Lilac Temptress by Elizabeth Davis

encompasses it. There are forty bedrooms, a
ballroom, twelve water closets, eight studies, numerous drawing
rooms—used mostly to entertain guests, and two grand dining rooms
all excessively overdone in elaborate decor. I have a full staff to
keep my home in order. They tend to its gardens and oversee it when
I am away.” Drake smiled at her briefly. “I could never live in
that house alone—should I tell you more?”
    Sierra imagined the mansion in its
grandeur while looking at the plain white ceiling of her simple
bedroom. “It all seems surreal, Drake. How did you ever acquire
such a place?”
    “ When my father’s
parents passed away, he was left with two rather large
estates, Newhaven and Faircrest . My parents and my sister, Rosaline—only seventeen years of
age, live in Faircrest. My mother, Elaine, is a brilliant woman who
knows much in the way of the family’s auctioneer business and my
younger sister Rosaline, has the vibrancy of youth and a rare love
of riding, not often found in debutantes. She can race her
thoroughbred just as well as any man, and is good enough to best
them in competition, could such a young lady be permitted to
perform such masculine feats—but of course she
cannot.”
    Drake pondered Rosaline’s
predicament—unable to break the social dictates demanded of young
women to be genteel and ladylike. Still he couldn’t feel too sorry
for her. Her father’s business expertise and relentless drive—of
which she had none—ensured that she would never have to worry about
money, and could have her choice of suitable husbands.
    “ Rosaline sounds like an
interesting young lady.”
    “ That she is. But she is
also outspoken, stubborn, and quiet spoiled,” Drake
replied.
    “ Sounds like someone I
know.” Sierra giggled at the thought of her brother Kyle. “It must
be delightful having it all.” She rested her head against his
shoulder impulsively before realizing that she shouldn’t have done
so. But she ignored her better judgment and left her head in place,
since Drake allowed it. “Tell me more,” she whispered.
    Drake grinned, elated that she found
his life so interesting. “My British great-great-grandfather,
Duncan McCalister, most notorious in the family tree, became
exceptionally wealthy from pirating the Gulf of Mexico, the
Caribbean and the Atlantic. It was said within family circles that
Duncan kept a crew of a thousand men, many fleets of ships, and a
constant cargo of black-marketed items.” Drake chuckled lightly
when hearing Sierra’s gasp.
    “ I don’t know if I should
be proud of my family history of plundering buccaneers, but in the
stories I’ve heard as a child, Duncan never attacked an American
ship, and because of his generosity and Good Samaritan ways as he
traveled the Mississippi Delta, he eventually earned the respect of
the rich and poor alike. He was proclaimed a charming businessman,
instead of the real smuggling criminal that he was. I plan make the
most of his gains, damned by what some may think about my lineage,”
Drake voiced without a care.
    “ You have an fascinating
history. I’d bet that you have lots of exciting stories to tell.
I’d bet that you have everything you’ve ever dreamed of,” Sierra
said.
    Drake’s soft laughter echoed
throughout the room—his face near hers, and Sierra thought she
might melt into his arms at the sound of his voice.
    “ I’m a very fortuitous man.
But I don’t have everything,” Drake admitted, accepting her as she
moved against him for warmth, he guessed. The room had become quite
chilly over the past hour, and she was thinly dressed.
    “ If I had half of what you
have I would be content for life.” She closed her eyes while
pondering the thought of what was his that she might want most of
all. She concluded with ease that it would be his family. Sierra
had spent many days longing for both her parents as a
youth.
    “ Sierra?” Drake said with a
hint of urgency in his voice.
    “ Yes...” she