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caught him off guard and caused him some discomfort—for he had certainly not come home to enjoy himself.
     
    * * *
     
    The snow was covered in a thin sheen of sparkling ice the following day when all the members of the family exited the front door of the palace. Four horse-drawn sleighs had been brought up from the stables and were lined up in a row, waiting to carry them to the lake house for ice skating and hot apple cider.
    Anne gathered her heavy wool cloak and scarf tightly about her neck and pressed her hands deeply into her fur muff. The temperature was well below freezing. She could see her breath like tiny puffs of smoke on the air, but there was not the slightest breath of wind.
    One of the horses tossed his head and stomped his heavy hoof on the frozen ground, impatient to get under way as Anne and the other young ladies—Rebecca, Chelsea, and Charlotte—approached.
    “ Each sleigh carries four people,” Charlotte explained, “but you and Garrett shall have this one all to yourselves. Father insisted.”
    Anne glanced across at the duke, who was stepping into the first sleigh. As he sat down, the duchess laid a fur blanket over his lap. He clasped her hand and kissed her on the cheek.
    Anne was touched by the affection she saw in his eyes, and the blush that colored the duchess’s cheek.
    Garrett was the last family member to arrive. Dressed in a fur-trimmed greatcoat and elegant top hat, he came skidding across the icy drive with his hands outstretched as if on a wheel, to balance and guide him.
    Charlotte laughed at him. “You’re going to end up on your backside if you’re not careful!”
    He skidded to a halt and slammed into the side of the sleigh. “That’s slippery,” he said to his sister, as if Anne were not even there.
    She felt rather out of place among all these siblings. She had an older brother, but he and his wife had abandoned her after the scandal and they had not spoken since.
    “ When was the last time you donned a pair of ice skates?” Charlotte asked Garrett. “I doubt it’s a common pastime on those sweltering Greek islands you are so fond of.”
    “ It’s been too long,” he replied. “I hope I remember how to stop without careening like a cannonball into the bank.”
    Charlotte touched his arm. “You will be perfectly fine, and what about you, Lady Anne? Are you a seasoned skater?”
    Anne sniffed in the cold. “Yes, I enjoy skating very much. This has been a good winter for it. Everything is frozen solid.”
    Charlotte glanced uneasily at the duke. “Yes, which hasn’t helped Father’s anxieties at all. But now that you two are finally here, I believe he will rest easier. Let us have a good time today. We are all in need of some laughter. Up you go now,” she said to Anne. “Garrett will help you. I am off to ride with Rebecca and Chelsea in the next sleigh. Devon and Blake will bring up the rear.”
    She hurried to join her sisters-in-law, while Anne’s eyes met Garrett’s blue-eyed gaze in the chilly midday sunshine.
    He held out his gloved hand. “Allow me to assist you.”
    Anne hesitated. How very attractive he was. Hence, she was not surprised when a shiver of physical awareness moved through her as she slid her fingers across his palm.
    Without any effort at all, he handed her up. There was a fur blanket on the red leather seat. She waited for him to sit beside her. After he adjusted the flannel-wrapped bricks she covered both their laps with the blanket.
    “ It’s a fine day,” Garrett said, looking up at the clear blue sky. The sleigh lurched forward and the bells jingled on the harness. They began in a convoy, moving across the fields toward the forest, which was blanketed in pure white snow and ice that weighed heavily upon the evergreen branches.
    Garrett’s profile was relaxed as he looked over the fields and back at the palace.
    “ Pardon me for saying so,” Anne mentioned, “but you seem in much better spirits this morning.”
    “ How