Passions of a Gentleman (Gentlemen of Honor #3) - Rose Gordon Page 0,46

if he lost his balance and made all the floorboards groan in unison—a siren call for everyone to come see what he was doing.

Chancing a quick glance over his shoulder, he briefly contemplated an escape through the window. He quickly shook off the thought and brought his left toe down to find another board. He hadn’t bothered to open the window in his room during his visit, but he could only imagine what might happen if he did. Scratching. Glass shattering. Plaster crumbling…the whole wall crumbling. No, he’d stick with playing musical floorboards, thank you very much.

Ever so carefully, Simon crept down the hall at a snail’s pace.

“Not that one!” came a sharp whisper.

Simon jerked his head in the direction of the voice, his heart slamming against his ribs. “Lord Drakely,” he choked, his mouth dry.

The older man walked out of the shadows. “That one groans louder than Lady Olivia with a toothache,” Lord Drakely said.

Simon moved his foot over a few inches and placed it down without further care of the noise it might make. “Er…how long have you been watching me?”

“Long enough to hear you curse me in three different languages.”

“You should invest in a better floor.” Simon scowled down at the offending wood beneath his feet. “Or at the very least a hammer and a bucket of nails.”

“Not while I have a house full of daughters. Creaky floors are better than a night watchmen in a bell tower,” he said with conviction then crossed his arms, his face hardening and his eyes narrowing on Simon. “It also tattles on suitors who are sneaking around the house.”

Simon squared his shoulders. “I have done nothing wrong.”

Lord Drakely arched a brow. “No? Then why are you trying to escape in the dead of night as if you were a criminal?”

If only Simon were a criminal. That’d make things so much easier. “I think it’s best I go back to London,” he said quietly. “Lord Norcourt will be getting married in a matter of days and I need to be there.”

Lord Drakely waved his hand through the air. “Your leaving tonight or tomorrow won’t matter.” He folded his arms across his chest. “What’s the real reason you’re leaving like a bandit?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Lady Drakely said, emerging from her husband’s study. Her dark hair was all affright and her gown was slightly askew around her shoulders.

“Darling, perhaps you ought to wait…” Lord Drakely trailed off with a hard swallow.

Lady Drakely didn’t budge. She implored Simon with her grey eyes for a moment, a thin smile playing on her lips. “Come now, Patrick.” She reached for her husband’s elbow. “Let’s go to bed and I’ll explain it all to you.”

An uncomfortable feeling swept over Simon, but he didn’t dare question it—or Lady Drakely. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Please, tell Rae…” Tell her what? That he snuck out of her house like a coward? His throat worked. “Please tell her I shall see her when she returns to London.”

“He’ll see me when I return to London?” Rae echoed. Every drop of blood in her body drained to her toes. She knew something was amiss with Simon in the carriage last night, but just assumed it was a mere discomfort at Drake and Juliet’s glib remarks. Surely, that wasn’t enough to cause him to leave, was it? She attempted to swallow the hard air bubble that was clogging her throat, but it didn’t move.

She tried to swallow it again, desperate to dislodge it and be able to take a deep, calming breath. Perhaps then the painful squeezing in her chest would subside.

No such luck. The air bubble remained as did the near intolerable pain in her chest, and now there was an intense burning in the backs of her eyes.

“Do you wish to talk about it, dearest?” Juliet’s sympathetic tone only intensified her body’s reaction.

“No,” she croaked. She cleared her throat and stretched her lips into what she hoped was the semblance of a smile. “I don’t feel so well. I should go lie back down.”

“Oh, all right.” Juliet’s compassion caused Rae’s stomach to knot. “If you’re ill you should have stayed in bed.”

“Yes, I should have,” she agreed vehemently, inclining her chin. “I only came down because I was merely afraid of leaving our guest to his own devices. But since he’s already seen to his own needs—” without bothering to bid me goodbye, mind you— “I shall be off to bed to rest.”

“Very well,” Juliet said, reaching for her tea saucer. “But