Seeing Danger (Sinclair and Raven #2)(32)

“Eden just shook her head at that remark,” Dev said looking to where his sister danced several feet away. “Mind your business, shrew,” he added knowing she could hear his every word clearly.

“Do you want me to run him through, love?” James said, to which his wife nodded.

Eden's heightened sense was hearing, and of all their senses, hers was the most annoying, as she could hear most things, even with her earplugs in, from some distance away.

“So, it seems my suspicions are confirmed, and you are showing interest in my cousin, Sinclair,” the Duke said, leaning beside him on the wall. “I must admit that came as a surprise, as Eden told me you have, until now, never outwardly done so.”

Dev sighed. “Should have known this particular subject would remain in the forefront of my family’s minds.”

“I do wonder why you thought it wouldn’t, and why your siblings would not be interested in any woman who interests you,” the Duke said.

“A faint hope, Raven, nothing more.”

James snorted, his disbelief obvious. “Discretion, in your family?”

“True. As I said, it had been a faint hope only.”

The men were silent again, James switching his gaze from Lilly to Eden to check on her and back to Lilly again.

“I think tonight is as good a night as any to reacquaint myself with my cousin, Sinclair.”

“Perhaps Eden could hear what Danderfield is saying, if she danced close enough,” Dev said.

“I'm sure she will. Where you are concerned, my wife will do whatever it takes to make you happy.”

Dev grunted. His family always had his back, as he did theirs.

“May I take this brief moment of solitude from your siblings to offer my... congratulations, for want of a better word.”

“For what?” Dev dragged his eyes from Lilly to look at the man beside him.

The Duke was silent for several seconds and then he spoke. “For being the father Eden never had and for raising the wonderful family you have. I'm sure there are times when it was not easy.”

How did one answer that, Dev wondered? Raven was not a man given to excess emotions; in fact, when first they had met he had been colder than a dead man. Therefore, when he did express himself, it tended to shock the recipient.

“No words are necessary, Sinclair, but please know that now you are not alone in your commitments, and I will make it my life's work to make Eden happy, and be there for your clan should I be required.”

“Thank you,” Dev said, as uncomfortable with excessive emotion as the next man.

“I suppose if she marries you at least I can keep an eye on her.”

Dev's instincts screamed denial, yet it never showed on his face.

“Pardon?”

“Lilliana. If she marries you, at least I know she will be well cared for.”

“A lovely sentiment, I am sure, but may I suggest you put your energies into what is troubling your cousin instead of my future aspirations, Raven.”

James smiled. “I'm sure I have enough energy for both, Sinclair,” he added, holding out his hand.

Dev shook it and then hissed something foul at the Duke as he walked away laughing.



“Hello, cousin.”

“Duke.” Lilly sank into a curtsey and attempted to breathe as James joined her.

“James will do, I think.”

The emotions churning through her body were making her breathless. She could hear the small pants coming from her mouth but could do little to stop them. Dancing with Lord Danderfield had been horrid. He had touched her inappropriately several times and leered at her breasts. Now her cousin, whom she had once thought so much of, was talking with her.

“Lillana, are you well?”

“I-I am, thank you.”

“Come, take my arm and we shall walk a while.”

She did and slowly felt her breathing return to normal as they made their way through the open doors and out onto the terrace. Neither spoke as they continued to walk in slow measured steps and Lilly was grateful for it, grateful for the time to find herself again, even if it was on the arm of the man she had not spoken more than a handful of words with for many years.

“I have thought of you much over the years, cousin, and wondered how you fared, yet it was not till I married Eden that I realized just what I lost when we were separated as children. I would ask that you try to forgive me for the distance I placed between us, and hope that like me, you wish to change that.”

“It is all right, Duke. Your father—”

“Was a bastard, and most likely he terrified you when your family visited, and for that I'm sorry. But the thing is, Lilliana, those brief moments when you, Nicholas, and I ran wild over Raven Castle were the memories I cherished most.”

Lilly remembered them too. She had loved her quiet, stoic cousin almost as much as her brother back then. Even at a young age she had seen he was hurting, but did not know how to reach him, and then it was too late, as they had left Raven Castle for the last time.

“Do you know why you left and never returned that day?”

She shook her head.

“Your father tried to intervene on my behalf. Asked if I could spend more time with your family. My father refused, and that was the end of everything.”

“I'm sorry, I did not know why.”