and Will. Daniel put one foot in front of the other and listened and wondered why he had not left their company by now.
“Now for tea,” Alex said.
“Can we not go for a pie and drink instead?” Will asked.
“Normally we would consider it, Will, but this particular tea shop has the finest cakes in all of London,” Ben said. “I am about to ruin you for all other pastries, Daniel.”
“I doubt it, as I have yet to find the equal of my mother.”
“Really? Do you think she would invite us to tea, just to check that theory?” Alex said.
“Just the once, and we will be on our best behavior,” Ben added.
“Stop inviting yourself to places,” Finn threw over his shoulder, “unless the invitation includes me.”
A tingling sensation had him looking up. Abby was stepping out the door of a shop. Looking at the sign, he saw it was the tea shop they were headed to. Two of her bothers were with her.
She’s not yours and never will be.
He looked for an escape route but could do nothing to stop the confrontation, as they were now only a few feet away. Schooling his features, he waited for her to see him.
Lord Raine and his brother Mr. Deville turned as one to look at them, but it was Abby who drew his eyes. Color flooded her cheeks as their gazes met.
“Good day to you, Lady Abigail.” Will and the others bowed. Daniel did the same, but he kept his eyes on her.
“Good day, gentlemen. If you will please excuse me, I wish to look in that window.” She pointed behind her.
“Intimidated anyone today, Raine?” Will said when she had moved far enough away.
“Day’s still young, Ryder,” Lord Raine replied. The look he threw Daniel wasn’t exactly hostile, but not warm either.
Daniel watched Abby wander out the corner of his eye. She approached two young boys who clearly had been rolling about in the dirt, as they were covered in the stuff. She leaned down to speak with them.
The woman clearly had no qualms about speaking to anyone. She should be more cautious.
“Of course you know Mr. Dillinger, as you were about to pummel him the day Ace and I arrived,” Will said pleasantly.
No one had raised their voice, and anyone passing would simply see a group of men conversing, but there was an undercurrent that swirled around them.
“The Dillinger family are friends,” Ben said. “Any threat to them is a threat to us.”
“Ben,” Daniel tried to intervene, but Finn’s hand gripped his shoulder.
“We will always protect ours,” Michael Deville said calmly after shooting a look at his sister, who was now occupied looking in a shop window.
“As will we,” Finn said. And his words suggested Daniel was one of his, which he wasn’t, no matter how good the words felt. But Daniel needed no one’s protection.
“I believe that is enough,” Daniel said. “I am no threat to you or your sister, Lord Raine. I have met her but a few times, and we have discussed flowers and the weather. It is wrong of you to presume otherwise, and I will not stand here and allow you to insult these men because of your misconceptions.”
The Deville brothers looked stony-faced.
“So it’s an apology you should be issuing to Daniel, from where we are standing,” Will said.
“We protect what is ours,” Lord Raine snarled. “I will never apologize for that.”
“Even if it’s misguided and wrong?” Finn added.
“There is no need for this.” Daniel attempted once more to stop this from escalating. “The matter has been cleared up, and all parties have moved on. Lord Raine, if I see your sister in the future, I shall walk the other way. Will that be enough to lower your hackles?”
“I am not a dog, Dillinger.” The earl looked angry.
“Then perhaps I may suggest you stop behaving like you are fighting over a bone?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The truth is rarely pleasant,” Ben said.
Daniel’s eyes went to Abby again. She had to be nothing to him. He would fight this need to have her. He’d fought other things and overcome them before; this would be no different.
Lord Raine exhaled slowly. “Do you have sisters, Mr. Dillinger?”
“I do.”
“Then you understand what emotions they provoke inside their brothers?”
“I do, but I also respect them to make sensible decisions,” he lied. In fact, he was terrible at demanding to know what his sisters were about. “However, your family is not my concern, so if you will excuse me, I have work that needs