“If you will excuse us, ma’am,” Alex said. Without another word, he scooped Giana up in his arms and carried her from the nursery.
“Alex.”
When she breathed his name again, it was in passion as he moved deep within her. She had climaxed once before, so quickly, that she hid her face against his shoulder. And she called his name when the rippling sensations built in her again, making her legs tighten about his flanks. He arched his back, a deep moan breaking from his throat, and surged into her wildly. He was still only a moment, then moved against her again, stroking and caressing her until she was crying with the pleasure of it.
“I will marry you,” he said when she had quieted.
Giana gazed up at his dark face above hers and smiled. “I love you, Alex, dearly, with all my heart. Please, let those words be enough, for there is all the trust you could ever wish in them.”
“You are late for dinner,” the duke said, looking from Alex to Giana. A slow smile spread over his face. “Well, my boy, if she looked any softer, you could spread her on your bread.”
Alex squeezed Giana’s hand and said, “She is but a woman, sir, and cannot hide her cream-fed victory over me, a mere mortal man.”
“I am leaving for California tomorrow,” Delaney said. “If I am scalped by Indians, contrive to remember me.”
“I think, Delaney,” Aurora said, “that you should come back to England with us for a visit. Perhaps it is there your destiny lies. Who knows?”
“I shall consider it, ma’am. Yes, I shall consider it.”
“New York isn’t precisely Paris,” the duke said.
“True,” Giana said. “But New York is so full of life, and people from all over the world, and so free.”
“Bravo, Giana,” Alex said, sitting back in his chair.
“Well, my love,” the duke continued to Aurora, “I must admit to being most impressed with our colonies. And we are so close now, why the Sirius crossed the Atlantic in under two weeks. Of course we would have endured much more to see your dewy-eyed bundle.”
“Was I dewy-eyed, Papa?” Leah asked.
“N
o, you were a wrinkled little red monkey,” Delaney said. “I remember it quite well. But your papa decided to keep you.”
“Glad I did, puss.”
The duke turned his silvery eyes to Delaney. “ California, my dear boy. Gad, it seems impossible that you colonists have stretched your hands all the way to the Pacific.”
“Only the Pacific could have stopped us, sir,” Alex said.
“I had wondered,” Delaney said suddenly, “where Giana had got all her beauty. You, ma’am, are a lovely lady, if you will excuse the impertinence of a simple colonist.”
“Marriage has improved her,” Alex said, grinning at his mother-in-law.
“Hear, Aurora,” Damien said. “The lad is surprisingly wise.”
“For a mere colonist,” Giana said.
“Did I tell you, Alex,” the duke said, “about the railroad car Aurora had her fellow design for me? It sports the Arlington crest and runs nearly to our home in the country.”
“I would have supposed, sir,” Giana said, “that all your affairs now prosper from my mother’s hand.”
“What’s-his-name seems to smile a lot,” Damien said, sipping at the light red French wine, a present from Aurora.
“You do not act like Giana and Father,” Leah announced, seeing the duke lightly caress Aurora’s hand.
“Ah, in what way?” Delaney asked.
Giana shifted uncomfortably in her chair.