Sammy rubbed her skirt between her fingers.
"Pretend I never asked."
"No, Alex, I want to answer you." Sammy looked up, her expression tender, open. "You're the one who explained to me what happens between a man and a woman, and how beautiful it can be when love is involved. Watching you and Drake—the way you look at each other—I could only imagine what you meant. Well, now I know."
"I see." Alex chewed her lip. "Did he seduce you?" she blurted out.
A grin. "Actually, I'm afraid I seduced him." Seeing Alex's stunned expression, Sammy explained, "Rem was being entirely too noble, worrying about my reputation and my inexperience. He did everything he could to discourage me. But to no avail. Finally, he just surrendered to the inevitable." She leaned forward. "Alex, he arranged things so no one would suspect we were together, including the servants. He filled the room with flowers and wine. He was so incredibly tender, so loving ... as if we were the only two people on earth. Seduction is born in the mind; making love in the heart. This was making love in its truest form."
Alex's eyes were damp. "You really have grown up, haven't you?"
"I want to be Rem's wife more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. Please, Alex, help me."
Rising, Alex squared her shoulders and squeezed Sammy's hand. "I'll talk to Drake again. Between us, you and I will make him see reason. And then, Lord help us, we'll both have our heroes."
* * *
"No. Definitively, unequivocally no. Samantha will not marry the Earl of Gresham."
Drake tossed one Hessian boot to the floor, sending the other crashing after it.
"You're being completely irrational." Alex propped her chin on her knees, regarding her husband calmly from the center of her bed.
"I don't give a damn. Sammy is a child. She knows nothing about falling in love and less about unprincipled rakes."
"That description sounds remarkably familiar." Alex frowned as she allegedly pondered that thought. "I know! Three years ago. You remember—the innocent girl who collided with the impenetrable rogue? The rogue who tried to seduce her the first night on his ship?"
"All right, princess. You made your point." Drake shot Alex a dark look.
"You can't change Samantha's feelings. Nor can you undo what's been done."
Drake's fingers paused on the buttons of his shirt. "What's been done? What the hell does that mean?"
"It means she loves him, Drake."
Swearing softly, Drake sent his shirt sailing to the floor beside his boots and sank down wearily on the edge of the bed. "I don't want to hear any more." He dropped his head into his hands, vulnerable in a way only Alex was permitted to see. "I'm at a loss, princess."
Alex lay her cheek against his bare back. "Do we have the right to deny Sammy the same joy we share? She told me today that everything she's learned about love, she's learned from us."
With a groan, Drake turned, tugging Alex against him. "You really believe this is right, don't you?"
"Yes."
A prolonged silence hovered as Drake grappled with his doubts. "What do you want me to do?"
Smiling softly, Alex kissed the taut muscles of her husband's chest. She knew how much this concession cost him, and she loved him all the more for it. "For now, nothing. Except perhaps to cease stomping around like a wounded bear. But whenever the earl does descend on Allonshire, I want you to listen to what he has to say. It's going to be difficult... for both you and Lord Gresham. But you owe it to Sammy to listen with your heart as well as your mind. Do it for her"—Alex raised her face to gaze up at him—"and for me."
Conflicting emotions warred on Drake's face before he relented, tangling his hands in his wife's tawny hair. "You know I'd take on the devil himself for you, princess."
Alex caressed his nape, drawing his mouth down to hers. "It's too late, Your Grace. I've already tamed him."
"Templar turned up nothing." Rem crumpled the note Boyd had handed him and flung it across his sitting room. "Anders's house is as void of clues as his office, dammit."
Boyd rubbed his unshaven chin. "So we're right back where we started two days ago."
"You look like hell. You and Harris have spent forty-eight bloody hours at the docks. Neither of you has spotted that privateer yet?"
"No. But we knew this tactic was a gamble, Rem. For all we know, he could have taken to sea by now. He could also have disguised himself in any number of ways. It wouldn't take much to become unrecognizable to us; I've never laid eyes on the bastard, and Harris only caught one fleeting glimpse of him that night he met Towers."