Nine Inches of Snow and the Ebony Princess Read Free

was no question Philomena would have benefited from the lessons he’d learned under his parents’ tutelage. “I’m well aware of business etiquette, Philomena.”
    “You’re not still upset at the way I talked to that waiter earlier, are you?”
    “It’s your party.”
    “David, he was dreadfully incompetent. He had to be firmly put in his place.”
    He removed her hand from his arm and held it. “We need to talk.”
    “Certainly, honey. What is it?” She turned to him with a confident expression, and David had a feeling she was expecting something from him he would never be able to give, at least not to her: commitment.
    “We’ve had a nice couple of weeks together, but this isn’t something that can go any further.”
    She blinked. “What is it you’re trying to tell me, darling?”
    He gritted his teeth at her term of endearment. It made him uneasy. Always had, as it presumed a love affair that did not exist, never could. “I’m telling you it’s over.”
    “That’s simply not possible.”
    “I’m sorry, but it is.”
    “But I was expecting you to pro—”
    He stared at Philomena as she cut herself off, realization dawning.

    14
    Gracie C. McKeever
    Jesus, she was expecting him to marry her after two weeks?
    They barely knew each other—not that brevity of courtship would stop him from pursuing his kissing buddy. He knew her as well as he knew himself. He knew her soul— but what he knew of Philomena, he wasn’t too enamored with.
    David should have cut this off a lot sooner, but decided dragging it out any longer to soothe her wounded psyche would be even crueler than she.
    “It’s my stepdaughter, isn’t it?”
    He blinked and looked at her. Surely he hadn’t heard her right.
    “Your stepdaughter? I’ve never met—”
    “The waitress who just left!”
    “She’s your stepdaughter? ”
    “Are you scandalized because she’s my stepdaughter, or because I know what’s going on between the two of you?”
    He was still dealing with the shock of discovering who his kissing buddy was when he met Philomena’s glare with his own.
    “I’m scandalized because you’re a cold and uncaring witch who doesn’t deserve to have a young woman like her in your life.”
    “I see she has you fooled, too.” Philomena sneered. “Don’t you know you should never trust a big butt and a smile?”
    “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her stepdaughter, and she never said anything, not one word. Didn’t even introduce them. She’d treated the girl worse than an employee or servant. She’d treated her like a stranger off the street.
    “She’ll only use you. But you would know about that, wouldn’t you? Being a user?”
    David grinned and silently shook his head.
    Another man would have been chastened at the tacit
    indictment, but David had never been one to worry about what other people thought of him, had never let barbs get to him. Years of growing up the youngest of five brothers and beneath the glare of family success and the public spotlight had inured him.

    Nine Inches of Snow and the Ebony Princess
    15
    David made allowances for Philomena’s hurt feelings, knew they were behind her insult, but he had no doubts about the nature of her character, or that he was doing the right thing in breaking things off now.
    “So you have nothing to say for yourself?”
    “This may surprise you, but despite my sharing your bed on occasion the last couple of weeks, I don’t answer to you.”
    Her reaction was instantaneous, but so were David’s reflexes.
    He would have had a nasty red handprint across his cheek had he not caught her hand mid-strike, the force behind her blow was that potent.
    “How dare you!”
    “Stop being so melodramatic.” He held her wrist fast when she tried to jerk out of his grip. “If you’ll calm down, I’ll release you, but not before.”
    “Let me go,” she said through her teeth.
    “Can I count on your cooperation?”
    “Who do you think