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influence. “Why didn’t you send word when you returned to London?”
    “I hadn’t quite decided what my plans were,” he said as he took the tumbler filled with amber that Sebastian offered.
    “And now?”
    “I set sail tonight.”
    “So soon?” a feminine voice asked softly.
    He spun around and grinned at the slender red-haired woman who had slipped into the room. “Now, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
    He returned the tumbler to Sebastian, crossed the distance in three long strides, and lifted Mary into his arms, spinning her as her laughter pealed around them. Dear God, she almost made him feel as though he’d finally come home. By the time he eventually set her down, he was chuckling and they were both breathless.
    “I hear you did your duty magnificently and provided my brother with his heir.”
    She slapped teasingly at his arm. “It wasn’t a duty. And he’s already asleep, but we shall look in on him before you leave.”
    “I’d like that.” He realized he’d been remiss in bringing a gift for the lad. He’d remedy that situation the next time he visited.
    “Do tell us everything.” She sat in a large plush chair and Sebastian joined her, sitting on the arm, placing his hand on her nape as though he needed to touch her simply because she was near.
    Tristan took his tumbler and a nearby chair. “Not much to tell.” Glancing up, he noticed the portrait over the fireplace. It was his brother, his damaged side partially hidden by shadows as he looked at his wife. “Nice portrait.”
    “We were pleased with it. If you were staying longer, I’d have one done of Sebastian with you and Rafe.”
    “Yes, I’m quite sure you’d have no trouble at all getting Rafe to agree to that,” he said wryly. He couldn’t imagine him agreeing to it. “Speaking of our younger brother, will he be joining us this evening?”
    “No,” Sebastian said. “Unfortunately our relationship remains strained, and he declines our invitations.”
    “But he sent word to you that I was here.”
    “Yes. Don’t know if he knew you were leaving so quickly. Where are you going?”
    He wasn’t certain how Sebastian would feel about Tristan’s journey to a place where so much blood—so much of his blood—had been shed. The last thing he wanted was to bring nightmares back into his brother’s life. “I’d rather not say. It’s a private charter.”
    “I didn’t know you did private charters.”
    “When the payment is right, I do anything.”
    “Nothing illegal, I hope,” Mary said.
    He winked at her. “Payment is everything.”
    She scowled.
    “Not to worry,” he assured her. “No danger awaits us on this trip.” But even as he said the words, he wasn’t convinced they were quite true. It was bad luck to have a woman on board a ship, even one as lovely as Lady Anne. He decided to take a risk. “Mary, are you familiar with the Earl of Blackwood’s daughter? Lady Anne?”
    She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I spent far too much of my life in the nunnery. I don’t believe we’ve crossed paths. Why?”
    “No particular reason.”
    “When do you ever ask questions that serve no purpose?” Sebastian asked.
    He grinned. “Obviously tonight.”
    At Sebastian’s narrowing gaze, Tristan stood. “I say, I’m quite famished. Any chance we can get this dinner under way?”
    Neither his brother nor his sister-by-marriage moved a muscle.
    “Does Lady Hermione know you’re here?” Mary finally asked, and he wondered what the devil had prompted that question.
    “Why should she?” She’d flirted with him two years ago when he and his brothers had first returned to Society.
    “She’s written me from time to time asking after you,” Mary answered.
    “Surely she’s married by now.”
    “I fear not. Apparently she is holding out hope that you would return for her.”
    “It was innocent flirtation. I never once declared any feelings for her.”
    “Be that as it may, I think she was quite