The Assassin She Spared

Lady Adela of Birchwood was supposed to be a quiet political death. She has other plans. She is twenty-one, newly widowed, and refusing to hand her castle to the crown. He is forty-six, unhurried, and the assassin sent to end her. She is awake when he comes — has already hidden the only thing worth killing her for — and she makes him an offer instead. Stay. Earn double the crown's fee. Help me outlast every rival they can send. He knows survival's ugly arithmetic. She is the first thing in years that doesn't add up. Somewhere between feigned attempts and a real siege, his ledger stops making sense, and a contract killer starts wishing he could bill someone for a kiss. When his old employer comes for her himself, Renard has to choose between the neck he has and the woman he wants. Some men are hired. Others are kept.