Page 74 of The Danger of Desire

“Ah, yes, you haven’t met, have you?” Swiftly Warren provided the introductions, noting how Mrs. Trevor seemed to watch Niall furtively whenever the fellow wasn’t looking.

Normally that wouldn’t surprise him, since Niall was a fine-looking chap, with a strong jaw, a good head of sun-bronzed hair, and a lean but muscular build. Women generally liked his looks.

But Mrs. Trevor clearly liked more than his looks.

“Sorry to tear your fiancé away,” Niall told Delia, “but itisbad luck for the groom to see the bride once night falls.”

She smiled at him. “Thank heavensomeonein your family appreciates the old traditions. My fiancé is oblivious to all of it.”

“Yes, well, Warren has never been much for following rules,” Niall said with a chuckle.

“Don’t let her fool you,” Warren put in. “She’s not much of a rule-follower herself. Now come on, coz, let’s go drinking.”

“You don’t have to ask me twice.” Niall tipped his hat to the ladies. “I promise to bring him home in plenty of time to sober up for the wedding.”

“You’d better,” Clarissa said. As Warren and Niall headed for the stables, she called out, “Or I’ll sic Edwin’s dogs on you!”

“She probably would, too,” Warren grumbled under his breath.

Niall cast him a rueful glance. “My sister has changed quite a bit since I went abroad.”

“Yes. For the better, I think. Edwin has done her a great deal of good.”

“And she has done the same for him.”

Now that they were well away from the ladies, Warren asked what he’d been dying to know since Niall had joined them. “What’s the truth about Mrs. Trevor and you?”

Niall stiffened. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“The hell you don’t.”

“Didn’t you hear her?” Niall’s tone turned acid. “Ours was only a ‘brief acquaintance.’ ”

“Right. So brief that the two of you recognized each other instantly after seven years apart. That you called her by her Christian name. That she blushed so deeply at the sight of you that I thought her cheeks might catch fire.”

“Did she?” Niall stared grimly ahead. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Right. “How is it that I’d never heard of your connection to her before today?”

“Because there wasn’t one,” he clipped out.

“Now that, coz, is a blatant lie if ever I heard one.”

Niall rounded on him, fists clenching. “For God’s sake, will you shut up about it?”

“Not until you explain yourself. The woman is going to be my sister-in-law, after all.”

“Hardly. She’s the sister-in-law of your wife-to-be, which makes you nothing to her.”

“I won’t debate that with you. The point is, I intend to keep an eye out for her and her son.”

Shock darkened Niall’s hazel eyes. “She has a son?”

Warren nodded. “Her bloody arse of a husband lost all their money at the card tables and then stumbled off a bridge drunk, leaving her with a newborn and an estate heavily in debt.”

Niall stood there rigid, as if each revelation were a blow to his chest.

“A lot can happen in seven years,” Warren added softly.