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offered by men in your command, Mama and I would’ve certainly lost heart. Yet it seemed you were gone so long after most of the officers had returned home that we had begun to fear you were opposed to giving up your commission and taking on the responsibilities the title demanded. But now you
    ’re home, and all is well. In fact, if I had known you’d be here, I would’ve insisted that we ride over after collecting Adriana and our guests and have you join our outing.”
    Chuckling softly, Colton shook his head, denying the possibility. “I’m afraid after traveling so far by coach I was immensely relieved just to have it behind me. Then, too, my leg would’ve prevented me. It still pains me when I ride or when I’m physically confined, as I was on the trip here. Unless I’m able to walk out the stiffness that comes upon me, the discomfort doesn’t relent. As it happened, Mother and I were able to spend some time talking together. I left her resting upstairs a few moments ago and thought I
    ’d just ramble about the old place, get reacquainted with the older servants, and have a look around the grounds with Leo and Aris. I had barely begun my tour when Harrison opened the door to let in your guests.”
    Samantha’s lips curved mischievously as her eyes swept him from the top of his head to a finely booted toe. “You left here hardly more than a lad and have returned here a man. . . .”
    “To find you a woman,” Colton countered with a chuckle. “You were a wee chit of eight when I left.
    Now look at you, a real beauty you are.” Retreating with the aid of his cane, his granite gray eyes sparkled with delight as they swept over her. “Mother sent a lengthy letter describing your wedding a couple of years ago, and I must confess at the time it caused me a great deal of shock. I’m still having trouble believing what I’m actually seeing . . . my little sister all grown up and married.”
    “I suppose you were still imagining me as that scrawny little girl who followed in your wake, but whether you realize it or not, brother mine, I’m twenty and four now, which, of course, makes you positively ancient.” Beneath his contrived glower, she danced away, merriment rippling in musical waves behind her. Upon facing him again, she clasped a hand behind her ear, as if straining to hear. “Forsooth, I do
    believe I hear your bones creaking from old age.”
    Her brother burst into hearty laughter. “If they are, dear sister, I can truthfully attest ‘twas entirely due to the rigors of war, not old age.” Much like a rooster strutting before a hen, he limped about in a circle, smoothing a lean hand down the side of his blouse. Whether intentional or not, he drew the ladies’
    attention to the sleekness of his waist. “If you haven’t yet noticed, I’m exceptionally well preserved.”
    Although in full agreement with his claims, Samantha rolled her eyes, as if to convey her skepticism. “No one would ever believe that merely looking at you.”
    Thrusting up a hand to halt her criticism, Colton struck a commanding pose, yet he made no attempt to curb the amusement shining in his eyes. “Enough of this nonsense, minx! I’ve been waiting hours to meet everyone.”
    The statement was barely out of his mouth when, to his sibling’s surprise, he pivoted about on his good leg and approached the tall, dark-haired beauty he had had the pleasure of encountering moments earlier.
    It had been some time since he had felt the intriguing softness of a womanly bosom pressed against his chest. As for the lady’s long, sleek limbs, he was led to think that he had never caressed any that had evoked his imagination as much as those he had recently felt sliding against his own. The lingering impression of those trim thighs entangled with his own had done much to awaken a manly craving that had gone unappeased for some months. Although it was fairly safe to say Gyles Sutton’s daughter was an innocent and likely ignorant of