Kipp Llewellyn, the proverbial poor little rich boy, can have whatever he wants, except the one thing he wants most: his father’s love. When the opportunity arises to obtain it, Kipp jumps at the chance, even though it means breaking a date with “Ham,” the man he’s sure he’s falling in love with. However, the opportunity turns out to be an arranged marriage with his father’s biggest competitor. Even worse, Kipp discovers his proposed groom is Hyde Wyndham, the man of his dreams. Having lived in a gilded cage his entire twenty-one years, Kipp refuses to settle for anything less than love and walks away from both his father and his future husband. Hyde didn’t achieve his position in the financial world by taking no for an answer, however, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make Kipp realize he’s wanted for himself, including wooing the young man he intends to marry, prenuptial agreements be damned. He’s certain he’s succeeded, until Kipp learns something that puts an insurmountable barrier between them. Will Hyde be able to overcome Kipp’s doubts, and will Kipp realize that some things are worth the sacrifice?

Two Lips, Indifferent Red

It seemed to take forever for him to reach the road where Llewellyn Manor was located.


“Please let me out here.” We were still some distance from the house, but I couldn’t bear remaining in the same car with him. I’d sneaked out through a side door no one ever used, and I’d have to hope Higgins, Sir’s butler, hadn’t bothered to check whether it was locked.


He pulled over to the curb. “Here, take twenty dollars. That’s the least I owe you.”


So he could blacken my name even further, adding “whore” to it? “No, thank you.” I got out and walked toward the house, staying in the shadows of the hedges that shielded Llewellyn Manor from the hoi and the polloi.


He idled along beside me, so I didn’t even have the luxury of wiping the tears that streamed down my cheeks.


Chapter 4