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  She lay there listening to their attempts to be quiet, then finally, Daire went downstairs and there was silence. Toby told herself she should go back to sleep but she wanted to be sure Graydon was all right.

  She had on her pink pajamas and thought of putting on a robe, but she didn’t. Barefoot, she went to Graydon’s bedroom. The door was open and she tiptoed in. He was lying facedown on the bed, the covers thrown back, with the tail of a blanket over the lower half of him. From the waist up he was nude, with his right arm hanging off the bed, his fingertips touching the floor.

  Smiling, she reached across him to get the other half of the blanket to cover him. It was too cool to be so bare.

  When his hand reached out and grabbed her thigh, she gasped in surprise. In a lightning fast movement, he pulled her off her feet so she landed on top of him, then he deftly rolled her over so she was stretched out beside him.

  “Now you are mine,” he said and began to kiss her neck.

  “You smell like a brewery.” She was pushing at him.

  “Daire got me drunk.”

  “Held you down, did he? Poured gallons of beer into your mouth?”

  “He did,” Graydon said. “Think I should have him beheaded? What do you have on?”

  “Pajamas, and stop unbuttoning them.” She pushed at his shoulders to look at him. His eyes were so dark they were almost black. “I don’t want to be deflowered by a drunken prince.”

  “Good,” he said and collapsed with his face on her shoulder. “We’ll just be still and in the morning we’ll work on the flowers.”

  Toby laughed. She knew she should let him sleep, but in his inebriated state he just might answer a few questions. “Do you love Danna?”

  “Lanconia owes her father for businesses and jobs and scholarships and … everything,” Graydon murmured sleepily. He was on his stomach and had his arm around Toby so securely she wasn’t sure she could move if she wanted to.

  “And you’re the prize? Like in a fairy tale? If a man does some great deed the king rewards him with the hand of the prince in marriage to his daughter?”

  “Exactly like that.”

  His breath was warm on her cheek. “How does the word ‘barbaric’ sound to you?”

  “Perfect,” he said, “but I didn’t mind until I came to Nantucket. Danna is beautiful.”

  “Oh?” Toby said. “Does she have the blonde hair that you seem to like so much? Can’t keep your hands out of it, can you?”

  Graydon went back to kissing her neck. “Natural blonde. I told my grandfather that.”

  She pulled away from him. “You did what?”

  Graydon just smiled, his eyes closed.

  “No wonder your grandfather was so flirty in his emails!” Toby said. “I thought it was cute but now I’m embarrassed. What else did you tell people about me? You didn’t mention me to your mother, did you?”

  “No,” Graydon said and rolled onto his back.

  When his merriment instantly disappeared, Toby wished she hadn’t mentioned the queen. She moved to his side and put her head on his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to sober you up with something bad. Did you know that Lorcan is in love with Daire?”

  “Daire is highborn,” Graydon said in a distracted way. He was staring at the ceiling.

  When he said nothing more, she moved on top of him. “Think of happy things.” She kissed his neck.

  “Like you dreaming of being with other men? Or the fact that I can’t touch you?”

  “It’s you in the dreams,” she said as she nuzzled his neck. “It’s not like I’m being unfaithful. Besides, you’re the one marrying someone else.”

  “But I have to! Danna’s father threatened to move all his businesses and charities out of the country if his daughter isn’t made queen.”

  “Did anybody ask Danna what she wants?”

  He held her shoulders back to look at her. “Of course not, but then, what woman would not like to marry me?!”

  Laughing, Toby rolled off him but he went with her, his body over hers. He held himself up by one arm and looked at her face. It was fairly light in the room, as the curtains hadn’t been drawn. “In that dream life of yours,” he said, “you marry another, and in this one I must marry someone else. It seems that there are always obligations that pull us apart. You with your sea widows who need support, and me with a country that I must take care of. Do you think we’ll ever be together?”

  She liked his insinuation that he wanted to be with her, even though it was impossible.

  “I tell you what, next time I have one of my time travel dreams, you should go with me. You can take over Garrett’s body and I’ll be Tabby.”

  He began to smile. “Since it all happened over two hundred years ago, I would make love to you and damn the consequences. Let them deal with what happens.” He ran his hand down the side of her, slowly touching the curve of her waist and her hip. When he came up, his hand went under her pajama top to cup her breast.

  Toby drew in her breath. Never had a man touched her so intimately.

  “My darling Carpathia, you have no idea how much I desire you. To touch you, to hold you, to be near you, is all I want. To kiss your neck, your lips, your eyes, your ears. To run my mouth over every inch of you is all I seem to think about. But I cannot,” he said, and moved onto his back.

  Toby stayed where she was, looking up at the ceiling. So this was it, she thought. This was the way other girls felt when a man kissed them. “I didn’t mean to, but I couldn’t help myself,” they said. “It just happened. There was nothing I could do to stop it.” Toby had always felt disgust when she’d heard that because no man had come close to making her forget herself for even a second.

  But this man did.

  She turned toward him. “Graydon,” she whispered.

  “Go to your bed,” he said, his voice firm. “I’ve had too much to drink to be in control of my actions.”

  When she started to protest, he said “Please” in a way that made her think he was in pain. Slowly, she got out of his bed and went to her own. It took her quite a while before she went to sleep.

  Graydon didn’t get up until eleven the next day. He tried to pretend that nothing hurt him, but when Toby held up two pain-reliever tablets and a glass of water, he took them. “Did I make a fool of myself last night?”

  “You declared your undying love for me, we spent three hours having fabulous sex, and I’m probably pregnant.”

  He didn’t so much as pause in draining his glass of water. “As long as it was nothing important,” he said, his eyes sparkling. He left to go back to his computer, as he was working with Rory on a coming meeting. Since it was to be conducted in Russian—which Rory didn’t speak but Graydon did—it was causing some problems.

  Daire had just come inside, heard the exchange between them, and was looking at Toby with serious eyes.

  “It was a joke,” Toby said. “I’m still a maiden and your precious country is in no danger.” She left the room.

  But it seemed that the two nights spent nearly together had changed things between her and Graydon. Their movements and words were more free with each other.

  For the next few days they were all very busy. The first thing they did was invite Victoria and Dr. Huntley, and Jilly and Ken, to dinner the following Saturday night, when they’d present the theme. Leaving the choice so late gave them less time to prepare for the wedding, but Jilly had already sent out the Save the Date cards. Besides, Toby and Graydon were so sure that Victoria was going to love the idea that they planned a lot of the wedding beforehand. The venue—Alix’s chapel—was available, and Daire’s love of history helped them with the food, flowers, and music. Even the invitations came from history. They decided not to tell their dinner guests of the plan for it to be in costume or that they would serve a meal of dishes that dated from the Regency period.

  Jilly stopped by to accept the invitation. What she saw was a house buzzing with activity. Graydon’s constant calls and video con