Married By Midnight (6 page)

“
Why not?”

She inclined her head a fraction, surprised that he had to ask the question. “Because I have been living a rather reclusive life in Yorkshire. I haven’t been to London in years and had no reason to expect or hope that anything would change.”

She was acutely aware of his arm resting along the back of the seat while he listened to her explanation.

“
Did no one tell you about me?” she asked. “Do you not know why your brothers came to
me
with this proposition?”

He drew in a deep breath and let it out. “I must confess I left everything in their capable hands and preferred to be kept out of it, in the dark. But now that I have met you, I cannot help but wonder why you have chosen this path. You are not unattractive, Lady Anne. To the contrary you are a beautiful and charming young woman, and you seem to have your wits about you. I didn’t expect them to find anyone quite like you.”

Feeling unexpectedly flattered by his words of appreciation—especially after his behavior the night before—Anne shoved her fists back into her muff and hoped the cold air was enough to hide the rush of heat that suffused her cheeks.

“
I don’t quite know what to say.” She paused and decided the blunt truth was the only option. “Fine. If you must know, there was a terrible scandal about me a few years ago. For that reason, I had no hope of marriage.”

Garrett’s head drew back in surprise. “I see. May I ask what happened?”

“
You may, and I will not hide the truth from you since a contract has been signed and we are to be married in less than two weeks.” She swallowed and continued. “I was very foolish and fell in love with my charming music teacher. We ran off together and I fully intended to marry him. When my father discovered our plan, he pursued us and paid my young man handsomely to give me up. My intended was very quick to accept it, which was devastating to me, for I had given up everything to be with him. I thought he felt the same way, but now I realize he was only using me to advance himself. I believe he was hoping that Father would accept our marriage and provide us with an allowance. It did not work out that way, but still he benefited.”

Anne was quiet for a moment as she remembered the agony of her heartbreak when her father informed her of her lover’s decision.

“
Then what happened?” Garrett asked.

Anne dropped her gaze to her lap as she recalled the day she walked into church and the congregation fell silent. All heads turned to look at her. No one would allow her into a pew. She had no choice but to walk out, and never return.

She pulled herself out of that abyss and met Garrett’s eyes. “My father disowned me. My brother would have nothing to do with me, and my uncle only took me in to care for my elderly grandmother. The moment she was gone, I suddenly became a terrible burden to him. He is very happy to be rid of me, and I assure you I was overjoyed to leave.

“
For that reason,” she continued, “your brothers’ offer was like a gift from heaven. Now I will be able to afford a house of my own and not worry about my uncle marrying me off to some lecherous old man, which I am sure he would have done.”

Garrett inclined his head. “Then I suppose it makes perfect sense that you would accept this proposition. I am pleased we could be of service to you.”

“
And I am pleased I could be of service to
you
,” she replied. “It has all worked out rather well, if I may say so.”

He leaned back comfortably and propped a boot up on the opposite seat. “Yes, indeed. I must confess, now that I know your whole story, I feel a great weight lifted. This whole madcap plan is starting to make some strange sort of sense.”

Anne nodded. “I suppose you could say that.”

They regarded each other with a mutual look of bewilderment, then Garrett leaned to the side to see past the driver.

“
I believe we are almost there. I hope Father remembers how to skate.”

“
He seemed quite lucid last night,” Anne replied. “I am sure he will be fine.”

The driver pulled the sleigh to a gentle halt in front of the octagonal lake house, and the horse jingled the bells as he shook in the harness.

Garrett stood up in the sleigh and offered his hand. “Shall we?”

As Anne gazed up at his clear blue eyes and full lips, she felt an intense shiver of attraction.

His words played over in her mind:
I feared she might want to lure me into a real marriage
.

Working hard to suppress any curiosity about what it might be like to marry a man like this, in earnest, she placed her hand in his and hopped out of the sleigh, onto the snow.

* * *

The servants had arrived early to clear off a large square of ice for skating and to set up a table inside the lake house with hot, spiced apple cider and sandwiches.

Garrett had not seen the lake house in many years and found himself caught up in a whirlwind of childhood memories—of swimming and fishing with his brothers in the summer, of playing hide and seek in the woods in the autumn months.

Though he had left Pembroke under bitter circumstances and hadn’t looked back, he could not deny that there were at least some happy memories here. It hadn’t been all bad, but during his time away he had chosen to forget what was good about this place. It had been easier that way. What was the point in missing what one chose to leave behind?

Charlotte entered the brightly lit lake house at that moment and stomped the snow off her boots at the door.

How lovely she had become, with her golden hair and smiling eyes. She was the one person who had remained in his heart at all times—this twin sister who always understood him and shared with him a spiritual bond like no other person in the world.

Life had been easier for her, of course, because she’d been born a girl. Their father never begrudged her existence, yet while Garrett was fourth in line to a dukedom, he could never inherit. If anything happened to his three older brothers, a scandal would result to protect the true bloodline of descent from a bastard heir.

And no one wanted a scandal.

Garrett was startled by a hand on his shoulder. “Father looks better today,” Devon said. “I haven’t seen him so calm in months. It’s good that you came home. I believe you are the missing link.”

Garrett shook his head. “I find that difficult to swallow. He always hated me.”

“
That’s not true,” Devon argued.

Garrett gave his brother a challenging look.

“
Fine,” Devon replied. “He wasn’t the most affectionate parent where you were concerned, but he seems to have mellowed in his old age. You may find that this strange madness has changed him for the better in some ways. Vincent said the same thing, and they have reconciled completely. This change of mind has brought out another side of Father. His cruelty is gone. He seems grateful to have his family nearby. None of us can help but be moved by how vulnerable he has become—like a child in many ways.”

Garrett watched through the bank of windows as his father stepped onto the ice and gained his footing.

“
You’ll see,” Devon said. “Spend some time with him, will you?”

Garrett nodded and continued to look out the window. One by one, his family members donned their skates and glided onto the ice—Rebecca and Chelsea in their heavy skirts, holding their muffs close while Blake offered his arm and skated beside them for the first few unsteady moments.

The landscape was perfectly white and pristine beneath the clear blue sky. It was an exceptional winter day and Garrett found himself reveling in this drastic change from his life on the hot, sun-bathed island of Santorini—a lonely existence most of the time.

Exceptionally empty in recent months, but he couldn’t bear to think of that now. He pushed it from his mind.

Lady Anne was next to step onto the ice. Garrett chuckled softly as she bent forward awkwardly and wobbled to and fro. Soon, however, she was skating smoothly around the inside perimeter of the square and laughing with Charlotte, Rebecca, and Chelsea.

For a long while he watched her and thought about their conversation in the sleigh. He was surprised by how candid she had been in confessing about her tarnished reputation. Not many women would admit such a thing, and despite the fact that this engagement was a fraud, he found her to be more open and honest than most other women he had met during his life.

She was not trying to entice him into marriage with her charm; she was instead his partner in crime, so to speak, and he felt rather pleased to have a worldly partner for the duration of this charade. On top of all that, she was a stranger at Pembroke, just like he was. Together they would play out this charade. Then they would each be on their own way.

Lady Anne slipped just then and fell forward onto her knees. Garrett was about to rush outside when his entire family skated to her side. She was back on her feet in no time, laughing at herself while the duke followed her around in circles, anxiously checking to ensure she was unharmed.

Anne took his arm and encouraged him to skate beside her, and all was well again.

With a sudden and surprising readiness, Garrett turned away from the window and moved quickly to fetch his skates and join his family on the lake.

Chapter Five

Anne skated with the duke for quite some time. Mostly he talked about his great passion for flowers and garden design. He also explained how he had been forced to dig up his beloved Italian Gardens the previous spring to protect them from the floods, which he believed to be part of the Pembroke Palace curse.

Blake and Devon had explained everything to her before she signed the contract, but it was something else entirely to hear the duke describe the situation. He sounded quite convincing and did not appear mad at all, for they had in fact suffered through a terrible spring that year. A number of floods had washed bridges away. There were even a few tragic deaths. She couldn’t blame His Grace for feeling frightened, yet it was clear that he was becoming delusional in his old age. Sometimes Anne’s grandmother believed Anne to be her own older sister, who had been dead for nearly twenty years.

Anne glanced up when Garrett stepped onto the ice and skated toward Devon. If he hadn’t enjoyed winter activities in years, it was impossible to tell, for he moved with incredible ease and speed. The three brothers began to race around the square while the ladies screeched and laughed as they whizzed by.

Anne let go of the duke’s arm when he waved a scolding finger at them and shouted, “Now, see here! Someone is going to get hurt!”

Blake immediately stopped and suggested the others slow down as well, then escorted his father off the ice and back up to the lake house for a cup of cider.

Anne caught Garrett’s gaze from across the distance and he skated toward her. A flash of heat rushed through her body as he drew closer.

Somehow he was becoming more handsome by the minute. She loved how he moved. He was graceful and strong, so at ease on his skates.

His blades scraped over the ice and sent up a flurry of snow as he stopped before her.

“
Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked with a charming sparkle in his eye.

“
Yes, and you?”

“
Immensely so. Shall we skate together? No doubt Father will be watching at the windows.”

Anne took hold of his arm. “Then let us put on a good show for him.”

Together they began at a slow pace while the others stood around the center of the square, chatting casually. Then all at once, they left in a group to return to the lake house.

It grew quiet all of a sudden, except for the sound of their blades scraping over the smooth surface of the ice.

“
I suppose you are missing your boat,” Anne said. “I imagine it probably skates across the water just like this when you are at full sail in a strong wind.”

He looked down. “That is a very accurate description, but no, I am not missing it.” He said no more about it, and instead changed the subject. “But since you told me about your past and why you decided to accept my brothers’ offer, I thought you might be wondering why
I
have chosen this path, instead of doing what most men do at my age—which is to take a wife in an honest fashion.”