A Family Affair (13 page)

“The man is infamous for all his creditors. Of course he wouldn’t mind marrying off his daughters for money.”

“Poor Penelope. It must be horrible for a nice girl like her to have such an awful family. I must say this makes me feel much better for not having someone to call family. I am sure as hell not counting Delia as my closest kin.”

“I wouldn’t either.” Rake grinned wickedly. “Not after she tried to climb into your bed. I can’t believe she had the nerve, being your mother’s cousin and all.”

Devlin twirled the red liquor in the crystal glass and shook his head with a chuckle. “You should have seen her face when I told her to take her old wrinkled body and get out of there.”

“I can imagine.” Rake laughed. “Too vividly.”

“I wish she would simply disappear, and take those horrid children with her. Better to have no family at all than have to share the same roof with those three.”

“It’s hard for me to think of a life without a caring family. I can’t imagine life without mine. They might be a little too much sometimes, but they still mean everything to me.”

Devlin felt a small prick of envy.

Rake’s parents were the safe haven of his life, and Chester Park the one place in his life where Rake knew he would always be welcome. There he could be himself without any strings. For Devlin, it seemed like something out of a fairytale, too good to be true. But for Rake, it was reality.

“I can’t imagine being so close to anyone,” Devlin said, half aloud, and Rake gave him a sharp look.

“Can’t you? I thought you and I had a close friendship.”

Devlin emptied his glass and made a gesture to the servant that he wanted another.

“Of course we are. Or at least were.”

“Were?” Rake echoed, as if he didn’t believe his ears.

“Oh, come on,” Devlin drawled. “You have to admit we aren’t as close now as we were when we attended school together.”

“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over such a ridiculous admission.” Rake shook his head, and Devlin frowned at him.

“It’s not ridiculous. We haven’t seen each other at all over the last couple of years, and consistency is what keeps a good friendship going. Not absence.”

It wasn’t hard to see how pathetic Rake found his admission, but Devlin didn’t care. “We have both been through things in our lives that have molded us into what we are today,” he continued, as Rake stayed silent, brooding. “And since our roads have been very different, I would say you and I are different men now than we were five years ago.”

“Maybe,” Rake replied, but Devlin could tell he didn’t agree at all with his harsh words. No surprise there. Rake had always been the softer of the two.

“You must recognize the truth in my words, don’t you?”

“Maybe,” Rake repeated, still not admitting to anything. “Yesterday I told some of my relatives how I trusted you around Fanny, but now I think I can’t. Or can I?”

“You know you can.”

“Can I? You’ve just spent the last couple of minutes trying to convince me you are not the man I once knew. So how can you at the same time expect me to trust you around my beloved niece?”

Devlin leaned forward and looked deep into Rake’s gray eyes in an effort to show him what was inside his heart.

“War changes a man, and I am not the same man I was five years ago. However, some things never change, and you know how highly I honor and respect you, as I always have.”

“Five years ago, I would have thrown myself down from the Tower if you asked me to, as I knew you wouldn’t ask if you didn’t have a really good reason. Until today I thought I still would have. But now suddenly I feel differently. I’m not really sure of who you are anymore. As you put it, war changes a man, and both Jamie and my cousin Lee are living examples of how war can cripple a man, mentally or physically.”

The mention of Rake’s relatives who had joined the Napoleonic wars cut through Devlin’s erratic thoughts. His heart filled with compassion over the poor men who too had seen the horrors of war and survived.

“Now there’s the Devlin I know and trust,” Rake said, and Devlin frowned at him.

“Excuse me?”

“And maybe that’s what’s bothering me.”

Devlin had a hard time following Rake’s thoughts.

“Now what?”

“Hmm,” Rake said, frowning, not answering Devlin. “You haven’t changed. Not really. You still are the same person, maybe, only older and more levelheaded. With Jamie and Lee fresh in mind, you seem quite undisturbed for a man who has seen the ghastliness of war.”

“How are they?” Devlin questioned softly, ignoring Rake’s ranting for the time being.

“Not so good. Neither had any bodily harm, which is a relief. But our beloved Lee, the happy and somewhat naïve young man, has turned into a quiet, brooding fellow. He doesn’t talk about what he has seen or gone through, and it puts us all in an impossible position. We all want to help, but no one is able to because we don’t know what the problem is. He doesn’t even talk to Jamie, who went with him and therefore is well aware of all the horrors our soldiers fighting Napoleon Bonaparte had to live through.”

“Please tell them both they can talk to me anytime they want to,” Devlin begged. “I have been to the continent and have seen many things, too. I might be able to understand in a way no one of you, their family, can.”

“So how was the continent for you?” Rake resumed his earlier probing, and Devlin couldn’t stop a grin. Rake would have made an excellent spy. “It can’t have been easier for you than for my brother and cousin.”

“It wasn’t so bad.”

“Wasn’t it?” Rake was aghast over Devlin’s unusual indifference. “Every other man I have spoken with, including Jamie, has admitted the same thing—it was hell on earth.”

Devlin shrugged. “The food was good.”

“You must be kidding me!”

Devlin put his wine glass down and gave Rake a hard stare. “If you don’t believe my answers, why do you insist on asking me about it?”

Rake was silent for a moment, his eyes never leaving Devlin’s face. “I want to get to know you again. As you so nicely put it, you were my friend before you left, and now it feels like I don’t know who you are anymore.”

“I am the same man.”

“You can’t be, not after enduring something as awful as war.”

Devlin nodded. “One would think so.”

“So why aren’t you?”

“I haven’t been with the army during my time in France, but I have been working for the government.”

Rake leaned back, his eyes suddenly filled with understanding.

“Were you one of Basil’s Boys?” he asked, surprising Devlin with his insight.

“You know about Lord Saxton?”

“Of course I do. My cousin Drake, Lee’s younger brother, is working for him in spite of his youth.”

This surprised Devlin. It wasn’t common for anyone to know when a family member worked secretly for the ministry.

“You know about Drake?”

Rake laughed. “Of course I do. So does Fanny.”

This news upset Devlin. “Bloody hell! You have told Fanny? What if someone grabs her for information, just because she’s Drake’s cousin?”

Now it was Rake’s turn to shrug indifferently.

“Drake needed someone more than me who could excuse him at home. Fanny was the excellent choice. They have always been such good friends, being almost of an age, you know.”

“I don’t like it,” Devlin muttered sourly.

“Well, it’s out of your hands,” Rake said with great satisfaction.

Devlin frowned at his friend but held his tongue. This was not the place to discuss his, or Drake’s, secret work with the ministry.

Rake grinned back, all his earlier resistance dissipated. “This is excellent news, indeed. As I am aware of how Lord Saxton chooses his spies, I also know there is nothing wrong with you. If there had been anything out of the ordinary with you and your life, Basil would never have invited you to join his Boys.”

“I still don’t like you two telling Fanny, though. Even if it’s not in my hands,” Devlin muttered as the servant came and fetched their empty glasses. He served them two large brandies instead.

Rake, who would have preferred to talk about Devlin and his escapades in the line of duty, gave in and held back his questions for another time.

“Are you going to make sure it
is
in your hands?”

“I don’t know,” Devlin admitted honestly. “I only met Fanny last night, and even though the attraction is outstanding I won’t ask her to marry me before I spend some time with her and come to know her a little better.”

“It sounds like a good plan.”

“So can I?”

“Can you what?”

“Court her?”

Rake laughed. “Of course you can. It’s not my decision to make, after all.”

“But your opinion matters to me,” Devlin said. “And if you are against it, I will back down.”

Rake smiled, satisfied with Devlin’s show of respect.

“You go ahead. I would be honored to call you family.”

The special moment was interrupted when Jamie and Sin joined them at their table and started to chat about the horse race they’d attended a few days before. They kept bantering in a friendly manner about which horse was the better one, and soon more of their friends came over to talk, and the evening got better and better.

Devlin looked at Rake, who was telling some outrageous story about a one-armed whore, drawing hoots of laughter from the crowd. Lord, it felt good being back, especially as he had no obligation to his father anymore.

Now he could just concentrate on his own happiness, and he would begin tomorrow by paying Fanny a visit, and maybe catch a kiss or two.

Chapter 13

Of
course
they
waited
for
her.

Fanny
had
stayed
in
her
room
until
she
almost
missed
breakfast,
silently
wishing
for
her
family
to
be
long
gone before
she
went
down
to
the
family
breakfast
room.

But
no.

As
if
they
knew
her
scheme,
they
were
all
there,
eating
and
chatting
about
nothing
and
everything.
She
gave
a
resigned
sigh
and
sat
down
in
the
empty
chair
between
Uncle
Harry
and
her
cousin
Drake.

A footman
brought
her
a
large
cup
of
tea,
and
she
put
her
hands
around
the
hot
cup,
enjoying
the
warmth
that
spread
from
her
hands
to
the
rest
of
her
body.

Her
parents
sat
side
by
side
at
one
end
of
the
table,
reading
together
in
the
social
section
of
the day’s
newspaper.
Her
Aunt
Diana
sat
beside
them,
arguing
with
her
eldest
son,
Lee,
while
her
husband
read
the
political
part
of
the
newspaper
and
now
and
then
read
something
aloud
to
anyone
who
happened
to
listen.

Drake
was
dressed
in
apple
-
green
clothing—the
essence
of
fashion,
as
he
was
telling
Uncle
Ward
on
the
other
side
of
the
table,
completely
ignoring
his
unwilling
listener’s
disinterest
in
the
subject.
Uncle
Liam
was
in
a
heated
discussion
with
his
brothers
Rake
and
Jamie
over
how
one
got
rid
of
leeches,
much
to
Fanny’s
chagrin.