Anne was enjoying the sensation of his large warm hand wrapped around hers, yet had to remind herself that this attraction she felt for him was not something she should encourage, for soon after the wedding day, they would part ways. She must take care, therefore, to guard her heart from him. She certainly hadn’t entered into this agreement to cause herself another broken one.
The corridor slowly narrowed until they were passing through it side-by-side, holding their breath.
“I remember this section,” Garrett said. “It will widen again soon. We are on the right path, I believe.”
“Wait,” Anne said and squeezed his hand. “Do you hear something?”
They both stopped and listened.
“What is that?” she asked as a hot ball of fear dropped into her belly.
They were deep in the underground, trapped in a set of allegedly haunted passageways, and she could barely breathe. Now she was hearing ghostly howls, just as Charlotte had described. “Do you hear it?”
Garrett turned his head to the side to meet her wide-eyed gaze.
The candles danced in a cold draft that snaked around her ankles and drifted up her gown, but none of that unnerved her as much as the gorgeous blue of Garrett’s eyes as he smiled at her.
“It’s Charlotte,” he said. “She is toying with us. Or rather, she is toying with me. Seeking vengeance, no doubt, for all the times we left her alone down here and howled like ghosts.”
“What terrible brothers you were,” Anne replied.
“Yes, we were a bad bunch. Are you sure you want to marry me?”
She couldn’t help but smile. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
His smile vanished into a frown, and she wished she could pull the words back, for they suggested a romantic devotion she did not mean to convey when it was obvious he had only been teasing her.
“I think I’ve had too much brandy,” she added, hoping it would excuse her remark.
Still, he gave no reply. He merely stared at her for an intense moment before turning to lead them further along the narrow passageway.
At last it widened and she emerged beside Garrett with a sigh of relief. “I’m not sorry to be out of there. How much farther, do you think?”
He held the candles aloft. “I’m not sure. There are a few more turns, and we could end up back at the chapel if we take a wrong one.”
“Let us hope luck is with us tonight.”
“Indeed,” he said, taking hold of her hand again.
The warmth of his touch caused a spark of response in every part of her body.
Together they forged on. They took another left turn, then heard the sound of the wind howling up ahead.
“I believe this is it,” Garrett said, moving faster.
Anne held tight to his hand until they reached a small set of wooden steps leading up to an ancient-looking door, barred shut.
Garrett set the candelabra down on the ground, climbed the steps and raised the heavy wooden bar. He shoved the door open a crack, but a fierce wind blew in, so he shut it again and set the bar back in place.
“It appears we are the victors,” he said, descending the stairs to join her. It was difficult not to stare at his muscled thighs and hips, and those strong, broad shoulders. Instead, Anne forced herself to glance elsewhere at the damp walls, and shivered. “I wonder how long it will take the others to arrive?”
He immediately shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. The warmth and musky scent of his body still lingered pleasantly inside as she slipped her arms into the sleeves.
“Is that better?” he asked.
She smiled and nodded while admiring the impressive contours of his muscular shoulders beneath the clean white shirt and fine tailored waistcoat.
She’d read a lot about sailing large ships and suddenly she was caught up in a romantic fantasy of him standing on the deck of his boat, using those strong hands and powerful muscles to hoist a mainsail, then turn a wheel hard to bring it about while crossing a wide open emerald sea. How heroic he would look, commanding a yacht with the wind whipping through his thick golden hair and the waves crashing up against the hull.
She couldn’t bear to imagine the accident, however, and the boat sinking beneath him. What a terrible ordeal it must have been.
“We’ll sit on the steps and wait,” he suggested and placed the candelabra on a convenient shelf of rock.
The mere sound of his voice sent little tremors of excitement through her body, which she fought to ignore, for she must be very careful. It must be this dark place and her imaginings that were taking her thoughts where they should not be. She was growing more and more attracted to Garrett by the minute.