Blood spurted from Sebastian’s lips and nose, but all Drake could see was the red haze of anger that clouded his vision—a vision of Sebastian raping Alexandria. He wanted his brother dead.

Alex’s voice broke through his frenzy.

“Drake, that’s enough! Don’t kill him! He’s not worth it!”

Still holding Sebastian by the throat, Drake turned his head slowly, really seeing Alex for the first time. She was naked, with only the sheet wrapped around her, her small body trembling, her eyes wide with terror. She swallowed convulsively, clutching the sheet that sheltered her from Sebastian’s hateful touch.

“Please …” she begged in a pathetic voice.

Drake turned back to look at Sebastian. His brother’s eyes were glazed from too much brandy, his entire face splattered with blood. He was a useless excuse for a human being, and his very presence sickened Drake.

“I want you out of my sight, you worthless bastard.” Drake lifted his brother by the throat, crossed the room, and kicked open the door. With a feral growl he tossed Sebastian into the hall. Several frightened, gaping servants, awakened by Alex’s scream, stood gathered in the hallway as Sebastian landed in a boneless heap.

“Take this slime away!” Drake ordered the stunned footmen, his emerald eyes ablaze. “I don’t give a damn what you do with him; just remove him at once!” He looked down at Sebastian. “If you ever so much as look at my wife again I will kill you with no questions asked.”

He strode back into the bedchamber, slammed the door, and turned to his wife.

Alex stared at Drake, white-faced, her body still shaking uncontrollably. She was at her breaking point, but at the same time, she was very much aware of the importance of this moment. Would Drake believe she was innocent or would he again believe the worst of her and assume that she had seduced Sebastian?

She waited.

Drake crossed the room and sat down on the bed, gathering Alex’s quaking body in his strong arms.

“It’s all right now, princess,” he murmured softly, kissing her hair and tucking her head beneath his chin. “I’m with you, and I swear that he will never come near you again.”

He paused, needing to ask … dreading the answer. “Did he hurt you, sweetheart?” he questioned at last, his voice raw. “Did he …” He couldn’t bring himself to say the word.

Alex shook her head against his chest. “No,” she whispered in a tiny voice. “You got here just in time.”

“Thank God,” Drake breathed. He rocked her gently in his arms, unwilling to think of what might have happened if he had arrived one moment later. The thought of Sebastian violating his beautiful, precious Alex made his guts twist.

Alex pressed her face against Drake’s shirt. “Please hold me. Just hold me. Make his horrible touch go away. Please,” she begged, burrowing deeper into Drake’s embrace.

“I’ve got you, love.” He tightened his arms fiercely around her, giving her his strength. “The only touch you will ever know will be mine.” His hoarse, protective vow seeped into Alex’s cold body.

And suddenly Drake’s words, the joy of being safe in his arms, was more than Alex could bear. Succumbing at last to the tears that she had held in check until now, she gasped, “Drake, oh, Drake, thank God …” Her words were incoherent, her body racked with sobs that gave way to a torrent of tears, which spilled down her cheeks, drenching Drake’s shirt.

Drake felt Alex’s pain as his own, felt her tears wash the past away.

“Please, sweetheart,” he implored her softly, “don’t cry anymore. I can bear anything but your tears. Please, princess … no one, nothing, will ever hurt us again. I promise.”

At Drake’s fervent vow Alex leaned back to look up into his anguished face.

“I did not encourage Sebastian,” she stated simply, watching Drake’s reaction. “I fought him off as best I could.”

Drake cupped her face in his hands, stroking the tears from her wet cheeks with his thumbs, his heart expanding with a feeling that he no longer wished to dispel. Smitty was wrong. He had been a bastard—a bastard and a damned fool.

He gazed tenderly down at his wife’s beloved face, her tear-filled eyes looking more than ever like the wondrous waves of the sea, her rare innocence shining so clearly that it could only escape a man who refused to see its splendor.

And she loved him. It was there in her eyes as they awaited his reply, in her lips as they trembled with hope, in her body as it melded to his in a need and an instinctive trust that told Drake all he needed to know.

Lord, how he loved her.

“You bore the brunt of my brother’s sickness … and my own stupidity,” he told her in a humble, reverent tone. “Can you ever forgive me?”

The tears flowed anew down Alex’s cheeks, but this time they were tears of joy.

“Oh, Drake, don’t you know that I forgave you long ago?” she whispered, reaching up to touch his lips. “I just need to know that you believe me … that you trust me—” Her voice broke.

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