Nell helped her with her matching bonnet and coat, and Fanny rushed down the stairs again, heading for her father’s office, only to be stopped by her mother in the hallway.
“You do look beautiful,” her mother said, obviously pleased with her daughter’s appearance.
“Thank you, Mother,” Fanny breathed, and kissed Caroline’s cheek before she continued down the corridor. Giddy, almost too excited, she couldn’t stop smiling.
It was unbelievable she had met him only two days earlier, because now he was all she could think of. She was so caught up in her thoughts she bumped into the men who stood in the hallway waiting for her. All her four younger uncles, her two cousins, and her two brothers stood there with determination written across their handsome faces.
She caught herself before she rolled her eyes. She guessed she had no other choice but to listen to whatever they wanted to say, and she had a pretty good idea what was on their minds.
“Yes?” she asked, trying hard not to show her impatience.
Sin was pushed forward by the others, obviously being the one chosen to deliver the message they thought she needed to hear. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. A minute or two passed with him standing there squirming and not speaking one syllable.
Now and then one of the others would poke Sin in the back, and he would turn around and glare.
“Oh, come on! Devlin is waiting for me, you know,” Fanny said, when she had reached the absolute end of her patience.
“You can’t let him fondle you,” Sin finally blurted out.
Fanny was mortified.
“I can’t believe you just said that!” she cried out.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Rake gave in. “What your daft brother is trying to tell you is that you must be aware Devlin is a libertine, and as such he might make some sort of pass at you. If he does, you must be quite clear that you won’t have anything to do with it, and you must demand that he return you here at once.”
Fanny didn’t know what to say. She knew they only talked about this because they cared for her, but this was a bit too much.
“A man can get carried away when he is attracted to a woman. A man as experienced with women as Devlin is will be too much for an innocent like you, and you won’t stand a chance,” Edward clarified from somewhere behind Sin. “Before you know it, you will be on your back with your skirts over…
ouf!
”
“Too much information,” said his twin, William, after he’d punched him in the stomach. Drake came forward and took her hand, and his long slender fingers held hers in a surprisingly strong grip.
“We know what someone as experienced as Devlin can do to someone who is as innocent as you, and to not be able to be there to prevent it from happening scares the hell out of us. Your mother forbade us to go with you, follow you, or send someone else to be closer to you than a mile, so we are fumbling in the dark here.”
Fanny closed her eyes and counted to ten before she glared at her relatives. They shrank back, all eight of them, and she walked by them with her head held high.
When she had passed them, she turned around and put her hands on her hips, giving each one of them a hard stare.
“Never talk to me about this again.”
When Sebastian opened his mouth, she threw out a wagging finger and said with the angriest voice they’d ever heard from her, “Never, ever, ever!”
She turned and left them standing there in the hallway and didn’t halt until she stood in front of the office door. With a deep breath to calm her nerves, she knocked and entered the room.
Her father gave her a welcoming smile she almost missed because of the magnificent man who rose and bowed his head politely toward her.
George put a loving arm around her slender waist, bringing her close to give her a small peck on her head. “Off you go, and have a nice time.”
Fanny smiled shakily toward her father, unable to find her voice, as excited as she was.
Devlin offered her his arm, and she put her hand lightly on it, feeling the hard muscles shift under her fingertips. He led her outside to a shiny new phaeton behind the loveliest pair of white horses she had ever seen.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “I love its elegant simplicity, so perfect for a duke!”
Devlin smiled at her exhilaration and followed her as she fluttered around the carriage, stroking the smooth surface, before she went to the horses and petted them. One buffed his muzzle against her head, almost pushing her bonnet off, but she only laughed.
When she looked back at Devlin, he was again staring at her with that strange combination of pride, admiration, and contentment. He held out a hand toward her, and she grabbed it with a sweet smile.
His thumb caressed her fingertips as they rested in the palm of his hand, and she blushed even more. Looking deep into his smoldering eyes, she knew she would have kissed him if they hadn’t been standing in public outside her home. A glance at the front of the house informed her that almost every window was occupied by a family member looking down at them, and she let out a little frustrated sigh.
As she climbed up and sat down in the carriage, she waved her hand toward her onlookers and had the satisfaction of knowing she’d surprised most of them, as they took an automatic step back before they came forward again to wave hesitantly back.
“Bloody family of mine,” she muttered to herself, and Devlin, who had just settled beside her, looked at her curiously. She gave him an apologetic smile.
“My family can be a little too much sometimes. I know it’s because they care about me, but being the only young female, surrounded by all these men who want to protect me against everything, can get rather annoying.”
“They do it because they love you.”
“I know, and I am most thankful for the love they bestow on me. But sometimes I can’t help but wish they would give me some freedom. Some things you need to find out by yourself.”
“Learn by living?”
She laughed, pleasantly surprised. “Why, yes. ‘Learn by living.’ Oh, I have to remember this saying, so I can tell it to them the next time they are going to give me some unwanted advice.”
Devlin laughed. “You must promise me you won’t tell your brothers, or the rest of your obnoxious relatives, that it was I who gave you the idea.”
As the carriage started to move, they shared a smile. Somehow it suddenly became them against the world, and both felt excitement over what was going to happen next. Their future was an unwritten page, and it was now up to them to fill it.
Chapter 14
They drove silently down Mount Street and turned right on Park Lane, where they continued until they reached the Grosvenor Gate to Hyde Park. Once inside the large park, they turned left, and Devlin let the horse walk slowly down The Ring, heading for Rotten Row.
It was still too early for the fashionable hour, so they were practically alone, overseen only by a few nannies exercising the children in their care. Fanny smiled and waved to the children, who waved back with the enthusiasm only children show.
The morning was so beautiful. The sky was all blue, and the sun spread its golden light, making everything seem more colorful.
Or maybe it was the company.
Devlin was, if possible, even more devastatingly handsome than he’d been the day before. He was perfect all over, from his modern windswept hair—his valet had probably spent an hour creating that perfection earlier this morning—down to the shiny Hessians embracing his muscular calves.
“Do you always have such loud breakfasts at your home?” Devlin asked.
“Oh, it wasn’t loud. They were very quiet today, all because of you.”
This caught Devlin’s attention. “Because of me?”
“Why, yes, they were trying very hard not to talk too loudly, so they wouldn’t miss what you and Father were discussing.”
Fanny almost smiled as she saw his amazement. She guessed it was also not easy for someone who was used to being alone to understand how, in a household where thirteen persons lived, one had a hard time to find some solitude. You weren’t even safe in your own room, as they all were too used to being able to walk through any door without thinking twice.
If you wanted solitude, you had to lock your bedroom door or hide in the attic.
“Don’t you ever get bored with each other?” Devlin asked, obviously fascinated with the subject.
Fanny shook her head. “No, not bored, exactly. Of course, we sometimes can get a little tired of each other, but I imagine living all alone has its ups and downs, too. We would all rather live together, and sometimes get frustrated over not being able to have some peace and quiet, than live alone and wish there was someone else there.”
“What if you marry someone who has no relatives of his own? Won’t you feel somewhat lonely?”
She looked at him from the side, but his eyes were glued to the road as if her answer wasn’t the least bit important to him, which only made her think maybe it was.
She chewed on her answer for a bit, as she felt the importance of it. If she said she wouldn’t mind the solitude she would tell a lie, but telling him she would hate the solitude would be untrue, too.
If their relationship developed into something more constant, she guessed this would become an issue for her, so she decided not to make her answer too deep, but not completely untrue, either.
“My first wish would be for him to move into our home too. But as most men have their own houses, I guess I would have to start my own large family, so there wouldn’t be just the two of us. I mean, when one has ten children one can’t possibly feel lonely, can one?”
“My God, ten children?” Devlin chuckled. “I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for this future husband of yours, though I suppose he’d be quite happy with the making of all the offspring.”
He looked at her, and her insides turned warm and breathless from the heat of his golden eyes.
It was such a two-sided feeling.
One part of her wanted to throw herself at him and kiss him wherever she could reach. But another part of her didn’t like how easily she reacted to him, as if she had no self-control at all.
As if he could read her mind, he looked at the road again and continued lightly, “Anyhow, he must have a large income, or else he won’t be able to keep you and the children in food and clothes. Seeing how gluttonous you all were at breakfast made me realize how being a part of your family could impoverish even a good-sized fortune.”
Fanny pretended to be upset. “Oh, you awful man! How can you say such a thing about my lovely family.”
This brought her a glance with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, really?”
She made a face toward him. “Yes, really. But my future husband won’t have to fret about money, as I’m told that I am the wealthiest heiress this side of the turn of the century.”
“You’re an heiress?”
Fanny looked at him with surprise, as his astonishment was real. He obviously had no knowledge of her large dowry. It made her feel good—too good, almost. It was nice to be wanted for her own person, not for all the money that came with her.
She’d had quite a number of suitors over the last few years, ever since she started to join her relatives in different assemblies at home in Berkshire, and not one of them had been interested in anything more than her money.
But Devlin was.
“My family has made sure I will be bringing quite a nest egg into my future marriage.”
“You mean your father has seen to it.”
“No, my family.”
He looked at her, not really believing her.
“Ordinarily it’s the father who provides his daughter with a dowry.”
“But my family is not an ordinary family.” She smiled at him.
He laughed and nodded, obviously agreeing with her just to vex her, but she was too happy with their bantering to be annoyed with him.
They met another carriage, and Devlin nodded politely as they passed. The ladies in the other carriage were staring with their mouths wide open and forgot all about being polite back.
“Oh, no.” Fanny sighed. “Of course we had to meet Lady Easton and her friends. Now everyone will know we went for a ride today, thanks to that obnoxious woman.”
“And this is a bad thing?”
This time she took a good look at him. He didn’t look at all like the cold libertine duke whom everyone talked about. When she thought about it, he hadn’t been acting at all like one with her since they met at the Easton Ball. Instead, he had been open, friendly, and had made sure she was aware of how interested he was in her. He even embraced her family, even though some of them treated him like a pariah.
No, she didn’t have any problem with others in the
ton
knowing he courted her. She wanted to spend time with him, to get to know him better. If she continued to feel as wonderful with him as she did now, she would eagerly accept his proposal, if it came. Good Lord, she would probably not hesitate to ask him to marry her—as she had thirteen years before—if she was sure he was the one.
“No, Your Grace, I don’t feel it’s a bad thing.”
Again their eyes locked, and this time he was the one who apparently had to rip himself out of a daze. After a deep breath, he cursed softly.
“If only there were somewhere we wouldn’t be seen by others,” he mumbled, and she felt like she would burn up with the need to feel his arms around her and his lips against hers.
Devlin’s thoughts weren’t as innocent. He was already picturing her naked, moaning for him to come inside her, uniting their bodies. His eyes went down to her chest, admiring the heaving of her full breasts, and his hands ached with the need to slip inside the bodice and fondle their softness.
Unfortunately, it was just at this moment another carriage came up beside them, and a cold voice interrupted their passionate thoughts.
“For your information, this is a public park.”