Her Counterfeit Husband

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  Beside him, Anna rubbed her forehead and sighed.

  “At least it’s only for three hours,” he said.

  “Three hours can seem like an eternity when all you want to do is go home,” she replied, her hand falling to her lap.

  He reached over and clasped her hand in his. “You said if we came here, then he wouldn’t feel the need to come out to Camden, correct?”

  She nodded.

  “Then think of it as three hours spent to avoid having to see more of him.”

  A smile crossed her face. “That’s a better way of thinking about it.”

  He wondered just how dreadful his brother was. With a shrug, he figured he’d find out soon enough. For sure, fretting over the evening wasn’t going to change the outcome. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. All he could do was as Anna suggested and not let Mason bother him.

  The carriage came to a stop, and he waited for Mason’s footman to open the door before he left the carriage and held his hand out to help Anna down. Her grip tightened around his hand to the point where he thought she might cut off his circulation. His eyes widened but he gave no other indication that he was surprised by the fierceness of her anxiety.

  Once her feet hit the ground, he offered her his arm, which, to his relief, she accepted. Her grip was still tight around his elbow, but at least the feeling had returned to his fingers. He followed the other couples to the entrance, slowing his steps to accommodate for Anna’s hesitation.

  As they walked up the steps, someone called out to them. Her hand clenched even tighter—something he didn’t think possible—before he turned to see who it was. He didn’t recognize the couple, of course, but he smiled a greeting.

  “Jason,” the gentleman said with a bow, “I heard you made a full recovery.”

  Jason encouraged Anna to face the couple and bowed to the gentleman in return. “Yes, thanks to my wife who took care of me. Unfortunately, I took a fall down the stairs, and I lost my memory.”

  “Mason stated as much,” he replied. “You don’t remember it, but we’re good friends. I am Ian Daniel, Lord of Hedwrett, and this lovely lady is Candace, Lady of Hedwrett.”

  “It’s a pleasure to,” he stopped himself before he said ‘meet’ since technically he already knew them, “see you in attendance at this dinner party.”

  “You wouldn’t fare well to miss one of Mason’s dinner parties,” Ian said in a tone Jason suspected was part amusement and part warning. “We shouldn’t dally outside when there’s wine and food waiting.”

  With a nod, Jason urged Anna to turn around, and they entered the manor where the butler took their cloaks and led them to the drawing room. Jason scanned the room where his brother was telling jokes to three couples and a lady who laughed. Jason and Anna followed Ian and Candace into the room and sat on a settee.

  Mason chuckled and waved his hand dismissively to the group. “That’s nothing, I assure you. Her sister was even more dreadful.” Mason turned his gaze to Jason and clapped his hands. “My dear, dear brother! I tell you,” he told the others, “he was on the verge of death. In fact, you could say Death was knocking on his door, but my brother defied Death and sent him back to where he came. Death’s loss is our gain.”

  The others nodded their agreement, but even so, Jason sensed his brother wasn’t sincere. Beside him, Anna clenched her hands in her lap but showed no emotional reaction on her face.

  “We are fortunate indeed,” one of the gentlemen said, giving Jason a polite nod.

  “However, it’s not all good news, I’m afraid,” Mason added with a regretful sigh. “My brother doesn’t remember any of us, even me. And to think I gave him the best years of my life while we were growing up.”

  The group chuckled, and Jason couldn’t tell if they laughed because they wanted to or if they had to.

  “Fortunately, you have Lady Templeton to comfort you,” Ian said.

  Mason glanced at the lady sitting behind him and smiled. “And what a privilege it is to be comforted by someone so lovely.”

  “You flatter me, my lord,” she replied, shooting him a coy smile as she waved her fan in front of her face.

  “Not unnecessarily so.”

  Anna sighed softly. At first, he thought she wished he would talk to her in the same way Mason was talking to Lady Templeton, but as he noted her clenched hands and gritted teeth, he realized it was a sigh of impatience or irritation. If he’d been alone with her, he’d ask her which one it’d been. Perhaps it’d been both. Whatever the cause, she wasn’t as happy to be here as the others in the room were.

  The butler entered the room and announced that dinner was ready.

  Jason joined the others and stood up. When he realized the gentlemen offered their arms for their ladies, he turned to Anna and did likewise. She remained sitting for a long moment before she stood and slipped her arm around his. As they headed for the dining room, he couldn’t help but notice her steps were slower than the others. If she hated coming here so much, why didn’t she refuse to come? Surely, she could have written no and had him sign it, especially since he could now write his name. But she’d been insistent they come. Now it was his turn to sigh. Whether he’d lost his memory or not, he doubted that he could understand the way a lady’s mind worked.

  Once everyone sat around the dining room table, Mason proceeded to tell everyone about his venture to British India. Jason tried to pay attention, thinking that since he was Mason’s brother, it was his duty to take an interest in what he did, but as Mason droned on, his mind kept wandering to the oddest things.

  He noticed the way one of the lady’s feathers kept coming loose from her hair. She had to keep putting her fork down to put it back in its proper place. Then there was Ian who made it a habit of stealing glances at one of the ladies who wasn’t his wife. To her credit, the lady ignored him, but she snickered when the other ladies took a second portion of the veal when the footman offered it to them. Jason didn’t know what to make of her, but he supposed it didn’t matter. A gentleman across from him had some food stuck between his teeth, which wouldn’t have been bad if he hadn’t laughed at every joke Mason made. Jason made eye contact with him at one point and motioned to his teeth, but the gentleman shrugged and turned back to Mason.

  “My kind brother!”

  Startled, Jason took his eyes off the food in-between the gentleman’s teeth so he could address Mason. “What is it?”

  Mason took a sip of sherry and set the glass on the table. “Will you be going to British India?”

  Jason glanced at Anna to see if it was something he had planned to do before he lost his memory. She gave a slight shake of her head.

  Mason laughed. “I don’t believe it. You’re not basing your decision on the opinion of a lady, are you?”

  Unsure of how to respond to that, especially since everyone was watching him, he cleared his throat and shrugged. “I don’t remember if British India interested me or not…before I lost my memory.”

  “You could have asked me that. We are brothers, and considering how close we were, I know your interests more than her.”

  He wanted to look at Anna to see whether or not this was true, but he didn’t dare. Not with everyone watching him.

  “You needn’t be shy about asking me questions,” Mason continued. “I grew up with you. I know things about you she doesn’t.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Jason finally replied, not sure what else he was supposed to say.

  “Please do. I want to help you. We’re blood. Family. That’s what matters most.”

  He nodded but decided to keep quiet.

  “And yes, you were very interested in going to British India. In fact, we discussed going together before you lost your memory.”

  Since Mason waited for him to respond, he said, “In light of the situation I find myself in, I think it’s prudent I stay home. I don’t want a relapse.”

  “Of course not. No one wants that. But maybe in the future you will fe
el well enough to go. I promise you it’s worth the trip. They don’t call it ‘the Jewel of the Crown’ for nothing.”

  Ian set his fork on the plate with a loud clatter and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I hear it includes a great amount of land.”

  “It does.” Mason turned his attention to Ian and started listing off the territories the British Empire controlled in India.

  Jason breathed a silent prayer of thanks that Ian spoke up when he did. He didn’t care for the way Mason was prodding him, as if he was testing him. What did Mason expect? He lost his memory. He wouldn’t remember if he wanted to go to British India or not.

  He turned his attention to the dessert as the footman served it, grateful he could focus on something pleasant. He glanced at Anna who refused the dessert and gripped the cloth napkin in her lap. She hadn’t relaxed once since they stepped out of the carriage. For the first time that evening, he hoped they could go home soon. Whether it was Mason’s annoying questions or Anna’s anxiety, he couldn’t help but think that he should have insisted she write the letter declining the invitation to this dinner party. Next time, he would insist on it, even if he had to ask Appleton to write it for him.

  Chapter Eight

  Anna didn’t want to leave Watkins when the dinner was over, but considering the gentlemen and ladies had separated, she didn’t have a choice. She bit her tongue on her protest and joined the ladies to the drawing room. As long as she didn’t arouse anyone else’s suspicions, she might manage through the rest of the dinner party unscathed. It was bad enough that Lord Mason insinuated Watkins needed her in order to say whether or not he wanted to go to British India. It hadn’t been her intention to put Watkins in such an awkward situation, but he’d looked over at her and she’d hoped the silent shake of her head would be subtle enough for Lord Mason to miss. But it hadn’t been. To her dismay, very little got past him, and that worried her.

  There was nothing she could do now but hope Lord Mason wouldn’t notice anything else that was amiss about her husband. She stopped her thoughts and took a deep breath. No. The stranger wasn’t her husband. He was filling a role, pretending to be her husband. Her real husband was buried in an unmarked grave beneath the forest floor. She must think of him as Watkins and nothing more.

  “Anna, is something troubling you?”

  Anna jerked and turned her attention to Candace who sat next to her on the settee. Across the room, the other ladies hovered over something and giggled. From where she was sitting, she couldn’t make out what it was because the piano hid it from view.

  Anna swallowed and turned to face Candace, praying her voice would be steady when she spoke. Of all the people she would lie to, Candace would be the hardest since she knew her better than the other ladies did. “I’m fine. I’m just…overwhelmed,” she finally managed.

  “Overwhelmed your husband still lives?” Candace softly asked, her sympathetic tone bringing back all the times she had confided to her about how awful her marriage had been.

  Here it came. If she wanted her lie to be believable, she needed to get it over with. “I would have said yes before he lost his memory, but since he did lose his memory, he’s a different person.” There. She said it. With any luck, Candace would accept it.

  Candace seemed to consider Anna’s words before she spoke. “I did notice something different about him at dinner.”

  Heart racing, Anna nodded. “Yes, he’s a lot nicer now.”

  “Very much so. I can’t imagine he’d let Lord Mason speak to him in such a way before.”

  “No, he wouldn’t.” And that was another strike against Watkins. She wondered if she had any chance of pulling the ruse off. Watkins was innocent of any wrongdoing, so it’d be on her head if the lie was exposed. Forcing the possibility aside, she said, “I like the person my husband is since he lost his memory. It was the best thing that’s happened to him.” And to me.

  “I wish my husband would lose his memory if it meant he’d become a better person,” Candace whispered so the other ladies wouldn’t overhear.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Why should you be sorry? You weren’t the one who arranged my marriage? It was my greedy brother who did the vile deed. I’m just glad I finally conceived so Ian won’t come to my bed anymore.”

  Anna inwardly shuddered. She knew all-too-well how awful it was to have a brute of a husband in her bed. “I can’t blame you for being relieved. I never got such a reprieve, but at least mine was always quick.”

  In fact, Anna estimated it took her husband a total of five minutes from the time he entered her bedchamber to when he left. She used to count down the minutes to distract herself at first, and after a while, she counted them to assure herself it’d soon be over.

  She reached for Candace’s hand and squeezed it. “I hope you have a son.” And she hoped Ian wasn’t the type of gentleman who wanted two sons in case one died. “You do realize you can live apart from him if you have a son.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping for. He only wanted an heir. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have married, and any lady would’ve suited as long as she wasn’t associated with scandal.”

  “What irony it is when our pristine reputations attract the wrong kind of gentleman.”

  “A cruel twist of fate might be a better way of stating it.”

  Anna let go of Candace’s hand and smiled. “You’re always welcome at Camden should you need a place to stay while you seek out your own home.”

  “Thank you, Anna. You’ve always been a good friend. I had a feeling you’d be dear to me when I first met you at the engagement party.”

  “Ian and my husband knew each other since their school days. It was natural you and I were bound to meet.”

  Lady Templeton approached them with three ladies following close behind. “You two don’t make it a habit of keeping to yourselves during all of Lord Mason’s dinner parties, do you?”

  “Oh, they do,” Helen replied. “If you marry Mason, you’ll get used to it.”

  Anna’s cheeks warmed. Helen often chided her and Candace for removing themselves from the other ladies on several occasions. “My husband almost died. It’s been a hard ordeal.”

  “Then why did you agree to attend this dinner party?” Lady Templeton asked.

  Anna couldn’t tell if she was trying to bait her or if she was honestly concerned. “Lord Mason is my husband’s brother. It’d be improper for us to neglect attending the party.”

  “Hmm...” She shrugged. “I suppose that line of reasoning works as good as any.”

  The other three ladies giggled and whispered amongst themselves.

  Anna frowned. All right. So Lady Templeton was hoping to bait her. That being the case, she would fit in very well with those three cackling busybodies hovering around her. Anna turned her attention to Lady Templeton who looked overly impressed with herself. “So you and Lord Mason met while he was in British India?”

  Lady Templeton sat in a chair and, like a bunch of puppies, the other ladies followed suit. “One might term it that way, but I prefer to think of it as me taking the initiative to get something I need.”

  Anna glanced at Candace who gave a slight shrug. “I’m afraid I don’t understand your meaning, my lady.”

  “You weren’t supposed to,” Lady Templeton replied with a snicker.

  Her skin bristled, and she knew right then and there that she didn’t like Lady Templeton. Such a thing wasn’t necessarily bad. At least if Lord Mason married her, the two would be an equal match.

  “Was he as dashing as he claims he is when meeting the fairer sex?” Helen asked, her lips curled up in mischief.

  Lady Templeton chuckled. “Is that what he claims? While I wouldn’t exactly call him inadequate, I will disclose that I was far more charming than he was.” As Helen stifled another giggle, she touched her arm and added, “We must never tell the gentlemen this, of course. You know how much they pride themselves on their prowess when obtaining our affections.”


  “That is the way gentlemen are,” Helen replied.

  Anna sighed and glanced at Candace who looked just as eager to get away from them as she felt. Before the others could notice her friend’s unease, Anna cleared her throat. “Lady Templeton, I’d love to hear your version of how you and Lord Mason met.”

  “Oh yes!” Helen eagerly nodded as the other ladies turned to Lady Templeton in interest. “Please tell us!”

  “All right,” Lady Templeton agreed as she shifted into a more comfortable position on the seat. “First, however, I must assure you that every part is true.” With a wicked grin, she continued in a sly voice, “Especially when he fell at my feet and swore his undying devotion to me.”

  Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Anna put on a polite smile and listened as the lady continued with her endless drivel of how she impressed Lord Mason.

  ***

  “And this is the sword I acquired when I traveled to China,” Mason told his brother as he turned the object over in his hands, admiring the way the silver blade glistened next to the firelight in the den. “Would you like to hold it?”

  Jason shook his head. “No, I’d rather not.”

  “Come now, my brother. You never could resist the opportunity to touch a weapon, especially a sword as magnificent as this.”

  From across the room, two gentlemen played chess and the others watched. Though Jason didn’t remember anything about the game except that Mason had told him he loved it, he would have preferred to have been over there at the moment instead of here with Mason.

  Now as Mason held the sword out to him, Jason reluctantly took it in his hands, waiting for something to trigger his memory, but his mind was blank. “You said I used to enjoy holding this?”

  “I didn’t say you enjoyed it. I said you couldn’t resist the opportunity to hold it.”

  Mason laughed and gave him a hearty pat on the back, an action which caused him to stumble forward and knick his hand on the blade.