A Gentleman's Vow (Saints and Sinners 2)

Gideon did not answer that.

“Wait too long, and you’ll lose your chance.” Rafferty chuckled evilly. “Or are you afraid you’ll disgrace all men on your wedding night when you fail to get a rise at your advanced age?”

Gideon glared at Rafferty. “Not likely.”

“Not with her beauty in your bed, I’d wager.” Rafferty looked at him slyly. “Why haven’t you gone after her yet?”

Gideon pinched the bridge of his nose. “Rafferty, do be quiet. I’m about ready to throttle you.”

“I’d pay to see that. I’ve never known you to lose your temper in all the years we’ve been acquainted.” Rafferty lifted his fists though, throwing a few harmless punches into the empty air between them. “Despite your advanced age, you’ve still got some fight left in you yet, I’m sure.”

“We’re the same age,” Gideon ground out.

“I’m younger.” Rafferty chuckled. “What’s the problem?”

Rafferty had no idea about his childhood, the beatings he’d endured so his mother would remain unharmed. “Too much.”

Rafferty dropped his fists, looped an arm about Gideon’s shoulders and shook him. “Have you never once been in love?”

Gideon almost felt sick to his stomach, especially when thinking of Lord James and Jessica alone together.

Rafferty seemed not to need his answer and kept talking, walking with him back into the crowds. “Tell me, what would you do to win Lady Jessica’s hand in marriage?”

Anything.

Gideon tripped over his own feet but Rafferty held him up. “Steady on, sir, or should I fetch your walking cane or a sedan chair, perhaps.”

“Would you shut up and let me think,” Gideon grumbled.

He’d overcome any obstacle to be the right man to keep her safe. He brushed his hand over his mouth, realizing that for all his hesitation, he might not be able to live in peace without Jessica in his life. He wasn’t sure if that was love or his need to be the one to make her happy. He could have had her last night, but his protective nature got the better of him.

Love? Perhaps, but he’d no idea how to prove it. None at all.

“Thinking. That’s definitely your problem,” Rafferty warned. “Trust me, I’ve been through this before. You just have to throw yourself into the chase and hope to come out on top. You need any pointers for the courtship?”

“No.”

When he spotted Lord James skulking about, cozying up to Jessica’s father, he scowled. Lord James had the advantage of proximity. “Maybe.”

“I’m your man, and I have the perfect solution to your courtship woes. Come with me.”

Gideon followed Rafferty all the way to the Duke of Stapleton’s broad back, a little worried by Rafferty’s enthusiasm to see him leg-shackled at last.

&nbsp

; “Whitfield has just given me the perfect idea, your grace,” Rafferty called out.

The duke turned, a frown marring his face. “Oh?”

“It is well past time you invited us both to stay, like the old days. Wine, and a song or two until dawn. What do you say?”

“Dear God, I was hoping you’d forgotten how to sing. But,” Stapleton’s face grew still, and his eyes darted to where Lord James stood a little to the left, “if Whitfield stays, too, then I can’t see the harm. We’ll make it a proper house party. A week or two, but no sleeping on the dining room table this time, Rafferty. My daughters are old enough to make an example of you.”

Rafferty and Stapleton discussed particulars of their invasion of Stapleton manor within the hour.

Gideon’s head spun at how quickly his future might be changing from what he’d always expected. The dispatch of servants to bring fresh clothing for them both was underway, and to soften the impact of their stay, Gideon pledged his winnings, the wine Rafferty had wagered, to Stapleton’s cellar instead of his own.

Tonight, he would sleep under the same roof as Jessica and had no impetus to return to his own home for the next two weeks. A man might win a woman’s hand in marriage in that space of time…but could Gideon win Jessica’s understanding, too?