From the doorway, the tall muscular blond man stood watching his nephew and the woman lying on the bed, sleeping soundly.
Cedric had never experienced someone like her before and he didn't quite know how to react.
He had prepared what he was going to say to a woman who was hard-hearted enough to take a young child and terrorize him just for monetary gain, and then he was going to throw the money in her face.
But then he saw the young woman pick Devin up and carried him gently out of the car.
In amazement, he saw Devin pressing his head against the woman's shoulder. Devin, the child who never allowed anyone to get too close to him was clinging with desperate arms to a woman he had just met only a day ago.
And then his eyes took in the sight of the young female with long wavy black hair and a body that was so small and slight, she could have been mistaken for a prepubescent girl.
But then she turned half way towards him and he could see her full-breasted figure, completely dispelling the notion that she could possibly be anything but a full-grown, extremely desirable woman.
In that moment, Cedric felt a rush of intense need to know more about this woman.
He had called out Devin's name but in truth, it was because he didn't know her name. He simply wanted her to turn towards him so he could see clearer, her face.
She heard his voice and turned her face towards him.
And Cedric nearly choked on his own breath.
Her large soulful eyes were the color of a dazzling blue sapphire gemstone, and her face was a pale porcelain so clear that it was almost translucent.
Her lips were perfect and small and of a soft pink color that made Cedric think of other soft pink parts of her that he shouldn't.
He scowled as he fought that strange sudden desire rising up from nowhere, flooding his loins.
Devin chose that moment to look at Cedric.
Seeing the scowl on his uncle's face, Devin had turned back and buried his face into Talia's shoulder.
Not wanting to be misunderstood, Cedric called Devin's name again but the boy was now fully and truly ignoring Cedric's voice.
He began latching onto her neck with his grubby chubby arms and squeezing so hard that she looked blue around the gills.
"Oh hi!" The young woman greeted him with a soft high voice and grinned as she looked up and down at the clothes he'd gotten from Hubert.
For a moment, Cedric wanted to tell her that truly, this was not what he normally wore, and that honestly, he had much better clothing sense, but her brilliant blue eyes had caught onto a stray thread hanging from his heart.
And as she gently and unwittingly teased that tiny stray thread, it began to unravel just a little, causing his heart to ache just a little.
He was so preoccupied with that tiny stray thread that he barely heard her saying something to him and he shook his head.
"I'm glad I didn't get lost driving to your place. It's a bit out of the way." She craned her neck and looked around the place.
"Devin was running around without a stitch of clothing on when I picked him up so I bought something for him to wear. Consider it my gift to him for being such a good little guy all night long."
Cedric blinked.
So she was saying something about the boy's clothes.
He looked over at the white tee shirt and red shorts but could find nothing that was strange or unusual about it.
He was about to make some random comment about how nice the clothes looked, but then she turned those sparkling blue eyes back at him and gave him such a winsome smile that he was once again at a loss for words.
She reached out and rubbed Devin's blond head and muttered mostly for the child's benefit.
"It's okay. Devin's just being a bit of a cranky pants because he just woke up. He fell asleep in the car after he ate three pieces of chicken nuggets."
She looked up at the house. "He's a bit gritty so he's going to need a bath as soon as possible, and maybe some food that's a bit better than fried fast food."
Cedric steadied his face. It was obvious that she and Devin hadn't had much in the way of breakfast. He needed to feed both of them.
"Devin." He had called out yet again.
His nephew had completely ignored him by now. His arms tightening around her neck.
"Sweetheart. You're choking me." She murmured to Devin but he continued to ignore her, clamping down even harder.
"Loosen up a bit so I can breathe Devin." She chuckled and patted him on the back.
"Maaaaamaaaaamaaaaaa." He warbled, causing Cedric to almost gasp with shock.
Why was his nephew calling this strange woman Mama? Did she teach him to do that?
The young woman gave Cedric a nervous laugh.
"Devin, would you like for your brother to hold you for a bit? I'm sure he was very worried about you while you were gone from the house."
"No-no-no-no. Maaaaamaaaaamaaaaaa!!!" Devin turned his face into her neck, completely shutting Cedric out of the picture.
He was about to clear up the misunderstanding about the fact that he was not Devin's brother when his wolf nose picked up the impending storm.
He sighed and looked up into the sky. Large drops were starting to fall and they needed to move inside before they all got wet.
"Please come in. Perhaps once he is inside, he will behave a bit better."
She smiled, looking pleasantly surprised.
"My name is Talia Fabian." She introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you."
He looked at her at that moment with only one thought.
He couldn't introduce himself to her with his full name: The Duke of Faria, Cedric Blaxtone. He didn't want to sound too intimidating.
Perhaps if he simply used his first name, it would ease things through a bit.
"I'm Cedric." He turned towards the doors, hoping she would not ask for anything more than that. "This way."
Once inside, Hubert took over and led them into Devin's suite of rooms.
It was at that point that Cedric went back into his room to prepare the ransom money. She had said that she did not want anything from him, but Cedric had never been one who liked to owe anyone anything.
If he paid her well, then she would at least leave with the knowledge that she had not wasted her efforts. Devin also seemed to be healthy and happy, if a bit clingy.
That was a good solid plan. He would pay her for her troubles and she would leave and resume her life, and he would never see her again.
Except that he had returned to Devin's room to see them both sleeping peacefully, like mother and child.
He reached out and rubbed at his left chest. The little piece of stray red thread on his heart was getting snagged somewhere and it was starting to be a bit of an annoyance.
He had a good plan. He would carry it out.
He pulled out a light blanket, covered them both and then stepped out of the room.