Hannah's Blessing

by Collette Scott

  Taking a deep breath, Diana approached the minister to thank him. He shook her hand and reached down to stroke Hannah’s cheek.

  “Will you be all right, Diana?” he asked softly.

  She managed a small smile. “We’ll be fine.”

  “How about financially? I know that it took all of your savings to pay for this. Will you be okay?”

  “I have a job. I’ve already looked into going full-time. Once I find good daycare for Hannah, I’ll take the extra hours. Thank you for your concern.”

  He nodded. “My parish will do whatever they can to help. You need only ask.”

  She reached forward and squeezed his hand. “Thanks so much. I do appreciate everything you’ve done so far, but I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

  As Diana watched the minister move away, she again felt the gaze on her back. Glancing around her quickly, Diana noticed that almost everyone was returning to the waiting cars. With heads bent together in quiet words of soothing, Peter’s friends silently made their way away from her. They were leaving her and Hannah all alone.

  Alone. She was alone again.

  Well, not completely. She still had Hannah. Hannah was all she needed. She may be alone, but she would never be lonely while she had her precious child.

  With everyone moving on, Diana gave her husband’s casket one last long glance. The colorful flower arrangement seemed so out of place residing on the final resting place of a man whose heart was as black as they came. Tilting her chin, she took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly. Why, Peter, she wondered. Why did you have to do this to our marriage, to our child, to us? Even as her agonized heart asked the question, she knew the answer. It was clear almost from the beginning. He had never loved her as much as he loved himself. She had foolishly lived a lie, hoping that he would see the good in her and overcome his selfishness. However that would never be, and she had learned a valuable lesson. Never would she succumb like that again.

  Confident that most everyone had gained enough distance from her so she and Hannah could depart, she began to head back to her car. The prickly feeling on the back of her neck had not eased, but she felt fairly certain it was just her own paranoia. Then she noticed the long, black stretch limousine. Standing beside it was a tall, lean man as dark as the vehicle. His black hair was professionally trimmed and stirred only slightly in the mid-summer breeze, and even from the distance she could tell his black, tailored suit was top dollar. Hanging open and flapping lightly against his slacks was an elegant, lightweight overcoat. A large, hulking blond man stood beside him. Not as expensively dressed, he stood proud and tall and frighteningly impassive. Diana shivered. He appeared to be some sort of strong arm or perhaps a bodyguard. Had Peter gotten involved with thugs too?

  From the distance she could feel his penetrating stare and shivered. A feeling of fear filled her at his intensity. Oh no, she thought with a touch of panic, what kind of mess had Peter gotten into? And more importantly, she realized, what did they want with her?

  ~

  Devlan Doyle crossed his arms over his chest and frowned as he scrutinized his sister-in-law. During the end of the service his eyes had remained on her hastily pinned golden hair and trim back, not moving away even when she bent to speak to his niece. All he remembered of his sister-in-law was how beautiful and vibrant she had been, and how proud his step-brother was to have captured her. Looking at her now reminded him how destructive his step-brother had been. Not content with even the best, he always felt as though he deserved better.

  It was sad that he left such a trail of devastation behind him.

  He saw the bitterness in her profile when she turned to speak with the minister. It made her appear harsh, and his astute gaze carefully took note that she had not shed one tear. Even from a distance, he could grasp her disengaged countenance. She acted like a woman who no longer felt with her heart. While the other attendees held handkerchiefs and dabbed occasionally at their eyes, Diana remained stoic and grim. And once the minister said his final words and the guests began to mingle, not one person approached her or looked her way. She remained rigid as they meandered off, with her child by her side impatiently scuffing the green grass with the tip of her shoe.

  The child.

  It was the child that brought him here, he reminded himself, not her.

  With Peter’s death, Devlan was faced with a problem. Unfortunately, he did not like problems. They were a nuisance. While there definitely had been no love lost between him and his closest remaining family member, his lawyers had advised him that the death of his younger step-brother had changed everything. A serious problem, he was told. His entire estate would now be left to a four-year-old child, and though he had no plans of dying in the near future, Peter’s accident reminded him that no one could ever be sure. Now this child, a child that he had never set eyes on before this very day, was his heiress and would remain so unless he married and had children of his own.

  Hannah Somerset stood in line to inherit one of the largest software companies in the world. Now Devlan’s first priority was to ensure that the girl was in good hands. Peter’s influence could not have been all that good, and he was feeling the first stirrings of doubt about Diana now that he had seen her again. Not only had she stayed with the squanderer, but looking at her now made him even more concerned. Though he had been prepared for the possibility that her good looks hid the truth like Peter’s once did, all he saw was an angry and bitter woman. He knew he had to pay his last respects and see for himself the child that was all he had left of family, but he viewed the whole debacle with distaste and irritation.

  Such a shame.

  His attention was brought back to the present when Diana moved away from the minister and glanced around. Her cool gaze took in the mourners as they wandered away, but still her face expressed no emotion. Then her roving gaze met his. At that point, everything about her changed. As soon as she noticed him standing by the car, her whole posture stiffened and the hand that gripped Hannah’s noticeably tightened. She spun on her heel and rushed back to the road, hastily pulling her child along beside her and away from him.

  With some surprise, he noticed Diana had taken her own vehicle to her husband’s funeral. She came to a sudden stop beside an older-style compact car while she fumbled with her keys, refusing to look in their direction. Pushing away from the side of his limo, Devlan turned to his companion with an almost imperceptible nod.

  “Okay Mike, let’s get this over with.”

  “Right, Mr. Doyle.”

  The two men approached Diana and Hannah, stopping her as she buckled the little golden child in her car seat.

  “Excuse me, Mrs. Somerset.”

  Diana startled visibly and backed slowly out of the car. As she straightened to greet him with her dark blue eyes wide and wary, Devlan’s breath caught. Despite her rundown appearance she was still a stunningly beautiful woman. Her classic features belonged on the cover of a magazine, not in a graveyard with dark circles under eyes that were wide with what looked like fear.

  Even though there was no make-up adorning her smooth skin, she was by far the loveliest woman he had seen in attendance. The black dress that covered her trim form had seen better days and hid what he remembered as a perfect figure, but still Devlan could feel his heart beat quicken when he stared at her.

  Just like it had six years ago. Taking a deep breath, he forced his thoughts to return to the present.

  “Yes?” she replied.

  When she answered he noticed that her voice quivered slightly. He wondered about her nervousness, but before he could continue a slight change came over her. Almost as though someone had flipped a switch, some of her tension eased. As she stared up at him, her head cocked slightly to one side, and her lips turned down in a slight frown. He could tell by her squinted eyes that she was struggling to place him.

  “Devlan Doyle, Diana. Peter’s step-brother. We met briefly at your wedding.”

  That easing tension suddenly retu
rned. Ignoring his outstretched hand, she inclined her chin ever so slightly in refusal. As he studied her, he watched a flash of distaste in her gaze before she carefully schooled her features to reveal no hint of her feelings. With the grace of a debutante, she nodded coolly.

  “Wow, well it was nice of you to come all the way out here. What can I do for you, Mr. Doyle?”

  Devlan smiled thinly. It seemed she held him in as high esteem as he held her. He glanced down at the child and his smile grew. Hannah was beautiful, the spitting image of her mother, and to his untrained eye she looked just as a four-year-old girl ought to. To all appearances, she looked healthy and well kept. And at the moment the bright blue gaze, so similar to her mother’s, was glued to him and his big friend in curiosity.

  “Hi Hannah, I’m your Uncle Devlan.”

  She smiled shyly and glanced at her mother for approval, but Diana stood with arms crossed under her deceptively round breasts. Never one to refuse an invitation, he could not help but stare at the firm mounds that were so well hidden behind her dark clothing, even though his actions made Diana’s scowl deepen.

  “Mr. Doyle, why are you here?”

  Devlan knew this was the moment Diana would change her attitude towards him. Mention money to a woman and they were putty in your hands. With a cool smile he reached into his pocket and handed her a business card.

  “I’m here to ensure that Hannah will be okay.”

  “‘Okay’?”

  “Yes. With Peter gone now, she will need someone to watch over her.”

  “Watch over her?”

  He nodded impatiently, growing irritated that she kept answering him with questions. “Yes. She is, after all, the only family I have left. I want to make sure that she’s well cared for.”

  With a curt nod of her head, Diana pressed her lips together with finality. “Thank you for your concern, Mr. Doyle, but Peter’s ‘departure’ has not changed a thing. I can assure you that Hannah was fine before and will continue to be fine now that he’s ‘gone’.”

  She had just dismissed him, of that he had no doubt. Devlan realized his mistake just before the cold words escaped her stiff lips when her gaze turned as icy as the mountain peaks around them. He had misjudged this woman, forgetting the class with which she had conducted herself when they had first met. Apparently his brother had not taken that from her along with everything else.

  With reluctant admiration, he studied her closely. The light breeze stirred several loose strands of her hair across her face. The thick, sun-streaked mane was a texture and color that women would pay for in the hairdressers’ shops. Her slender fingers, with the nails unpainted and closely cropped, reached up to carelessly curl the wayward strands behind her ear as her eyes narrowed under his close scrutiny.

  Frustration hardened Devlan’s jaw as he hurried to make up for his blunder before she turned and left him standing in her dust. Never before had he had trouble speaking to a beautiful woman, and he refused to allow this one to be the first.

  He cleared his throat meaningfully before he answered. “I meant financially, Diana.”

  “Financially?”

  Still with arms crossed, she raised her gaze to study him steadily. It was then that he noticed a fading, yellowish discoloration around her left eye. Though wisps of hair had been strategically placed to try to cover the mark, apparently she had forgotten when she tucked those strands behind her ear. He wondered where the mark had come from.

  “Yes, financially.”

  “And what do you want from me in return?”

  Her sarcasm was not missed, but the truth was that he had not even given it a thought. His concern had been solely focused on Hannah. He had not even considered Diana. Yet he was still a man, and her cold words planted sudden ideas and images in his head. His brows rose as he glanced at her more closely from head to toe.

  “I can take care of you and Hannah. That’s why I’m here. What you give me in return can be worked out.”

  Diana glanced down at the business card with distaste. Then she met his gaze coolly and handed the card back. There was a strange look on her face as her mouth turned down.

  “As I said, Hannah is fine, Mr. Doyle. I have a job and can take care of her. She is, after all, my daughter. If you were so concerned about her safety you should’ve come a lot sooner. Your help may have made a difference then. Now it’s too late. Now Hannah and I would like to move on with our lives and forget all this.” She indicated with one hand toward the casket before turning back to her car. As if in afterthought, she sent him one last icy glare over her shoulder. “Thank you for coming to pay your respects.”

  Devlan watched in stunned surprise as she hastily opened the car door. With a flash of her shapely leg, she was in the car and fastening her seatbelt. Then the engine roared to life and she put it into gear roughly before pulling away and showering them with dust, just as he had expected.

  Mike jumped back, whistling under his breath. “Wow. Well how do you like that?”

  When there was no returning answer, Mike glanced at him. Ignoring his questioning look, Devlan continued to watch her drive away, frowning thoughtfully at her disappearing car.

  “Find out everything you can about her. Debts, job information, what she’s been doing. Also check out Hannah. I want her medical records and any hospital visits she may have had.”

  “Why, what’s up?” Mike asked.

  “She had a black eye, Mike.”

  “So? Maybe the two of them played it rough – with each other or with others.”

  “No, not her… I want them watched.”

  Devlan was surprised at how angry he felt. It was a damn crime to be marring such a beautiful woman. She was the type that a man showed off proudly by displaying her on his arm, not one that was knocked around until bruises marred her smooth skin.

  Diana’s cryptic words echoed in his ears. He needed to know what had happened. Most of all, he wanted to know what Diana meant when she said his offer to help was too late.

  “Yes sir.”

  Devlan nodded slowly, his mind whirling like the leaves in the breeze. His problem had suddenly grown more complicated, for now he was intrigued by his sister-in-law. There was something different about her, beginning with her disdainful reaction to him. She had taken him completely by surprise, and he had momentarily lost his composure. That was a victory on her part. After all, there was one thing he had learned in his time, and that was that women loved his money. At least in his previous relationships, the women he had dated proved to appreciate his status and wealth more than him – an apparent misconception that had kept him single and skeptical for so long. She had been different, and her reaction to him both excited and challenged him. Not interested in his money? In fact, it seemed only to increase her dislike of him.

  However, despite his surprise he was not completely blinded. Diana Somerset had let some emotion slip, and his astute business sense had detected her faux pas. There had been fear in her eyes when she looked at him, and he had noticed loneliness behind her self-righteous anger. He suspected that the loneliness he saw was not for the death of her husband, but perhaps for being alone. He wanted to know why.

  Well he would find out. His people would find out everything there was to know about her. It was only a matter of time. Though he was not yet sure why, he decided at that moment that he wanted to help this woman more than he had ever wanted to do anything before.

  Chapter 2

  Diana glanced one last time in the rear view mirror of her car. She saw the bodyguard jump back, but Devlan remained where he stood, allowing the dust to spatter his expensive suit. His face bore a thoughtful expression as he watched her leave, and with a shudder she realized that would not be the last of Devlan Doyle.

  She took a deep, shaking breath and brushed the hair once again away from her face. How dare he insinuate that she should take up with him? He could take care of her. Like it was some sort of honor. No, she could take care of herself and Hannah just
fine. All she needed was time to get reorganized and take stock of her life.

  No, another man was not what she wanted or needed right now, especially her husband’s womanizing step-brother. She shuddered at the thought. Oh yes, Peter had told her all about him when they were first married. How Devlan went from one woman to another, keeping track of his conquests by carving notches in the hardwood of an Irish walking stick his father had given him. How ridiculous and childish, she thought as she glanced back one more time. A total commitment-phobe refusing to ever commit to anyone, he played the field casually, and if one woman grew too attached he immediately ended the relationship. It must have run in the family, she thought furiously. What a creep.

  Still seething, Diana maneuvered her small car into traffic, trying to focus on Hannah’s soft singing in the backseat. But no matter how hard she tried, all she could hear was Devlan’s deep, seductive voice telling her that they could work out her repayment. How could that man have such a nerve? At her husband’s funeral? The gall of it made her feel ill. No, she had already made a promise to herself. After Peter, she would never fall blindly for a man again. And that included Devlan Doyle, for all his sexy charisma and confidence. She certainly would not fall for those dark blue eyes and sensual good looks. So he had a fit figure and was gorgeous, but he also had a track record that would out-do Peter’s. No, she told herself yet another time, another cheating man was not what she needed. Not now; not ever again. She would not be one of his conquests.

  She and Hannah would do fine. Once she took stock of their assets and cashed in Peter’s life insurance, she would finance a sum for Hannah’s education and maybe use the rest to pay off their mortgage. Then she could find work more leisurely and perhaps stash up enough to open her own shop. This was her time to start a new life. She was free to do whatever she and Hannah wanted to do.