Expression softening, she nodded. “I’ll check on tea and biscuits for after.”
Percy watched her leave, waiting until the latch clicked closed before he addressed Lord Bromley. “I’m in love with your daughter.”
Lord Bromley wasn’t impressed. “Near a dozen men have claimed the same.”
What a tough old bastard.No quarter, no mercy: If the remaining two Deime family members he had yet to meet werehalf so callous, it’d be hard not to fall for the whole family. Though he suspected he’d informally met one of the two earlier. The Deime family coloring and inability to keep to manners was startlingly similar.
Percy could be just as uncivil. “Your daughter did nothing but insult me at the Leishires’ ball, berated me, threw suspicion at me.”
Lord Bromley’s surprise didn’t stop at his expression. Apparently, no other man had claimedthatbefore. “And you’ve come to admit you’ve grown to love her despite all that?”
Percy laughed. “I love herbecauseof it. A woman who isn’t afraid of title or prestige, a woman who speaks her mind and calls a man’s bluffs is rare. I couldn’t help but fall for her.”
“And what of your background? I find it inconceivable that Jack would never mention you.”
“My father and his family were estranged,” Percy said. “I never knew my grandfather’s cousin except as a passing memory from my childhood. His title and fortune were never mentioned, and I never asked.”
Lord Bromley nodded, as if he’d suspected as much. “When did your father pass?”
“I was young, sir.”
Lord Bromley recovered with a frown. “What of your living? How did you support yourself?”
“I took a commission in the army, sir.” Percy wouldn’t mention the years in between when his father had passed away and how he’d managed to pay for such a thing. “I was recruited early to work for the Home Office.” He quickly added, “Though I am now retired from the work.”
Lord Bromley’s eyes widened. “The Home Office?” He went back to that contemplative steepling of fingers, knowing not to ask further inquiry on the subject. The truth would be easyenough to verify with the right connections. Connections an earl in the House of Lords would have. “I see.”
Lord Bromley was quiet for some time, five minutes twenty seconds. Wielding silence like a weapon, another thing the family had in common. Then, “I won’t claim to understand the hardships of your youth, nor will I denounce what courage and will it takes to raise yourself up to the position you acquired in Her Majesty’s forces.
“Nor am I blind. I can see your affection goes deeper than my daughter’s fine features and fortune. Knowing how Jack ran the estate, I know you are in a better position than even I to provide for my Danny.” Lord Bromley’s gaze was unyielding. “But I would not give my blessing for such worthless reasons.”
Percy’s insides twisted. “Sir—”
The other man held up his hand for his silence. “Iwouldgive my blessing to a man who shows my daughter respect, a man whom she in turn respects. A man who finds worth in a woman’s opinion. If you’d demanded she leave this room to secure my cooperation, I would have shot you between the eyes before the door finished closing.”
Percy swallowed. He had a suspicion Danny’s expert marksmanship was hereditary. “But?”
“But you asked, and she left.” He stood and walked around his desk to offer his hand. “I trust my daughter’s decisions, Your Grace, and so I will put my trust in you as well.” His hand was a vise around Percy’s fingers. The smile on the older man’s face was tighter. “Don’t turn my daughter into a liar.”
Percy returned the bone-crushing grip and found his insides warming to the idea of a typical family. He couldn’t resist poking at the other man’s hostility. “Shall I call you ‘Papa’ too?”
Lord Bromley’s smile was all teeth. “Not if you wish to avoid that bullet.”
Percy took it back: The ambushes and teasing, the thinly veiled threats—having a family far exceeded all expectations.
