Dreaming of You (The Gamblers #2)(87)

“Mr. Craven makes me a thousand times happier than Perry ever could. Don’t look worried, Mama. Haven’t you always known me to be sensible?” She smiled confidently. “I’ve made the right choice. You’ll see.” As Katie began to ask something else, Sara motioned for her to be quiet, while portions of the men’s conversation filtered from the other room. Carefully Sara pressed her ear to the door.

“…you’re a little too late in asking, Mr. Craven. Sara already has a fiancé. Young Kingswood.”

Sara couldn’t stop herself from interrupting. She opened the door enough to stick her head through the space. “He’s not my fiancé anymore, Papa. Perry and I became unengaged before I left this weekend.”

Isaac looked perplexed. “You did? Why?”

“I’ll explain later.” She gave Derek an encouraging look and retreated behind the door.

Katie watched her daughter with wry amusement. “There’s no need to pop back and forth like a turtle in its shell. I have a feeling your Mr. Craven is quite capable of talking to Papa without any help from you.”

Sara rested her ear against the panels again. “Shhh.”

“…I can’t say I approve of my daughter marrying a gambler,” came Isaac’s voice.

“I don’t gamble, sir. I own a club where others gamble.”

“Splitting hairs, my boy. I don’t approve of the whole business. On the other hand…I don’t approve of men drinking too much, and I suppose I don’t hold it against our local tavern owner. Tell me more about this social club. You have fancy women working there, do you? Has Sara met any of these poor fallen creatures?”

“I can’t keep her away from them,” Derek said dryly.

“My Sara has a kind heart. Drawn to unfortunates. The city is a dangerous place for a girl like her.”

Sara opened the door again. “I’ve never come to any harm there, Papa!”

Derek spoke before Isaac could reply. “Is there any bread to go with the tea, Sara?”

“Yes,” she answered, slightly perplexed. “Would you like some toast?”

“Lots of it. Very thin slices.” Derek held up his thumb and forefinger to demonstrate.

She frowned at him, realizing he intended to keep her too busy to interrupt again. “Very well,” she said grudgingly, and went back into the kitchen.

Isaac regarded the man sitting across from him in a new way, a smile creasing his leathery face. “You’re patient with her,” he said approvingly. “I’m glad of that. She was always a wilful child. She has her own ideas about things.” Derek was tempted to make a sardonic remark, but he kept silent and watched the old man sitting there in his comfortable chair, gnarled hands resting on the knitted blanket over his knees. A fond look came over Isaac’s face, and he continued as if to himself, “She was a miracle for Katie and me, born to us long after the time for childbearing had passed. We thank God every day for giving her to us. I could never entrust her to someone who might cause her harm. Young Kingswood is a self-indulgent man…but at least he’s a gentle sort.” The blue eyes met Derek’s in a direct, guileless stare. “Mr. Craven, I’ve brought up my daughter to think for herself. If I were twenty years younger, I wouldn’t have allowed her such freedom. But her mother and I are elderly, and as nature takes its course, there will come a time when we won’t be here to protect her. I thought it was best to teach Sara to trust her own judgment. If Sara wants to marry you, she will, whether I approve or not.”

Derek met his eyes without blinking. “Your approval may not be necessary, sir, but I still would like to have it.”

A faint smile came to Isaac’s face. “All I want is your assurance that you’ll treat my daughter with kindness.”

Derek had never talked to another man so earnestly; no maneuvering or shrewdness, nothing but humble honesty. “I want to be more than kind to Sara. I want to keep her safe, and happy, and provide whatever will please her. I don’t pretend to deserve her. I’m not educated or wellborn, and even the devil wouldn’t have my reputation. My one saving grace is that I’m not a fool. I would never interfere with her writing, or any of the projects she chooses for herself. I would never try to separate Sara from her family. I respect her too much for that. I don’t want to change her.”

Isaac seemed to find the words reassuring, but there was lingering doubt in his expression. “I believe you are sincere. But marriage, a wife, children…That’s a load of responsibility you’ve never had before.”

“I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t prepared for it.”

Their conversation was interrupted by an enthusiastic knocking on the front door of the cottage. Isaac’s gray brows quirked in curiosity as he rose to answer.

Derek stood up also, and watched intently as a slender young man with pale, longish hair entered the room. His fair forehead was puckered with worried impatience. “I heard that a fine carriage had passed through town,” he said rather breathlessly. “Was it Sara? If she’s returned, I would like to talk to her immediately.”

Hearing the arrival of another visitor, Sara emerged from the kitchen, followed by her mother. She stopped short in amazement. “Perry,” she said weakly.

Somehow Sara had never thought that the two men would have occasion to be in the same room together. The silence was ponderous. She sought the right words to break it, while one part of her mind marveled at the striking differences between the two men.