Chapter Ten
Devin sat close to Julia in the coach, but he did not know what to say.
Despite his best intentions, their predicament was entirely his fault.
He should never have said that they were married or used his real surname.
The moment those words came from his mouth, he had ruined Julia’s reputation.
And there was only one way to retrieve it: a real marriage.
The thought of marrying her did not dismay him as it would have only a few days before.
He longed to bed her and he enjoyed her wit.
And as her husband, rather than her legal representative, Devin would have an easier time obtaining her yearly income from her trustees.
He was only sorry to have taken away their choice in the matter and for the rift it would inevitably cause between himself and his only brother.
How he wished that he could go back three days and stop himself from his foolhardy declaration that Julia was his wife!
But then, he would not have gotten to spend so much time with her. Nor would he have discovered her penchant for interesting insults and her clever tongue. Groaning inwardly, he realised that this time the gossip and scandal would be entirely his fault. Not hers. He deserved to lose clients.
Devin prepared a speech in his head. The coach was uncommonly silent.
The Macks’ behaviour grated on his fraying patience.
Neither Mr nor Mrs Mack would look Julia in the eye as their daughter sat happily between them holding the dolly that Julia had made for her instead of screaming like she had on their first journey.
But it appeared that the Macks had already forgotten her goodness and kindness.
All that mattered was her damaged reputation, which Devin was determined to restore.
When the coach stopped at a posting inn in Pickwich, Devin got out and helped Julia descend.
Then he carried both of their trunks into the warm inn, where he saw Sir Eustace’s driver standing near the bar.
The man was no doubt waiting to take Julia to Broadwick Abbey.
Devin couldn’t allow her to go alone and face the disgrace.
He set down the trunks, took Julia’s elbow and whispered, ‘I will take care of everything.’
‘You will lay information about Mr Rhys and Mr Pip?’
He shook his head. The jewel thieves were the least of their worries. ‘I meant about us. I will speak to your father and we will wed immediately. You needn’t worry about anything.’
Julia jerked away from him, causing his hand to drop from her arm. ‘Oh, Devin. I don’t need another man in my life telling me what to do. I will go home by myself and contact you, as my barrister, when I return to London for help with my trustees. I’ve already paid you an entire ha’penny.’
He stepped towards her but didn’t touch her. ‘But your reputation—’
‘Has survived worse. Happy Christmas, chaw-bacon.’
Devin watched her walk away and he could not stop her.
Nor could he protect her. Shoulders sagging, he went to the constable’s house and reported the stolen necklace.
The constable went at once to the mail coach and, with the help of three grooms from the inn, hauled Rhys and Pip out of the carriage and into the local roundhouse.
Once he ascertained that thieves were in custody, Devin picked up his trunk and left the posting inn for the barn where he hired a horse to take him to Riverdale House.
The ostler tied his luggage to the saddle and Devin rode home feeling colder and more miserable than he ever had in his entire life.
He was met by a groom at the front of his brother’s house, who took the horse’s bridle and promised to bring his trunk up to his room. Devin walked into his brother’s home empty-handed and alone.
Joshua strode forward to meet Devin and swept him up in a tight hug. ‘I was so worried about you, brother.’
Behind them stood Roger Ashby, his brother’s steward. ‘I nearly had to restrain the baron from riding out into the snowstorm to find you.’
Stepping back from his brother, Devin forced himself to politely smile at the man. ‘I am glad you were so prudent, Mr Ashby, but would you mind if I spoke privately with my brother?’
Joshua jovially clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Of course. Of course. Why don’t you come into the library and I’ll pour us both a glass of sherry? And Roger can go back to reading his book. He hates to be interrupted during the good parts.’
Devin could use a little fortified drink right then.
He followed his brother down the grand hall and into the library.
Books lined every wall and as a barrister, Devin couldn’t help but appreciate how much wisdom had always been available at his fingertips.
But what he needed to know now only his elder brother could tell him.
Turning toward the credenza, he saw Joshua pouring them both a tumbler of sherry.
His brother handed Devin one first and then lifted his own glass. ‘To safe journeys.’
Devin tried to echo the kind sentiment but found himself tongue-tied.
To ask his brother about his broken engagement felt like tearing the scab off an old wound to watch it bleed again.
Yet Julia had insisted that she broke off the engagement because Joshua loved another.
And Devin now trusted her: he believed that she had told him the truth.
His brother’s eyebrows furrowed. ‘What’s wrong, D?’
One side of Devin’s mouth quirked up at the old nickname. He took a long sip of sherry and then forced himself to ask ‘Why did Julia break your engagement? Is it true that she found you in the arms of another woman? And if so, then why have you not married that woman?’
The smile faded from Joshua’s face and he set down his glass on the nearest side table. ‘Why do you ask?’
Devin drained the rest of his drink and then placed his empty tumbler next to Joshua’s glass.
Nervously, he raked his hands through his hair.
‘Julia was on the mail coach with me. I—we were snowed-in together for two nights and I grew to know her…and to appreciate her wit and beauty. She insisted that she ended the engagement for your happiness and I need to know the truth because…because I’m falling in love with her. ’
Joshua inhaled sharply. ‘Julia is a very loyal person and I am grateful for her silence on the subject. It is not one that I ever meant to speak to you about. Perhaps I should have, only—’ his elder brother swallowed and his face was tinged with red ‘—it is a private thing and I am not embarrassed by the person that I love, but the world would not understand. And I am afraid that you will not either.’
Rubbing the centre of his chest, Devin was a little hurt that his brother did not trust him with his confidences.
‘I am your brother. You can tell me anything. And I don’t care if you want to marry one of your former mistresses or turn a milkmaid into your baroness.
I’ve never sought your title or your inheritance. I only care about you, Joshua.’
‘And Miss Julia Sullivan, it would seem.’
Devin felt his own cheeks growing hot and he tried not to think of their terrible parting. ‘Yes.’
His brother turned away from Devin, his gaze out the window, rather than meeting his brother’s eyes. ‘I think it is important for you to know that I have always been this way—for as long as I can remember… I have found men attractive rather than women.’
Blinking, Devin finally realised what Julia had been trying to hide. ‘She caught you in a compromising position not with another woman but with a man.’
‘I am not ashamed of my lover or of my feelings,’ Joshua said quietly. ‘I am ashamed that Mama forged my name on the marriage contracts. And once the newspapers printed our engagement, I could see no honourable way out of it.’
‘Did Mama know that you—that your heart was already taken by another?’
Joshua nodded. ‘She thought that marrying a beautiful young woman would cure me. But I do not need to be cured. Nor do I want to be. This is who I am, Devin. Who I have always been.’
Devin’s hands clenched into fists. ‘Mama has much to answer for. I only wish… I wish that you had told me this three years ago. I am a barrister. I could have found a legal loophole since the signatures were forged. Or if nothing else, I would have taken your place as the groom.’
His brother glanced over his shoulder at Devin. ‘You would have done that for me?’
‘I would do anything for you, Joshua. You were more father than brother to me. There is no one else I care about more. And I hope that someday you will feel comfortable telling me who your lover is and knowing that I will always love and support you.’
Devin grabbed his brother in a bear hug.
They stepped back from each other and Devin could see that Joshua’s eyes were filled with tears. ‘I should have trusted you sooner. I am sorry that I didn’t, brother. Roger is my lover and has been for the last twenty years—we have been as devoted to each other as any married couple.’
The wheels began to turn in Devin’s sluggish mind. His brother’s steward, Roger Ashby, had moved into Riverdale House not to console Joshua but because they were a couple.
‘Actually, I am relieved. Nay, I am happy to know that you are with Roger,’ Devin admitted sheepishly. ‘Then, I do not have to feel guilty for harbouring feelings for Julia.’
Joshua raised his eyebrows. ‘That must have been some snowed-in adventure for my stoic little brother to have fallen in love in only three days and two nights.’
‘It was,’ Devin said and they sat down. Then he told his brother the entire tale—leaving nothing out, even his sharing a bed with her and his insulting words.
‘And since I had gotten us into a fix by claiming that we were married, I offered to speak to Julia’s father and to take care of everything.
I thought that she, too, had grown fond of me, but she glared at me, like she had from the very beginning of our relationship, and said, “I don’t need another man in my life telling me what to do”. ’
Joshua exhaled slowly. ‘I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?’
‘The bad news.’
‘She didn’t say no, because you never asked her to marry you.’
Scoffing, Devin shook his head. ‘I promised to speak to her father and she did not wish me to.’
‘Of course she did not wish you to speak to her father until you had asked her,’ his elder brother pointed out in an annoyingly reasonable tone. ‘The poor girl has never been proposed to. Her father told Julia that she was engaged to me and then you told her that she would be engaged to you.’
Devin felt as if he couldn’t breathe for the second time that day.
First at the realisation that his brother had been tricked into an unwanted engagement.
And second that he’d behaved like a complete gudgeon with Julia.
She’d lived for twenty-one years under her father’s tyranny.
Why would any woman in her right state of mind wish to spend the rest of her life under a dictatorial husband?
‘I mucked it up terribly.’
Joshua nodded. ‘You did. But I have not told you the good news yet.’
Sighing, Devin did not think that he could hear anything worse than the fact that he had ruined his chances with the woman of his dreams. ‘Better get it over with, then.’
‘We have been invited to the Sullivans’ for Christmas dinner tonight.
Lady Sullivan has extended an olive branch to our family to help hush the rumours that still circulate about the bad blood between our families.
Perhaps you can try asking Julia this time.
I would suggest that you at least become engaged before Sir Eustace learns of the days and nights she spent as your wife. ’
‘Good heavens, yes,’ Devin agreed. ‘And will Roger be accompanying us tonight?’
‘Yes.’
‘Excellent. That is how it should be. Our family is together for the holiday.’ Devin got to his feet. ‘I am going to bathe and then try to prepare a speech for Julia.’
Joshua stood up beside his little brother—well, younger brother—Devin was three inches taller. Joshua grasped Devin’s shoulder tightly. ‘Maybe less speechifying and more listening to Julia next time.’
A laugh escaped his lips, but then Devin sobered quickly. ‘Do you think that Sir Eustace will accept my suit? I am not a baron with an estate like yourself. I am only a London barrister.’
‘You are my heir and I will make sure that Sir Eustace knows that after my failed attempt at matrimony, I am far too old and jaded to try again.’
Devin tried to swallow a lump in his throat. ‘I don’t want to be a bloody baron, so you’ll have to promise me to live for a very long time.’
‘I will,’ Joshua said. ‘Now, we both had best go and get ready for dinner tonight. My dear Roger hates being late by even a minute.’
The emotion that had threatened to choke Devin only moments before somehow turned into a breathy chuckle. ‘How does he get Mama to arrive on schedule?’
‘Roger simply leaves her if she is late.’
The image of their imperious mother being left behind was too much.
Devin laughed loudly and Joshua joined in his mirth.
They parted in the hall and Devin went up to his rooms. He was grateful to see that the servants had already begun filling a copper tub for him.
He would need to bathe quickly. He didn’t want to give Roger a bad opinion of him by being late.
Once the servants left, Devin deftly stripped out of his clothes and stepped into the steaming water. Leaning his head back against the rim, he felt lighter than he had in years. The truth really did set one free.