Read Online A Game of Persuasion: Extended Prologue for the Art of Ruining a Rake (The Naughty Girls Book 3) by Emma Locke - Free Book Online Page A

going, the least you can do is tell me where you were.”
    He waggled his blond eyebrows at her. “You first.”
    Oh, devil take the man. If Roman wanted to remain an enigma, so be it. She knew enough about him to crave his body wrapped around hers and his mouth slanted across her lips. That was all she needed, wasn’t it?
    She met his gaze with a boldness she only halfway felt. “I am in the process of founding a girls’ school, if you must know. I was meeting with my adviser.”
    “Oh?”
    She nodded, sitting straighter, her hands pressed to her knees. “I shall be its headmistress, once I am free of Trestin’s ridiculous plans for my marriage.”
    Across the carriage width, one golden eyebrow rose with incredulousness. “Does he know?”
    She turned her head toward the window. Oh, he knew; if only he would understand. But fighting with Trestin never seemed to accomplish anything. “He doesn’t accept it.”
    From the corner of her eye, she saw Roman tilt his head as if weighing her answer. “He ought to have had brothers, rather than sisters. They’re much easier to manage.”
    “Your brothers are hardly saints,” she replied, thinking of the four men she’d known from infancy.
    “No, but I don’t concern myself with their troubles. They can get on without me. Ashlin is too engrossed in caring for you and your pretty twin to remember he has his own life to live.”
    Lucy frowned as she looked at Roman. Trestin was hardly as obsessed with her daily activities as he’d been before Roman had stolen Miss Gray away with the shocking truth.
    Lucy wanted to ask him why he’d ruined two people’s happiness when Trestin might have gone on obviously, but instead of bringing up what must surely be a sore subject, she corrected him on his second point. “Delilah and I are not twins.”
    Roman grinned. “But she is pretty.”
    She felt her face heat. It was the second time he’d called her pretty, even if the compliment was a little convoluted. “Trestin is distracted of late,” she mumbled, redirecting the conversation to her brother, without intending to do so.
    It was just that Roman made her feel so…flustered.
    Roman shrugged, a charismatic insouciance that made him seem worldly. “We can’t every one of us set our best foot forward all the time.”
    Yet he couldn’t be entirely ignorant of the reason why Trestin was maudlin. “Will he be more attentive at my come-out, do you think?” Lucy asked. “It’s only three days away.”
    Roman shrugged again. “Who can say?”
    She shook her head slightly, so that it was clear his answer didn’t satisfy her.
    “Oh, come now, I won’t have you put out on your special day,” he said with a handsome smile, swinging his legs so that he sat upright. “I’ll be there, if you must have someone doting on you.”
    Dear Zeus, if Roman deigned to dote on her at her come-out, she’d swoon!
    She might swoon just looking into his eyes. He seemed utterly serious.
    Her pulse began to pound.
    He grinned. “I’ve always said Trestin should treat my brothers as his own. It stands to reason his sister is my sister, then.”
    Her face fell before she could stop it. Damn him three ways to the Underworld . That was hardly the sort of attention she craved from him.
    She mustered an indifferent smile that didn’t begin to reflect the frustration rebuilding in her breast. “In that case, be prepared to be ignored at every turn. And I will dance with Kinsey twice. You can’t stop me.”
    Roman’s head tilted almost imperceptibly, as if he were considering something altogether new. “Will you be at Lady Melbourne’s ball tonight?” he asked, holding her gaze.
    She couldn’t quiet the flutter in her breast. This was more like it.
    “Yes,” she replied, crooking her smile at the corners mischievously, thankful her voice didn’t shake.
    “Good,” Roman said, raising his arm to rap on the carriage roof. “I need to speak to Ashlin.”
    Before she could howl with