Of course Simon hadn't known about Jane and Edward's true relationship. He'd found her penniless and scared in a bus stop and he'd just assumed. He guessed it's true what they say about assuming…
He was disappointed about that, it would have been less complicated if Edward had been abusive. Now he would have to start fresh with convincing Jane to go with him. Oh, he certainly wasn't going to give up after this, no matter how mad she must be at him now. He would have to think of a new plan…
None of this had gone the way that he had imagined it. After Jane had spoken so passionately about wanting to do more to help people in need, his mind had immediately begun spinning. He believed fully and completely in helping as many people as possible, even at the cost of his own happiness, and he had thought maybe Jane would be able to feel the same. It was perfect that she had studied to be a nurse, because as a doctor in India, he would need a help-mate, someone he could rely on, and at least Jane wasn't a perfect stranger. He'd incorrectly assumed she would be on board as soon as he mentioned it. Trying a different tactic the next time, he approached her with a full-fledged plan. He liked making plans and he hadn't had the chance to make many after his own journey to India had been decided and settled. He worked out every detail, he'd even gotten Jane's transcripts from University to assure himself that she was qualified and would get a position. As his nurse, they would need the ability to stay together, and he would need to be able to keep a close eye on her; she wasn't exactly the most cautious person, so he had planned that out too. Surely, a marriage was the easiest way to do that. It would be quick and easy, and for him, painless, but apparently for her…
He didn't really want to marry her either, he wasn't truly sure he ever wanted to marry. He kept his own thoughts to himself, and he expected others to do the same. He thought the best conversation between two people was silence, so any relationship that he would be forced to "willingly" talk about his inner-most thoughts was abhorrent to him. It truly baffled him the way Jane forced her inner thoughts on everyone around her: Mary, Diana, her vlog audience. He didn't know how he would be able to force her to stop doing that, he would have to make her understand, see it from his point of view. He started coming up with his reasoning, the exact turns of phrases and points to use that would convince her, but then he caught himself. She hasn't agreed to go yet, you still have to persuade her of that first.
Jane was smart, kind, capable, educated, but most importantly in this instance: passionate, emotional, and she knew the feeling of loneliness and had no taste for it. That he could work with. She had known love, she missed it, and she missed sharing love with someone else, maybe it was only a particular someone, but maybe not.
He knew that, in his sister's eyes at least (through the whispers and glances he had heard and seen), he and Jane had shared some awkward, almost flirtatious moments. He hadn't realized this at the time, but he had drawn the conclusion that his sister's thought maybe an attachment was forming between himself and Jane. Perhaps he could get Jane to believe it too…
Jane liked logic and reason, she had studied science after all, but deep down she was driven by her passion. Of course she was! Why hadn't he realized that before? Of course she firmly rejected him when he tried to use a logical and reasonable plan to persuade her! He would have to persuade her with the same emotion she held so dear, but carefully, oh so carefully. He would have to dress it in the logic and reason she thought held sway over her, otherwise she would see straight through him.
He had to persuade her to come with him. There was no other option he could see anymore, he had already decided. She had the ability to do more good in the world, and he had taken it upon himself to see that she did it, no matter the cost to herself. If he could sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of the world, then surely, she could do the same. Over time, he believed, he maybe could have convinced her of this, wore her down, bent her until she finally broke and agreed, but he did not have the time. He was to leave in three months and her application would take at least a month to go through. It had to be now.
Having never been in love himself, (he'd never felt "in love" with Rose, merely enchanted) he didn't know if he could make another fall in love with him, especially not one who had felt love before. But , ah, this is where Jane's loneliness would help him. She missed Edward, but more importantly, Simon guessed that she missed being that close with someone, having that kind of contact, the romance of newfound love. She would jump at the chance to fall in love again, especially with someone who already knew of her character and her flaws, if not her past.
He didn't like the word seduce, he certainly didn't think that was what he was doing. He was…persuading her. He was simply making sure she was set firmly on the path to do the right thing.
With his knowledge of her passion, her desire to seem logical, her ache to be in love, he would persuade her, he would play her like a harp, straight into his waiting arms…