Hello, again, I'm back with another installment! I hope you've been enjoying it so far and are looking forward to seeing how their story progresses.

Chapter Four

Simon had spent most of the first day of February grading the first essays of the semester. He'd made such an effort to not be the stingy dickhead he'd been for most of his career, and it looked like it might have been working. So far, he'd graded nothing below a C-. There were a high number of C-minuses, but it was a step in the right direction.

He was now on a mission. He'd waited a few days, had spent his weekend brushing up on some of his lecture topics for the next few weeks and watching the Oscars preview marathon. He'd given it enough time. He had to know if his ruse with Daphne would continue. There was always the chance she'd had such a good time with Friedrich that she wanted to call it off.

And while he was taking a step in the right direction, he didn't think it was enough that he could avoid Berbrooke firing him in retaliation if he and Daphne ended things. And selfishly, he'd be a little upset if she ended things. He was enjoying the softer side of the Bridgertons.

So he turned into her office, knowing she had an hour between lectures and she'd be finishing off her lecture slides. He'd come to learn her indecision came with a healthy dose of procrastination. And lo and behold, when he slid through the open door of her office, she sat with her nose buried in her computer. He could see the slide she was editing open in Powerpoint. A little frown marred the space between her eyebrows.

He'd looked at her a lot. But he hadn't really taken the time to look. So he did now. Her skin was smooth and clear, radiant. He'd thought of the strawberries and clotted cream at his favorite afternoon tea when he'd first seen her. Creamy, warm skin with a pinch of strawberry flush at the cheeks and lips. Wide set eyes, framed by feathery lashes and nearly straight brows. A narrow nose that ended in a button, but didn't turn up. A soft chin and cheekbones spoke to a classically feminine bone structure. Dirty blonde waves fell to her shoulders, now pulled back into a loose bun at the nape of her neck.

But her eyes really did him in. They were the most interesting mix of navy and gray. He wanted to spend hours looking into them, just to figure exactly what color they were. He must have shifted or made some noise, because those eyes shot to him, startled. "Simon. How long have you been standing there?"

Longer than he should. "Not too long." He nodded at her monitor. "Last minute lesson planning?"

She shook her head. "Some of the students are having a hard time understanding the link between carving style in the geometric period and the rise of the Greek civilization as a world power. So I'm drawing up a few examples to compare and contrast them to similar areas to show them how the cultural influences of other civilizations pushed them forward."

She wasn't even looking at him when she said it, but he was fascinated. Hearing her talk so definitively about his field was…hot. "Valentine's Day is coming up. I think we should make plans."

She did glance up at that. "Oh. Yeah. That makes sense. Even new couples usually do something."

"Right." He had to remember this was for the plan. His career and his sanity as a bachelor depended on its success. "So, what do you think?"

"Yeah, I think it would be a good idea for us to get out there. This is has been working remarkably well. Nigel hasn't stopped by my office alone in a week." She smiled.

"Not to mention the attractive, single man you went out with last weekend." Simon simply quirked his eyebrow when she looked up at him in surprise.

"How did you know about that?"

He paid too much attention to her. "Friedrich asked me if he would be getting in the middle of anything last week."

"What did you tell him?" She seemed very interested in his answer. That was interesting.

"That we just started seeing each other. It's casual, and there's nothing to get in between yet."

"Good thinking." It was a little too cheery.

"It seems you have a decision to make sometime soon." Okay, so maybe he wanted to see how she would react.

She took in a sharp breath. "One made much easier by the fact that there's really only one option."

He could tell the topic bothered her. "Well, you still have a choice. You don't have to take the option. You could decide on neither of us."

She shot him a grateful smile. "You make a good point."

"So, I'll make some reservations, and I'll text you the details." He noticed the fatigue in her eyes for the first time. Something was exhausting her, and he really hoped it wasn't him.

Simon could see Nigel Berbrooke slip into his classroom in the last five minutes. Well, it was more like he felt the air in the room change. It got suddenly cold and clammy. "So, now, we're starting to see some of those trade routes rising through southern Europe. It's the earliest form of globalization we study. Moving goods across the desert from the fertile crescent to north Africa was difficult, but crossing the Mediterranean or trying to make long distance land voyages through Turkey and over into the Balkans was a daunting task as well."

He glanced up at the clock, then over to his fifteen students. Usually, these intro to Classics lectures had a few more students, but the degree was dying out. In his upper level seminars, he would be hard pressed to find a class with more than five students. Luckily, these students actually looked moderately engaged. "With the stage set, I want to hear from all of you, based on what we've discussed and what you can find in the next chapter of the book, what you think is the most important outcome of this increased trade. Just one or two hundred words explaining what you think and why. Turn it in by midnight the night before the next class, and we'll discuss next week. Have a good weekend, everyone."

Simon could tell they were confused at the warm dismissal. Normally, he'd end class with a pithy "that's it for today, you're free to go", but he knew Nigel was looking for any excuse to dock him on his evaluations. They filed slowly out of the classroom, leaving the two professors alone. "Nigel, what can I do for you?"

"Nothing much, Bassett." Simon assumed Nigel thought he had on a charming smile, but it looked rather slimy in reality. "I'm observing all of my professors a few times this semester to get a better idea of how and what they're teaching."

Bullshit. "I hope I performed up to par."

"Yes, well, so far so good, I suppose." Simon could see Nigel's nice-guy façade cracking. "Say, Bassett, didn't you tell me Daphne was nothing special when we met the first day of the semester?"

"I don't know that I used those words." Simon was not backing down on this one. "I also didn't know who you were talking about. Once we figured out we both worked in the same place, it all just clicked." He barely resisted the urge to patronizingly ask Nigel if he'd ever had one of those moments. But he wasn't going to give the other man the satisfaction of having something concrete over his head come professional evaluations.

"I see," Nigel returned stiffly. "Well, I hope you two are happy."

"We are." And Simon didn't even have to lie to say it. "Do you have any Valentine's Day plans, Nigel?" Okay, he couldn't resist this one.

"Not yet." He straightened to his quite average height and pursed his thin, wrinkled lips. "But I suppose I'll see you out then."

"I suppose so." Simon didn't know why he was being so civil. Nigel's presence was normally an annoyance enough for him to be a grump. But he was…not even a bit miffed today. Curious.

"Well…have a good day, then, Bassett."

"You as well, Nigel." Simon even pasted a smile on his face, just to see how much he could bother Nigel. Apparently, a lot, because the other man nearly ran into the doorframe on his way out of the room.

It wasn't a few hours after her conversation with Simon that Friedrich made his way into Daphne's office. "Well, hello, there."

Daphne started, not expecting anyone else to be stopping by her office today. She had started reading homework assignments when her last lecture finished. She was just planning to keep her head down and plow through them while she had some extra time. "Friedrich. Hi."

"I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to see if you might be interested in dinner on Valentine's Day." She hadn't really been expecting him to ask. Okay, that wasn't totally true. She had been hoping he didn't ask. She told herself it was because she'd already made fake plans with Simon to do something that would probably be real fun, and she didn't want to have to turn Friedrich down.

"Oh. Um, I actually—" She couldn't even get the whole phrase out before his puppy dog face fell.

"You already have plans."

"Sort of." She couldn't contain her wince. "I'm sorry. I didn't know if you'd think it was too fast, or… or if you just wouldn't want to go."

"I definitely want to go." He was recovering well. "How about the day after? It can be a little make up."

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but it wasn't for him to just go with the situation. "Okay, I guess. Yeah, we should."

"Great." His smile was back. It seemed nothing kept Friedrich down for long. "I'll see you later, then."

"See you." She sat back in her chair, conflicted. Her heart wasn't yet in this thing with Friedrich, no matter how much she wanted it to be. Sometime soon, she really would have to make a decision.

Daphne was practically wearing a hole in her floor. The eight days had passed in a blur, and suddenly, it was Valentine's Day. She had been in a bit of a haze—despite knowing she really wanted to be a teacher, she was having a bit of a time actually connecting with her classes. They got along just fine, but she was still figuring out how to make it all make sense to them. She knew from experience that some teachers just didn't know how to get out of their own perspective and find a way to get material to their students in a way that made sense to them. She would not be one of them.

Because of that, she had been a bit disconnected from the rest of the world. She'd only seen Simon and Friedrich in passing, which did have the added side effect of not adding to her stress. What was there to stress about if she wasn't even talking to them?

But it also meant she didn't get to really connect with anyone. Outside of the two men, she hadn't yet made many friends on campus. She wasn't desperate for socialization—she still heard from her siblings plenty—but it would be nice to have someone around who could just be a friend. No questioning what these feelings were. No dreams that made her wake up in a hot sweat.

So here she was, pacing the floor of her apartment, because she had plans with Simon soon, and he was all of those things she didn't want a friend to be. They didn't text much. They'd decided they were friends, but that didn't mean they were close. So when she got a text from him an hour ago, she'd gotten a little…stressed.

Simon Bassett: Dinner at 8. Dress nice. I'll pick you up.

He hadn't seemed to care if she responded either. Which she hadn't yet, because she really didn't know what to make of the feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had half a day until 8, but she needed to get rid of this antsy, unsettled feeling first.

She stopped in her tracks when he phone rang. She smiled and picked up on the second ring. "Fran! How's being engaged?"

"Today is the first Valentine's Day of the rest of my life!" Francesca wasn't an overly emotional person, so Daphne loved hearing the excitement in her voice. It was bittersweet. Francesca had found something Daphne would almost certainly never have: love without strings. Even in her effort to break free of her family's—okay, mostly her brother's—expectations, she still found herself in a relationship with strings. If it could even be called a relationship.

"That's exciting. What do you and John have planned?" Daphne sat down on her couch, though she couldn't stop her knee from bouncing a little bit. Too much nervous energy.

"You know I don't go for all the romantic nonsense, but he has a whole picnic under the stars planned for us." Francesca sounded like she was practically vibrating with a completely different type of energy. Daphne could tell this conversation could go very much in the wrong direction if she didn't turn it around.

"That sounds nice. I'm excited to meet him at the wedding. Do you know when and where yet?" Daphne had already planned on spending her summer months with her family, so she knew she'd be drawn in to the wedding planning process at some point.

"August 15th, at the Balmoral in Edinburgh." Daphne could only imagine how excited her mother, Violet, was about the prospect. Unlike Anthony, and even their father, Violet lived to make sure her children found love and happiness. It sounds like Francesca had.

"Well, that's exciting. Let me know if I can help."

"You can help me now." A hint of that trademark Bridgerton mischievousness crept into her sister's voice. "Please tell me you have plans tonight."

"I do," Daphne admitted after a long pause. "Technically."

"What do you mean technically?"

Time to pony up, Daph. "I have a thing that's not really a date. There's this guy, who's my boss, and he kept making passes at me. Fran, I can't even tell you how creepy he was. So one of my coworkers stepped in. And he pretended to be my boyfriend to get my boss to leave me alone. We're still keeping up appearances, so we have plans tonight."

"Spill, Daffodil." Francesca giggled. She never giggled. "That rhymed."

"Funny."

"Oh, come on. I'm just trying to lighten the mood." Francesca seemed to settle a little bit after that. "It's not easy being alone, Daph. You need to talk to someone."

"Yeah." Daphne sighed, waiting through the pregnant pause. "Fine. This guy, it's complicated. On so many levels. He's Anthony's best friend."

"Simon Bassett?" Francesca sounded like someone who had just gotten her hands on the juiciest nugget of gossip.

"How do you know Simon?" Daphne was taken aback. And suddenly really hoping that she wasn't entangled with a man who groomed her younger sister.

"I studied in Bath for a few years. I used to visit Anthony when he was at university. He and Simon were already attached at the hip by then." Daphne breathed a sigh of relief. "Wait, you didn't think he and I were ever—"

"I was really hoping not." Daphne rushed.

"Ah, because you like him," Francesca returned, with all the glee of a younger sibling torturing her older sister.

"I don't… know." Daphne sighed again. She seemed to be doing that a lot these days. "it doesn't matter anyway. He's patently anti-commitment, and Anthony would certainly never approve."

"Oh, screw Anthony. The man is one of my favorite people, but the stick has been driven so far up his ass, it must be permanently attached at this point."

"Fran," Daphne gasped, overdramatically. "You've been spending time with Eloise."

"Try Hyacinth," Francesca snorted. "The girl is fourteen with the mouth of a sailor."

"Well, good for her. Someone in this family should be willing to make Anthony's life hell."

"You know you don't have to just bend to his will, right?" Francesca sounded quieter, like she was actually serious this time. "We'd all be behind you if you did something different from what he wanted."

"Yeah," Daphne answered, just as quietly.

"Hey, that night I told you to wear a skirt. You did it, didn't you?" Francesca's tone lightened again.

"Yeah, I did." Daphne actually felt the flush creeping up her cheeks.

"I bet he liked it."

Daphne smiled to herself. "Really?"

"Have fun tonight. And let yourself see how things go. You never know where it'll end up."

"Wow, you're really all about the optimism now that you've found your happily ever after, aren't you?" Daphne tried not to sound too snarky. She was happy for Francesca, and she knew she couldn't be too annoyed with her for too long.

"I am. Promise me you'll try to have fun."

"Alright, fine. I'll try." Daphne shook her head. "You go have fun with your fiancée."

"Trust me, I will."

"Gross, Fran." Daphne laughed as she snapped her phone shut. And she looked over to the clock. Four and a half hours until Simon was due to pick her up.

Simon wasn't sure why he was so unsettled that Daphne hadn't answered his text. He hadn't asked a question. And yet, it kind of irked him. Enough that he didn't look at who the incoming Skype was from before he sat down at his desk and answered it.

"Bassett!" Anthony's grinning face filled his computer screen.

Simon closed his eyes. The last person he wanted to be talking to before he went out with Daphne was her brother, even if he was Simon's best friend. Especially when the dreams of her hadn't ceased—and yeah, maybe he'd jacked off in the shower thinking about her a few times when his morning wood just wouldn't go down. But he wouldn't ever admit that to Daphne, let alone Anthony. "Bridgerton, how are you?"

Anthony laughed, and Simon could see some flashing lights in the background. "It's a great day, Bassett."

"Did you bring a computer to the club?" Simon nearly couldn't believe it, except that he could. Anthony had a lot on his plate, and he usually dealt with it by partying his ass off. A very healthy coping mechanism.

"We just wanted to say hi, Si!"

"We?" Simon squinted at the screen. And then Anthony moved to the side, and Benedict and Colin Bridgerton's grinning faces filled the window. "Ah, so it's all the Bridgerton boys out tonight."

"Except Greg!" Colin interjected, certainly drunkenly. "He's at a big boy-girl party at school."

"He's gonna get laid!" Benedict chimed in.

"No, no, no. He's watching Hyacinth. He better make sure no one gets within a meter of her." Anthony popped back into his screen.

"Boundaries, Bridgerton," Simon reminded him.

"She's fourteen. It's my job to make sure she finishes school chaste and not knocked up." Anthony downs another shot.

"Hyacinth can take care of herself," Colin assured Simon, only slightly slurring his words. "We just want to make sure she has some extra protection."

"Speaking of which, what is Daphne doing tonight?" Anthony raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"Daphne can also take care of herself." Simon said, trying to calm the pulse that spiked. He didn't want to lie to his best friend. So he went with diversion.

Anthony snorted. Simon didn't find himself upset at any of the Bridgertons often, if ever. But he wanted to level a fist at Anthony's face right then. Simon didn't know Daphne all that well, and he already knew more about her than it seemed Anthony did.

"Just keep an eye on her tonight." Anthony looked over his shoulder and saw something that made him grin.

"I'm not staking out a dinner date." Simon had to put his foot down. Daphne's relationship with her brother was hers to take care of, but that didn't mean Simon was going to roll over.

"Night, Bassett!" Anthony had clearly stopped paying attention, and soon darted off to chase whatever woman he'd spotted over his shoulder.

Benedict and Colin had stayed behind, presumably with whatever laptop they'd brought to the bar with them. "You two keep an eye on him tonight. Don't let him go full self-destruction."

The two brothers, who Simon really was almost as close to as Anthony himself, nodded before waving goodbye. Simon heaved out a sigh of relief. He was clear, at least until he had to come face to face with Daphne. Which was in just a few hours.

She looked gorgeous. He'd noticed it more and more every time he saw her, but tonight, with her blonde hair smooth and tucked behind her ears, her eyes ringed with some kind of black product that made the color even more vibrant than usual, she was breathtaking.

He actually felt like he'd had the wind knocked out of him when he'd seen her standing outside of her apartment earlier. She was average height, but her legs looked like they went on forever in a barely there, wispy white dress that fluttered not too far beneath her perky butt. Sexy silver stilettos lifted her up even more. The top of the dress made him think of Marilyn Monroe, with satiny white straps covering her breasts and tying behind her neck.

Now he was sitting across from her in the back of a sushi restaurant, and he was trying not to stare. "How's your rainbow roll?"

"Delicious." She shot him a smile. "London is a great city, and you can find about any food you want there. But there is no comparison to here. Every little place in America has so much variety."

"You're telling me. Mondrich knows how crazy I go for barbecue." He lifted another piece of dragon roll covered in soy sauce to his mouth. "Glad I picked a good restaurant. If you have to spend tonight with me when you probably wouldn't have chosen to, at least I can feed you something you like."

"You picked well." She was flawless with her chopsticks. He supposed for someone who grew up traipsing the globe with her family, she should be good at that sort of thing. "So, how's it going chasing away all those sex-starved women?"

"Oh, very well. It seems you're quite the deterrent." He grinned at her to show he was kidding. He was a gruff person on a good day, but something about her made him want to loosen up. Of course, he was still going to poke a little fun at her. But it wasn't an insult, because he was happy it was happening.

"That's very nice of you." She seemed to be playing along, which was definitely a good sign.

"Yeah, I really appreciate it." He could see her eyebrows raise, just a tiny bit. If he wasn't paying such close attention to her, he wouldn't have noticed it. But he thought she might actually be a little impressed with him.

And he realized that meant he was at a crossroads. He'd spent a month pretending to date her, actually finding that she wasn't so bad to spend time with. He found himself wanting to spend more time with her. And he knew that, even if they were just going to be friends, which he wasn't sure would be the case at this point, he had to give her something real. And given that she was her, and Anthony was her brother, it wasn't like there was a long-term future for them anyway. "I told you about why I don't do relationships, right?"

"Yeah, you can't have kids." Her perfectly groomed brows furrowed. "I know you might not want to hear this, but that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't have a relationship. Yeah, most women want kids. But not all. I'm sure there's a woman out there who would happily marry you with the knowledge you'd never have kids."

"Would you?" The words surprised even him. He had been thinking that maybe being vulnerable for the first time in a long time would be a good thing, and the next thing he does, he's asking her if she'd marry someone without the promise of kids.

"I've never considered it. Really, I've never considered much of anything." She smiled softly, and he could tell it was to herself, and not to him. "I haven't been in control of who I marry ever in my life. It wasn't just that Anthony kept men away from me, though he certainly did that." Simon smiled, because of course Anthony did. And he filed away in his brain that he really, really needed to have that boundaries talk with him. "But he also made it clear that there is a very specific man that I should marry. A good family, old money, hopefully a title, because even though we're in the 21st century, we're still traditional. I guess that's part of why I'm not pursuing Friedrich so much as I should. I know Anthony will never let it be."

Simon thought about it. And he would get to the part where he comforted her, and hopefully actually opened up to her, too. But right now, he had to know something else. "What's the other part?"

Daphne looked at him, tilting her head as if deciding what to tell him. "I don't know. I guess…he just doesn't really excite me. He's nice and funny. But I don't get sweaty palms, or butterflies, or just want to sit there talking with him all night. I guess if I were to marry someone I was actually in love with, I'd want those things."

That made sense. And it really made him realize that, despite everything, he felt all those things with her. And that was something he hadn't prepared for.

Daphne was starting to worry she'd been too open, given too much away. He'd been silent for a long time, just watching her. She blushed and ducked her head. "Or, you know, I'll just end up marrying whoever Anthony picks for me."

"You don't have to do that." She looked up, sensing the sincerity in his voice. It was the second time tonight someone had said that to her. He was watching her intently, like he really wanted to know she understood.

"Thanks for saying that." The look on his face, it was so unlike anything she'd seen from him before. She couldn't quite crack it.

"I mean it." He sat back in his chair, still watching her enigmatically. "I can't have kids. You know that. But I never told you about my parents." He took a moment, because he hadn't told anyone this in about a decade. "My mother died during childbirth. And my father was a mean bastard. I was raised by my mother's best friend, Willa Danbury."

"She's a very nice woman. And strong as hell." Daphne had known Lady Danbury since she was a young child. Her husband had passed early, after complications from a combat injury. She was a close personal friend of Violet's, and Daphne suddenly wondered why she hadn't known Simon since she was born.

"She is. She had to be, to stand up to my father." She could see the wheels turning in his head. This was clearly not easy for him to say. "I had a stutter as a child. And I didn't speak until I was almost eight. I couldn't tell you why, I just couldn't do it. My father was constantly away, and I didn't know how to make him come back. So I tried to please him. For years. Until he came home, drunk, and nearly beat me to a pulp. Lady Danbury got between him and me, and reminded him that I was his only heir. The family dies out with him if I passed—I guess it's sort of ironic that it will end with me after all. But that didn't work the way she wanted it to. He disowned me. I went to live with her."

"Simon, I'm so sorry you went through that." Her heart ached for him. She'd been worried about not being able to marry whoever she wanted to—and she didn't even have someone in mind for it—and he had this whole trauma to get over.

"I'm okay now." He shot her a small but genuine smile. "With Lady Danbury, I started to speak. It must have been something about the pressure of being in my father's home that kept me from it as a child. And then I spent ten years proving my father wrong. I worked with a speech therapist to get rid of the stutter. Studied every subject I could get my hands on. And I think I did it. He never got to see it. Even though I was raised with Lady Danbury, he never took me out of his will. A few years ago, a solicitor called me. My father passed away from lung cancer. It must have been the decades smoking cigarettes. I got my inheritance, but I was already living here. And I have no interest in going back to that house or that family."

Daphne wished she had something to say. But what do you say to that? I'm sorry you went through that, but I think I really like you, and I'd like you to commit to me anyway? Yeah. There was nothing that would go over well.

"My point is, you don't have to marry just whoever. Every day I wish my mother hadn't been trapped into a loveless marriage with my father." Simon shook his head. "I know we're not close, and this isn't real. But I'm here to help you deal with Anthony whenever you need it."

And damn if that didn't make her like him even more.