Seeing Danger (Sinclair and Raven #2)(46)
“Funnily enough, Dev, when you did it last time—after it had healed—my sense of smell was even stronger. In fact, I had this strange smoke smell minutes before our kitchen in Oak’s Knoll caught fire, remember? I knew it was about to happen even though I was some distance away.”
Dev had realized very early on in his life that you could never insult Cam without him turning it around to the point where you forgot the original insult in favor of the discussion you were being sucked into. So it was important to stay focused.
“Just leave it be, Cam,” Dev warned, watching the sway of Lilly's skirts as she swung Somer's hand in her own.
He had seen another side to her today. Her fear of the dark was real, like his of blood. Then there was her humor. He'd believed her silly and brainless, but in fact she wasn't.
“Oh, surely I'm allowed a little more fun? After all, you harassed me for days when I fell in love with Miss Millhouse. I remember waking up one morning to you singing a love song at the end of my bed, and then there was the little matter of that red velvet heart. Eden made it, and Essie initialed it.”
“I take responsibility for the song, as I was the one singing it,” Dev said. “However, the heart was your sisters’ idea.”
“Which you happened to suggest,” Cam scoffed.
“Can Lilly and Toby come and eat an ice with us, Dev?” Somer said, coming to his side.
“Of course they can. Go and ask them nicely.”
“Just so you know, Dev, we like her,” Cam said, punching his brother in the arm before he started herding the children toward the exit.
So do I, Dev thought, feeling his chest tighten as she laughed at something Essie said.
Dev had known that when the time came that he found his mate, he would fall for her quickly. She would consume him, and he would want everything she gave and more. Lilly, he now knew, was that person. He thought it may take her a while longer to come to that conclusion, however.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Can I not convince you to choose the lemon with a cream sarcenet overdress, Miss Braithwaite?”
“No thank you, Madam Dupont. I like the mustard, it suits me perfectly, and please add a trim of gray around the neck and cuffs. Plus I think a large collar of the same trim would be lovely, don't you?”
The seamstress made a choking sound but nodded.
Lilly wanted something really ugly to deter Lord Danderfield. She had tried to put the man off, but since that day she had gone to Dr. Engle’s House of Ghoulish Horrors with the Sinclair family and Toby, he had been most persistent. Yesterday he had called to take tea, and asked that she go driving with him today. Lilly had quickly refused, stating she already had an engagement.
He was a loathsome pig, and she would never marry him, even if she was forced to flee. She would rather live in Temple Street than be subjected to that man's advances.
His questions were personal and invasive. He wanted to know her every movement, and had told her that when they were wed, he would be curtailing all activities except those he approved of.
“Can I not interest you in something in a lighter fabric, Miss Braithwaite? Perhaps a—”
“I have quite made up my mind, Madam Dupont. Please have the dress made and delivered to my brother's house.”
Leaving the shop, she purchased a pair of gray gloves and a silly bonnet that she would have Bee add several unflattering things to.
She had thought a great deal about Lord Sinclair—Devon, as he insisted she call him. The man had infiltrated her head and made her smile at random moments. Lilly did not smile randomly, well not genuinely she didn't. She giggled foolishly in public, and in private she had not had much call to smile.
The most terrifying part of Dr. Engle’s House of Ghoulish Horrors, upon reflection, was realizing just how much she had enjoyed it, had enjoyed being with the Sinclair family and allowing Devon Sinclair to hold her hand and lead her through those horrid dark rooms.
Toby had told her in his no-nonsense manner that they were all right, those Sinclairs. High praise indeed from a boy who rarely had a kind word to say to anyone.
Seeing the Sinclairs together as a family, watching them laugh and tease each other, hug and touch each other, had been something special to be part of, and Lilly was not so cynical that the experience had not moved her in many ways. If she were honest with herself, she'd been jealous of the bond they so obviously shared. She had lost count of how many times Devon Sinclair had touched a sibling with a stroke of his big hand on their heads or the brush of his lips on a cheek, and every gesture had made Lilly's toes tingle because she had wanted to be the recipient.
She was not herself, Lilly realized. So much was unsettling her. First there was this business with Lord Sinclair, and how she appeared to be letting him in to aspects of her life that she let no one in to. Actually, he had forced his way in, but still, had she fought harder, that would not have happened, surely. There was also the concern about Nicholas's insistence she marry Lord Danderfield, and of course, the issue of the missing children.
“Pardon me, Miss Braithwaite, but an urgent message has arrived for you.”
A young boy handed her a note. Opening her reticule, she handed him some coins before looking at the missive. The handwriting on the front was not familiar. The content made her heart sink.
Come quick to Lady Jane Street, a boy is hurt. Toby's name was printed at the bottom. Lilly looked at the paper then folded it carefully, and slipped it into her reticule. Something was not right, because firstly, Toby could not write, and secondly, how did he know where to find her, when only Bee was aware of her destination?