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that...?”
    “ Yes, it’s my engagement ring,” she replied, lifting her hand to give him a closer look at the oval-shaped ruby surrounded by diamonds. “Your brothers gave it to me when I signed the contract. They said it belonged to your grandmother.”
    He stared at it for a few second more, but made no further comment. A short while later he said, “I suspect we will have to make things up as we go along. Who knows what questions Father might ask.”
    “ I will do my best to be convincing and will share what I tell him.”
    “ As will I,” he replied. “When did your parents die? How old were you?”
    She regarded him without flinching. “My mother died when I was nine years old, and my father passed away four years ago. I was twenty. That’s when I went to live with my uncle. And all that is the truth—not invention.”
    He paused. “I am sorry about your parents.”
    She was surprised by his kind words. “Thank you.” She lowered her gaze to her lap. “Now you know the most relevant details about me. What should I know about you? For purposes of the charade, of course.”
    He shrugged, as if there were nothing to tell, before painting a few broad strokes to satisfy her. “I spent the past seven years living in Italy and Greece,” he said. “Sailing my boat around the Mediterranean. I also write poetry.”
    “ Have you had anything published?”
    “ No.”
    When he offered no further information, she said, “I thought writers were supposed to be articulate, yet you seem to be a master of one word answers.”
    “ I apologize, Lady Anne,” he replied, looking her square in the eye. “I don’t enjoy talking about myself.”
    She stared at him for a long moment and frowned at his reticence. What in the world had caused it? He was a strikingly handsome nobleman who lived a life of leisure, sailing around the Mediterranean. Shouldn’t he be full of reckless charm and good-natured appeal?
    “ I wonder why I fell in love with you, then,” she said. “For the purposes of the charade, of course.”
    He gave her a dark look. “Because I am the son of a duke with a large financial settlement forthcoming to me. Is that not enough for a viscount’s daughter?”
    A throat cleared in the doorway just then, and they both turned.
    Lord Hawthorne approached. “I apologize for the interruption,” he said. “Father has surprised us all by joining us in the drawing room. He seems in good spirits. He wishes to see you, Garrett, and to meet your Lady Anne.”
    They both stood up while Anne wrestled with a sudden rush of anxiety, for other than a few sweeping superficial details, she still knew very little about Lord Garrett. She did not feel ready to meet the duke.
    “ Shall we?” Lord Garrett coolly offered his arm.
    She had no choice but to accompany him. As they walked together she sensed a similar anxiety in him, for he was about to reunite with a father he hadn’t seen in seven years. A father who—according to family—was well on his way to madness.
     
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    “My son. Good heavens, look how you have grown.”
    Garrett was taken aback by the significant aging of his father since they parted seven years ago. The duke was shockingly thin. His hair was pure white and gone wild about his face—and those were just the physical differences.
    The duke had been a harsh parent all his life and had never shown any love to Garrett, but now he approached with arms outstretched.
    Garrett was intensely aware of Lady Anne stepping aside to give them room to embrace. The shock of his father’s warm welcome was enough to make Garrett wonder if he had fallen down the rabbit hole.
    “ My dear, dear boy.” The duke wept as he squeezed Garrett tightly. “I feared I would never see you again, but you have come home to us at last.” As he recovered his composure and wiped his eyes, he stepped back to hold Garrett at arm’s length. He grinned mischievously. “And with a lovely fiancée, I am