Robert stirred from the purest sleep he’d experienced since he’d left England on that last disastrous mission. Deep. Dreamless. Untroubled. He woke with a cock standing ready for his wife.

Automatically he reached across the bed, but his hand met emptiness. He opened heavy eyes to a shadowy room and a slender, dark-haired woman sitting beside the fire and regarding him out of unreadable blue eyes.

To his regret, she was dressed in a pretty buttercup yellow gown with a high neck, and she’d tied that glorious tumble of black hair up in an elaborate arrangement of plaits. She looked beautiful, but too self-contained for his liking. He couldn’t help recalling the wild, responsive creature in his arms last night.

“Good morning,” she said steadily. She rose to pour a cup of coffee from a tray on a table.

“Good morning.” He sat up and scratched his chest. “Is that for me?”

“Yes. You used to like it.”

He leaned against the heaped pillows and accepted the cup. She remembered how he took his coffee, he was pleased to notice.

Given his choice, he’d have started the day with a vigorous swiving. But there was something to be said for a pretty girl waiting on him. For too long, life had been devoid of any touches of courtesy or comfort.

“Thank you.”

“I’ve asked the servants to draw you a bath. I thought you might enjoy a good soak after coming off the ship.”

He wanted to ask her if she’d come and wash his back, but last night’s passion hadn’t banished the constraint between them. He took a mouthful of coffee and set the cup on the nightstand. Then after a jaw-cracking yawn, he flung back the covers and placed his bare feet on the carpet.

His attention snapped to his wife who had made a strange squeak, and now stared fixedly at the pink curtains.

“Morwenna?”

“You’re...you’re naked,” she said in a choked voice. Her head was turned away, but even in the dim light, he made out a blush on her cheek.

She should already know that, given what they’d done in the early morning hours. Dear God, had she imagined she was dreaming when he’d taken her? She’d been sleepy, but he could have sworn she’d been with him every glorious step of the way. Now he remembered her ill-concealed fear when he’d insisted on staying with her last night.

“I’m sorry. I only had the clothes I arrived in. Perhaps I should have tried to borrow a nightshirt from Silas.” Although his brother always slept naked, too. He couldn’t imagine that had changed. Robert was blushing himself. He’d felt like a beggar, turning up so shabby at his brother’s house. “Or waited to come home until after I’d arranged more suitable attire.”

She shook her head, although she still didn’t look at him. “No. I’m...I’m glad you came straight to us. Even...even given what was happening here.”

The engagement party, she meant. After last night, he was considerably less troubled by what he’d found on his arrival. She’d been palpably out of practice when it came to the marital act.

“I’ll have to do something about clothes. I need to report to the Admiralty today, and it would be better if I don’t turn up looking like a tinker. I suppose I’m still officially on active duty.”

“But first you’ll...you’ll tell us what happened to you?”

“I promised, didn’t I?” He wished to hell he could avoid sharing his experiences with his family so soon after coming home. He’d feel much more prepared to tell the story once he settled back in England. In about twenty years, perhaps. “What time is it?”

Morwenna cast him a nervous glance, then looked away again. He realized he still stood before her, dick waving in the wind. But it seemed too jejune to scuttle back to bed like a pimply juvenile caught naked by a housemaid.

“Just past eight. I doubt if Caro and Silas are up yet.”

He’d lay a wager that they were—and waiting eagerly for him to tell them everything, damn it. “I’ll bet Amy was banging on the door at dawn.”

“She cares about you. We all do.” Morwenna didn’t smile, but her blush intensified, although he couldn’t imagine why. With a helpless gesture, she turned and scurried toward the door. “I’ll see you downstairs.”

Morwenna sat with Silas, Caro, Amy and Pascal in the breakfast room, looking out on a wet garden and waiting for Robert. Silas had sent all the servants away, so the family had privacy for what promised to be a harrowing session.

“But did he say anything more last night?” Caro asked for the tenth time.

Morwenna pushed aside her barely touched eggs and shook her head. “Caro, he was exhausted. It wasn’t the time or the place for a long conversation. I’m as much in the dark about where he’s been as you are.”

“And he wasn’t angry that you were planning to marry Garson?” She’d asked that question only half a dozen times.

“He didn’t tell me.” Although she’d noticed this morning that the edge was missing from his manner. Perhaps the satisfaction he’d found in her arms last night inclined him toward forgiving her for turning to another man.

Then you acted the complete fool. What a silly goose you are, Morwenna. One would think you’d never seen a naked man before. And you knew he was naked last night when he turned to you.

“So what did he say?” Amy asked. She hadn’t been as persistent in her questions as Caro, but it was close.

Pascal smiled at his tawny-haired wife, and Morwenna was struck again by his spectacular looks. Odd, though, how his beauty didn’t move her, whereas Robert’s much more rough-hewn handsomeness, even now when he was scarred and worn, always made her heart beat faster.

“She said he went to sleep, darling,” Pascal said. “It’s clear Morwenna doesn’t know any more than we do. Badgering her won’t change that.”

“It seems odd,” Amy said sulkily. “I’d have pestered him until he told me.”

“Undoubtedly, brat,” Silas said with a laugh. He reached out and took Caro’s hand. “I imagine we’re the talk of London this morning.”

“I’m sorry for Garson,” Caro said, then glanced horrified at Morwenna. “Oh, I beg your pardon. You probably don’t want to hear his name mentioned.”

“I feel bad for him, too, although I can’t be sorry that Robert’s come back to us.”

“And Robert slept through the night without telling you anything more? That’s just unbelievable,” Amy said, earning her a disgusted glance from her handsome husband.

“We went straight to sleep,” Morwenna said, hoping the heat in her cheeks wasn’t visible. Because of course they’d done more than sleep.

This morning when she’d got out of bed, a few twinges had reminded her that she’d done things last night she hadn’t done in a long, long time. And there were chafed patches on her neck where his beard had burned her.

He used to shave twice a day to save branding her, but last night, she wasn’t even sure he’d been properly awake when he created that glorious magic. He hadn’t spoken a word, although she’d gathered from his incoherent sounds of pleasure that she hadn’t disappointed him.

Or perhaps he just appreciated the availability of a warm female body, and any woman would have met his needs.

She didn’t like that idea at all.

This morning, she wore a dress with a high pleated collar. When Morwenna had come downstairs, Caro had settled a thoughtful gaze upon her gown, but for once discretion had won out. Which was unexpected. Her sister-in-law wasn’t renowned for her tact.

“Well, I think it’s unnatural,” Amy said.

Morwenna was saved from answering when the door opened to admit Robert. Her heart slammed to a stop, and the memories of last night ripped through her, made her blood surge with heat. Even bearing the mark of his travails, he was a man to make a woman look twice.

“Robert, old man, come in, come in. Let me get you something to eat.” Silas was on his feet and clapping his brother on the shoulder.

Morwenna wondered if she alone saw the faint alarm in Robert’s eyes as he surveyed the five people ranged around the table. She’d realized quickly that he was uncomfortable mingling with groups of people. Including his beloved family.

“Thank you for lending me something fit to wear,” he said.

Silas smiled at Morwenna. “Thank your wife. She suggested I dig something out of the wardrobe for you and send along my valet to help you tidy up.”

“I feel almost presentable.” Self-consciously he touched his newly cut hair.

“You’re a proper gentleman again.” Caro rose and moved forward to kiss him on the cheek, before she poured him some coffee from the silver pot.

He looked much more like the polished man Morwenna had married. He was cleanly shaven and dressed for Town. If the smart black coat hung too loose on his frame, it was a small flaw in his overall appearance.

“Thank you.” He moved into the room to kiss Amy’s cheek and shake hands with Pascal. Morwenna noticed his well-hidden reluctance and was glad she hadn’t pushed him to explanations last night, desperate as she was to know what had happened to him.

“I gather congratulations are in order,” Robert said.

“Yes, your sister made me the happiest of men six months ago.” Pascal bestowed a fond glance on his wife.

Silas had filled a plate to overflowing with food from the sideboard and placed it on the table. Robert sat down next to Morwenna. She watched him so closely, she saw how he paled at the sight of all those glistening sausages and kidneys and rashers of bacon. Swiftly she rose and took the plate away before he was sick.

“You’ve all been very patient,” Robert said, swallowing and picking up his cup of coffee with a gallantly concealed shudder. “I appreciate it.”

Morwenna hid the loaded plate behind one of the silver serving dishes on the sideboard and brought him some fresh rolls. His glance expressed his gratitude. Silas noticed, but was sensitive enough not to comment on the rejection of his offering.

“Eat first,” he said, earning a resentful look from Amy.

“No, it’s best I talk.” Robert straightened, and the flicker of a muscle in his cheek indicated the ordeal this would be for him.

“We can wait,” Morwenna said, finding the courage to lay her hand over his clenched fist where it rested on the tablecloth. “It’s been five years. Another day won’t hurt us.”

She wondered if he’d twitch her away. Under her touch, he was as tight as a drawn bowstring. But after a moment, he turned his hand over to lace his fingers through hers.

“No, you need to know.” But instead of continuing, he fell silent and stared ahead at nothing.

“The last we heard, you’d been attacked by pirates off Patagonia. You were shot and fell into the sea.” The grim edge to Silas’s voice reflected the pall that had fallen over the family when the news finally reached them. “Everyone we spoke to agreed that after that, there was no sighting of you. The lieutenant ordered a boat out to find you, once the pirates had been repelled, but nobody held out any hope. How the devil did you manage to come back alive from that?”

Robert shook his head, and his hooded gaze focused on his brother. “I remember the cannonball striking me in the shoulder and taking me over the side with some rigging. I must have hit my head. I came to, tangled in some ropes and colder than I’d ever been in my life. The ship was a mere speck on the horizon. I don’t think they looked too hard or too long, by God. I was bleeding, but the worst was the freezing water. I managed to get myself up onto a plank, but I must say I thought my goose was cooked.”

Morwenna had feared he might have trouble getting the whole story out. Last night, he’d had difficulty stringing together more than a few words. But as he went on, the account started to emerge more smoothly. In silent encouragement, she firmed her grip on his fingers. While the little she’d managed to choke down for breakfast congealed into a hard, cold mass in her stomach.

Sometimes a vivid imagination was a curse. She had no trouble recreating Robert’s desperate straits at that moment. Wounded, alone, lost in an icy sea. She loathed hearing about his suffering.

“How did you get out of that?” Pascal asked.

“I drifted for a couple of days. Luckily they were rainy days, or else I’d have died of thirst. I washed up closer to dead than alive on a beach. Unfortunately it was the beach the pirates used as their lair.”

“Oh, no,” Amy said, watching him avidly.

He shrugged, but Morwenna could see that his attempt at nonchalance convinced nobody. “I think they had some vague idea of ransom. They threw me into a pit and left me there, but at least they gave me food enough to keep me alive.”

“So you’ve been trapped in a pit for five years?” Morwenna asked, horrified. She pressed her free hand to her stomach to quell the urge to bring up what little she’d eaten.

Robert gave a grunt of unamused laughter. She realized she still hadn’t seen him smile. “No, after about six months, I managed to escape. I doubt I’d have made it otherwise. You’ve never seen such a fever-ridden spot in your life. Another winter, and it would have been all up for me, believe me.”

“So it’s taken you the rest of the time to get back to us?” Silas asked. “Couldn’t you have sent word that you were alive?”

“Unfortunately when I stumbled into the nearest town, opinion was divided whether I was a pirate or a spy. They flung me into the local prison while they made up their minds.”

“How long were you there?” Morwenna asked, nausea tasting sour on her tongue. How had he borne all of this?

His voice was flat, and she could see that he deliberately avoided the grimmer details of his incarceration. But she knew his travails had been horrific and unrelenting. She’d seen the scars on his beautiful body, and his emaciation, and the haunted look in his eyes. A haunted look absent when he awoke, but now back full force.

By heaven, if using her body gave him the briefest moment’s peace, she’d happily lie down for him anywhere and anytime he asked.

He stared down at the untouched rolls on his plate. “I managed to escape two months ago. I made it to the coast and wondered what the devil I could do. Luckily, the whaler that brought me back to London stopped for fresh water and took me on as extra crew for the voyage north. Even luckier, they were on their way home and not starting their hunt, or I wouldn’t have been back for another year.”

Morwenna sent him an appalled glance and met steady black eyes. He knew as well as she did how close they’d veered to disaster and a scandal that would taint the family name. Another year, and she’d have been married to Garson, perhaps the mother of his child. After all, it hadn’t taken her long to conceive Robert’s baby. Any children she and Garson had would be declared bastards, because with her first husband alive, her second marriage was invalid.

Morwenna realized with a shock that she hadn’t yet told Robert about Kerenza. She braced to tell him, but Silas had started speaking. “It was one of the happiest days in my life when you walked in.” His deep voice, so similar in timbre to Robert’s, was thick with emotion. “None of us took losing you easily. Morwenna, most of all.”

She released Robert’s hand and prepared to hear him condemn her for accepting another man’s proposal. But to her surprise, he reached across and clasped his brother’s shoulder. It was the first unforced gesture of affection she’d seen him make since he’d returned.

Well, unless she counted last night’s passion. But that had resulted more from desperate need than anything as simple as mere fondness.

“And you can’t know how the thought of my family waiting for me kept me fighting to survive.”

Silas made an attempt to move beyond the appalling details of Robert’s imprisonment. “You won’t know the children when you see them. Although of course they’ve heard all about their heroic Uncle Robert. And, my God, how Kerenza will preen now that her father’s home at last.”