who I chose to be my wife?” he asked, not bothering to mask his irritation. Because, if there was a problem, they’d be gone today. Never to return again.
“No,” Mother said quickly. “I don’t know Miss Hu—er…the newest Mrs. Appleton, but I’m sure she’s lovely.” Mother slowly lowered herself back into her chair.
“Then what is the problem?” Again, he made no strides to hide his feelings.
“Why did you marry her?” Mother asked.
“Why does it matter?” Simon countered.
“Because you’d never shown an inclination of interest toward her before and now you’ve gone from courting Isabelle to vying for Lucy’s attentions, and now you’ve just married Mis—Mrs. Apple—Henrietta in a span of six weeks.”
Simon bridled at her remark. There was so much she didn’t know.
“Son, your Mother and I want what is best for you—and your young lady.” He scratched his temple the way Simon had seen him do many times when he was searching for the right words. “I know you feel betrayed, Simon, but I wish you’d have waited a little longer before you involved that innocent young lady in this.”
“Perhaps the two of you should have given a little more thought to how you handled telling me about Giles’ existence,” Simon fired back. It wasn’t a fair or even a related remark, but they needed to consider their own actions before criticizing his.
“And that’s the problem,” Father said grimly.
“You’re using her to ease your pain,” Mother said bluntly. “And that’s unacceptable, Simon.”
“Using her?” Clearly these two didn’t understand. “I don’t give a hang about Giles.”
“No, because you’ve replaced your hurt and disdain with a young woman who doesn’t know she’s been made into a pawn,” Father blustered.
Father and Mother were wrong and in time he’d prove it to them, for now they were being too irrational to try to reason with. Instead, Simon stood and quietly left the room.
Rae’s heart hadn’t stopped thundering in her chest since she’d gone looking for Simon and instead of finding him, had overheard his parents accuse him of using her to bury his feelings about Giles.
Were they right? She wondered and she carefully crept back up the stairs and back to Simon’s bedchamber. They knew him best. She knew of the pain Giles’ sudden arrival had inadvertently inflicted on Simon. Was she just too naïve to believe he loved her more than that?
Did it matter?
Yes…and no. It mattered to her, but it didn’t matter enough to risk losing Simon by mirroring his parents’ accusations.
The doorknob turned, sending a chill over her. Rae squeezed her eyelids closed and hoped Simon would find her actions more convincing than she feared they were.
Next to her, the mattress dipped as Simon settled next to her. “Rae?”
“Hmm,” she forced, not opening her eyes.
Simon kissed her on the top of her nose. “I have some tragic news.”
Rae’s eyes shot open, her heart slamming harder in her chest—if such a thing were even possible. “What’s wrong?”
“My parents are home.”
Rae’s fingers itched to trace the hard edge of his clenched jaw or even to whisper encouragement about his announcement. But she couldn’t bring herself to do either. “Do we need to leave?”
Simon shook his head. “Only if you’re not comfortable and you wish to.”
“What about you?” she challenged.
Simon forced his left shoulder up in a stiff shrug. “We ran off to Scotland and got married, Rae. No matter how you meet them for the first time it’ll be awkward. No sense in going downstairs and making that happen just now.”
“So then will we get the honor of choking down an uncomfortable breakfast with them or slither out the window and scale the wall under the moonlight?”
Simon let out a sharp bark of laughter. “This is why I love you.” He kissed her lips. “Whichever you’d prefer.”
She’d prefer if Simon had taken her downstairs earlier when he went to go speak to his parents and would have introduced her then as his bride—the one he loved more than any and all others. But that hadn’t happened. She closed her eyes. She needed to release these bitter feelings or her life would be miserable.
Simon had always been compassionate toward her. He’d never said anything unkind to or about her. She’d do well to remember that even if his intentions had been self-serving, she hadn’t been physically hurt or demeaned because of them.
She met his gaze. “I should like to meet them.”
“Now?” Simon’s eyebrows shot to his hairline.
Recollecting that she’d removed her clothes when she’d returned from downstairs so not to give herself away,