Update: Seems that it likely is unrelated to the embedded font.
Looks like it has to do with the span.
I have an image drop cap and want the first line to be snug to the image so have a span to do that... I removed the font, changed the first line to capital letters but left the span to snug the letter and the line still not word wrapping...
span causing the issue (after fonts removed);
CSS:
span.lettrine {float: left; margin: 0 0.5em -0.1em 0.25em; }
span.firstline {margin-left: -1em; white-space: pre; }
img.h {height: 12em; max-height: 325px;}
HTML:
<p>
<span class="lettrine"><img class="h" alt="Drop cap H" src="images/KnotH.jpg" /></span>
<span class="firstline">ARLEY FOUND THE LIZARD.</span> Only Harley could have, because he was the only one big enough and curious (or stupid) enough to push through the brambles guarding the ravine behind their new place. They’d moved to Kansas in January, halfway through the school year, and it sucked. It was spring break and all his friends were back in Texas, so Jared had nothing to do for fun but walk his dogs along the wooded ravine and hope that the <em>Texas Chainsaw Massacre</em> hadn’t actually taken place in Kansas.</p>
In this case (first chapter) its short enough that it wasn't noticeable but in later chapters the span covers a whole line and half of it is not readable.