“I didn’t know you believed in love.” Devlin smirked.
“I don’t, but you are not me; you are a believer.”
“Really?” Devlin mimicked Bear to annoy him, but his friend didn’t care, or simply ignored the teasing.
“Please, Devlin, be honest with me. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life with a woman who from the start you find only ‘somewhat pleasant’?”
“If I planned on spending the rest of my life with her, yes, I would want more in the woman I would ask to be my wife.”
Bear’s confusion was obvious. “Why will you not spend your life together with your wife?”
“So I won’t influence the children.”
“Influence the children?” Bear’s voice trailed off as his chin fell to his chest. For the first time since meeting the giant, Devlin had rendered him speechless.
“I think the best thing for them, my future wife and the child or children she gives me, is to live in peace in the countryside, having a simple life without any of the darkness I grew up with.”
“But Conan is dead, so there is nothing left to affect them.”
“Yes, there is. Me.”
“You?” Bear looked at him in bewilderment, “Have you lost your mind completely?”
Devlin rushed to defend his plans. “My only wish is to erase every last wrong my father ever did to me, to anyone. And by staying away from my children, I know they will grow up without the cloud of darkness that is my constant companion because of my father.”
Bear shook his head slowly, as if unable to grasp the deeper meaning of Devlin’s words.
“They will have a simple life, without the ghost of my father.”
“So to erase the last imprint of your father, you intend to let them grow up without a father of their own?”
“Better to not have a father than to live under the rule of a rotten one.”
“But you are not rotten,” Bear yelled as he jumped up from the chair, knocking the small table to the side. He looked down at the brandy fast being absorbed by the thick carpet and cursed loudly as he stomped out.
“It is the right thing to do!” Devlin growled to the now-empty doorway, but Bear didn’t reappear.
His friend clearly was upset with him, but he couldn’t understand what Bear’s problem was. Why did he become so upset with Devlin’s plan to stay out of his children’s lives? He had told Bear everything about his father, and if there was anyone he thought would understand, it was Bear.
Devlin rang for a servant to clean up the mess Bear had left, and when he was alone again, he lay down on his bed and stared up to the dark ceiling. Could it be he had found the right woman for the job, the very first day of the Season?
Lady Francesca Darling was granddaughter to a duke, used to the life of polite society. She had a loving family who would be there for her, and she would never be left alone as his own mother had been, tucked away at a small faraway estate until she had died when Devlin was just a few years old. No, Fanny would bring his children up with love and laughter and give them a secure start in life.
Maybe she wouldn’t understand his decision in the matter of his staying away, but he knew she had a good head, and if he only found the correct words to persuade her, she would come to her senses and admit his path was the right one.
He smiled contentedly.
Life was good.
Chapter 7
It was unusually warm for early April, and the lazy meadows of Green Park were full of thick, healthy green grass. All over the lush carpet, flowers bloomed in every imaginable color.
In the northern corner of the park, near the basin, the
ton
had gathered for the annual picnic, always held the day after the Easton Ball.
As the clock turned three, the otherwise empty park filled with the ladies and gentlemen of the
ton
chatting and socializing while their servants ran around placing tables and chairs.
Everyone was gossiping about yesterday’s ball and especially the juiciest bit of all, the return of the Duke of Hereford and his obvious interest in Lady Francesca Darling.
The dandies and the gamblers had rushed over to White’s and put their bets about the couple in the infamous Book of Bets. The placed bets covered everything, from when he would officially start to court her to the color of their firstborn child’s eyes.
When the Darling family arrived, Fanny immediately was dragged away from her family by her best friend, Lady Penelope de Vere.
They didn’t stop until they reached the Queens Walk, where they proceeded more slowly, letting the chaperoning maid catch up.
They had been friends since they first met as little girls during outings in their corner of England, the lovely county of Berkshire. They had been full of mischief, and their adventurous spirits had put them in more problematic situations than anyone ever wanted to remember.
Now they both had turned eighteen and had, hopefully, left all their antics behind, as they had gone with their families to London in pursuit of husbands among the eligible bachelors of the
ton
.
Penelope was the beauty of the two, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and rosy cheeks: the perfect English Rose. Unfortunately, she was the younger sister of the incomparable Charmaine, and therefore her exquisite beauty went unremarked.
However, as Fanny believed, when you got to know Penelope and could see beyond Charmaine, her loveliness inside as well as outside was astounding.
The two girls hooked arms and strolled down the path, enjoying the warmth of the sun. The air was filled with the scent of thousands of wildflowers blooming everywhere in the green grass. Bumblebees buzzed and birds twittered. It was an amazingly beautiful day.
Penelope hugged Fanny’s arm. “Oh, this is so exciting,” she breathed happily. “Everybody is talking about it, you know, you and your handsome duke.”
“Handsome as one of Grand-Papa’s Roman statues,” Fanny joked, and they laughed, filled with the starry-eyed happiness only young women can feel the day after their first ball.
“It must have been an amazing feeling to meet him again, after all this time. You have talked about him as long as I can remember, and my memory happens to be extremely good.” Penelope winked, and Fanny hugged her friend closer as they giggled.
“It was amazing, and at the same time frightening. I knew immediately who he was when I saw him, even though he is now a grown man instead of the boy I remembered.”
“Did he recognize you at once, too?”
Fanny rolled her eyes.
“Of course not. He is a man, after all.”
“I’m not surrounded by men, as you are, so how men act and how they think are not a part of my knowledge.”
Penelope sounded almost as if she were jealous, and Fanny kissed her friend’s rosy cheek.
“Just because I have more manly relatives than I can count doesn’t mean I know how they think. But I did once overhear a friend of my mother’s say men were easy to read, as all they think about is eating, sleeping, and drinking.”
“How utterly boring,” Penelope said with feigned horror, and they giggled again.
“Enough about me. How was your first ball? I looked for you but couldn’t find you.”
Penelope lost her smile. She bowed her head and sighed, which clearly told how her evening had been, and Fanny’s heart went out to her friend.
Why couldn’t those horrible parents of Penelope’s see what a treasure they had? Their youngest daughter was a gem among lumps of coal, with her pure heart and a smile that could melt gold.
But all they could see was Charmaine, and as she fulfilled their every dream, they didn’t look any farther.
“It wasn’t as bad as you think,” Penelope said slowly, knowing all too well what her friend thought. “I still had to wear Charmaine’s old dress, and there was no time to alter it, so I had to lift it constantly, as she is quite taller than me. Father danced with my sister but forgot about me, which made me a little upset. However, what hurt most was how my mother noticed his forgetfulness but didn’t care. It was more important to her to stand beside Charmaine and be her mother than to drag my father from the gambling tables and force him to dance with me too.”
“Oh, Penny!” Fanny stopped and gave her friend a tight hug, silently swearing a holy oath to revenge her friend. Someday she would make sure the other three members of the de Vere family would suffer immensely.
Penelope reached for her handkerchief and used it to dry the tears trickling down her cheeks. “It feels better now that I can share it with you,” she sniffed, and they started to walk again toward the end of the walkway. “Everything feels so much better when I am with you.”
“Of course it does,” Fanny joked. “I am, after all, the most perfect human being to ever set her feet on this earth.”
“You are, indeed.” Penelope laughed, and with the fragility of the moment over, they continued arm-in-arm in a much better mood, now they had aired the hurtfulness of yesterday’s ball.
“What did you think about the Easton Ball besides your family’s shortcomings?”
“Oh, it was so grand! It felt like I was in a fairy tale, surrounded by all the elegance of the ballroom and the people in it.”
“Wasn’t it? I have never seen so many exquisite ladies in my life. And the dresses! I could hardly believe how deep some of the necklines were.”
“Did you see the lady in the thin dress that showed her whole body? I overheard Mother tell one of her friends the lady had dampened her chemise to make the outline of her body more visible.”
“How outrageous,” Fanny breathed, more impressed than shocked.
At the end of the walkway, they turned and started back toward the others. Fanny used the time well, telling Penelope all about what had happened the day before.
Well, not exactly everything.
She didn’t tell her friend about the Charmaine part of her evening. And she didn’t mention her thoughts about whether Devlin might or might not court her, since she was still a little unsure on that subject.
Besides, Penelope always became upset whenever Fanny said anything bad about her older sister. And suggesting Charmaine was a liar really wasn’t a good something.
Instead she dwelled on what Devlin had said and the way he had acted when they danced.
“I felt like I was five years old again,” Fanny finished with a dreamy smile. “He made me feel at ease, like I was with one of my relatives, or like now when I’m with you. He is very beautiful, painfully so. It almost hurt my eyes just to look upon him.”
Giggling, they hadn’t noticed the tall man coming their way until he stopped right in front of them.
They gasped, caught off guard and very nervous about what he might have heard.
He, of course, didn’t let them ponder.
“Ladies,” he said with a slight bow. “I hope I don’t hurt your eyes standing in front of you like this, but I would ask if you could grant me the honor of walking the two of you back toward your families.”
He succeeded with something few men had before him—he made them both blush.
Before they knew what to say, he took his place between them, put their hands in the crooks of his arms, and got them walking again. At first they were quiet, too embarrassed to know what to say.
How much had he overheard?
A deepening blush heated Fanny’s cheeks, which Devlin of course didn’t miss, as she could tell by his soft chuckle.
“Well you really are, you know,” she finally managed to say, when she found her voice again, and tried not to look at Penelope’s horrified face on the other side of his broad chest.
“I’m what?” he asked. He was clearly enjoying this too much, as he showed no intention of letting them off the hook. The awful man just couldn’t resist teasing them a bit more.
“You know,” Fanny said, and made a vague gesture with her hand. “Pretty.”
That made him stop.
“Now, I will tell the two of you the first rule regarding men.” He gave them a hard stare. “You can refer to our looks in many different ways. ‘Handsome’ is good. ‘Good-looking’ works well, too. Even ‘nice’ is a splendid choice. However, never,
ever
, tell a man he is pretty.”
Penelope apparently found the subject intriguing, because she forgot all about her awkwardness and took a step closer.
As the true gentleman he was, he took one step closer to Fanny, who suddenly found herself pressed hard against the side of his body. Her eyes met his for a second, and the smoldering heat that washed over her made her knees go weak.
She didn’t care what he said. He was splendidly pretty, and she was almost scared by the power he possessed to affect her by a mere look.
Penelope didn’t notice Fanny’s obvious discomfort, as she was busy discussing with Devlin about why a man couldn’t be called pretty. Penelope by habit was very attentive and didn’t miss anything, but this time she did, and Fanny was thankful for it.
She had no secrets from her friend, and usually she told her everything. But this hurricane of strange feelings was new to her, and she had no idea how to describe them.
If she couldn’t clarify them even to herself, how would she ever be able to tell Penelope about them?
They started to walk again, slowly strolling under the large trees gracing the walk. The earlier embarrassment was soon forgotten, and the two young women found they had the best source of information about Devlin they possibly could find: the man himself.
“I heard your father died last year, and I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Don’t be.” He smiled at Fanny. “I’m not.”
“Are you not sad about your father’s demise, Your Grace?”
Penelope, who hadn’t the best connection with her own father, found the subject fascinating.
“No.”
Devlin’s curt answers weren’t as fascinating to hear, though, and Penelope had no choice but to change the subject. Fanny gave her friend a sympathetic smile, as she too had wanted to know more than he was willing to share.