Heather slowed and wheeled about at the gates, laughing as Niall rode up. “I won!”
“How did you do that?” he asked, looking astonished. “I had a head start.”
“So I noticed. Let that be a lesson to you, sir. Though you used deceit to gain the advantage, I was clearly destined to win.”
“I think you took a shortcut,” he said, narrowing his eyes.
“What a thing to say! I’m the newcomer here, how could I even know a shortcut.”
“Then you’ve got quite an understanding with Sterling.”
“Horses know their way home,” she told him, petting the horse’s neck. “You have to trust them.”
At night, Niall always walked Heather to her own room, and then went to his. But everyone assumed that he then opened the connecting door between the rooms and all the usual newlywed activities ensued.
Heather was still ignorant ofexactlywhat those activities were, though every time Niall happened to brush against her, or help her onto her horse, or when one his vile brothers teased them into a kiss at the dinner table…well, she was getting very curious about what she was missing. She was, however, careful to not drink more than a single glass of anything again, lest her curiosity lead her to make Niall another offer, one he might accept.
But thus far, her resolve held. She had a world to travel, and upon her birthday she’d be free to do it.
One day, she rounded a corner while walking down the halls of Carregness, almost running headlong into Brenna.
“Oh!” Heather yelped. “I didn’t expect you there.”
“Clearly not,” Brenna said. “Though to be fair, no one here expectedyou.”
“We’ve never really had a chance to speak,” Heather said, well aware that not everyone was overjoyed by Niall’s so-called marriage. “I’m sorry for…confusing things.”
“Are you?” Brenna asked coolly.
“Niall had mentioned that his family was expecting him to marry another woman, but he didn’t say that you were actually at Carregness.”
“Well, I am. Not that I seem to have a purpose in being here any longer.” She frowned, evidently rather perturbed by her change in status.
“Oh, stay,” Heather said in a rush. “Please!”
Brenna blinked in confusion. “Why?”
“Because…” Heather couldn’t tell her the truth, could she? That the marriage was a sham, designed only to protect her for a little while. “Because you just never know.”
“I know that I can’t stay on here as Niall’s fiancèe. Half the family is wondering why I’ve not started packing. And the other half…”
“Do you love Niall?” Heather asked. She had wondered every time she saw the other woman, just as she wondered if it were possible that Niall didn’t love Brenna. She was so beautiful and lively, who wouldn’t fall for her?
Brenna stiffened, and looked away. “I don’t want to discuss who I may love or not love. Certainly not with you.”
“I do understand,” Heather said, inspired. “But listen, I’ll tell you a secret.”
“Please don’t,” Brenna said, taking a step back. “We are not friends.”
“It may help you.”
“How?” she asked, curiosity taking over.
And so Heather explained the truth. Perhaps if Brennadidcare for Niall, she could persuade him that marrying her didn’t have to just be to appease their parents, but because Brenna truly loved him. It pained Heather to think of the two of them together (why, she wasn’t sure, because of course Niall was just a friend). But it seemed just as cruel to lie to Brenna, who’d been pushed aside through no fault of her own.
At the end of the explanation, Brenna simply stared at her in wonderment, and a good dose of disbelief. “You are telling me that both you and Niall entered into a marriage thinking that it would last only a few weeks?”
“Six weeks. But less than four left now. On my birthday, which is the sixth of October, Niall will publicly explain that it’s all been a mistake. We’ll get an annulment and I’ll go back to England. You’ll never need to see me again.”
