For All Time (Nantucket Brides 2)

“Later this year there will be a ceremony in which my engagement to Lady Danna Hexonbath will be announced.”

Toby took her time eating a scallop while she thought about what he’d told her. “So you want a bit of a vacation here on Nantucket before you take on the responsibility of a wife and even of a country?”

“That’s exactly right,” he said. “Rory is going to be me.”

“What does that mean?”

“My brother is going to impersonate me so I can have this week off.” When Toby looked skeptical, he continued. “You seem able to tell us apart, but no one else can. Well, my grandparents can, but then, Rory and I spent most of our childhoods with them. My parents were busy running the country.”

Toby saw a tiny flash race through his eyes. She thought, He was hurt by his parents’ neglect of him. But she wasn’t going to say that out loud. “Do you love her?” Toby asked.

When her words seemed to jolt Graydon, Toby knew that she’d made a mistake. The warmth in his eyes disappeared and his spine straightened. “Of course,” he said.

He’s lying, Toby thought. Or else he’s hiding the truth. He either loves her very much and he wants that kept private, or he doesn’t love her at all—and he doesn’t want that known. Surely, she thought, he wouldn’t be in some arranged marriage. Not in the twenty-first century! But then, she’d seen a documentary on TV that said arranged marriages were still common in most of the world.

“All right,” Toby said, “I’ll see if I can find you a place to stay.” As she looked at him, her mind was racing with ideas. “However …” She paused. “I don’t think we should tell anyone what your, ah, job is. The family will know, but we shouldn’t tell outsiders.”

“Especially since I’m here in hiding,” he said in agreement.

“Do you have people with you? To help you do things?”

“To serve me food, to drive me places, that sort of thing?”

She hesitated, but then nodded.

“Thanks to my cousins in Maine, I’m a fully functioning person. I can even put on my shirt and tie my own shoes.”

“I didn’t mean any disrespect,” Toby said and glanced toward the entrance of the tent. Maybe it was time for her to go.

“I do have to be honest,” he said. “There are things I don’t know how to do.”

“Such as?”

“Buy food. I’ve been to a grocery before, in Maine, but I didn’t pay for it. Rory uses a credit card so maybe I can borrow it. I know how to drive a car but at home they stop traffic whenever I’m on the main road, so …” He shrugged, leaving the rest to her imagination.

Toby was blinking at him. She had a vision of him sitting in Jared’s huge house and slowly starving to death. Or maybe he’d die in a car crash because he didn’t know what to do at a stop sign. Nantucket had no red lights but it did have a few rotaries that the tourists went through at full speed—and blew their horns if anyone got in their way. They could be dangerous!

“Maybe Jared can …” she began, but trailed off. Jared was going to be off-island at his architectural firm, and she and Lexie had full-time jobs. It was summer and everyone was busy. “I think you need to stay with someone.”

“Are you saying that I need a caretaker?” He was smiling, teasing.

“Everyone needs companionship. I do think you should stay in town so you can walk to restaurants. Victoria spent a lot of time here over the years, but she’s never kept a car here.”

“Who is Victoria?”

“Red hair, green suit?”

“Oh, yes,” Graydon said. “I remember her well.”

“All men do.” Victoria was tall and beautiful, and had an exaggerated hourglass shape. That she was the same age as Toby’s mother didn’t diminish Victoria’s sex appeal. Men still watched her walk across the room.

“Where does she stay when she’s here?”

“Kingsley House,” Toby said.

“Perfect,” Graydon said, smiling. “This Victoria would be my roommate?”

“I thought you were about to get engaged.”