satisfaction. “And how did you like it?”

“What does that matter?” Maura asked in exasperation.

“Because I want to know.”

The heat in her cheeks increased. “I liked kissing him very well,” she finally admitted, although not even under pain of death would she confess that she’d been far more intimate with the marquis than a mere kiss.

“You don’t say.” Kate clasped her hands together in delight. “This is even better than I hoped.”

Maura’s gaze narrowed on her best friend. “Katharine Wilde, what in deuces are you talking about? Please tell me you did not invite me here to throw me in your brother’s path. You did not, did you?”

“Well, perhaps I did, a little.”

“That is perfectly ridiculous—”

“I disagree, darling Maura. I think you and Ash may be meant for each other.” Before Maura could sputter an objection, Katharine hurried to add, “In any event, Ash is the very man to help you get your horse back.”

“No, he is not. I can manage on my own.”

“No doubt, but you should not have to. You know Skye and I are your family. You claimed us years ago.”

That much was true, Maura allowed. Upon being sent off to boarding school by her stepmother when she was twelve, she’d arrived at the Ingram Academy for Young Ladies shortly before Katharine and her cousin, Lady Skye Wilde, who was a year younger. The Wilde girls had been orphaned by then, having lost both sets of beloved parents in a tragic accident at sea, and Maura had befriended them at once.

At that point in her young life, she was feeling terribly alone and lonely herself, and when she’d heard Skye crying softly in her bed late one night, grieving her loss and missing her remaining family—her older brother Quinn and her cousins Jack and Ashton—Maura had promptly declared that she would be Skye and Katharine’s family. The three girls had made a pact then and there, a bond that had only grown stronger over the following years as they shared the tribulations and joys of school days and holidays together; then as young ladies negotiating the uncertain waters of society debuts; and afterward, as they moved into full-fledged womanhood, which fostered new dreams and aspirations for each of them.

When Maura made no reply, Katharine pressed her. “Promise me you will at least discuss the matter with Ash when he calls on you tomorrow.”

“How do you know he will call on me?”

“Because I intend to make him.”