Page 5 of His Accidental Duchess

One Week Later

“It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, you know.”

It was meant to be a joke, of course, but Henry did not laugh. He only shuddered. Anna swallowed hard, glad that she hadn’t already started getting changed.

The sun wasn’t quite up. The sky was streaked with pink and gold, but the chill of the night still hung over the fields. When Anna glanced out the window earlier, she saw mist creeping out of the distant trees.

Wasn’t there a rhyme about it?Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning.

But that was just superstition. It didn’tmeananything. It only meant, at worst, there’d be rain today. On her wedding day.

And then pebbles had clattered against her windowpane, and she’d peered down to the courtyard to see Henry standing down there, pale-faced.

He wasn’t wearing his wedding suit yet, but she assumed it wouldn’t take him as long to dress as it would take her.

She’d thrown open the door, and he’d climbed up the untrimmed ivy at the side of the house. It would be improper for him to come all the way into her room—they weren’t marriedyet—but he sat on the sill, straddling it.

There was a pinched, worried look in his eyes. For the first time since Anna had written to take Henry up on his offer to help her, she felt a pang of nervousness.

“What’s the matter?”

He sighed, twisting out to look at the still-distant sunrise.

“I… I told George about all of this. He was angry. Said I was ruining my life and yours. I haven’t dared ask for my brother’s opinion. You know he thinks me a great disappointment. You’re lucky you’ve never had to meet him.”

Anna bit her lip until she tasted copper. “I don’t want to ruin your life, Henry. We talked about this, though. You and I are great friends. If we marry, I’ll be able to take care of my mother and sisters. The wretched Earl of Downton can have the house for all I care, if he can get it, but he won’t get a single secondmore of our time. And nothing will change. We’ll still be friends—no more than friends if you want—and we’ll just go about our lives as usual. You can be an artist. Your family won’t have any hold on you once we’re married. You’ll befree. You… you can still have your art lessons. George can stay with us.”

There was silence after that.

“I’m being silly,” Henry said, at last. “I… I’m just panicking, I suppose. Marriage is so serious.”

Anna moved over to stand beside him, resting her hand on his shoulder. “You’re not silly. And itisserious. Henry, what you’re doing for me will change our lives.”

He swallowed hard, forcing a quick smile. “Would you be offended if I said that was what I was afraid of?”

“No. No, I’m not offended at all. We’ll get through this, you and I. I promise.”

Henry smiled again, but it was tight and strained. It didn’t reach his eyes. Anna could see fear dancing just under the surface. Fear and something else.

Panic. Panic, like an animal trapped in a snare.

You’re imagining things,she told herself.Everybody is nervous on their wedding day.

“I should go,” Henry said, interrupting her thoughts. “George… George promised to help me get ready for my wedding. I made him promise. After that, he’s going to Italy.”

Anna flinched. “Italy?”

“He’s half-Italian. He wants to go home, he says. He says I should stay and build a life with my wife.”

Henry’s voice was flat and miserable. His face was angled away from her again.

Anna swallowed hard. She reached out, touched his shoulder, and turned him to face her.

“I will talk to him,” she said, as firmly as she could manage. “After the ceremony, I promise.”

Henry nodded shortly. “You’re so clever, Anna. I’m sure you’ll sort everything out.”

The words didn’t seem tomeananything, as if he were just saying them for the sake of it. Before Anna could ask any further questions, however, Henry swung his leg over the sill and began to climb down.

---