Married By Midnight(12)
“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.