WM02 - Texas Princess by Jodi Thomas

to skirt past al the people wanting to give her their best wishes and nd her father. Somehow, she had to make him see reason. If she couldn’t talk him into cal ing off the wedding, at least she’d get him to postpone it. He might be neglectful at times, but face to face he’d never been able to tel her no.
    Final y, she found him in his study, staring out the window and deep in thought.
    “Father,” she said as she walked into his outstretched arm. His embrace was indifferent as it often was when she’d disturbed his thoughts.
    “Princess,” he whispered, hardly looking at her. “Having fun?”
    “I need to talk to you,” she said. “I have a problem.”
    “Can it wait until morning? I need to set a plan in motion before it’s too late.”
    Liberty guessed it would be a waste of time to tel him how unhappy she was about the wedding. “Of course, until morning.” She tried not to think of the hundred conversations he’d postponed over the years and never found the time for. Oh, he loved her, she’d never doubted that. Whenever matters of state gave him a minute to remember he was more than a senator, he always looked around for her.
    Hugging him tightly, she whispered, “Good night, Father.”
    “Good night, dear,” he mumbled. “Enjoy the rest of the party.”
    At the door, Liberty turned back for one last glance at him. For the rst time in her life she might have to solve a problem without him. Her father had handpicked the captain, saying Samuel would grow into a ne ofcer in time. She remembered how the senator introduced them six months ago, bragging that Samuel was on his way up in the world and Liberty would be lucky to win his favor. Once, when the senator wasn’t aware she stood near, he’d said Buchanan was the son he wished he’d had.
    It wasn’t likely her father would see her side and cal off the wedding. She sometimes felt as if the marriage had been set in a smoke-l ed room before she had even entered, and the bargain wasn’t hers to change.
    Liberty straightened as she marched down the hal way, not knowing if she was strong enough to ght them both. For the most part, she thought of herself as more the mouse type. She’d never crossed her father—not over anything important. And the captain was used to taking charge.
    Long, powerful ngers closed around her arm. Liberty let out a smal cry as Samuel moved up beside her.
    “There you are. Come with me, Liberty. There are people I want you to meet.” His smile was polite, professional and cold.
    She fol owed aware that he’d ordered and not asked. They seemed to be beyond smal talk. Straightening her gown, Liberty took a deep breath tel ing herself Samuel had a great deal on his mind. It was his job to keep her father safe. Trouble brewed on the border. He’d just accepted a new post he had to report to after the wedding. Captain Samuel Buchanan no longer had the time or energy to court her and the cracks in his polished manner were showing.
    But none of these excuses made any difference. Samuel was not the man for her. She knew it al the way to her core. He was handsome, had high goals, and had been chosen by her father, but he was not the man for her.
    Like a boy showing off his prize, Captain Buchanan circled the bal room. After he’d introduced her to everyone he thought important, he insisted on dancing.
    As she fol owed his steps on the oor, she wondered how she’d gotten herself to such a hopeless place in her life. She’d been spoiled and pampered since birth. The only child of two only children. The motherless daughter of a powerful man. The beauty every man wanted to court. But now . . . where had it gotten her? Engaged to a man who probably knew to the penny how much money she had in her trust fund, and already considered her to be his property. Her father was too worried about something else to care.
    Unwil ing to make a scene, she sat next to Samuel for a late supper. Her ancé talked about