“Henry! Harriet! Devon!” My dad said jovially, hugging each like he wasn’t the giant prick we all knew he really was. “This is my lovely wife, Sarah, and my daughter, Sophie.”
I plastered the most genuine smile I possibly could and made my way their direction, taking each hand after my mother did.
“What a lovely family you have, Robert,” Henry complimented.
“I couldn’t agree more,” he told Henry, grabbing us each by the waist.
I absently recognized that that was the first physical contact I’d had with my father in more than six months.
Harriet and my mother sat together on the tufted fainting couch and the men, except for Devon, observed the grounds from the window. This left poor Devon shifting near the door.
“So, I hear you attend Harvard?” I approached and asked him.
He seemed to soften at my question. “Yes, I study business.”
“What else?” I asked, not realizing how rude that was until it was too late.
A soft smile reached his lips.
“I’m so sorry that was incredibly boorish of me.” I needed to patch it up before my father found out. “I meant that it would only make sense you’d study business seeing who your father is. An unerring sense of business must be inherited.”
“And she recovers flawlessly,” he teased, making me smile genuinely.
“Dinner is served,” Leith said, interrupting the room.
Devon offered his arm and I took it. My dad winked at me in approval and I wanted to gag. Dinner was served in the more intimate dining room, as there were only six of us. Devon pulled a chair out for me at the end of the table then sat next to me, two full seats separating us from our parents.
“Thank you for this,” I secreted in his ear.
“My pleasure,” he flirted.
Devon was a complete gentleman throughout dinner and I found myself unbelievably attracted to him. I mean, of course, all the boys in my circle were utter gentlemen. It was a product of their breeding, but Devon seemed genuinely interested in being courteous just for the sake of being courteous.
When dinner was over, coffee and cake were to be served in the library and I followed my parents out of the dining room, but Devon pulled me away, out of range.
“Our parents are a drag. Why don’t you show me your garden instead?” he asked.
“Of course,” I told him before leaning into the library. “Devon has an interest in seeing the gardens. Is it okay if I show him?” I asked for show more than anything.
“I don’t mind. Do you, Rokul?” my father asked.
“Of course not. Have fun you two,” Henry added.
“Come with me, Devon,” I smiled sweetly, taking his arm once more.
As much as I was attracted to Devon, I knew my father would kill me if I was anything but what he thought a lady should be and I had already made plans to keep my cool with him. Not to mention I wasn’t exactly in the mood after the day I’d had.
It was also kind of nice for a guy to pay attention to me because he was just polite, no ulterior motive. I wasn’t used to it.
The gardens were a garish feature of our home and had been since I was small, but my mother loved them with their winding boxwood geometric designs, so they stayed and were impeccably kept up.
“It’s very beautiful here,” Devon chimed in after a quiet turn around the main garden.
“Mmm, yes,” I agreed politely.
“Not as beautiful as you though.”
Gag.