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He had not been reserved in their youth. Madeline suspected the aloofness was a defense against his abandoned dreams. If he dared to consider his own desires, she thought, he would come undone. He was the rock that held the Scotts together, and she did not believe he received any benefit for his efforts.

“What has happened?”

Molly walked over to collapse on the bench beside her. “His older brother, Peter, the one who died?”

“What of him?”

“He had sons! An heir and a spare, which means …” She did not complete the sentence, the announcement hanging in the air as if a cannon had been shot.

Madeline gasped as the realization hit her. “Simon will not inherit!”

“Just so. But it is worse than that. That baron who was murdered, Lord Filminster, it is believed he was killed to conceal the heirs.”

Every aspect of his life was up in the air like hundreds of leaves swirling in a blustering wind.

Except for one.

Despite the revelations, Simon was still required to marry Olivia Boyle, a fact that made the walls move to box him in.

As little affinity as he had for his betrothed, she was an innocent debutante whose reputation would be sullied if he left her unprotected against high-society scandal. The demons of the ton would eat her alive if he were to break their engagement, not to mention there would be rumors that they had lain together due to the nature of betrothals.

As he contemplated the regrets he had for his decisions over the last ten years, the one comfort he could cling to was that he had tried to do what was right. But, unfortunately, what was right was to honor his commitment to the viscount’s daughter or else ruin her within polite society.

Simon realized that, for the first time in his life, he did not know what the future held.

In his youth, he had been committed to following his Psyche into trade. Bigsby’s Stone Manufactory had been a temple of possibilities to his youthful self.

Then, after his brother’s accident, Simon had pursued his obligations with the knowledge that if he were to be the baron, he would be the best baron he could be. He had spent his time learning and improving the holdings of the Blackwood title, despite his interests lying in a different direction, where artistry and business blended together into a stone empire.

Now … now he had no notion of who he was and what he was to do with himself. A man unmoored. The one thing he knew was that he was a man of honor who must hold on to his integrity despite the fearsome storms of life.

He tried to calculate some way out of the muddle, but⁠—

A light knock sounded on the study door, which was shut after John had left and Simon had shooed the rest of the family out. Simon gnashed his teeth in aggravation before tempering his impatience to call out.

“Come in.”

The door swung open, and Molly popped her head around. “Oh, good. You are here.”

She disappeared again, leaving the door wide open to bedevil Simon. He jumped to his feet to cross the room when an unexpected figure appeared in her place. Simon stopped in bewilderment.

“Why are you here?” he cried.

“Because you need me,” Madeline replied in a pragmatic tone.

She swung the door closed and approached him where he had halted in the middle of the room, stopping to peer up at him with concern. “Molly said you were in need of a friend, so she helped me sneak in through the garden to see you.”

Simon stared down at the face of feminine perfection and thought about how he would have been free to court her if he had not signed that poxed contract two weeks earlier. Instead, he would have to settle for … friendship.

“I am …” He shook his head, grinding to a stop as words failed him.

“You are free to follow your own path. It will take a minute to work out what that is, but you are a resourceful man who will work out a new plan.”

“Unfortunately, that future will include—” He could not bring himself to complete the sentence.

“Your future will include Miss Boyle.”

Simon bobbed his head, relieved she understood without an explanation. Molly had been right. He needed to speak with someone who understood him. Someone he should have never deserted, who cared for his happiness, and from whom he should have sought advice this past decade.