A Family Affair (19 page)

He always behaved with the best of manners and had, out of respect for his family, never had a mistress of their acquaintance. Asking a family friend to become his mistress was an outrageous act, and it didn’t make sense for Rake to have done so.

She knew he had mistresses, and she even knew the name of his current one, too, though she would never tell Rake.

He would die of mortification.

She didn’t know how Penelope managed to live with the knowledge of Rake with another woman, as she never would be able to live with a man who had another on the side.

She froze as the thought of Devlin in the arms of a mistress came to her mind. Why hadn’t this bothered her before? Maybe because she hadn’t thought about it. The subject had never come up.

Did Devlin have a mistress?

Her heart screamed “no,” but her head said “probably.” He was a man, and she knew all men had either wives or mistresses. Sin had once told her about men who had both, and she had promised herself never to marry such a man.

How little she knew about the man she thought she would like to marry.

Now she knew she had to talk to Rake.

First she would ask if Devlin had a mistress, and then she would demand that he answer any question she had about her beau. She knew she could ask Devlin her questions, but she always seemed to forget everything whenever he was near. All she could think about was kissing him.

No, it was Rake she needed to talk with, and she would make sure she got the whole truth out of him. He had never been able to deny her anything, and she would make certain he didn’t start now.

Penelope deserved the truth, and so did she.

Chapter 17

Devlin walked through the entrance door to Almack’s just as the doorman was about to close it at eleven o’clock.

The patronesses, who had been about to leave their spot at the door where they stood to greet the arriving guests, flirted wildly with him, and he managed to withhold a dejected sigh. Since his return to London only a couple of hours earlier, he had been surrounded by ladies of all ages and social standing, and all of them wanted a piece of him.

He was tired.

The last three days had been hard. He and Drake had gone to Bath, searching for a man someone had named as a suspected French spy, a man who had been surprisingly hard to find. When they finally located him, he wasn’t connected to France at all, and they had obviously been misled.

So they had rushed back to London and to Lord Saxton’s office, only to be met with the news of a break-in. The thief had got his hands on some top-secret papers.

Lord Saxton had been furious and had asked Drake and Devlin to search through the whole building for any clues as to who the thief was and how he had been able to penetrate their most highly protected office. They hadn’t found anything, and Devlin had almost given up joining Fanny at Almack’s when Lord Saxton suddenly remembered they hadn’t slept for three days and sent them home.

Devlin had rushed as fast as he could home to wash and change clothes before throwing himself into the carriage waiting outside. He’d barely made it in time.

He managed to get rid of the patronesses without being too rude and started to hunt down Fanny. The ballroom at Almack’s was filled with London’s finest, and it wasn’t easy separating one white-clad debutante from another. Slowly he walked through the crowd, nodding to the faces he recognized and stopping only when he had no other choice.

The dance floor was filled with couples. He had walked almost to the other side of the large room when he finally spotted the lovely young lady he had been seeking.

Fanny was dancing with Nicholas Pembroke, gracefully moving with the music. She wore a beautiful white gown laced with knitted flowers. Pearls graced her neck, her ears, and her hair. She laughed at something her dancing partner said, and Devlin caught himself smiling in response.

She sparkled; there was no other way to describe her.

He had thought about her a lot, as there was not much else to do when one was riding all the way to Bath and back. But even though she was fantastic in his dreams, she was even better in real life. It was hard to understand why she was called homely. To him, she was anything but that.

The dance ended, and Nicholas Pembroke, as the obedient beau in desperate need of being accepted into the family, walked Fanny back to her parents where they stood in the midst of all the Darling relatives. Devlin almost smiled when he saw the Darling men throw themselves around the poor Mr. Pembroke, like wolves over their prey.

Fanny was immediately cornered by a bunch of suitors who almost tripped over each other in their rush to reach the fair maiden who just happened to be a very wealthy heiress.

George, looking quite disgruntled, was held back by his wife as Fanny again was dragged away to the dance floor, this time by the notorious womanizer Lord Burnsville. Devlin growled to himself, watching how the man kept looking too often and long at the gentle curve of her breasts. Some people might think Burnsville quite handsome, with his strawberry-blonde hair and square shoulders, and Devlin had known a certain amount of liking for the chap, as he was a jolly good fellow.

But that all ended the second Burnsville put a lingering peck on Fanny’s fingers, and she blushed.

Devlin didn’t like it at all.

She wasn’t supposed to be blushing when other men gave her a peck on her hand, as it was just common flirting. But she was, and he couldn’t help but frown at her.

Unfortunately, she was too caught up in what Burnsville was whispering in her ear even to realize Devlin had arrived. So maybe he was a wee bit late, but at least he was there. At Almack’s, for goodness’ sake. If this didn’t tell her of his devotion for her, nothing could.

He again made his way through the crowd, until he reached the small doorway leading to the ladies’ restroom and, further in, the patronesses’ meeting room. Sooner or later she would head for the restroom, and he would be ready.

Luck was on his side, as he had to wait for only two more dances, and two more suitors, before Fanny excused herself and headed his way. He hid in the meeting room until she came out from the restroom into the empty hallway. Then he pounced. Before she knew what was happening, he grabbed her arm and dragged her into the meeting room, where he closed and locked the door.

She had no time to react. As soon as the door was locked, he dragged her into his arms and did what he had been yearning for since he first met her in the darkness of the Easton balcony.

He kissed her.

His right hand pressed the small of her back gently, forcing her body to yield to his. His left hand found its way into the curls of her hair, holding her head. His lips slanted across hers, forcing them to open so he could ravish her mouth with his tongue.

Fanny’s hands were on his shoulders, her nails digging into the cloth of his eveningwear, leaving marks that would last for days. As he deepened the kiss, she moaned. Unwittingly she pressed her body and lips even closer to his. His hand found its way to the modest neckline of her debutante dress and, with a contented sigh, he did just what he had dreamt about earlier.

He let his hand dive in and gently caress the softness of her full breasts. She became rigid for a second, as the sensation hit her, before she staggered against him, her legs not managing to hold her upright. Without letting his lips leave hers or his hand leave her breasts, he nudged her to the couch, where they sat—or rather fell—down, and he placed himself on top of her, forcing her legs apart with one of his knees.

She kissed him back with so much enthusiasm it almost did him in. But somewhere in the back of his head he knew a roll on a sofa wasn’t the way he wanted to take her virginity. He would never forgive himself. He wanted her first time to be in his bed, with his ring on her finger, and so he drew back just a little, to gain some space between them.

Her disappointed moan almost made him change his mind, but he hardened himself and sat up, leaving her lying on the sofa in a lovely, breathless mess.

“What was this all about?” was all she managed to ask as she sat up.

“This was for forgetting me.”

She looked up from straightening her bodice, and he almost kissed her again as he looked at her blushing face with its swollen lips made for kisses.

“Forgetting you? Whatever do you mean?”

“You were dancing with every eligible bachelor, and a couple of those not so eligible, and not once did your eyes search the crowd in hope of finding me there.”

“You can’t be serious.” Fanny laughed. “How should I ever be able to search the crowd while dancing? I would knock down most of the other ladies, while turning in the dance, if I looked for you instead of concentrating.”

Devlin drew his fingers carelessly through his hair, completely destroying the windswept coiffure his valet had fought to attain. Turning to Fanny, he watched her try to straighten her own hair. She sent him a shivering smile while putting every curl back in its place.

He gave her a lust-filled grin, and she turned fiery red and wet her lips with her tongue. He moaned, and before he could stop himself, he leaned forward and captured her lush lips with his, kissing her thoroughly without touching the rest of her body.

When he finally let her go, she looked at him in a dreamy daze. He took her chin in his hand, and forced her to look deep into his eyes.

“You have to marry me now, you know,” he said seriously.

She nodded, tears filling her eyes. He knew it was crazy, as they had only known each other for a few days, but it felt so right.

She was the right woman for him, so why wait? Why continue with courting her, while watching others do the same, when he could have her neatly engaged to him and thus safely his? He stroked her tears away with his thumbs, and she put her hands around his, savoring his touch against her cheeks. It was amazing how such a simple gesture could mean so much to him.

“I’ll try to make you happy,” she whispered softly with a tender smile, and he had to kiss her again for being the wonderful person she was.

“Happiness is my job,” he finally managed to say, as he looked down into her gray eyes. “Yours is to be crazy in love with me, for the rest of your life.”

She blushed even deeper, and he put a last kiss on the bridge of her nose before, with a sad sigh, he removed his hands from her and helped her straighten her appearance.

When they had destroyed the last evidence of their hot embrace, he slipped out through the door, and Fanny followed his lead a couple of minutes later.

****

As Fanny entered the ballroom, she found Devlin in the midst of a heated discussion with her uncles and brothers. She sighed and joined her parents, who were listening to the younger men with indulgent smiles.

“Can you believe they are arguing about the best way to get rid of him, with him right there, overhearing every word?” George chuckled, and Caroline just shook her head.

“Men,” she sighed. “They are impossible beings, and especially the Darling men. I don’t understand why they must always argue about everything.”

“Because it’s fun,” George drawled, and his wife looked at him as though he were ridiculous.

“Fun?” she repeated. “You think they are having fun?”

George shrugged. “I don’t think they are having fun. I know they are. It’s just a heated discussion, nothing more. It’s all about being the one who says the final word.”

Caroline snorted.

“I believe you, because you Darlings never know when to quit.”

“And this is why we Darling men are the best, because we always continue until we have finished our personal crusades,” George replied, and gave his wife a wolfish grin that made her blush prettily.

Before Devlin’s kiss, Fanny wouldn’t have thought more about it. But with that hotly burning sensation still in mind, she understood what her father was telling her mother between the lines, and she too blushed. Fortunately, her father was too busy making love to her mother with his eyes to notice his daughter’s telling blush.

Fanny’s heart swelled with love as she watched her beautiful parents, so apparently in love with each other after all these years. And they were not at all bothered about the unfashionable way they showed it to everyone.

This was what she had always wanted for herself, especially as she had seen her friends’ parents behave in a more we-are-married-now-and-I-have-to-cope-with-it way.

She sneaked a peek at her secret fiancé-to-be. Devlin was looking at Sin with an amused grin, as her brother was trying to convince Uncle Jamie how kidnapping and hiding a man somewhere in the dungeons at Chester Park indeed was the best way to get rid of an unwanted suitor. Jamie was more for selling him as a slave, to be shipped off to the West Indies.

He fit in, she realized, as if there had always been a spot there among her relatives, just waiting for him to fill it. Even the Darling men had noticed. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been arguing so openly in front of him.

When they were really against someone, they just whisked him away, not looking back. But with Devlin it was different, as they were dragging him into the discussion, forcing him to argue for himself.

Fanny felt tears fill her eyes again, and she sighed at her own silliness. Devlin wouldn’t have a hard job getting her crazy in love with him, as she was a goner already. It was amazing to think she’d met him only a week ago, but so much had happened so fast, and she was caught: forever and ever his.

Just then Devlin happened to look at her, seeing her teary-eyed happiness, and he gave her a genuinely happy smile that went straight to her heart and made it skip a beat.

Lord, he was such a beautiful man. There was not a man in this ballroom who looked half as splendid as he did. Not even her own relatives, whom she always had thought were the handsomest of men. He was the essence of elegance, in his black tailor-made evening wear, and she noticed she wasn’t the only female who ogled him. Most of the women around him couldn’t help but cast a glance in his direction. As he stood there, a little wicked smile playing on his full lips, he looked like an ancient Roman statue, too beautiful to be true.