Page 13 of Devlin

He gave her a warm look of understanding. "I think you did, too, Hannah."

CHAPTER THREE

NOTHANNAH,Devlin thought with an inward groan as he made his way into the Vault with his brothers, Ross and Logan. He'd been hoping to avoid her as long as possible. But there she was with her pretty blonde hair falling softly down her back. As she turned her head,and her blue-eyed gaze connected with his, she frowned, losing the sparkle in her eyes.

He shouldn't care that she didn't like him. It wasn't as if they'd had a relationship before this. But it still bothered him. He didn't like the position his father had put him in, and he had every intention of making everything right for Frank, but after what had happened with his parents tonight, thatmight take a little longer than he'd hoped. He needed Frank to hang on, and he needed Hannah to understand that while he might be a Blackthorne, he was not as heartless as she thought.

"Why don't you guys get a table? I'll be over in a minute," he told his brothers. "I need to talk to someone." He headed across the room and slid into the empty chair between Hannah and her father.

"I don't think we invited you to sit down," Frank said shortly, giving him a grim look.

"I knew you were about to," he lied, offering them both a smile that was not reciprocated by either one.

"Unless you're here to tell us that my father is rehired, I don't think we have anything to say to you," Hannah said.

"Unfortunately, I was unable to speak to my dad tonight. The partytook a surprising turn, and to be honest, my father has an even bigger problem to deal with now. I know you won't want to hear this, but I need you to give me a few days to talk to him, to get him to come around."

"What happened tonight?" Frank asked.

"My mother walked out of her birthday party. She announced she was leaving my dad, packed a suitcase and took off. I have no ideawhere she went."

While Hannah let out a gasp of surprise, Frank didn't seem to be as stunned as he would have expected.

"I can't believe she actually did it," Frank muttered.

His gut twisted. "You knew she was thinking about leaving my father?"

"I wouldn't say that. But I knew she was unhappy, that she was trying to get Graham to take more time off. She wanted him tocommit to spending more than the summer here. She thought if she could get him out of Boston, he'd be different, less absorbed with work," Frank said.

"When did she tell you that?"

Frank shrugged. "She has said it a few times over the past year, but we had coffee about a week ago, and she was more upset than I'd ever seen her. I told Graham if he didn't start paying attention tohis wife, he was going to lose her, but he didn't want to listen to me. He thinks he knows everything. He's always right, and everyone else is always wrong."

He suddenly realized what had precipitated Frank's firing. "You should have told me about this conversation."

"It wasn't my place to tell you. And I wouldn't have said anything to Graham if he hadn't demanded to know what Iwas talking to Claire about. But, as usual, your father didn't want to hear criticism. I can't believe she actually left him. But I guess she felt she needed to make a big statement to get Graham's attention."

"She certainly did that. She was different tonight. She was angry, but she was also determined."

"Well, she deserves to be happy as much as your father does. But I'm sure they'llwork it out." Frank put his napkin on the table. "I need some air. Hannah, I'm going to walk home. You bring the car when you're ready. I'll see you back at the house."

"Wait. I'll come with you," Hannah said. "I'll just pay the bill."

"I wouldn't mind some time to myself." Frank waved her back into her seat. "Have another drink. Come home whenever you want."

Hannah didn'tlook thrilled with her father for abandoning her, but she let him go.

"I told you there was something personal between our fathers, and that's why your dad was fired," he said.

"Yes, you said I didn't know everything. Apparently, neither did you."

"You're right." He ran a hand through his hair. "I certainly had no idea my mom was thinking about leaving my dad. They've beenmarried for thirty-seven years."

"You didn't know they were having problems?"

"No. I thought she was a little depressed, but I figured it was about turning sixty, getting older. I guess I wasn't paying enough attention." He felt a rush of guilt that he'd put off one-on-one time with his mom, because he'd been so busy getting the boat ready to race. "But your father was there forher, and she confided in him. I didn't realize they were close enough for that kind of conversation. But obviously they had a deep enough relationship to speak about extremely personal matters."

Hannah's gaze narrowed. "Are you accusing my father of something? Because my dad would not mess around with a married woman, especially not the wife of his boss. That's insane."

---