Chapter 27：MR TRAVENER

I should have warned her. He had supposed Elizabeth would have explained how the seating would be arranged at such an affair. There was no doubt, however, that Annie had not realized she would not be beside him at dinner.

"Major Sinclair," Doyle Travener said, bowing slightly in response to their hostess's introduction. "I regret, sir, that I have never had the honour of meeting you before.

"Your reputation among His Majesty's forces can hardly be exaggerated."

"You seem to be doing so quite nicely, I think," Ian said with a trace of embarrassment.

He smiled at the young ex-lieutenant to soften the effect of that admonition. He had not forgotten the pleasure he'd found in the easy camaraderie of his fellow soldiers. Travener's obvious robust physical condition, however, made him feel every one of his thirty-two years. And, Ian admitted, it made him even more aware of the difference between his age and Annie's.

"I assure you, sir, I could not exaggerate it," Travener said earnestly before he turned to include Annie in the conversation. "Your guardian was very highly thought of both his men and his fellow officers, Miss Darlington."

"Of whom my father was one," Annie said. "Colonel George Darlington. Did you know him, Mr Travener?"

"I don't believe I had that privilege. My misfortune." Travener's blue eyes had met Ian's briefly before he made that disclaimer. Ian couldn't be sure if the look was meant to convey that he had known Darlington or that he knew of him. Whatever it had indicated, Ian was relieved at the ex-soldier's graceful denial of a personal acquaintance.

Perhaps Travener felt that was simply the best way to avoid any further discussion of Annie's father. Since that was something Ian devoutly wished to avoid as well, he didn't question Travener's comment. After all, it was possible that by the time Travener had arrived on the Peninsula talk of the infamous incident in which Ian had been wounded had died.

The conversation eventually moved from the military matters into other directions more appropriate for the intent of the evening. Although there had been that brief flare of consternation in Annie's eyes when she had understood she wouldn't be seated beside Ian at table, she was soon chatting, seeming at ease, with her dinner companion.

And Travener certainly seemed adept enough in the duties required of him, one of which was to find some topic on which he and Annie could comfortably converse.

Doyle was also the nearest to Annie's age of any of the men here, Ian realized when they had all been seated.

It had been a very thoughtful gesture on the part of his godmother, therefore, to pair Annie with Travener, despite Ian's trepidation at having her so far away from him.

Throughout the first two courses, he found himself watching his ward. Since he was also trying to keep up his end of the conversation, the mental exercise was nerve-racking, especially since he had been out of circulation for so long. Travener, however, seemed to be making an effort to entertain Annie, just as he should, and eventually Ian began to relax.

"She's charming," Lady Laud said, inclining her head slightly towards the other end of the table where Annie was seated. "It's really too bad about her father," she added, her eyes coming back to Ian's, a knowing arch to her brow. "You must hope that never becomes public knowledge."

Laud was in the War Office and would naturally be aware of what had happened in Portugal. Ian did not expect that incident should ever become an item of gossip within the ton, however. As he had told Dare, most of the men who had been involved had been killed, either on that day or during subsequent battles. And the others were still engaged with Wellington.

"I see no reason why it should," he said truthfully.

"How strange that Darlington should have chosen you, of all people," Lady Laud continued, her black eyes again assessing the girl at the end of the table.

"The decision was made some years ago, I believe," Ian said. The solicitor had told him nothing to that effect, but he felt it would be better not to feed that particular speculation, not even with someone as friendly as his godmother. "It happened long before... the other."

He had himself wondered often enough about George Darlington's motives. Try as he might, Ian had been unable to come up with any logical reason for what the man had done. He had even thought, more cynically than was his nature, that naming him as Annie's guardian might have been Darlington's idea of some macabre joke. If so, it was one that had been made at his daughter's expense as well as at Ian's.

"How well do you know Travener?" he asked, the question casual, his eyes locked on the interplay between Annie and her dinner companion.

"Very little, actually. I can't remember who recommended him, but he's proven to be an exemplary extra man, something any hostess is in need of during the Season." Lady Laud said with a laugh. "He's only recently come up to town. Sold out due to some family crisis. I can ask Laud if you wish."

"Don't bother," Ian said, not wishing to appear overly curious.