Chapter Eleven

P atience finished tying the bandage around the woman's shoulder to keep her broken arm in place. Her gaze went to the doctor who watched her from the other side of the bed, and he nodded his approval. The lady had been recovering from a recent illness and the plan had been to allow her to finally return home. That was until she slipped and fell. With a broken arm, Lady Kennedy had moaned about her fate of not being allowed to go home now that she was injured again.

"Good job, Mrs. Moore. I couldn't have prepared that sling any better," Dr. Thornberry said taking off his spectacles and nodding to his patient. "Keep this on to help your arm stay immobile, Lady Kennedy."

"I just want to go home, Dr. Thornberry," Lady Kennedy complained.

The doctor nodded. "I see no reason why your son and daughter can't take you home. They're already waiting downstairs. I'll come over to your townhouse in two weeks' time to examine the bone to see how it's mending. There's no need to return here. I believe your stay at my convalescent home is at an end."

"Thank you, Dr. Thornberry. I'm so very thankful for the care you've given me but I must admit, I'm looking forward to finally returning home," the lady said as Patience assisted her to stand.

"Would you be so good as to see Lady Kennedy to the front door before you make the rest of your rounds, Mrs. Moore?" the doctor asked.

"It would be my pleasure," Patience answered before she began to walk with the woman. The lady began to prattle on about her adult children and all the things she planned to do once her arm healed and she could resume her normal duties in her own household.

"You've been a dear, Mrs. Moore," the lady declared.

"Please be careful when you get home and don't overdo things, Lady Kennedy. You will still need time to rest and heal," Patience said before the butler opened the door for the woman to leave while her son and daughter each took care to help her outside.

The lady waved her good arm in a farewell as another carriage pulled to the front of the townhouse. Patience returned the gesture as she waited inside the door. Captain Tyler's mother alit from the conveyance and entered the foyer.

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… indelicate and 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 to see 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 with my goddess," 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 in you , Persephone. I'm just not interested in getting married. There is a difference," he stated as he stepped even closer.

"Excuse me …" 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. Of that I 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 own rush of emotions sweeping across his features. From what she could gather, he reflected mostly concern.

"Pay my brother no attention, Mrs. Moore," Asher said softly as though to calm her racing nerves.

She broke the spell he was weaving around her by stepping away from the warmth of his body. "It's hard to ignore the facts, Lord Rowley. You are titled and expected to marry well—when you finally concede to marry at all. I am certainly no debutante nor any of those women who are considered acceptable within the ton ."

"You are beyond compare to any of those ladies who could be found in a ballroom, Mrs. Moore," Gideon interjected forcing Patience to give a nod of her head toward the younger man.

"I appreciate your kind words, Captain Tyler, but the reality of my situation doesn't change the facts," Patience answered grimly. It was an honest evaluation of all her problems that a good marriage might fix.

Asher reached again for her hand. "Perhaps we can change all that together," he suggested with an encouraging smile.

She widened her eyes but his words only caused Patience to frown. Was he offering to make her his mistress? She had no interest in such an arrangement. She would never dream of looking down on those who had accepted that lifestyle—her dearest friend among them—but even beyond the so-called "sin" of being a kept woman, Patience feared the uncertainty of it. A mistress could be discarded on the slightest whim. It was not a position that offered any guarantee of security. No, far better to be a wife, even to a man who did not stir her passions, than to be the temporary plaything of a man she could not trust.

"Would you excuse us for a moment, Captain Tyler. Your brother and I need to discuss something," Patience said not giving Gideon time to respond. She pulled at Asher's hand leading him out into the corridor where they could speak privately. "Just exactly what are your intentions, Lord Rowley? Are you after some meaningless affair?"

"That's extremely direct, Mrs. Moore," he exclaimed with a startled expression sweeping across his handsome face.

"Given the circumstances, I see no reason to not be direct, sir, as my future depends on honesty and finding myself a suitable husband."

"Suitable? As in rich?" he said as though the words were sticking in his throat.

"Suitable as in someone I can trust and come to care for. I don't give a fig how much money the man has as long as he doesn't gamble his fortune away and as long as he treats me with kindness and respect," Patience said moving her hand to her forehead. She sounded like a mean-mouthed old maid. How had such a conversation turned from flirtatious to demanding? This wasn't like her at all.

"You're upset with me…" Asher murmured with wide eyes.

"Of course, I'm upset with you. Has no other woman in your life ever been miffed at your behavior?" she asked in wonder that this man possibly had never been turned down by a woman.

"Besides my mother? Not that I'm aware of."

"Well, I suppose here's another first for you, my lord. Not everyone is going to fall for your irresistible charms."

A chuckle left him. "So, you find me irresistible, Patience?" he asked using her given name as if she had given him permission to do so.

"Right now, I find you irritating, and you have me sounding like a shrew. You seem to bring out the best and the worst in me," she huffed in annoyance not only at how he was acting but how she was, too.

"I have enjoyed seeing you at your best but what has you so upset, my dear?" he whispered. He advanced a step while she retreated. He had that look about him like he'd had in the gardens at the Lyon's Den. Any closer and she was certain he would kiss her.

She held up her hand to halt his progress. "I am upset with you because of your apparent dismissal of this insane connection between us."

"Dismissal? Did I not just say that I would be quite willing to change your situation?"

"By setting me up as your latest mistress? No. That is not an offer I will accept. I seek marriage, sir, as you know perfectly well. I should like to be married to a man I believe I could love."

"And you think that could be me?" He sounded as if he wasn't certain whether or not he liked the idea.

Patience took hold of his hand. A tingling sensation raced up her arm and for the briefest second, she knew he felt it too when his hazel eyes turned to a seductive gleam. "It could be, Asher. I know that something incredible happens between us when we're together."

A frown marred his otherwise attractive face. Before he could reply, his mother came down the hallway and looked between the pair of them.

"Mrs. Moore… you are to accompany us on our ride this afternoon in case my son has need of your services. I have cleared the matter with Dr. Thornberry," the lady proclaimed.

"Yes, my lady. I'll go get my bonnet for the ride. Please excuse me, Lord Rowley," Patience said as she quickly retreated down the hallway.

With her heart racing, she left the man standing in the hallway with his mother. She would be spending the remainder of the afternoon in a carriage with Hades… or, as she should now think of him, Lord Rowley. It was only then that she realized she had murmured his given name when she attempted for him to see her point. God help her!