Page 5 of The Make-Believe Marriage
She looked up at him. “A fake betrothal might work. Then you would not have to give up your happiness for me.”
“A fake betrothal will never work. You know I am right, Syd. Your father would never honor it, even if he were inclined to give his consent, which he is not.”
“A fake marriage it is then,” she said with a reluctant nod. “Thank you. I will try to be as unobtrusive as possible.”
He suppressed a burst of laughter.
Syd did not know the meaning of unobtrusive.
“I’m not sure how one fakes a marriage,” she mused. “Once vows are exchanged, the marriage is presumed done. Once it is consummated, there is no turning back.”
She paused to reflect on this a moment longer, then her eyes widened. “Oh, I see. We do not consummate it. Is this what you have in mind? That is an excellent idea. You give me the protection of your name in marriage, but we can always undo it at a later date if it proves necessary. I will turn twenty-one in nine months time. Then I will be free of my father’s control…and you have only to say the word to be free of me. I will grant you the annulment if you wish it. I expect such a thing is easily accomplished in Scotland since they are quite lax about this sort of thing, right? Quick ceremony. No bother about being of age. Quietly undone within the year. Thank you, Octavian. Yes, I will marry you. I wish we were on the road already. Nine months,” she repeated softly. “I don’t even have nine minutes to spare.”
“We’ll leave tomorrow morning and stop off at Gretna Green before making our way to the Greenock shipyards.” He had won this round, but why did he feel like the loser? It would not be a true marriage. She would leave him in nine months time. Would they lead separate lives all the while?
“How are we to travel north?” she asked, now smiling as they made their plans.
“In one of the Huntsford carriages. Do you think I travel by mail coach?”
She gave a soft trill of laughter. “No, I don’t suppose you do.” But her mirth quickly faded. “Octavian…”
“What, Syd?”
She clasped her hands in front of her and would not look him in the eye as she spoke. “Whatarrangementsare we to have on the way up?”
Bed. Naked. Wild, wanton sex.
But that was just his aching loins having a say, and the last thing Syd needed to hear. “The thing of it is,” he said, trying to sound logical so as not to scare her off, “I cannot leave you in a room on your own. Your father and Sir Henry will quickly figure out you have run off and might pick up our trail. It is safest if we share a room. I can make a pallet for myself on the floor wherever we stay. In any event, no reputable inn will allow an unmarried lady as young and pretty as you to sign in on her own. You’ll have to pretend to be my wife, just for the week it takes us to cross into Scotland. We’ll travel fast. Marry the moment we cross the border. Then you will be my wife in truth.”
She stared up at him with those ensorcelling eyes of hers. “So, just to be clear…in that time, what will you expect of me?”
“On the trip to Scotland? Nothing ofthatsort, Syd. I will not touch you without your willingness. But what I will expect is for you to behave, to actually look like a newlywed in love, to not run off on your own as though you answer to nobody, or punch some poor wretch because he uttered a remark not to your liking. Can you do this?”
“Of course, I can. Do you have so little faith in me?”
“I have every faith you are going to make me regret this undertaking.”
“Octavian!”
He ignored her indignant huff.
There was more to discuss, but he was tired and still a bit achy from that fall. He wanted to check out the lump on his head which was merely the size of a tiny goose egg and had not broken skin, but one could not be too careful about such things. Then he wanted to sleep. There would be time tomorrow to think about their marriage plans. She believed an unconsummated marriage was something easy to annul. In truth, it was not. There needed to be more grounds than the bride remained a virgin.
Both of them would have to come to terms with this being a permanent marriage if an annulment was impossible. Divorce was out of the question for him. He had a career in the Royal Navy. He would soon be made an Admiral of the Fleet.
All would be lost if they divorced.
Even a quiet annulment might ruin his standing.
“Syd, if the fake marriage cannot be undone, can you be my wife in truth?”
She looked up at him again. “Share your bed? Bear your children? Is this what you are demanding?”
“I am only trying to think of all possibilities.”
“I see. It is not an easy answer, but something we must consider before taking another step. I have never even kissed you.”
“That is something easily remedied.”
