Chapter 1 #2
“Milord,” Fin said, bringing him back to the present. When Jules failed to retrieve the other letters, Fin stepped closer, jiggling the folded paper in an attempt to gain his master’s attention.
Fin’s worn boot caught on the carpet, and he pitched forward. The letters fell to the carpet in one direction as Fin fell to the other.
Jules caught the old retainer as he went down, then guided him to the chair behind the desk. “Sit here, Fin. Catch your breath.”
“But the letters—”
“Are probably more debtor notices,” Jules said, flexing his right arm as he stepped back, grateful he had regained his strength over the last seven months. His time in gaol had stripped him of more than his soul.
“Nay,” Fin protested. “Lady Jane wrote one, but the other letter is in an unfamiliar female hand.”
Jules’s curiosity won out. He bent to retrieve the letters.
He paused for a moment as his fingers brushed the thick, intricately woven tapestry on the table and floors.
It seemed odd that when everything else had been sold to pay the estate’s debts, the carpets still remained. He frowned and scooped up the letters.
He broke the seal on Jane’s letter after tossing the others on the desk.
Dearest Jules,
When I first heard from the lady herself that you had married, I must admit I was hurt.
I had so hoped to be included in your celebration.
However, after meeting the glorious creature you now call wife, I can understand your haste.
She is, in every way, your perfect match.
I forgive you and congratulate you on a job well done.
I look forward to seeing you in two days when you can introduce all of us to your new bride properly.
Your friend always, Jane
It took the words a few moments to sink in. But when they did, Jules dropped the letter on the desk. How was it possible to meet a person who was merely a figment of his imagination?
“Milord?” Fin’s voice broke in.
He looked across the desk at his servant, trying to find the words despite his confusion. “This cannot be.”
“Beg pardon?” Fin’s eyes narrowed with concern.
Jules reached for the next letter, which was from Claire, the one he knew to be written by Grayson. It was exactly as they had discussed—containing trivialities about her daily life. Isn’t that the sort of letter a wife would write to her husband?
He tossed that letter aside and reached for the other letter in the unfamiliar female hand, and broke the seal. Neat and fluid lettering filled the page.
Jules, my love,
I have been to see your friends Lord and Lady Kincaid as well as Lord and Lady Galloway and invited them to visit us at Kildare Manor. The couples as well as Sir David Buchanan have agreed to escort me northward in two days’ time. Please have the house readied for our guests. Until then.
Yours truly, Claire
His vision blurred and the room faded from view as a sense of disorientation consumed him. Was this a scam of some sort? Had someone discovered his secret and now intended to take advantage? Who would do such a thing? And how in God’s name had they discovered his secret?
Jules swallowed hard, thinking. What madness was this? Was Grayson somehow involved? His solicitor was the only person who knew the truth, the one who had been paid to falsify his new bride. Claire did not exist. Would never exist.
Yet someone claiming to be his wife was meeting his friends, and coming to him in two days’ time.
He had known the moment he arrived at Kildare Manor that the immediate solution to his problem was to marry a rich bride, yet even now he preferred a fake spouse to one with funds, because a false bride would never see his faults and could never hurt him.
Jules raked his hands through his hair. A wife? A real wife?
“Milord, yer scarin’ me. Ye got that look yer brother had right before he drank himself tae death.” Fin’s voice brought Jules’s gaze around.
Jules shook his head in an effort to clear his thoughts. The motion did nothing as questions raced through his mind. For his servant’s sake, Jules pasted on a smile. “You need not worry, Fin. I am not so weak a man as that. I have endured much worse than this.” At least he hoped he had.
Jules continued. “It looks as though Kildare Manor will have no time for grief. We will be having visitors on Saturday. I will arrange for a few maids to come up from town to help with the preparations.”
Fin’s brow furrowed. “I mean ye no dishonor, milord, but we’ve no funds fer food, let alone cleanin’ women.”
Jules nodded as he dug his booted toe into the thick carpet beneath his soles. “I have a notion of where I can gather a few funds, at least enough to hold off the creditors for a while longer until I figure things out.”
Fin stood. “Very well, milord. You’d best enjoy yer tea before it grows cold. That was the last of the tea leaves. If ye need somethin’ stronger, there’s plenty of whiskey still.”
Jules nodded as the servant shuffled out of the chamber, leaving him in silence.
Whiskey seemed like a better option, Jules thought as he reached for the tea and poured himself a cup.
Perhaps, in time, it would be his only option, just as it had been for his brother.
But for now, he had work to do and a fake wife to meet.
What kind of woman pretended to be a man’s wife?
Not the kind of woman he would take to wife, that was for certain.
Would it be better to tell his friends what he had done or to go along with this scheming stranger who would soon arrive with the few people in his life who he trusted?
Frustration and despair rose in Jules until he could scarcely bear it.
The truth was he needed Claire, any Claire, to help him move past his feelings for Jane, especially when she arrived in the arms of her husband. Could he, in turn, use this woman to help him in his deception, at least until Jane and Nicholas left?
He had loved Jane from the moment they first met ten years ago.
While he had never been certain if she returned that love, over the years he had convinced himself that the lack of chemistry between them was not what mattered.
To him, Jane was perfect—ethereal, brave, intelligent, and kind.
Seeing her again would only fan his devotion once more, despite her married state.
And yet, this very real Claire might be the very distraction he needed.
He could accept the schemer and play along with her, acting as husband and wife.
But once they were alone, he would discover what was behind this imposter’s game.
In the meanwhile, for better or worse, definitely poorer than richer, a living, breathing Claire MacIntyre, Lady Kildare, would soon enter his life.