Let Love Find You (5 page)

Across the room, as soon
as Sir Henry and Elizabeth Malcort finished chatting with them and moved off, William Pace assured his best friend, “I told you you’d fit right in
and
know some of the guests.”

Devin Baldwin laughed because they both knew the first part of that statement wasn’t the least bit true. Devin was too big, too tanned from spending every day outdoors, and too abrasive because he didn’t mince words and never would, no matter what company he was in. He might have been schooled in how to be a gentleman, but he’d found those lessons to be useless, either absurdly amusing—or hypocritical.

William had been trying to get him to come to parties like this one for years, but Devin had only recently seen a benefit to doing so. Not that he hadn’t begun socializing this year when he found the time. But the invitations he’d received from his clients had been to lesser affairs, which he considered business, nothing as fancy as this one, where every guest bore a title of some sort. Yet now he was receiving invitations from titled nobles he’d never even met, all because he’d helped a few of his clients with matters that had nothing to do with the horses he bred.

He’d ignored the fancy invites so far—until tonight. He didn’t exactly like these rich London nabobs—unless they were his clients. But even then, he found them to be a silly, frivolous bunch mostly concerned with trifles and entertainments rather than real life. They reminded him too much of the father he
hated. They reminded him of the mother who had turned her back on her family so she could enjoy the sins of London. He was more used to country gentry anyway, lords who actually ran their own estates instead of turning them over to factors, men he could respect because they weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.

“Fascinating, isn’t she?” William remarked.

Devin shifted his gaze to the ballroom’s ornately carved fireplace before he said, “Which one?”

William laughed at him. “Well, our hostess is married and, by all accounts, blissfully so. But you know I was talking about Little Miss Sunshine.”

“I’m trying not to notice her.”

“Why?”

“You’re the one looking for a rich wife, not I,” Devin replied. And that little chatterbox his eyes kept returning to was too pretty by half. The last thing he needed was to get tempted by a woman he could never have.

“Good of you to bow out on this one for my sake, old chap, but I’m not a complete blockhead,” William said. “Don’t stand a chance with a prime chit like that.”

“Nonsense—”

William cut Devin off with a chuckle. “Very well, I’ll own up to it, I gave it my best shot last Season. Didn’t know yet that her father’s a duke. Didn’t care after I found out. But she couldn’t even remember my name! Deuced hard on the ego, that, so I gave up. But you, big, handsome, they don’t even care that you’re a little rough around the edges.”

That produced the laugh William had intended to elicit from his friend, even if it was quite true. “I may have revitalized the home farm, but I don’t actually consider that
my
income.
And the title that used to be in my family trotted off centuries ago through a daughter instead of being passed down to distant cousins. You do realize Little Miss Sunshine’s family would require at least one of those attributes, if not both?”

“You’d think so,” William said thoughtfully. “Yes, yes, you
do
think so, but some families are so rich and lofty, normal expectations simply don’t apply.”

“Or they’re even more important.”

William shrugged. “Who knows? But I’ll shut up—mind you, only because you insist you’re not interested in a wife yet. Just think you should keep an open mind in case one happens to fall into your lap—”

“Thought you were shutting up?”

William grinned, but then his eyes suddenly flared and he said, “Uh-oh, brace yourself, your competition is bearing down on you.”

“My what?”

Devin turned to see the two old ladies approaching him. The one in the lead was plump and gray-haired and looked angry enough to spit. The other was shapely, still had blond hair mixed with her gray, and looked embarrassed as she tagged along behind the stouter dame.

“Young man, I’ve a bone to pick with you!” the old dame in the lead snapped at Devin.

“Madam, adjust your tone or take your bone elsewhere,” he replied just as directly.

She was rendered speechless for a moment. William took that opportunity to jump in with quick introductions. The second lady, Gertrude Allen, even seemed surprised at hearing Devin’s full name.

“You wouldn’t happen to be related to Lydia Baldwin, would you?” Gertrude asked him.

Devin spared a smile the for soft-spoken woman. “Indeed, she’s my aunt.”

“Oh, my, I know your family quite well. My late husband used to travel all the way to Lancashire just to replenish his stable from them. Wonderful horse breeders. An old family tradition, eh? Your grandparents were still alive then as I recall. And more recently your aunt helped my Fluffy after she and your uncle moved to London. What a superb dog trainer she is. After only a week with your aunt, my Fluffy came home and never chewed on another table leg again! Mabel, I told you about—”

The older dame had recovered by then and cut in, “He can breed all the horses he likes, but he should keep his nose out of what he can’t possibly know anything about. Listen here,
Cupid
,” Mabel said in a derogatory tone, using the nickname that Devin had recently earned, “you might be something of a sensation right now because you’ve had a bit of luck at matchmaking, but it’s absurdly presumptuous of you to even try your hand at it when you’re a newcomer to town and—”

“I’m not new to London,” Devin said.

“’Course you are. Who has ever heard of you before this Season?”

William tried to deflate the old bird, but he was sounding a bit annoyed himself now on Devin’s behalf. “Wouldn’t call m’self a nobody, Lady Mabel. Devin’s my best friend, as it happens. He and I went to school together. He was even born in London, if you must know. He’s merely been up north revitalizing his family’s horse farm since we got out of school, so he’s
been too busy to come to town to socialize these last years. But he’s bought a property near London in order to be closer to his clients, so you’ll be seeing a lot more of him now.”

The old bird wasn’t deflated in the least, merely spared William a glare to say, “That is
not
good news, William Pace.” Then she actually wagged her finger at Devin. “You’ve been lucky so far, but it’s a serious business you’re tampering with, and people will get hurt if you steer them wrong. This is just a lark for you, isn’t it? Just an amusing pastime?”

Devin shrugged. “Can’t deny it’s amusing, but it’s not something I set out to do. It just fell in my lap. But there’s no luck about it, it’s simple animal magnetism that makes for a good match. A man and a woman have got to want to rut, but after the rutting, they’ve got to have something in common or their happily ever after falls apart.”

“How . . . how dare you!” Mabel sputtered.

“Think about it, old girl, and you’ll realize I’m right. How many of your happy matches are still happy? Or are the husbands already keeping mistresses on the side?”

William was coughing, having choked on a half laugh, half groan. Gertrude was staring down at her feet. Mabel was speechless again and so red in the face she looked as if she might burst. Even Devin knew he’d just gone beyond the pale, but he simply didn’t care. Damned jealous old biddy had no call to upbraid him for commonsense methods that worked.

Their hostess took that moment to make her presence known, and to go by her expression, she seemed quite amused over what she’d just overheard. And now Devin was blushing! Bloody hell.

Ophelia put her hand gently on Mabel’s arm. “There’s no reason to be upset, m’dear. A little outspokenness is refreshing
from time to time. Imagine what would happen if all artists wanted to paint the same way? Our walls would be nothing but boring.”

“Hardly relevant,” Mabel mumbled, her cheeks beginning to cool.

“Perhaps, but no one is stealing your thunder. The tried-and-true methods always work, yet there is room for innovation, yes? But goodness, I haven’t even met this guest of mine yet.” Ophelia cast a brilliant smile at the two men. “I’m Ophelia Locke. So good of you to join us this evening. Oh, and, William, good to see you as always.”

Mabel actually chuckled at that point. “You really shouldn’t do that, Phelia.”

“What?” Ophelia asked with an innocent grin.

“You know very well you’ve just dazzled the speech right out of both of them. Serves ’em right.” Mabel marched off, dragging Gertrude with her.

“I think you’ll survive on all accounts, won’t you, gentlemen? But tell me, Devin Baldwin, do you mind being likened to a cherub, or do you merely find it amusing?”

William was still staring at her agog. It took Devin a few moments to actually
hear
the question. He’d already thought this woman was the most beautiful he’d ever seen in his life, but bloody hell, her smile was lethal. He pitied her husband—like hell he did, he almost laughed to himself.

“As the myth goes, Cupid is also the god of love, as well as the son of Venus.”

Her eyes flared. “Good grief, I never realized they were calling you a god!”

He laughed. “Which is about as silly as it gets, so, yes, I find it quite amusing.”

“The matchmaking methods you were discussing are quite interesting. Has that approach helped you to find a wife yet?”

“I’ve no time for a wife.”

William piped in, “Dev is working toward producing racers now on his new farm just outside of London, north of the racetrack.”

“Yes,” Devin said, “I’ve changed the focus my family has always favored. It’s a long process, but I’ll know come spring if it’s working or not.”

“Do you have any fast mounts for sale? My husband’s birthday is approaching and I thought about buying him a new horse.”

Devin grinned. “Possibly faster than he’s used to.”

“Splendid! Now
that
will be a worthy surprise for him. I look forward to doing business with you.”

“A
ND THERE WE WERE
, my lovely boat heading straight for this rock sticking out of the water that I swear wasn’t there moments before,” Oliver Norse was telling the group surrounding Amanda. “The sailboat was brand-new! I was horrified it was going to shatter into pieces.”

“Did it?” asked Farrell Exter, the only one in the group who hadn’t heard the story yet.

“Oliver told us to jump ship and we did,” John Trask said with an engaging grin. He’d actually been on the boat with Oliver that day.

“But I went down with the ship!” Oliver bragged.

“He means to say he got tossed off it when it tilted to the side and got quite beached on the bit of land surrounding that rock.”

Farrell laughed. Amanda had laughed, too, the first time she’d heard the tale last Season. She managed a polite grin now, despite feeling terribly bored.

She should have realized that with Ophelia and her brother
Rafe’s only just coming to town, her sister-in-law wouldn’t yet be au courant with all of the newcomers this Season. Ophelia had merely invited a few of the young men she knew from last year who weren’t married yet. But Amanda already knew them as well and wasn’t the least bit interested in them other than as friends.
She
was having to do most of the talking tonight or her little group would fall painfully silent as it had before Oliver had jumped in with a story he’d told many times before. But unlike her beaus, she had a wealth of stories to tell, mostly about her brother, who’d led a much more exciting life than they had.

“It’s time to share, gentlemen,” Phoebe Gibbs said as she arrived and slipped an arm through Amanda’s to pull her away from the young men who were staunchly refusing to leave her side tonight. “I haven’t seen Mandy all week, so do excuse us for a while.”

Amanda was grateful for the rescue. Phoebe was one of her school chums who had married last year. Amanda had caught a glimpse of another one who was also married. She had nothing in common with her old friends anymore so she hadn’t approached either one, at least that was the excuse she’d given herself. The truth was, they just made her feel even more disheartened over her predicament, being last in line to find happiness.

But Phoebe was the worst gossiper of her old group of friends, loved to hear it, loved to pass it on, so Amanda wouldn’t be surprised if she had some juicy
on-dits
she was dying to share, and Amanda was right.

“The Earl of Manford, I really thought he’d be here tonight,” Phoebe said.

“Who’s that?”

“A
good
question. Got his title as a child, losing both parents, poor boy. He’s just come of age, but no one I know has clapped eyes on him yet. I thought surely if anything could lure him to town, it would be one of Lady O’s parties.”

Amanda’s interest perked up. A young man she hadn’t met yet? She grinned. “He needs to be lured?”

“Apparently,” Phoebe huffed. “By all accounts, he’s not ready to marry so he won’t bother coming to London yet. Too busy chasing down fast horses.”