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"--although the particulars regarding your heroics were not forthco But I was assured you had excellent command of your men Surely if you tell them to behave, they will behave"

"For the chance at one of your kisses, I suspect they’d be willing to risk the bite of a cat-o-nine"

"I don’t give my kisses freely"

"And I have no need of your two hundred pounds So tellto barter?"

Lord Tristan Easton,the waterfront as Cri as she released a srip He wasn’t certain he’d ever encountered such silkiness before Or such fire in a wo wo about her called to the devil in him

"You’re a cur," she snapped

"I never clai fro tales that he was a hero He wasn’t Not like his brother Sebastian who’d fought in the bloodiest of battles and barely survived to tell the tale "You’re asking o It needs to be worth h presently he had no co as he pleased

"Obviously the tales I’ve heard of you are untrue--you’re not a e how her words bit into his soul He’d long ago stopped caring how anyone judged hiht?

She rose elegantly to her feet "I’ht to you, sir"

With an indignant swish of her skirts, she pivoted on her heel and marched toward the door Soone into the storaze over to the nearby table where a lad of sixteen was trying to entice a serving girl onto his lap "Mouse," he barked

The boy iave a quick nod toward the door "I want to knohere she goes"

Without delay or complaint the nimble lad took off If anyone could follow her, he could

Tristan caught the eye of the disappointed ht to hi of the thick dark ale and leaned back his chair until it burown reo he and his brothers had finally ood on their promise--a bit tardy, but still they’d returned to London, routed their uncle, and reclaiht as the lords of Pembrook

But London Society had not been so quick to welcome the lords back into the fold Once Sebastian’s position as the Duke of Kesas secured and their uncle dead, Tristan had returned to the love that had usurped Pembrook in his heart: the sea

But after nearly twenty land’s shores, feeling untethered, as though he’d sos He had no desire to return to the tedious London ballrooms While there, he discovered women aplenty to warm his bed, but they were all cut of the saer he represented He had only to se

The lady who’d been sitting before hih she owned the night, had called down the rain, had coracious movements he’d ever seen, she’d reached up and moved aside the wet hood of her pelisse

He’d felt a quick, al of his body in response to the exquisiteness of the face revealed High cheekbones, flawless skin Her hair, piled on top of her head, was not quite blond, not quite white The palest of shades

She’d spoken to anearby, and Tristan--who had never been jealous of anyher way toward him, he’d anticipated her arrival as he’d anticipated little of late He’dthe shade of her eyes Green, he’d thought But he lost the wager They were a faint silver, haunting They’d known tragedy Of that he was certain

But they’d not been conquered and he was suddenly of a hest order to go off and play at hen he had her here to warht in the Crimea He’d left half his face on the battlefield, perhaps even a portion of his soul, until Mary had coain So Tristan had no love for that area of the world, for the trouble it had caused his brother, but the notion of having Lady Anne on his ship intrigued hi her to another man Rather he wanted her for himself For a time anyway For a bit of sport, a bit of fun

He wasn’t surprised that she’d not recognized hientleman It was also possible, since she was betrothed, that she’d not attended the two balls where he and his brothers hadto London The nerve of them to actually be alive and not devoured by wolves While Sebastianthose circles now, it would take a keen eye to recognize the similarities between the two urement