Thirty minutes later, with streams of glittering guests arriving through the front entrance and proceeding down the hall to the ballroom, Paradise thought … well, at least she assumed Craeg was coming.

He’d told her he was coming.

Really, he had.

Standing just inside the ballroom’s upper level, at the head of the grand staircase that took guests down to the dance floor, she searched the crowd. She didn’t think it was possible that she’d missed his arrival. Certainly not with the butler announcing everyone as they came in before they descended to the party below.

She’d been well aware that he’d seemed a little uncomfortable at the idea of escorting her, but he wasn’t the type to back down. Especially not where she was concerned—

“Hey, beautiful.”

“Peyton,” she murmured as she turned to her friend.

As they embraced, she glanced behind him, hoping to see … nope, no Craeg.

“Wow, nice ice.” Peyton leaned in and checked out her necklace. “Where’s your man?”

“I don’t know.” She frowned. “And I thought you were bringing that female, what’s her name?”

“Oh, her. Yeah. No. Her father called mine and asked what my intentions were. I’m not about to get entangled with that stuff.”

“Why didn’t you ask Novo then?”

“Don’t know where you got that idea.” He surveyed the crowd. “Well, time to find a date. Anyone in our generation here, or is it full of old farts—wait, look, I think there’s a female over there with her own teeth still.”

“Peyton. You should have asked Novo.”

“Who?” He kissed her on the cheek. “Laters.”

As he sauntered down the red-carpeted steps into the crowd, he attracted all kinds of attention, a reminder that her best friend was a very viable commodity in the glymera.

The poor bastard.

And there was another reason she was worried about him, for him. Ever since the night at her house with Anslam, Peyton had closed up. On the surface he was just the same, but she knew him at a level other people didn’t.

Something had changed in him, and he wasn’t talking about it. Then again, a friend of his had killed a relation. That was a lot of grief to process.

God, she wished he’d talk to her. To someone.

As music swelled and couples began to make it to the center of the ballroom, she fluffed her skirts out a little and realized she’d wanted to share this with Craeg—but that might be asking too much of him. Most males would find this a snooze—or worse, a curse.

Well, fine. She didn’t have to go to these things. And she could wear her damn diamonds in her bathrobe and be perfectly happy. After all, what made the necklace important was that it had been her mother’s and was now hers.

Yup, her father was so right. As fancy as this crowd was, with their gowns and their jewels and their airs, it was a flat experience to stand among them. Even though she belonged here by right of birth, she was totally apart, and really pretty uninterested—

“Is there a better band coming later?”

Wheeling around, she smiled like crazy—and then stopped. Put a hand to her mouth. Took a step back.

Craeg shook his head and looked down at himself in horror. “Damn it, Butch swore to me this contraption fit. He swore it.”

“You are…”

Her male was flat-out 007-gorgeous in his white tie and tails and his patent-leather shoes, looking as tall and distinguished as anybody else in the room. Although it was funny … she liked him just as much in his jeans and his baseball cap.

Or nothing at all. Even better.

“Wait, is that … my father’s ceremonial sword?” she blurted, blinking through sudden tears.

Craeg smoothed the gold sheath that hung off his left hip. “He was waiting for me when I got here. He insisted I wear this tonight. He said he would have it beneath no one else’s dagger hand when his daughter was presented to society with a male escort for the first time.”

Paradise had to clear her throat. “That is … an immense honor.”

“I know.”

“And you got your hair cut,” she said. Although as soon as she spoke, she wanted to kick herself in the ass. “I mean—”

“I was pretty shaggy.”

She jumped up and hugged him. “Thankyousomuchforcomingimsohappyyourehere—”

Craeg laughed in that great baritone he had started to use and he held her in that great way he did, up close to his body so she could feel his strength. “I would have been here sooner, but my ride was getting busy.”

“You made it. That’s all that matters—and oh, my God, you are hot.”

“And you are…” He put some space between them and seemed to look at her properly for the first time. “Wow. That is some dress, and … are those real? Those are real … that one in the middle is the size of my thumbnail.”

“It was my mahmen’s.”

“It’s almost as beautiful as you are.”

As they talked, she was very aware that they were being sized up and spoken about, and there would be scandal, yes, there would be.

Fuck ’em, she thought as she hooked her arm in his. “Come with me?”

“Anywhere you take me, tonight and always.”

Leading her male over to the head of the stairway, she nodded at Fedricah, who immediately bowed in deference to Craeg.