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told her about the betrothal. But you are wrong about my authority. I am Sophie's father, and I have every right to guide her life."
    "When she was younger, but not as an adult."
    "Sophie is not just any adult. She has become a famous adult, and she was a child prodigy before that—the kind of woman all sorts of people try to take advantage of. I control a trust that was set up for her when her mother died, which includes Swan's Grace, and it gives me the right to make decisions regarding her affairs."
    "If you felt so certain about this trust, why haven't you directed her before now?"
    Conrad grimaced. "I've had other things on my mind."
    "That is clear." Grayson seethed. "But she's your daughter."
    "Sophie is not the only daughter I have!"
    "Ah, yes. Your new family. How could I forget." Conrad flushed red, his stance growing defensive. "I was giving Sophie a chance to fulfill her dreams as a musician. She has succeeded. That magazine article is proof of that. But now it is time she returned home to make a suitable life for herself. She's a woman, for mercy's sake. She can't be a musician forever. More than that, she certainly can't continue to travel around the world with that ill-assorted group of hangers-on the article mentioned. And I plan to tell her about the arrangements I've made just as soon as she arrives."
    "
Arrived
," Grayson clarified impatiently. "Sophie is already here."
    "What? She's not supposed to be here for another week!"
    "Sophie is in Boston, at the Commonwealth Avenue house, expecting you." His jaw tightened. "Hell, Conrad, you didn't even bother to tell her you had moved."
    The older man looked chagrined. "I had planned to explain that, too, when I picked her up at the harbor and brought her here to The Fens." The lines of his face softened. "I had planned to drive her around the Public Gardens, perhaps get out and walk over to see the skaters on the lagoon. I was going to tell her everything."
    "And you think that would have been enough? A quick explanation during a stroll through the park?
After
the papers were signed?"
    The softness evaporated and Conrad matched Grayson's anger. "She is twenty-three years old, and it's time she learned that there is more to life than music. She needs guidance. And as her father, it is my responsibility to see to her welfare. I'm seeing to it now, and if I have to use that trust to get it done, so be it. She will move in here where she belongs until she is married."
    Grayson raked his hand through his hair. "God, what a mess." He looked at the older man with barely held patience. "Surely you understand that this is not the way to get your daughter to settle down. Sophie will only fight you." His gaze narrowed to slits of obsidian. "Which means she will also fight me."
    "Let her fight. Whether she wants to admit it or not, I'm doing what is best for her." He gave a sharp tug to tighten the belted sash at his waist. "I will explain the situation to my daughter. I will go over there first thing in the morning."
    "Tell her about the house," Grayson said, his temper under tight control. "But I don't want you making things worse by telling her about the betrothal." His eyes narrowed, his voice taking on a cold, hard edge. "I will tell her about our marriage myself. If she finds out that on top of everything else you betrothed her without her consent, she will be like a runaway horse with a bit between its teeth. She would reject the match simply to defy you."
    "I am her father. She will not defy me!"
    "Then you've forgotten what Sophie is like." Conrad grumbled. "I haven't forgotten. She's as headstrong as they come. Always has been."
    "My point exactly. Now I will have to untangle this mess."

Chapter Three

    "I thought the betrothal was finalized."
    It was the following morning, and Bradford Hawthorne, patriarch of the venerable Hawthorne family, spoke from the doorway of his study.
    Grayson stood at the mullioned window of Hawthorne House, tense and silent, his