Page 16 of Only a Lyon Will Do
A servant came rushing down the stairs and whispered to Patience. “The captain has asked for you, Mrs. Moore.”
“I’ll be right up, Emily. Thank you for letting me know.” Patience turned to address the captain’s mother, but the lady gave her a glare that caused Patience to clamp her mouth shut. She never cared for Patience. She supposed that would be the case with most women who would only see the job Patience did as…indelicateand unladylike. But she wasn’t here to pacify some snobby woman. She had a job to do and she was damn good at it.
The lady took a step forward as though challenging Patience who only returned her stare. She finally spoke up. “I’m here tosee my son and possibly take him for a ride but I need to first speak with Dr. Thornberry about Gideon’s possible release,” the lady said with a jaunty tip of her chin.
“Of course, my lady. A carriage ride would be perfect to help with his recovery,” Patience said politely. “I’ll have the butler show you into the front salon and I’ll send another servant to find the doctor and have him sent to you directly.
The butler whisked the lady to the front room where she asked for a cup of tea. Knowing she would be occupied for some time, Patience began making her way up the stairs toward the captain’s room. She saw a servant coming down the hallway and asked her to find Dr. Thornberry and tell him Lady Tyler was waiting for him in the front parlor. Patience continued toward the captain’s room but stopped short of entering when the conversation from within halted her forward motion.
“I’m telling you, brother, you’ve never seen a more beautiful woman in your life. Wait until you set eyes on her,” Gideon was boasting.
A chuckle came from the room. “I can imagine,” a familiar voice resounded.
She took a deep breath trying to get control of herself. She needed to prepare to at last meet the captain’s elusive brother. However, she was more concerned that her patient had put her on some pedestal as though she were a goddess. But even the thought of herself as a goddess had her thinking of her Hades—even though she knew there was no sense giving further thoughts to him. He had made it perfectly clear he wasn’t interested in getting married any time soon.
She peeked around the doorframe and saw the captain sitting in a chair by the window. His brother had his back to the room and stood in shadows. One hand was pulling back the drapery. The other was bent behind his back.
“Good afternoon, Captain Tyler. Your mother is downstairs having a word with the doctor, but I understand she’d like to take you on an outing to get some fresh air,” Patience said as she began making her way into the room.
“Ah… here she is now. The woman who brightens my day by just smiling in my direction,” Gideon beamed happily. “May I present—”
His brother dropped the curtain and turned giving a bow and Patience’s mouth hung open at whom she saw. “Hades?”
“Persephone?” Her name from the Lyon’s Den fell from his lips like a soft caress.
“What are you doing here?” they said in unison while Gideon frowned as he looked between them.
Gideon wagged his finger from one to the other. “You two know one another?” he asked scowling.
“We have not been… formally introduced. Please do the honors, Gideon,” Hades urged stepping forward.
“Mrs. Patience Moore… may I present my brother, Asher Tyler, Earl of Rowley,” Gideon said looking none too pleased.
Patience gave a curtsey. “Lord Rowley.”
The man crossed the small bit of distance to take her hand. Patience thought he would only bend over and kiss the air between her skin and his lips. Instead, he pressed his lips to her suddenly fevered skin.
“Finally… I have a name to go withmygoddess,” Asher said in such a husky tone and Patience wished, for the briefest of seconds, that they were alone.
She raised one of her brows at him and tugged gently at her hand to free it. “I am hardly yours, my lord,” she whispered. “Not today, nor was I yesterday, or at any of our other previous encounters.”
A small hum left him as he tilted his blond head at her. Those hazel eyes of his were going to be her undoing. And then he spoke, and a little thrill went right through her.
“And yet you tossed me a pomegranate the last time I saw you. One seed for every month Persephone was to spend with Hades in the underworld if I recall correctly. Do you know how many seeds are in one fruit, Mrs. Moore?”
“What difference does it make when you made it clear you are not interested in me?” she inquired while trying to keep her composure.
“I never said I wasn’t interested inyou, Persephone. I’m just not interested in getting married. There is a difference,” he stated as he stepped even closer.
“Excuseme…” Gideon interrupted. “Will one of you kindly inform me what the hell is going on?”
Patience looked around the man who seemed to take up all the air in the room to look at the younger gentleman, who currently had an angry scowl set upon his face. “It’s nothing to worry over, Captain. Your brother and I have a different view on the meaning of marriage and its importance.”
Gideon’s laughter rang out in the room. “Ash has no intention of marrying anytime soon, Mrs. Moore. OfthatI have no doubt. When he does, he’ll end up with one of those high society debutantes he can’t stand.”
Her heart sank at the captain’s words. Not that she wasn’t perfectly aware of the situation. She had guessed that her Hades was the sort of man who moved in elevated circles, and who would need a wife on his level. After all, they didn’t let just anyone into the Lyon’s Den. But she knew how the world went and she was never a part of the same circle he moved in.
She apparently didn’t check her emotions fast enough as the earl took hold of her chin. Lifting her face, she noticed his ownrush of emotions sweeping across his features. From what she could gather, he reflected mostly concern.
