Married By Midnight

by Julianne MacLean

  Perhaps this would not be so difficult after all, Anne thought as she looked out over the frozen landscape and felt the vigorous breeze on her cheeks. Perhaps Garrett had merely been weary from the journey the night before. He had traveled a great distance, after all. How could she fault him for it?

  “You were very good with my father last night,” he mentioned. “I was watching you. You seemed at ease and not the least bit...” He paused.

  “Least bit what?” she pressed. “Do you wish to compliment my acting skills? Was I believable?”

  He glanced in the other direction. “Yes, I suppose that is what I was attempting to say. For some reason I couldn’t find the right words.”

  “A poet who cannot find words. That is rather unfortunate.”

  He regarded her with a surprising hint of amusement.

  “You’re quite right, Lady Anne. It is. Perhaps that is why I haven’t written anything lately. I suspect it is not my true calling.”

  The driver slapped the leather lines to urge the horse to trot faster, for the other sleighs were slicing through the snow at a very brisk pace.

  “Hurry up slowpokes!” Charlotte called out from the ladies’ sleigh as they sailed past with bright red scarves flying and bells jingling.

  Garrett chuckled with an obvious note of affection for his sister.

  “You and Charlotte seem very close,” Anne commented.

  “We are fraternal twins. Did you know that?”

  “I did. Your brothers, Devon and Blake, educated me on a number of family topics. They also told me that your palace is known to be haunted. That it is built upon the ruins of an ancient monastery that was torn apart during the reign of Henry VIII.”

  Garrett’s eyebrows lifted and he looked straight at her. “And that didn’t frighten you off?”

  She felt rather giddy under his direct gaze as a rush of butterflies invaded her belly. Lord Garrett was strikingly handsome. She found it more than a little unsettling.

  “I enjoy a good ghost story,” she replied, nevertheless. “And I doubt there’s any truth to it. Or perhaps I am too skeptical. Have you ever seen a ghost at Pembroke Palace?”

  “Not me, but Charlotte might claim otherwise. Poor girl. We used to haunt the subterranean passages when we were children. It couldn’t have been easy for her, growing up with four brothers. She certainly learned to stand up for herself—no doubt about that.”

  Anne regarded him with interest as the horse pulled the sleigh into the shelter of the forest. Suddenly they were among heavy branches covered in fresh snow that fell in big clumps that plopped around them.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Garrett asked as he leaned back and rested an arm along the back of the seat. “You seem almost baffled.”

  “I am merely surprised by your openness this morning, compared to last night,” she replied. “You seem like a different person.”

  He shrugged. “I suppose now that I’ve met you, I am able to relax a little.”

  “Why?”

  He considered her question for a moment. “I think I was worried that any lady who would agree to a plot such as this would have to be unpleasant in some way, or undesirable, or perhaps possess some secret ulterior motive. I feared she might want to lure me into a real marriage. That has happened to me before, but you don’t strike me as any of those things.”

  Anne spoke honestly. “I told you last night that I am here to gain my independence and freedom, not another yoke around my neck.”

  His eyes narrowed, as if he wanted to look deeper into her character and study her. Find out why. Perhaps test her. “Yes, but some women say that when they don’t really mean it. Deep down, what they really want is a fairy tale.”

  The sleigh jostled them about as they glided over a small knoll where patches of earth showed through the snow. Anne pulled one hand from her muff and pressed her winter bonnet more firmly onto her head. “It’s not that I don’t believe in fairy tales,” she said, “or want true love for myself one day. I do. It’s just not something I felt I could attain.”

  “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.”

  Anne glanced up at him. “You said you were doing it for the money.”

  “But you never asked why.”

  She let go of his arm, skated ahead, then turned to reverse her direction and skate backwards, facing him. “It sounds like you want to tell me, but if you do, I insist you acknowledge that I did not wrestle it out of you, or even ask.”

  He regarded her curiously. “Why would you insist on such a thing?”

  “Because you made it clear that you do not want a bride who wants to lure you into a real marriage. I do not wish to be that sort of woman either, so I shall keep my distance. I will not press you to share too many personal details. That will make it easier for us both to sever all ties afterward.”

  “You have this very well thought out, Anne.”

  She skated into the center of the ice and stopped there, out of breath. “Not really.”

  He followed and skated around her in a full circle.

  “I believe my brothers chose the perfect woman for me,” he said. “Not only are you beautiful, but you are sensible as well, and I admire that.”

  She watched him warily. “Don’t be too quick to admire me, sir, for I am far from perfect. I am marrying a man for money after all—a man I hardly know. But anything would have been better than the dismal future I faced at my uncle’s hands.”

  Garrett skated to a halt before her. “I am glad you will no longer be at his mercy.”

  She sniffed in the cold and looked across the lake at the snowy forest on the other side, then met his eyes again. “And still, you have not told me why you want the money. I presumed you simply wished to continue living a life of leisure on the Mediterranean...but now I am not so sure, because you wouldn’t have brought it up if that were the case. I think there is something else to it.”

  He skated around her again, keeping his eyes lowered, as if thinking about something.