Page 117 of Tangled

Tristan gazed into the dark, fathomless loveliness of her eyes. “Colleen Faith Frost, QueenMod, my princess, we were adversaries on the Sherwood Forest forum for years, as you and the other moderators tried to keep us Killer Whales in line.

“When we met a year ago, I knew you were special, and I knew I had fallen into the deep end the moment I laid eyes on you. Your strength and your goodness are my shining light, and I am so grateful for every moment you spend with me.

“Your brilliance, your perseverance, and your ethics have kept this Twisty Trader on the straight and narrow for a year, and now that’s the only path I want to walk with you. Colleen, would you do me the absolute honor of marrying me and being my wife for the rest of our lives?”

Cheering.

He hardly could hear her say yes again, but she was nodding happily with her pixie-short hair swishing around her ears. He pulled out the ring, an enormous diamond he’d bought when they’d gone to Amsterdam a month before set in delicate platinum filigree, and slid it on her finger.

The hot stage lights beat down on them as Tristan swept her up in his arms and kissed her soundly before he whispered near her ear,“Good girl.”

~~~

You can’t con an honest man, but I’d never met one of those.

Until Micah Shine.

I come from a long line of con artists. Grifters, if you will. Card cheats and honey traps and catfishers. My mother married wealthy men who died suddenly, and Dad counted cards at blackjack in Atlantic City until the Mafia offed him.

Like father, like daughter.

I was working marks in A.C. when I met Micah Shine, who seemed as if he might be that mythical beast, an honest man. I threw out the bait, andhe didn’t bite.

Micah was tall, ripped, rich, and hot, and when he took off his sunglasses, his eyes were the green-flecked silver of opals.

That night, he seemed sober, conscientious, and kind, scrupulous in his honesty, and a freaking magician in bed.

That should have been my clue. Magicians are just another kind of con artist, but it didn’t register. I was smitten until it all fell apart.

I should’ve known.

Because I should have realized that if I wasn’t the con artist that night, I was the mark.

When Micah Shine showed up again the next weekend, I should have left him alone and walked away. But game recognizes game, so I sat down beside him at the poker table.

He offered to cut me in on the biggest con I’d ever heard of.

And that’s when I fell in love.

But that didn’t mean I was a sucker.