“And had a blistering affair.”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time. The press licked their chops, rubbed their hands together and went to it. Lily’s career skyrocketed.” He smiled again, quick and crooked. “She got a recording contract and was—let’s say she was very, very grateful.”

“And you, of course, modestly accepted her gratitude.”

“Of course. On the other hand, Father was furious. I’m sure he would have yanked me back to Cordina and put me in solitary confinement if YOU hadn’t calmed him down.”

She lifted both brows, impressed with herself. The man with the straight back and intense eyes wouldn’t be easy to soothe. “Just how did I manage that?”

“If I knew how you get around him, Brie, I’d do my best to make it my own art.”

She considered this, pleased and curious. “I must be good at it.”

“The best. Father’s fond of saying that of all his children, you’re the only one with basic common sense.”

“Oh, dear.” She wrinkled her nose. “And you still like me?”

He did something so sweet, so natural, it brought tears to her eyes. He ruffled her hair. She blinked the tears away. “I’d just as soon you had the common sense. It would get in my way.”

“And Alexander? How do I—you,” she amended, “feel about him?”

“Oh, Alex is okay.” He spoke with the tolerance of a brother for a brother. “He has the hardest road, after all, with the press forever hounding him and linking him with every woman he looks twice at. Discretion’s an art with Alex. He has to be twice as good at everything, you know, because it’s expected. And he has this roaring temper that he has to pull back. The heir isn’t permitted to make public scenes. Even private ones can leak out. Remember when that overweight French count drank too much champagne at dinner and—” Smile fading, he broke off. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be.” She let out a sigh because the tension was back. “All this must be frustrating for you.”

“For once I’m not thinking of myself.” Then he stopped and took her hands. “Brie, when Father called me at school and told me you’d been abducted—nothing’s ever scared me like that. I hope nothing ever will again. It was as though someone drained the blood out of me—out of all of us. It’s enough just to have you back.”

She held his hands firmly. “I want to remember. When I do, we can walk in the gardens again and laugh over the French count who drank too much at dinner.”

“Maybe you could let your memory be selective,” he suggested. “I wouldn’t mind you forgetting the time I put worms in your bed.”

Brie’s eyes widened as he continued to look at her. He was bland, innocent and attractive. “Neither would I.”

“You didn’t take it very well,” he told her, thinking back. “Nanny gave me a tongue-lashing that left me raw for a week.”