Read Online Give All to Love by Patricia Veryan - Free Book Online

knowledge.
    Guy, eager to provide his adopted son with every opportunity, had been blocked at every turn by the boy’s lack of acceptable birth. Again, his friends had come to the rescue. Lord Belmont had taken the aspiring doctor under his wing, and in some magical fashion, Lyon had been admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons. The proudest day of Guy’s life had dawned when Lyon was awarded his Licence to Practice an incredible three years later. Long years of resident study remained, however, if his lifelong dream of becoming a surgeon was to be realized, and he was overjoyed to win an appointment to the famous Guy’s Hospital (which he blithely referred to as “my father’s place”) augmented by study with the great Lord Belmont.
    Despite his brilliance, however, he had fallen victim to an ailment that had claimed many intense and impatient young men before him—the inability to recognize the limitations of the human body. Driven by ambition, Lyon had ignored warnings that he was working too hard. Early in the autumn, having for many months worked a twenty-hour day, he collapsed from exhaustion and was subsequently stricken with influenza. Lord Belmont, incensed, had read him a furious lecture and sent him back to Gloucester with strict instructions that he was to rest, regain his strength, and not so much as think of medicine for at least a month.
    Now, watching the taut features covertly, Devenish thought that Guy’s faith in the youth had been well founded. Cahill was a splendid young fellow. His countenance was pleasant, and he had a fine pair of dark eyes, set well apart, that met a man’s gaze squarely with no sliding off or evading. His hair was thick, dark, and straight; his nose a strong swoop; his chin square and determined. The mouth concerned Devenish a little, for it was too tight-lipped for such a young man and had a tendency to sneer; but considering Lyon’s early years, that was scarce to be wondered at. The right girl could—Devenish frowned inwardly. Did Josie really care for this ambitious, driven young chap?
    Lyon glanced at him, anxiety in the dark eyes, and realizing he had not answered the so vital question, Devenish said ruefully, “I personally think Josie too young to be thinking of marriage for another year or two. But—perhaps I—that is, she’ll have whomsoever she chooses, I fancy. Has she—er, I mean, have you offered?”
    â€œOf course I have not! As if I would do so rag-mannered a thing! I’ve not asked your permission to address her!”
    â€œAre you doing so now? Forgive me, but I cannot be sure. And it was, for some odd reason, my impression that you’d asked her many times.”
    Lyon grinned and said shyly, “In a way, perhaps. I—I have asked her if she loves me. Not if she will marry me. She says she loves me. And I believe she does, but—Oh, devil take it, you know how she can be.”
    It was very familiar. Devenish thought, ‘Lightning strikes twice…’ and said with ready sympathy, “You do not know if she is in love with you, is that it? Poor fellow. When I was just about your age, I was in the same miserable predicament. It’s the devil.”
    Lyon sighed and nodded. “I knew you’d understand. Though, Lord knows why any girl would have rejected you. ” He eyed Devenish glumly, wondering, as had so many, why the beauteous Yolande Drummond, with this dashing fellow at her feet, had chosen instead his quiet Canadian cousin, who possessed only average looks, little of Devenish’s engaging charm and personality, and who had, at that time, been under the cloud of a disgraced name.
    Having a fair idea of what was going on in his friend’s mind, Devenish’s lips quirked. He said with a sigh, “Incomprehensible, ain’t it?”
    â€œPoor old Dev,” said Lyon kindly. “You never did get over it, did you? Well, what I mean