‘Who’s he?’ said Sylvia.
Roo wondered if she really didn’t know or just wanted to make him feel important. He ran his hand down her naked hip and decided it didn’t matter. ‘He’s the King’s Admiral of the Eastern Fleet. He’s lurking down in the Bay of Salts, with a huge flotilla, so that when Kesh sails out of Durbin, he can ambush it. Prince Nicholas took a large squadron to the west, out beyond the Straits, and will sail in behind the Keshians.’
Sylvia started playing with the hair on Roo’s chest. ‘I heard he was going out to meet a treasure fleet.’
Roo then realized she knew a great deal more than she had ever revealed. Finding his ardor dying, he said, ‘I must go home, I’m sorry to say.’
‘Oh.’ She pouted.
‘Sorry, but there is the matter of gathering the documents your father wants.’
He dressed while she lay nude upon the grass, looking beautiful in the light of the large moon. When he was finished, she stood and kissed him. ‘Well, if you must run off, you must. Will I see you tomorrow?’
Roo said, ‘Impossible, but perhaps the night after.’
‘Well, I’m going to bed and I’ll think of you as I lie in my sheets,’ she said, running her hand down his stomach.
‘You’re making this difficult,’ he groaned.
She laughed. ‘Well, you make my life difficult. How can I think of another man when I have you in my life?’ She kissed him and said, ‘My father wants to know why I don’t many. He wants grandchildren.’
Roo said, ‘I know. It’s impossible.’
She said, ‘Perhaps the gods will be kind and someday we’ll be together.’
Roo said, ‘I must go.’
He left and she gathered up her gown. Rather than dressing, she carried her clothing through the house, and when she reached her room, she dumped it on the floor.
A soft moan from her bed caused her to smile and she crossed over in the dark, to find two figures entwined on the covers. She slapped the maid hard across her bare buttocks and the girl yelped in surprise.
Duncan Avery looked up at Sylvia in the pale light coming through the window and smiled. ‘Hello, my darling,’ he said with a rakish smile. ‘We got bored waiting for you.’
Sylvia pushed the maid to one side and told her, ‘Pick up my clothes and take them to the laundry.’
The girl regarded her mistress with an expressionless mask and slid out of bed. She picked up her own clothes and her mistress’s and hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Sylvia reached down and stroked Duncan, saying, ‘Well, at least she got you ready.’
‘I’m always ready,’ he said, kissing her on the neck.
She pushed him back and straddled him, saying, ‘I need you to do me a service.’
‘Anything,’ he said as they gazed into each other’s eyes.
‘I know,’ she cooed as she leaned over and kissed him.
‘You smell like grass,’ he observed.
‘No doubt,’ she said. ‘I was entertaining your cousin on the lawn.’
Duncan laughed. ‘It would kill him to know you’ve gone from his arms to mine. He takes this sort of business far too seriously.’
Sylvia reached down and gripped his face, letting her fingernails dig into his cheeks a bit. ‘And you had better, as well, my aroused peacock! I’m going to make you wealthy beyond your dreams.’ She knew she needed a man to be the public head of her father’s and Roo’s companies, and Duncan was stupid enough for her to control for years. When she got bored with him, she could dispose of him with ease.
Ignoring the pain, Duncan said, ‘I like wealth.’
‘Now, about that service.’
‘What?’
‘I need you to kill your sister-in-law.’
Duncan was silent for a minute as his breathing became heavy. Finally he said, ‘When?’
‘Within the week.’
‘Why?’
‘So I can marry Roo, you fool!’ she said as her own pleasure was mounting.
‘How is your marrying my cousin going to make me rich?’ asked Duncan.
Suddenly Sylvia arched her back and shuddered, then collapsed on top of Duncan as he matched her passion. After a long silent moment, he said, ‘How is marrying -’
‘I heard you,’ she interrupted him. How like him, she thought. Not willing to wait even a moment to let her linger in her pleasure. Finally she rolled off him and said, ‘Because, after an appropriate period, we’ll make me Rupert’s widow. And then, after an appropriate period of mourning, you and I can wed.’
Duncan laughed and grabbed her hair roughly, pulling her head around without a hint of gentleness. ‘You are a woman to admire,’ he said, biting her on the lip playfully. ‘No soft romantic notions for you, my darling.’ He rolled her over and looked her in the eyes. ‘I like the notion of a marriage based on greed. That’s something I can understand.’