nicolas 's fingers bit into her arms . the gold looked up at the dragon . still , not all hope was lost . `` do n't you have some calls to make ? '' how do you break an alibi like that ? `` the thing is , i behaved badly last evening and i want to apologize . '' `` so , are you coming home for dinner or what ? '' guards should be here ... and here . `` the life of a duke 's mistress sounds very elegant . 