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He nodded and followed her to the drawing room, unable to see the satisfied smile she wore as she led the way, telling him the names and ages of the children, which he would never remember once he was being mobbed by them.

She stopped suddenly at the door, running a hand along the bodice of her dress. “Oh dear! The children wanted a little sweet, and I seem to have acquired some on my dress. Perhaps I could pop away to see to it after introducing you?”

“Of course,” he said quickly.

She offered him her most winsome smile. “Thank you, Mr. Drake.” She turned the handle and opened the door.

Sitting around the table, the marzipan and sugar plums nearly gone from the platter before them, sat the four children. All eyes were on the door, however.

“Arthur, Teddy, Kitty, Lou,” Selina said, moving aside to make room for Mr. Drake to enter, “allow me to introduce you to Mr. Drake.”

Mr. Drake swept a bow. “A pleasure to meet you all.”

“I shall return to you all momentarily.”

“There is no rush,” Mr. Drake assured her.

“Thank you very much,” she said, then made her way to the door. When she reached it and was certain Mr. Drake’s attention was on the children, she gave them the nod they were waiting for.

Their rise from the chaise was synchronized and yet chaotic, and they all came running toward Mr. Drake just as Selina slipped out the door, making her escape.

Rather than going to her bedchamber to see to the marzipan on her dress, she slipped into the morning room, which was situated beside the drawing room. The door which connected the rooms had been purposely left ajar.

On quiet feet, she made her way to it, though the sheer volume of noise coming from the drawing room made such a precaution unnecessary.

She peeked through the gap between the door and the frame and covered her smile with a hand.

Arthur was hanging off one of Sebastian’s arms, while Teddy and Kitty hung off the other.

“Can you really hold us all?” Teddy asked.

Mr. Drake laughed as he tried to keep his balance with three children adjusting their grip on his arms and using his body like a tree trunk .

Selina suppressed her glee as he wobbled and corrected his stance to remain upright.

“Of course not,” Arthur said. “He would have to be as strong as Pickles.”

“I fancy I am a bit stronger than pickles,” Mr. Drake grunted. “Unless they are the crunchy sort.”

Kitty giggled. “Not those pickles!”

“What pickles, then?” Mr. Drake asked.

“Pickles is our horse,” Teddy replied, as though this should have been obvious to anyone with half a brain. “And you are not as strong as him. You couldn’t be.”

“Well,” Mr. Drake said. “Can Pickles do this ?” He lifted both arms, his face screwing up with the effort of so much weight, and the children rose with them.

It was extremely impressive, Selina had to admit. Privately.

“Of course Pickles can’t do that, silly,” Kitty said, giggling with elation as her entire body hung from one of Mr. Drake’s biceps.

With an enormous exhale, Mr. Drake lowered the three children to the floor again. “You see?” he said breathlessly. “I am as strong as Pickles. Stronger, even.”

“We all rode on his back once,” Kitty said. “Can we ride on yours?”

Selina tried to suppress a smile. Kitty could always be counted upon to call someone’s bluff.

Mr. Drake’s brow knit pensively. “I would hate for you to assume Pickles was stronger only because we didn’t bother attempting it.”

To Selina’s surprise and the children’s utter joy, he shrugged out of his coat, tossed it over the chaise, and began rolling up his sleeves, revealing a set of forearms ridged with muscle.

Selina had been married and had thus seen more than a man’s bare forearms, and yet the sight affected her in a novel way, making her breathless. Feeling like a voyeur, she removed her gaze, but the image was etched upon the backs of her eyelids .

Mr. Drake lowered himself onto his hands and knees, the waistcoat stretched across his broad shoulders. Another very unneeded image for Selina’s mind to store.

“Come on, then,” Mr. Drake urged the children.

Grins wide enough to split their faces, Teddy, Kitty, and Arthur hurried over and clambered onto his back, laughing and arguing over who should be in front.

“I have no reins,” Kitty said from her coveted place at the front. “Ah, here.” She grasped two fistfuls of Mr. Drake’s hair, and Selina was obliged to cover her mouth again to stop the horrified laugh that broke through her lips.

“Just so,” Mr. Drake said with effort but plenty of energy. “But where is our fourth rider?”

Lou stood a dozen feet away, her thumb in her mouth and a watchfulness in her eyes.

“Come, Lou,” Arthur prompted.

She shook her head.

Selina watched her niece with sympathy. Lou was the slowest to warm to new people, tending to be quieter and withdrawn until she felt comfortable.

“We need you,” Mr. Drake said. “How can we ride to battle without our Princess Lou to protect?”

The barest hint of a smile tugged at Lou’s lips, but she did not move.

Her siblings urged her to come, but she simply looked at the floor.

Mr. Drake turned his head toward the children on his back, no small effort given that Kitty still had his hair in her hands. “Will you give me a moment?”

They climbed down a bit grudgingly, and he went over to Lou, crouching in front of her, his elbows resting on his knees.

Selina leaned forward in order to hear.

“What is it?” Mr. Drake asked Lou softly. “We cannot ride without our princess.”

She looked down at her dress. “I sticky. ”

Mr. Drake followed the direction of her gaze to the marzipan smushed generously into her clothing.

He tilted his head to the side consideringly.

“It is the perfect dress to wear into battle. Better not to waste your prettiest and cleanest clothing on battle day. Besides, you are not simply a pretty princess, though you are certainly that.” He tweaked one of the curls that hung by her temple.

“You are a strong princess about to lead us to war! Can we rely upon you to guide us to victory?”

Lou fought a smile, then nodded with ill-concealed delight.

Selina’s throat was tight with unexpected—and unwanted—emotion.

It was not only the care with which he had set Lou at her ease. It was what he had said.

You are not simply a pretty princess…You are a strong princess about to lead us to war.

George had made Selina feel much like a pretty princess. He had been proud to parade her about and call her his, but he had never seen her strength or allowed her to explore it in the way Mr. Drake was allowing Lou to in a mere game.

Rather than allowing her to hunt, which she enjoyed immensely, George had insisted she remain at home where she was safe. When she had inquired about affairs giving him trouble, he had refused to take her into his confidences, insisting such ugly matters would mar her pretty face .

“Would you like to hold the reins, Lou?” Kitty asked.

Lou thought about this for a moment, then nodded.

“Our fearless Princess Lou shall guide us to victory,” Mr. Drake called out, lowering onto his hands and knees again.

The children helped Lou into place at the base of Mr. Drake’s neck, then followed by climbing on his back behind her.

They barely fit, requiring the greatest care on his part to keep them from tumbling onto the floor.

Lou grasped his hair with both hands, eliciting the merest wince from him .

“On to victory!” Mr. Drake grunted, and with a Herculean effort, he inched forward, the children laughing as they rocked.

Selina looked on with the strangest tangle of feelings. She loved to see her nieces and nephews enjoying themselves. What was she to make of Mr. Drake, though? He had taken four excitable children and made watching them look like the easiest and most natural thing in the world.

“Faster!” Lou said, yanking on his hair.

“This is more of a battle march than a race,” Mr. Drake eked out. “Slow and steady wins.”

“This battle is boring!” Arthur slipped off Mr. Drake’s back. “I want to be king!” With an imaginary sword, he jabbed his steed in the ribs.

Mr. Drake crumpled dramatically, and the three remaining children giggled and shrieked as they fell to the floor along with him in a tangle of limbs and laughter.

Selina couldn’t stop a smile, but her heart twinged, and her fingers toyed with the ring on her finger.

She hated Mr. Drake for this mirage of happiness.

The laughter subsided, and all five of them lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

“Are you going to marry Aunt Selina, Mr. Drake?” Teddy asked.

Selina’s heart stuttered. It was a question she had prompted them to ask, and yet she held her breath all the same.

Mr. Drake turned his head toward Teddy, which concealed his face from view. Selina went up on her tiptoes, though it made no difference. She could not see him.

“If you are the knight guarding her,” he said, “I am not certain I stand a chance.”

Teddy smiled, then copied his older brother and stabbed a fantastical sword into Mr. Drake, who clutched at the spot and went limp.

“No, Teddy!” Kitty cried out. “I like him! ”

“It is just a bit of fun,” Teddy replied, and as if to make certain she understood this, he began to tickle Mr. Drake.

Still lying upon the ground, he doubled over and was soon covered in grubby children’s hands, tickling him under the arms, the neck, the boots—Lou seemed not to realize this would not produce results—and, to Selina’s laughing dismay, his backside.

He was incapacitated for a time but seemed to realize the only way to stop the madness was to go on the offense. Soon he was giving as good as he had got, and presently, all five of them seemed to lose steam and give up.

Kitty caught her breath first and looked at Mr. Drake, whose broad chest rose and fell in a way Selina found mesmerizing. “Are you in love with Aunt Selina?”

Every muscle in Selina’s body tightened, the breath in her lungs suspended as she looked on in deep dismay.