People mocking him, feeling sorry for him, pitying him.
Remy swaggered over with a glass of whiskey in his hand. ‘You’re not out there to see their first dance. What’s wrong with you?’
Raoul gave him a look that would have felled a three-hundred-year-old tree. ‘You’re not out there burning up the floor, either. No one taken your eye?’
‘One of the bridesmaids is cute. I think her name is Chloe, but Poppy has warned her about me. I’m not making any inroads.’
‘I feel your pain.’
Remy grinned. ‘What’s going on with you and your therapist?’
‘She’s not my therapist.’
Remy reared back as if Raoul had suddenly lunged at him with a sword. ‘Whoa there, bro. Was that a raw nerve or what?’
‘She’s going back to London the day after tomorrow.’
‘Why?’
‘Because her time is up.’
Remy frowned. ‘But she’s helped you. You’ve done better with her than anyone else. You spent weeks in rehab and got nowhere. Four weeks with her and you’re almost back on your feet. Why would you quit now?’
Raoul set his mouth. ‘I’m not back on my feet.’ Half a minute standing without support is not back on my feet. ‘I might never get back on my feet.’
‘You don’t know that. You can’t predict how you’ll be. You know what the doctors said—it’s a waiting game. It could take weeks or months or even years.’
‘That’s the whole point. I’m not prepared to wait.’
‘So you’re just going to send her away?’
‘She’s got nothing to offer me.’
‘That’s not what Dominique and Etienne say.’
Raoul narrowed his eyes to angry slits. ‘Please don’t tell me you’ve been gossiping about me with the domestic staff.’ Was anyone not gossiping about him?
‘They’re not just domestic staff, they’re like family to you. They care about you.’
‘They’re n
ot paid to care about me.’
‘Neither is Lily Archer, but she cares. She cares a lot.’
‘What would you know?’ Raoul said. ‘You haven’t even met her, or at least only in passing.’
‘No, but I’ve spoken to everyone that has. She’s like Poppy—warm, sweet and generous. I can’t believe you’re such a fool to walk away from someone like that.’
‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’ Raoul gave his younger brother a cutting look. ‘I can’t walk away from her. I can’t walk away from anyone.’
Remy put his whiskey glass down with a clunk. ‘You’re going to break her heart. Think very carefully before you do that.’
Raoul barked out a cynical laugh. ‘I cannot believe you are preaching to me about breaking someone’s heart. Have you taken a look at yourself lately? You haven’t been with a woman more than a week in I don’t know how long. That’s fifty-two hearts you’re breaking per year, right?’
Remy glowered at him. ‘We’re not talking about me here, we’re talking about you.’
‘I know what I’m doing.’