Passions of a Gentleman (Gentlemen of Honor #3) - Rose Gordon Page 0,42

“I don’t think she even ever mentioned his name. Then one day he just appears and she’s now being titled as Lady Norcourt and playing his hostess.” The raw emotion in Simon’s voice sent chills down her spine and she understood why this telling was different: it had been more than just Giles’ appearance that had cut him so. He swallowed audibly. “I was afraid,” he said raggedly. “In less than ninety seconds my entire existence had been altered. My mother had taken on a new identity. My father, who’d always been my closest ally, stood back and watched in awe as she gushed and showered motherly attention on a stranger who looked exactly like me…and him.”

Rae ached for him.

Licking his lips, he continued, “I was losing my family and didn’t know what else to do so I—” he pressed his lips together and lifted his eyebrows— “proposed to a married woman. Of course I didn’t know she was married. It seemed like the best option for both her and me. She needed someone and with my entire family structure crumbling about my ears, it seemed the most logical solution. We agreed to have an abbreviated courtship at a house party and if we thought we could tolerate the other for the rest of our lives, we’d marry.”

“Did it work?” She couldn’t believe she asked that, but something inside her needed to know. “I mean, before you knew she was married.”

“No.” His response was quick, concise, and definite. He sighed. “She’s pretty to look at, but that’s where it ends.” Something flickered in his eye that made her insides flip. “Well, at least where I’m concerned. When she and Lord Belgrave are in the room she transforms into someone else.”

“Does that bother you?”

“No. If he can draw a personality out of her then I’d say he deserves to have her as his wife.”

“So you have no feelings whatsoever for her?”

Simon choked on his laugher. “No. Nor for Lucy.”

“Is she the one from the museum?”

“Yes.”

“And she’s marrying Giles?” she asked, trying to put the pieces together.

Simon grimaced. “Yes.”

“I see…”

“No, you don’t,” he said with smile. “At the house party where Isabelle and I were supposed to be courting, it was Giles who informed me that Isabelle was still Lady Belgrave.” He closed his eyes for an extended blink. “I believe his exact words were, ‘she’s taken.’ Anyway, whether it was because I felt angry with Isabelle for not telling me herself or perhaps it was just irritation for Giles in general, I’m not sure, I decided to leave the party but was in no hurry to go home where I knew my father would pepper me with questions about my mother and Giles. I decided to take a different route and after a nasty encounter with some highwaymen, I came to lying naked in a strange bed with an inquisitive twelve-year-old boy hovering over my face.”

Rae bit the inside of her cheek.

“It’s all right, I know you want to laugh,” he said, grinning at her.

She returned his grin. “I’m sure you did well.”

“Not well enough—even with the boy,” he said. “When Lucy returned from town that day she asked for the name of a relation to come help me, and I gave her Giles’ name and current direction, certain he wouldn’t actually come.” He smiled and shook his head ruefully. “Wouldn’t you know that confounded transient was there in record time? Lucy and her son Seth were immediately under his spell.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

“Oh, don’t be. It’s for the best. I just wish I had realized that before I made a complete arse of myself.” He turned his head to the side and coughed. “Repeatedly.”

“Surely, it’s not so bad.”

“You do remember that horrible statue museum, do you not?” he asked, his eyes dancing with laughter.

“Of course.” She could never forget such a horrible establishment for as long as she lived.

“Lucy lost her post for taking care of me and came to work in Mother’s lending library. I tried to pursue her, but Giles won her.”

The muscles in Rae’s shoulders stiffened. “It sounds to me as if you’re not as accepting of her choice as you’d have me believe.”

Simon started. “No!” He cleared his throat. “No,” he tried again. “It’s not her. It’s him.” Something about his words told her he was telling the truth, and she relaxed again. “Lucy was sweet and though too curious for his own good, Seth was all right, too, but what rankles me the most