Passions of a Gentleman (Gentlemen of Honor Book 3)

by Rose Gordon

  Nor did Rae want her to be. She just didn’t know how to bridge the chasm between them.

  “As I mentioned, we have a few things in common,” Katherine repeated. “One is that my husband always tells everyone I had him under my spell from the first moment we met.”

  An uncontrollable giggle lodged itself in Rae’s throat. “Well, I certainly stole his attention.”

  “I do believe this is a story I should like to hear.”

  “I don’t think you do,” Rae said, choking on her laughter.

  “Your laughter tells me otherwise. But, if you’d rather not, I understand.”

  Rae looked at her mother-in-law. She was trying. Genuinely trying to form a connection. “Simon happened upon me while I was swimming—” she coughed— “wearing only my chemise.”

  Katherine chuckled. “Yes, I’d say that might have grabbed his attention.” She squeezed Rae’s hands. “And kept it.”

  Rae murmured an agreement, her mind flooding with memories of Simon’s heated looks from across the room and how just him walking in her direction would send her fleeing to safety in the lady’s retiring room. “He was relentless.”

  “Because he loves you.”

  Rae locked eyes with Katherine. How had she come to that conclusion? Why only a week ago, she’d openly accused her son of marrying Rae to assuage his pain.

  “That’s another thing we have in common,” Katherine said quietly. She pulled her hands from Rae’s and reached into her reticule. “Today, while on my knees trying to chase a mouse out from under one of the bookshelves, I overheard a conversation.” She opened her hand to reveal the comb that Rae had lost in her home.

  “I didn’t realize until today when I overheard that conversation that you might have overheard a conversation Walter and I had with Simon the night the two of you returned to London.” She ran her fingers over the metal points of the comb. “My words were not only unkind, they were unfair to both of you, and I’m sorry. Simon loves you more than anything and for the right reasons.” She extended the comb toward Rae, uncertainty in her eyes. “I’d love nothing more than to have your forgiveness and be able to claim you as a daughter.”

  Rae took the comb from Katherine’s unsteady hand, relief washing over her in waves. She hadn’t been wrong. Simon’s mother didn’t despise or pity her. “I’d like the same.”

  “Good. Now that that’s settled, I have one more thing to discuss with you.” She smiled warmly. “My son has a pet name for you, no?”

  “Rae.”

  “Is that for his use exclusively?”

  Rae hadn’t considered that. Though he’d openly called her Rae in front of her family, they’d all continued to call her Henrietta or Henny. “No. I should think anyone who can love me as much as he does can use it.”

  “Well then, Rae, I shall see you tomorrow.”

  “Wait.” Rae worried the lace on her cuff. “I need to make a confession to you now.”

  Katherine heaved an overdone sigh much like Simon did before he made a sarcastic remark. “Does my library have a repugnant odor again?”

  Rae grinned. “If it does, I didn’t notice it.”

  “Oh, good. I was worried that’s why you didn’t want to come back.”

  Rae recognized Katherine’s lame attempt at a jest for what it was. She smoothed her skirts and took a deep breath. In for a penny, in for a pound. “Katherine, if we’re going to be completely honest and have a fresh start I need to tell you something. Your favorite pastime is my Achilles heel.”

  “Oh,” Katherine’s soft answer wasn’t what Rae had expected. “Would you care to know one of my secrets?”

  “Only one?”

  Katherine playfully wagged a finger at her. “I shan’t divulge everything, lest you decide it be prudent to blackmail me for being a less-than-welcoming mother-in-law when we first met.”

  “I wouldn’t—”

  “I know.” She licked her lips. “As it would happen, the reason I run a lending library and Lady Duckworth doesn’t owe a pence for the book she’s had since 1809 is because I didn’t know how to do sums until I married Walter.” She shrugged. “My mother insisted my father hire a tutor to teach me to read so Lord Norcourt wouldn’t terminate our contract, but sums weren’t considered important. They felt my husband’s brain could be taxed.”

  “Simon offered to help,” she admitted. Yet another thing she and Katherine shared.

  “He’d be an excellent teacher.” Katherine patted her knee then stood. “Now that you’ve forgiven me, perhaps you need to let him know.”

  “Let me know what?” Simon asked for the doorway.

  Katherine, clearly as taken unawares as Rae, tried to talk but nothing came out.

  “That I love you.” Rae jumped off the settee and made her way to Simon as fast as she could. She threw her arms around him with a vigor she hadn’t felt since their first night in London. “I’m sorry, Simon,” she whispered in his ear. “I haven’t been myself this past week and—” she pulled back, found his hands with hers— “I’m sorry.”

  Simon looked over her shoulder to his mother. “What have you done?”

  “Righted my wrong,” she said cryptically then excused herself.

  “Did my mother do something to you?”

  Rae turned her head to the side. “She returned my comb.”

  “Oh. Wherever did she find it? I searched that room high and low.”

  “I suspect she found it near the potted plant by the drawing room,” Rae said unevenly. “That’s where I was standing when I heard you tell your parents about me.”

  Simon’s gut twisted. If Rae had stood there, then she’d overheard… “I’m sorry, Rae,” he rasped. So much made sense now. Why she’d been so eager to go downstairs that night and why she’d been so intimidated by Mother. Even why she’d gone to such great lengths to keep herself occupied during the day. She was trying to prove she had value. “I didn’t know.”

  “If you had would it have changed anything?” Her carefree tone was the equivalent to a punch in his already uneasy stomach.

  “Yes. Had I known you were listening, I’d have refuted their charge.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I thought the more I denied it, the more they’d think they were correct. I believed given enough time, they’d come to see that my feelings for you are genuine.” Simon’s mouth went dry. “If I’d known you were listening and had any doubt whatsoever that I didn’t love you to a distraction, I’d have bellowed my love for you so loud the shingles would have rattled loose.”

  “That’s where I am at fault,” she said weakly.

  Simon opened his mouth to argue, and Rae pressed her fingers against his parted lips.

  “I should have known and been more confident that you loved me, but when they mentioned the timing, I allowed doubts to creep in and I’m sorry.” She pulled her hand from his lips and blinked her red-rimmed eyes. “Can you please forgive me for doubting you?”

  “Can you know and believe now and forever that I—” he kissed her forehead— “love—” he dropped a kiss on the edge of her nose— “you,” he said before covering her lips with his.

  Rae wrapped her arms around his neck, her body pressing against his. “I think I can manage that,” she murmured against his lips.

  “Think?” He pulled back. “Perhaps I should take you upstairs for a more proper demonstration.”

  “Yes, I think a proper demonstration might help.”

  “Might?” He scoffed. “After we’re done tonight there won’t be any room left for doubt,” he said, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her upstairs to do exactly as he promised.

  And he did.

  Epilogue

  August

  “When are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Rae asked not for the first time since they'd left London before the sun came up.

  “When we get there,” Simon said once again.

  “Hmmm.” Rae straddled him and placed her hands
on his shoulders. She leaned forward and kissed him. “Perhaps I can think of a way to get you to spill your secrets.”

  “Minx,” he murmured between kisses. “My lips are sealed.”

  “Are they now?” She closed the gap between them again and licked the seam of his lips, parting them.

  Simon cupped her face and returned her kiss.

  “Now that we know there’s not wax holding your lips together, you can divulge our destination whenever you’d like.”

  “That’ll be when we arrive,” he said with a smug smile.

  Rae repositioned herself on his lap and rested her head against his chest. “And when shall that be?”

  “In an hour or three.”

  She wanted to groan. Anticipation would be the death of her. It hadn’t helped that Simon had fixed the curtains to be tied in a way that didn’t allow her to see anything except what little the sconces could light the inside of the carriage.

  Abruptly, the carriage halted. Rae frowned. “Why has he stopped? Doesn’t he know I’m a bundle of nerves back here?”

  Simon laughed and set her on the seat beside him. “I’ll check. You wait here.”

  Rae snorted. That wasn’t likely.

  “I mean it, Rae. Stay here or—”

  Just then, the door to the carriage flew open, revealing a harried coachman and a large estate.

  Rae blinked. “Briar Creek?”

  “Sprawling out before us,” Simon confirmed.

  “Yes, I can see that,” she said, allowing him to help her descend the carriage. “But why are we here?”

  He grinned at her. “To get married.”

  “We’re already married,” she pointed out, more confused now than before.

  Simon placed his hand on the small of her back and led her up the front steps and then wrenched open the door. “Not in front of our friends and family.”

  Rae stood frozen staring at the tableau in front of her.

  To her left stood Juliet and Drake, who held her newborn son, his smile brighter than the moon at night. The pair was flanked by their twins and the three older girls. To their right stood Walter and a giddy-looking Katherine. To her right was a grinning Giles and Rae’s newest and dearest friend Lucy. Beside Lucy stood her son Seth, dressed in a smart suit of clothing that was attracting the attention of all the girls in the room, including both Dara and Jane who stood so close to him, she doubted air could pass between their bodies. Peter, Joseph, Samuel, Jacob, and Lucas fidgeted in a little cluster. She squinted, noticing how they were each poking and jabbing each other with their elbows. Beside them, stood her parents, beaming. Rounding out the semicircle of family were Brooke and Andrew, just as they’d once promised her they’d be.

  “Simon,” she breathed, her mind racing to make sense of what was going on. “This wasn’t necessary.” But it was very touching and she appreciated that he had gone through so much effort as to even make sure her entire family had been included.

  “I think it was.” He reached for her hands and turned her to face him, their audience be damned. “You know I love you, and now I can declare it for anyone who might question it.”

  His words sliced through her heart. “Is that why you did this? Do you still think I don’t believe you?”

  “No,” he said. “And if I ever suspect that you do doubt, I know just how to prove it to you. This—” he waved his hand through the air— “is my way of letting the rest of the world know once and for all how much I love you. That I chose you. And that I will always love you. You weren’t a balm for my grieving heart, you were the piece I didn’t know was always missing.”

  Tears pricked the back of Rae’s eyes at his declaration. “I love you.”

  “And I love you, too.” He kissed her. “Now, go get changed. The minister will be here shortly.”

  In less than fifteen seconds, the ladies had fled the room and were on their way to a dressing room. Of course everyone but Rae was already dressed in their full wedding attire, but they all needed to be in there to fuss over her like ladies do.

  The remainder of them went into the drawing room to wait while Simon slipped off to the library to change his suit of clothes. When he was done, he wasn’t surprised at all to find Seth waiting for him on the other side of the door. The pair locked eyes, each had the same question for the other: “Have you asked him yet?”

  Being older, Simon could hold the boy’s gaze longer.

  “I asked him this morning.”

  “And?”

  Seth grinned. “You were right. He said yes.”

  Simon clapped him on the shoulder. “I suppose it’s my turn, then.”

  Now it was Seth’s turn to slap Simon on the back. “He’s in the drawing room.”

  “Giles,” Simon said, walking up to his brother.

  At some time when Simon had been changing Paul Grimes, a family friend and vicar, had arrived and was greeting the guests and making introductions.

  Giles bowed, his lips stretched into a smile that was sure to make his cheeks sore tonight. “Simon.”

  “I hear you’ve granted Seth quite an honor this morning.”

  “It’s the other way,” Giles corrected.

  “I think it goes both ways. A boy needs a papa.” At Giles’ nod of agreement, Simon said, “Do you think you could grant another one this afternoon?”

  Giles’ brows grew together. “Pardon?”

  “Would you stand up with me during the ceremony?”

  Giles’ stunned expression would have made Simon laugh if he hadn’t been so damn nervous to ask. “I-uh-I—”

  “Is that a yes?”

  The column of Giles’ throat worked. “Of course.”

  Simon smiled. He’d wager Giles would have never guessed that coming to London in April would have brought him so many things: a repaired relationship with his mother, a father, a wife, and a son and most surprising even to Simon—a true brother, none of which could possibly be outweighed by having his competency declared and given full rights to his barony—which, just as Simon had assured him—had been granted without question or reservation.

  A flurry of commotion came from outside the drawing room, signaling that the ladies were ready to begin.

  Mother, Mrs. Hughes, Lady Drakely, and Lucy all filed in and formed a little aisle by the door.

  Rae walked up to the door and a round of dramatic gasps from the three youngest girls sounded.

  “Henny, you’re radishing,” exclaimed Jane, leading the rest of the room to erupt in laughter. The little girl smacked his leg with her hand. “Isn’t she radishing, Simon?”

  Simon scooped her up and kissed her cheek. “She sure is. And she’s all mine.”

  Jane heaved another exaggerated sigh. “I suppose I’ll let you have her, then.” She looked to her older sister. “Unless you don’t want him.”

  “I do.” Rae walked over to them and smoothed Jane’s hair back. “One day your prince will come. Mine did.”

  Afterword

  If you enjoyed Passions of a Gentleman, I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy this book, too.

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  Coming Soon by Rose Gordon

  Gentleman of Honor Series

  Secrets of a Viscount—One summer night, Sebastian Gentry, Lord Belgrave hauled the wrong young lady to Gretna Green. When her identity is exposed, the only obvious solution is to get an annulment. Only, just like his elopement plans, things didn’t go as planned and while she has reason to believe they are no longer married, he knows better. Wanting to make things right for her, he offers to help her find a husband—what neither counts on is it just might be the one she’s still sec
retly married to.

  Desires of a Baron—Giles Goddard, Lord Norcourt is odd. Odder still, he has suddenly taken a fancy to his brother’s love interest, the fallen Lucy Whitaker. Lucy was once thrown over by a lord and she has little desire to let it happen again, but she’s about to learn that his desires just might be enough for the both of them.

  Passions of a Gentleman—Having been thrown over twice already, Simon Appleton has given up his pursuit for a wife—especially if his only choice is the elusive Miss Henrietta Hughes. But when he discovers a secret about her, he’s not above helping to protect her...

  New Release Notification

  If you'd like to stay current on Rose's releases, please visit her website at www.rosegordon.net to sign up for her new release newsletter.

  While you wait for the next Regency, why not take a trip to Fort Gibson where three handsome Army Officers are about to find love where they least expect it!

  Fort Gibson Officers Series

  American-set historical romance series that takes place in Indian Territory in the mid-1840s.

  The Officer and the Bostoner—While on her way to meet her intended, Allison Pearson was abandoned by her traveling party at a desolate Army fort in the middle of Indian Territory. It’s a good thing there is a handsome, smooth talking officer named Captain Wes Tucker will temporarily marry her until her intended can reclaim her.

  The Officer and the Southerner—Lieutenant Jack Walker sent off for a mail-order bride. Ella Davis answered the ad. Jack forgot to mention a few living details, and Ella’s about to let him know it!

  The Officer and the Traveler—Captain Grayson Montgomery's mouth has landed him in trouble again! And this time it's not something a cleverly worded sentence and a handsome smile can fix. Having been informed he'll either have to marry or be demoted and sentenced to hard labor for the remainder of his tour, he proposes, only to discover those years of hard labor may have been the easier choice for his heart.