A Family Affair (17 page)

Devlin became rigid, and he turned slowly.

There, in an elegant phaeton, with his wife beside him, sat Devlin’s boss at the war ministry, Basil Sinclair, the Earl of Saxton. He could feel Fanny leaning forward, and to spare her the embarrassment he pushed her back with one hand, so the elderly couple wouldn’t see who his companion was.

“Lord Saxton,” he said, startled over Basil’s disapproving posture.

So he had been ogling Fanny a bit too hotly, but he hadn’t touched her, had not even been too close to her. There hadn’t been anything scandalous about his behavior. He was a highly titled English nobleman, and as such he was supposed to court young ladies. Hell, he was even allowed to court married ladies.

“How nice to meet you, my lord. I haven’t seen you for quite a while now.”

He gave Lady Saxton a genuine smile she didn’t notice. She was too busy, almost snapping her neck in her attempt to see who was with him. He had always thought of Lady Saxton as one of the friendliest and most likable ladies of his acquaintance, and her evident curiosity now took him by surprise. He felt Fanny move behind him, and again he held out his hand, forcing her to stay hidden.

“We have been out of town for a couple of days, attending the funeral of a very good friend, and just came back yesterday evening.”

“Please accept my condolences,” Devlin sympathized.

“Thank you,” Basil said solemnly.

“Who died?” Fanny asked.

Devlin closed his eyes, resigned.

Of course she couldn’t stay quiet. Here he was trying to save her from the embarrassment of meeting the eyes of a couple who had seen them drooling all over each other—and he had almost succeeded—when she opened her lush little mouth. However, to his surprise, Lord Saxton did answer her question nicely enough, and Devlin opened his eyes again.

“Lord Plumber.”

“Oh, poor Lady Plumber! She must be terribly upset.”

“She is,” Lady Saxton interjected. “We didn’t want to tell you about it before the Easton Ball, but now it won’t matter. That is why we haven’t visited you and your family during your first week here in London, but we couldn’t leave her all alone.”

“I understand.” Fanny smiled, and both Lord and Lady Saxton smiled back to her, a loving smile one only bestowed on someone close. Like a relative.

“Do you know each other?” Devlin asked suspiciously, and Lord Saxton glanced at him with a mixture of condescension and humor. Was the man laughing silently at him?

Fanny wasn’t as subtle; his dear little dove laughed and whacked him on his shoulder.

“Of course we know each other, silly. These two lovely people are my maternal grandmother and grandfather.”

Oh, my God.

Devlin didn’t know what to say.

This was his commander, for goodness’ sake. The only man alive who knew everything about him.

Every dirty little detail.

There was no way Lord Saxton would let Devlin marry his granddaughter, with that knowledge. Especially considering how easy it was to see by just looking at Lord Saxton how the man adored Fanny. He wouldn’t sit back silently and not interfere.

The ladies were chatting about the funeral, and Devlin could feel Lord Saxton measuring him.

“Your Grace,” Lady Saxton said. “I would be forever in your debt if we could swap carriages for a little while, as I haven’t seen my dear Fanny for some time, and I would love to catch up with her for just a few minutes, if I may?”

Devlin nodded, and soon Fanny sat in her grandmother’s phaeton, hugging her closely, and Devlin had Lord Saxton beside him.

“Why don’t we roll a bit,” Lord Saxton said, and Devlin did as he was asked, filled with dread.

They drove silently down Rotten Row. The commander wasn’t known for backing down on an unpleasant situation, but Devlin had to wait until they had turned around at Kensington Gardens before Basil ended the uncomfortable silence.

“We love all our grandchildren, but Fanny is special, and because of this, I must ask you what your intentions are.”

“Marriage.”

“You hardly know her. How can you be so sure?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I thought I would find out while courting her. If she still seems perfect, I will ask her to marry me.”

“What if she declines?”

“Then I guess I will have to go on with my life without her.”

Lord Saxton looked at him sharply. “You don’t seem to care about her answer.”

“What do you want me to say?” Devlin asked angrily. “Do you want me to declare how much I love her, and how I will never harm her in any way? I can’t tell you this, because I don’t love her. Not now, but I might later, when I know her better. Bloody hell, I just met her!”

He took some deep breaths to calm down, before he continued. “It feels very strange telling you this, as you are her grandfather, but I have never lied to you before, and I am not about to start now. There is something about her that attracts me immensely. When I’m with her, everything is right, and I am content and at peace. She makes me feel whole, as if I’ve found the one missing piece in my life, the one I’ve always been looking for. I don’t know if this will fade as time goes by, or if by some wonderful luck I happened to meet the one person in the world who is my perfect match.”

“All right,” Lord Saxton said with an indifferent shrug, and Devlin halted the horses and turned to look at his commander in surprise.

“All right?” he asked hoarsely. “Is this all you have to say to me?”

“What more do you want me to say?” Lord Saxton questioned with an unreadable smile.

Devlin threw out his hands in frustration.

“Something.”

“Like?”

“Now you’re toying with me,” Devlin growled.

Lord Saxton nodded his head to a passing acquaintance, ignoring Devlin’s obvious puzzlement. Instead he swept his hand toward the horses.

“You are aware we aren’t moving, I hope? Otherwise, I might have some objections regarding your sanity.”

As the carriage slowly moved forward again, Devlin realized he’d never felt so unsure of himself. He had always trusted his own judgment, a necessity when one grew up with an abusive father and no one to lean on. This uncertain mood of the last couple of days was wearing him down.

His work as a spy had utilized and enhanced his ability to rely on himself and trust his own decisions, something he had not found overly easy at the beginning of his secretive career despite his background. But Lord Saxton’s patience and gentle guidance had helped build his confidence, and for this Devlin was eternally grateful.

Lord Saxton’s integrity, devotion, and sharp intelligence were something Devlin admired deeply, and though he might have hesitated to admit it, he looked upon the older man as a father figure. The commander had one rule for all his spies—total honesty. At the start, they all had to sit down with Lord Saxton and tell him everything about themselves, so he had a chance of guessing what path they would go if he lost contact with them or needed to rescue them.

Devlin had a hard time opening up, but in the end, he surrendered himself to Lord Saxton’s capable hands, and in some strange way it was a relief for someone finally to be privy to the long-held secrets. Someone cared about knowing his thoughts, actions, and most intimate details, and it had given him a feeling of immortality. His life wouldn’t be forgotten if he wasn’t there to live it.

But what was good in war wasn’t as good elsewhere. As Fanny’s grandfather, Lord Saxton might have a hard time filtering all he knew about his granddaughter’s suitor. It wasn’t hard to see how much he loved Fanny, and his immediate acceptance of the courtship alarmed Devlin. No one who knew every bad thing about him would let his beloved little girl closer to Devlin than a mile.

“How can you accept me?” he finally asked, terrified for the answer.

“How can I not? You are a good and honest man, and I know you would never do anything deliberate to hurt Fanny. I know what you have done during the war, but that was war. In England, among the
ton
, you are a different man, and this is a different situation. Other things matter here, and when you, the number one eligible bachelor, court my granddaughter, how can I object? But none of this affects my opinion of you as a suitor for Fanny’s hand. Not at all.”

This surprised Devlin. “How can it not matter? All my beliefs, everything I’ve done, makes me into this person I am, and nothing can change it. I wouldn’t think of it as lightly as you seem to do, if this was about my granddaughter.”

Another small smile passed Lord Saxton’s face. “But you keep forgetting something, Devlin. Something more important than anything you have said or done.”

“For heaven’s sake, what?”

“Fanny.”

Devlin fell back in the seat, dumbfounded. “Fanny?”

“You keep forgetting about her, don’t you?”

“I don’t understand.”

Lord Saxton fixed Devlin with a hard stare. “Fanny is my granddaughter and I love her dearly, but more importantly, I trust her with my whole heart. She has a head of her own and will never accept your proposal if she is not sure you are the one she wants to spend the rest of her life with. Besides, she is part of a very large and overly protective family, who won’t let her marry anybody without letting her fight for it. And I tell you, Fanny only fights for the things she really believes in, and you are obviously one.”

That explained it, Devlin thought, a bit shaken. He had not once thought about her part. He had been too occupied with his own. Fanny was too levelheaded to fall for flattery and pretty words, and she was too well protected to be allowed near anyone who could be a threat.

“It will be good for you, you know,” Lord Saxton continued, “to belong to someone and to start something new. Your children will never have to suffer what you did because of your father, and I know you will appreciate your family more than most other men do, because of him.”

“You are right about this,” Devlin agreed. “My father’s malevolence will not have any influence on my future children. I will make sure of that.”

Something in Devlin’s words struck Lord Saxton as off-key. “How will you make sure of this?” he asked carefully.

“By not being there to pass on Conan’s malice further.”

This caught Basil off guard. “Whatever do you mean, ‘by not being there’?”

“Just what I said. I will make sure nothing I have learnt when I was a child will be passed on to my children, and I will do this by not being a part of their upbringing. I will leave them in the hands of my wife, capable hands, hopefully, and by staying away, I will not affect them in any way.”

Lord Saxton was speechless. How could Devlin think he could stay out of his own children’s lives? “So you’re going to hide your wife and children in some vast country estate, or what?”

Devlin chuckled, apparently amused. “Of course not. Can you imagine me trying to hide Fanny somewhere? Besides, you or the rest of her family would never let that happen.”

Lord Saxton almost laughed straight out but managed to hide his mirth from the younger man. The moron actually thought he could leave his wife with her family, and, by doing this, he would be making sure of his children would be raised in a loving and caring environment.

As if Fanny ever would let it happen. Poor Devlin, he didn’t stand a chance. She would never let him miss his own happiness.

Chapter 15

“So, tell me everything about you and your splendid man,” Frances Locksley Sinclair, Lady Saxton, urged her granddaughter as they watched the carriage with the men slowly drive away.

“There is not much to tell.” Fanny laughed. “We met at the Easton Ball, and he has since made it clear he wants to court me.”

With a loving smile, Lady Saxton looked at the granddaughter who was named after her. The young woman was already spellbound by her suitor, and it was not difficult to see that he was just as mesmerized by her.

Her husband was very fond of Devlin Ross, and Lady Saxton didn’t need any other evidence to know this was a good man. She had complete faith in her husband’s discernment. She knew he would never trust someone as much as he did the young duke if he had any doubts about him.

“I do confess,” Fanny continued with a dreamy look in her gray eyes, “I find him most attractive. As you can see, he is after all a magnificent man. But more importantly, I find I like his wit and his intelligence. When I talk to him, I feel as though there is nothing I can’t tell him. He has a tendency to sarcastic or ironic comments, but as you are aware, I’m quite used to those.”

“I have to agree with you, my dear. He is a most handsome man, and I could sit here and admire him the whole day. But what’s more important is that you connect with him on another level than mere appearance.”

“Oh, we do connect, Grand-Mama. I think the reason is all because of his friendship with Rake. Devlin lets me in and opens up to me in a way I don’t think he has ever done to any other female. You know, I never thought my libertine relatives would be a good thing when it came to me meeting a possible future husband.”

They giggled as if they were two young girls, not one young woman with her grandmother. But that was the way it always had been.

Lady Saxton possessed a young mind, and with all her experience, she was the perfect friend for a young woman on the verge of adulthood.

She was a very attentive grandmother, and sometimes she showered her three little nuggets, as she called Sin, Sebastian, and Fanny, with a little too much love. But as they adored her right back, no one ever complained.

She was a good listener and never told a secret. Therefore she was probably the only one who always got the whole truth from her grandchildren.

“Do you think he is the one?” Lady Saxton asked, with a curious gleam in her beautiful green eyes. “Or might you finally give up and accept Mr. Pembroke’s hand in marriage?”

“There is one thing you can be sure of,” Fanny said with a dejected sigh. “I will never marry Nicholas Pembroke. Don’t misunderstand me. I do like him. He is a nice man, and he has a good heart. If I hadn’t met Hereford, I might at least have considered him as a future husband.”