Page 25 of The Allure Of Lord Devlin
She thought he’d arrive on horseback, or in a carriage, but he arrived on foot. It was only a short walk between her house and Devlin’s townhouse. Perhaps he walked because of the gigantic bouquet he carried with him. She relaxed in her chair, a smile on her face.
The smile fled when Lord Devlin entered the room, looking like a man who was facing the guillotine. In an instance, the idea he was here to propose disappeared. Why was he here?
She put on a brave face. “Are those for me?” She rose and gathered them. She sniffed the roses, the scent of them her favorite. “They are beautiful.” A servant arrived to collect the flowers. “Can you put them in my bedchamber? Thank you.”
“There is always a fragrant scent of roses around you, so whenever I see them, I think of you.”
Roses were her favorite. She wore a few different rose-based fragrances. “Please, won’t you sit? I persuaded Tobin to allow us to talk unchaperoned, but the door must remain open.” Devlin waited for her to take her seat before he sat on the settee opposite her. He sat up rigid as if he couldn’t relax and it made her nervous. “Would you like tea, or perhaps something stronger?”
He licked his lips and stared at the decanters on the side-table across the room. “Perhaps I could pour myself a brandy,” and he moved to do so while Dharma poured herself a cup of tea.
Once he re-sat and had taken a rather large gulp of his fortifying drink, he said, “I don’t know where to begin.”
“Perhaps at the beginning.”
He nodded. “Of course.” He ran a hand through his hair, dislodging the curls so it made him look as if he’d just risen from his bed. She swallowed hard. “When my father died, I tried for many, many years to ascertain the truth about the rumors circulating.”
She interrupted. “I don’t believe your father was a traitor.”
“Thank you. Neither did I. But my search proved fruitless. So when it became clear the estates were in trouble, I had to switch my energies into saving my family. Now that I have financial matters more under control, I thought about starting the hunt to clear my father’s name once more.
“The first lead I’ve ever had came three months ago through Mrs. McTavish. She was going through her late husband’s things and found a journal in a secret compartment in his desk. It was a ledger of money and shipping schedules from the war cabinet. It held no names, merely initials, but what it had is one passage about my father.”
She leaned forward, captivated by his tale.
“It was just one line.Frame Lord Devlin.”
“That’s good. It proves what you believed all along. That your father was innocent.”
Devlin took another drink. “When I received word from Mrs. McTavish, I was skeptical. Her husband was one of the clerks for the secretary to the war minister, but none of the initials match anyone else in the cabinet. I thought maybe it had been McTavish himself, but the Scot couldn’t have organized this on his own. He was most definitely a party to the treason, but someone far higher up was the leader.”
“Why did she bring this to your attention if it implicates her husband?”
Devlin shrugged. “That is why I’m keeping Mrs. McTavish close. I do not know what she is about. She must know that I’m not in a strong financial position to buy any knowledge and she has her own money from her husband’s family. They were very well off merchants, I’m led to believe.”
Dharma had a good idea of what she was about. She thought helping Devlin might just help her into his life—perhaps she was after a title. “It still doesn’t explain why you didn’t keep in touch, or why you ignored me on your return to London.”
He sat his glass down and leaned forward. “Given these developments, I don’t feel it’s the right time to be looking at courting any woman.”
Thank goodness she was sitting down. It was a battle to keep the desolation from her face. This is not what she expected. “I see.” She didn’t, really.
“My foray into my father’s past will not go unnoticed. Whoever framed my father will not want old secrets revealed.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Are you saying you will be in danger?”
“Not just me.” He looked her in the eye. “Anyone who is close to me could be in danger. Or become a target to ensure I don’t look too deeply into the past. If it’s known we are courting, you could be in grave danger.”
“Is that why you didn’t write to me?”
He nodded. “My father underestimated his enemies. I shall not.”
She sat in silence, her mind whirling with the implications of all Devlin had revealed. He, too, seemed at a loss for words.
Finally, she gathered the courage to ask, “So, where does that leave us?”
He put down his glass and rose to his feet, his face an expression of hopelessness. “It means I shall bow out of your life.”
“For now, or until you find the villain?” She held her breath.
