Passions of a Gentleman (Gentlemen of Honor #3) - Rose Gordon Page 0,79

it wouldn’t. He’d already pushed and pushed and pushed her, all to no avail. That left him only one option: go to Lucy for help. He nearly snorted. Never would he have thought he’d see the day when he was taking relationship advice from Giles.

But, the man’s solution seemed the most sensible of the two.

Screwing up every ounce of courage and throwing away every last shred of dignity, Simon went into the lending library.

“Hullo, Uncle Simon,” Seth greeted jovially.

Simon greeted the lad and handed him a deck of cards from his pocket. “To practice your shuffling.”

Seth’s face beamed. He might know the rules to a plethora of games, but a goat could shuffle cards better than that boy. “Thank you, Uncle Simon!”

“You’re welcome.” Simon ruffled Seth’s hair. “Say, is your mama here?”

Seth frowned. “You’re not going to tell her about our betting, are you?”

“Not unless you forgive my debt.” Simon quirked a brow at him.

“I don’t know. A boy could do a lot with three hundred pounds.”

“And had you won them fairly, I’d have paid you every pence,” Simon countered.

“All right, you win. She’s over in the back corner.” He pointed in the general direction then divided the deck in half.

Simon peered around to make sure he didn’t see his mother. Good. She must be out at the moment.

“Lady Norcourt,” he said, coming up behind Lucy so as not to startle her.

Lucy turned around. Truly, she was a pretty lady. Dark blue eyes, delicate features, and a slender, petite frame. A beauty by most standards, but something about her didn’t draw him like Rae did.

“Yes?”

Simon fidgeted and then shoved his hands into his pockets, his fingers closing around their contents: two keys and a handful of matches. “My wife is driving me to Bedlam,” he blurted.

“Pardon.”

Simon dug one of his hands through his hair and gave it a hard pull. “I know this is awkward considering our past, but I need some help.” The admission was the final blow to his pride.

“A-all right.” Lucy set her books down. “I’m not sure if I’m the best one to help you, though. I don’t even know her other than what you said about her the day we went to the museum.”

Simon couldn’t recall what all he’d said to Lucy that day, his thoughts had been on Rae. “I’m sorry. I should have paid more attention to you that day.”

“That’s all right.” She waved him off. “I’m fairly certain my thoughts were somewhere else that day, too.” Her telling blush made him feel like less of a cad. “What’s the problem?”

Sighing, Simon sat on the low window ledge. “That’s what I don’t know.”

Lucy implored him with her dark blue eyes. “Then how am I supposed to help?”

“I don’t know that, either.”

“Do you know what’s going on at least?”

“If I did, I would be at home and not here.” For heaven’s sake, how many times was she going to make him admit that he didn’t know!

“I meant what has happened that makes you think there’s a problem.”

“Oh. Right.” Simon blew out a deep breath. “When I first met Rae, I couldn’t look anywhere else. She was not only beautiful, but when she spoke, she pulled me in. I spent three years trying to get her to speak to me again and when she finally did, I couldn’t get enough, and then a fortnight after we married she’s changed.”

“Are you sure this isn’t a temporary change?”

“I sure as hell hope it is,” Simon retorted. Who said it wasn’t temporary?

“And how did you have in mind for me to help?’

Simon idly scratched his chin and wracked his brain. “I think Rae needs a sister.”

“A sister?”

“A sisterly type person,” Simon confirmed.

“I thought she had one.”

“She does. Three actually.” He drummed his fingers on his knee. “Two of them are so young they have a delusion that being married to me would be the equivalent of a king’s ransom, and the one closer to her age is currently confined to the country.”

“All right,” Lucy said slowly. “So are you asking me to treat her as a temporary sister?”

Simon didn’t know what the devil a temporary sister was. Clearly, he was the reason for Rae’s change after marriage. Or rather, his lack of understanding her sex. “I know that considering our history that isn’t a request I should be making, but I don’t know of anyone else to ask to befriend her. She has no friends, Lucy. None. She needs someone to talk to and confide in. Someone to