Lord Valorous(49)

"I am forever in your debt, Miss Sinclair. I will never be able to repay you for the risks you took on my behalf this night, but please allow me to try."

"I did what needed to be done, Duke, and as I have recently learned it is something of a family tradition, there is no need to feel indebted."

"I have just informed my siblings of what lies between our families, Raven," Sinclair said. "They were understandably unsettled by the revelations."

"I have known since my youth."

"Yet, until today you did not believe it?" Her beauty was disturbing in its power, James thought as Eden Sinclair spoke. He could not stop looking at her; such was her allure. He wondered how many weak men she had ensnared with just a glance.

"The evidence is certainly proving hard to ignore."

"Yet, like us, I am sure you wish to." James nodded. He had dismissed his grandfather's words, but then he had been six when he heard them.

"Are you sure you are unhurt, Miss Sinclair?" James said as he watched her yawn.

"Yes, thank you. The only aftereffect from the night's activities is tiredness. I shall feel more the thing in the morning."

James wondered how she could sound so dismissive when her actions could have resulted in her death this night. To have risked that for him was humbling, and extremely unsettling. He'd never had someone risk so much for him before. Well, that was not entirely true; her brother had done it also.

"Diving into a freezing ocean to save me is not something I can dismiss easily. Without you, I would now be dead."



       
         
       
        

"Yet I have told you to do so, Duke, so please do not give it another thought."

Her smile was small and tired, and James had the urge to pull Eden down on top of him and let her rest, which was ridiculous because James rarely had irresponsible urges; dukes could ill afford them.

"You cannot be serious? It is the only thing I will be able to think about for days to come, Miss Sinclair."

"I believe I am."

"I do not like to be beholden to people, and most especially because of something that happened hundreds of years ago, Miss Sinclair."

"Perhaps you could endeavor to stay out of danger then, Duke. It would certainly make both our lives easier," she said, still smiling.

"I don't believe it is a laughing matter, Miss Sinclair."

"You will forgive my sister, Raven," her brother said. "We Sinclairs tend to find humor in situations that others do not."

James had one six-year-old sister, and they did not tease or laugh with each other; in fact, they were barely acquainted, so the Sinclair siblings' obvious closeness was entirely out of his realm of understanding.

"We are not so rare, Dev." Eden Sinclair smiled up at her brother. "I'm sure the duke knows how to laugh."

"No, I don't," James said before he could stop himself, and instantly felt like a fool. He fell back on what he did best: being a duke. "Furthermore, I have no time to lie here bandying words. My sister will wonder at my absence," he lied. In fact, his sister wished him to Hades.

"Are we bandying?" Eden looked from James up to her brother.

"We were, however, now we are about to explain to the duke why he cannot leave alone, unprotected, in his current condition."

"Is he all right?"

James looked to the door once more.

"And here are two more Sinclairs for you to become acquainted with, Raven. Both, I'm afraid, are given to bandying words and sudden bouts of unexplainable laughter also. With your permission, as there are many of us and we rarely stand on ceremony, I shall introduce you to them using their Christian names."

It was informal, but as he was lying on a bed in their house and couldn't bow or do more than nod, James agreed and reluctantly added, "My name is James." Who was he to stand on ceremony when he couldn't even stand?

"Cambridge and Essex," Sinclair said, pointing to the man and woman as they reached the bed. James sensed some tension between these two. "I am Devonshire, or rather Devon, and the three youngest Sinclairs are at present sleeping," he added.

"There are seven of you?" James said, bemused as his eyes moved over the siblings. 

"Yes." Devon sighed.

"You're each named after a town or county?" James studied each Sinclair. He noted they all had black hair. However, Eden was the only one with gray eyes. The others shared the eldest Sinclair's green eyes.

"Yes, my parents liked to travel and wherever we were... um, conceived... we were named after that place."