The excruciating silence seemed to go on without end, while Anne grew increasingly frustrated. Could she endure this man’s reticence for a full two weeks?
Yes. She supposed she could survive anything for personal freedom, but would their performance be convincing enough for the duke? He expected a love match.
“Garrett.” Her fiancé’s name shot over her lips rather harshly, which was not what she’d intended, but it was too late to take that back. She stopped and let go of his arm.
At last, he spoke. “You wish to say something?”
“I do,” she replied, then began carefully. “Clearly this is an awkward situation. For that reason, I believe it will require a certain measure of cooperation on our parts. There is no point avoiding the fact that this is a sham. We both know it, but we must at least put on a good show for your father. I will do my part if you will do yours. Perhaps it would be best to discuss a strategy?”
He glanced about the room as if he needed time to reconsider all this.
“Do you wish to change your mind?” she asked, shocked by the direction this was heading. She had only just arrived. She hadn’t even met the duke yet.
Garrett’s blue eyes shot to hers. “No, I do not wish that.”
“Then could you at least try to be polite?” she suggested.
“I didn’t think I was being impolite.”
“You’ve barely spoken two words to me since we left the drawing room. Let me ask you again, Lord Garrett. Are you uncertain about this? If you are, tell me now, because I have no intention of dragging you to the altar. I am not that desperate.”
Though she was desperate, for she simply could not face the idea of returning to her uncle’s house, and she’d already begun to fantasize about her new life. She’d made plans in her mind—plans that included a modest, cozy little house in Oxford...or perhaps Bath.
Garrett’s eyes narrowed. “We hardly know each other, Anne, and already we are knee deep in an argument.” He began to slowly pace.
“This is not an argument.”
His eyebrow raised in question. He glanced over his shoulder at her, as if to say you’re still arguing.
Anne took a deep breath and wondered how best to reply, for clearly Garrett had more than a few reservations about this situation.
“I am certain it will work out swimmingly,” she said, working hard to sound reassuring. “If we resolve to help each other. I am not sure how much talent I possess as an actress, but I am willing to do what I must to convince your father that we are happily betrothed.”
Garrett glanced up at an enormous portrait of a rather fierce looking aristocrat, then took a seat on an upholstered bench against the wall beneath it.
“I apologize,” he said. “Please come and join me.”
He leaned back against the wall. She sat down beside him, and waited for him to speak.
“I understand what you are saying,” he began at last. “When I present you to my father, we cannot appear to be strangers. If he asks, we must know things about each other.”
“I agree.” Ah, this was better. Now at least they were getting somewhere.
“Tell me something personal,” he said, looking away in the other direction, as if this were torture for him. “What do you like to do? When were you born? And where did we meet?”
Anne took a moment to consider how best to stage this production—where to place the props and block the actors. “I believe it would be best if we kept the untruths and inventions to a minimum. Let us simply tell him that your brothers introduced us.”
“But I have been out of the country for seven years,” Garrett replied, “and Father knows it. We will have to say we met in Florence or Rome. Have you ever been to Italy?”
“No, I’ve never been anywhere.”
He glanced at her suspiciously, as if she had done something wrong. “Why not?”
“Because I have been living in seclusion in Yorkshire for the past four years. I was caring for my grandmother, who passed away six months ago.”
There were other far less noble reasons for her seclusion, however.
Did he know about that?
“Did your brothers tell you anything about me?” she asked.
“Not really.”
“And you didn’t bother to enquire?”
He glanced away impatiently. “I thought they made it clear in the contract that there would be no courtship between us, and we would live separate lives.”
“Like strangers. Yes, they made that abundantly clear to me, but I thought you might wish to know who you would be marrying. I confess I am curious about you.”
His brow furrowed with what appeared to be fatigue. “There is nothing to know,” he replied. “I am doing this for the money, plain and simple. Once my inheritance is secured, I will leave England and return to Greece.”