Her Counterfeit Husband (2 page)

H
e’s dead.
 
Anna
stared a
t her husband, hardly believing it.  Though death was, in itself, an
ugly thing, she studied him, noting the way his vacant eyes remained open
.  Even as
she
experienced
overwhelming
relief, she knew
she had
a much bigger
problem
ahead of her
.

She glanced
at the pocket watch on the table beside his bed
.
  It was just after midnight.
 
The doctor wouldn’t come by to check
on him until after ten
.  Her husband’s valet had walked out, and considering how many valets her husband had been through, she hadn’t been surprised when the last one quit. 
So
there was no one who would check in on him for at least ten hours.

She bit her low
er lip and walked to the window so she could lift the curtain and look outside.
  It
was
so dark
.  There wasn’t even a sliver of
moon
light out
tonight.  Anyone could be out there, an
d there was no way she’d see them
.  She gripped the curtains.  Did she dare?  Co
uld she get away with it?  S
he couldn’t do it alone.  Her husband was too heavy.  Even if he had lost considerable weight, she could
n’t
carry
him out of the house and
dispose of his body.

What she needed was help from someone she could trust, someone wh
o would keep her secret to his
grave.  Appleton.  If there was anyone who’d understand her plight and
could
help her, it was him.  She dropped the curtain back in place and turned from the
window. 
No. 
She couldn’t ask him
to do such a devious
thing.  Not when he was the only
good thing in her life, the one person who’d helped her keep going when all she’d wanted to do
was give up.  Her gaze went
to the scars on her wrists.  If he hadn’t found her when he did, she wouldn’t be here now.  And he’d saved her for what?  So her lot would
get worse?

Her attention went back to
her husband.  The Duke of Watkins.  She never did feel comfortable enough
around him
to call him by
his Christian name. 
Six years.  For six years, she’d been under his thumb.  And as his last act of imprisoning her, he thought to hand her over to his disgusting brother. 
Taking a deep breath, she walked over to him, each step slow and calculated as she thought of all t
he misery he’d caused her.  E
ven now in death, he had a slight smile on his lips, as if laughing that he had gained one more victory over her.

“You w
on’t win this one,” she hissed. 
“If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make sure your brother never
inherits your title
.”

Feeling a new sense of determination, she crossed the room and slipped through the door leading to her bedchamber.  She hurried over to the cord on her wall that would ring the bell in Appleton’s room.  If she was going to act, she had to be quick.  The do
ctor would arrive in at least ten
hours, and the longer she waited, the harder
it was going to be to succeed with
her plan.

She reached her w
ardrobe and pulled out a black
cloak so she could blend into the dark night.
After she returned to her husband’s bedchamber, she waited by his door until she spied Appleton hurrying down the hall.  She motioned to him
to enter the room
.

“Your G
race?” he whispered.

She quickly shut the door and led him over to her husband.  “I found him like this
fifteen
minutes ago.”

His expression grim, he said, “I don’t know whether to be relieved or not.”

“I can’t let his brother assume the title,” she whispered, glancing at her husband.

With a heavy sigh, he nodded.  “That wouldn’t be a wise idea.”

“It’s dark out there.  If you wo
re a covering and we wrapped my husband
up in a dark blanket, we could
carry him out of here and dispose of his body without anyone seeing us.”

He stared at her for a long moment, and she waited for his response, wondering if he’d agree or tell her it was impossible.  “What you’re suggesting is very unusual,” he slowly replied.

She tightened her hold on the edge
of her cloak.  He wasn’t going to go along with it!

“However,” he began, causing her heart to leap with hope, “I see no other alterna
tive than to quietly bury him.
If he were to take a trip for an undetermined amount of time…
  Maybe go somewhere special to heal…
”

Relieved he was going to help her, she nodded.  “We’ll do that.”

“We also need to take him off this property.  No one must ever find him.”

“I agree.”

“We’ll need to take a carriage.  There’s no way we can
carry him as far as we need to.”

“Can we risk it without being seen?”

“There is an old carriage that no one uses.  It’s in the old stable.  I’ll get that one read
y. 
You find a blanket, and when I get back, we’ll wrap him up
,
and
I’ll
carry him down the servant stairs.  No one should see us this late at night.”

It sounded w
onderf
ul.  So wonderful, in fact,
it might actually work!  While he left the bedchamber, she searched through the room to find
a suitable blanket to cover her husband
up.

***

Their task was a morbid one.  Two hours past midnight, Anna
stood beneath a large oak tree in the middle of a forest.  She
held the lantern up as Appleton finished burying her husband. 
She shivered and pulled the cloak closer to her, not sure
what was worse:
the eerie darkness or
the chill in the air
.

Appleton
pounded the new mound of dirt over the
grave and
straightened h
is back
.  “I think we’re done.”

She stared at the spot where
her husband was buried, finally feeling free.  Six of the worst years of her life were over.  She didn’t realize she was crying until Appleton removed his gloves so he could re
ach into his pocket and gi
ve
her a handkerchief.  Grateful for his everlasting kindness
, she thanked him and wiped her face.

“It’s over, Your G
race,” h
e said, his voice soothing.

“As long as no one finds out, we’ll be all right,” she agreed.

In silence, the two turned to the
winding
path that would take them to their carriage.  So much had happened that day, and her exhaustion was quickly catching up to her.  Once they reached the carriag
e, she slipped into it
while he discarded his clothes an
d put on new ones.  From there, he led the horses carefully through the forest. 
Her body swayed from side to side as he navigated them through the rough terrain.

She closed her eyes and rested her head against the back of the seat.
 
She wanted nothing more than to sin
k into the sweet bliss of dreams where she could forget everything from her tainted marriage to the misery that brought her and Appleton to covering up her husband’s death.  The entire night kept
replaying itself in her mind.

As much as she prayed no one would ever find out what happened, she couldn’t help but worry someone would try to find her husband and learn the truth.  But maybe by then, she and Apple
ton could leave the country.  They co
uld assume another identity.  Maybe by the time people realized her husband was dead, she and Appleton could be long gone.

The carriage came
to an abrupt stop
.  She bolted up in her seat and peered out the window, wondering if someone
had
caught them. 
Maybe someone saw them sneak
off the es
tate and followed them into the
forest.  Her heartbeat accelerated in dread.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  With a hard swallow, she told herself that whatever happened, she would
tell them
she forced Appleton
to
help her.  She’d do everything she could to absolve him from guilt.

The carriage door opened. 
Her eyes flew open,
and
she saw Appleton’s shocked
expression.  “What is it?” she asked him, tentatively peering out of the carriage to see if someone else was in the area.

“There’s a gentleman
in the middle of the road
, Your G
race,” he told her.  He held his hand out to help her down.  “I can’t tell for sure, but he looks a lot like your husband.”

Her eyebrows furrowed, she
stepped out of the carriage and
followed him
to where the horses stood
.  He lifted the lantern
from the carriage
and
knelt by
the gentleman lying on his back in the middle of the road.  She quickly examined their surroundings and saw no one else in the area.