She checked his study first, and when she did not find him, she asked Chalker where he was so she would not have to spend a long time looking for him.
“He is in his workroom, Your Grace,” he informed her.
“Thank you, Chalker.” Anna went to the workroom but she found it empty. Frowning, she placed her hands on her hips, wondering where he was. Something glittering on a table caught her attention, and she moved closer to see what it was.
Tiny gears had been arranged intricately to form the shape of a clam, and several gemstones lay on the table close to the gears. She wondered what he was making, and she was reaching to pick it up when she heard strong footfalls and turned to face the door.
“I will be taking most of the lift drawings with me,” Colin said as he walked in. Bishop was with him. “Some elements need to be designed again, and I might have a bit of time during the trip.”
“I will roll them up now, then—" Bishop saw her first and he stopped.
A tiny smile appeared in Colin’s eyes and he gave Bishop a nod to leave them. “Good afternoon, Anna,” he greeted. She felt a little embarrassed that her day was just starting. Colin also must have seen something in her expression because he came to her, asking, “Is something wrong?”
“I…” She pressed her lips, wishing she did not have to tell him. Then she let the words rush out. “I saw my courses when I woke up.” She did not look at him. She could not.
He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her face. “You are disappointed.”
“Should I not be? We have an agreement, and—"
“There is time, Anna. I do not expect you to give me an heir this instant. I also understand the chances. Our first child could be a girl, all of our children could be girls, or we could have no children at all.”
Anna turned her face away. “Do not say that. We will have children, and you will have your heir.”
Colin’s hand found hers and he held it firmly, tilting his head to meet her eyes. “My expectations are reasonable. I do not want you to worry.”
His reassurance did not give her thoughts any rest, but she sighed and straightened her shoulders. Recalling what she heard him say upon walking into the workroom, she asked, “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yes. I am traveling to Northumberland in two days. Edinfield needs some repairs.”
Anna shot him an incredulous look. “You ask me not to worry, yet you are already planning my banishment?”
“I am not banishing you,” he defended. “It could take a year or more for the repairs to be completed. I thought they should commence now.”
“You will not change your mind about sending me away,” she stated, and he nodded. “What is your reason?”
“It is what has to be done.” He walked to a table and began to gather the papers atop it, holding his shoulders as rigidly as she was holding hers.
“Colin, that is something you would tell a child or a stupid person, and I am neither of those.”
He turned, his blue gaze sharp and precise. “In May, I accepted to marry you under eight conditions, one of them being that you will live in Edinfield when we have children. You agreed to all of those terms. You cannot renege now.”
Anna noticed the subtle change in his words. Where he had once said heir, he now said children. She did not know what to make of it but she thought she could use it. “I want to know why.”
“Another thing we agreed upon is that you will not ask me prying questions.”
Her voice rose. “I cannot live without understanding what is happening around me!”
Colin closed his eyes as a grimace pinched his face. “Anna, you agreed.”
“I did not know what I agreed to. I want to know who I married. Why do you want to send me away when we are quite harmonious? What is behind that door that no one opens? Why do you not speak of your parents?”
“I will not discuss this now.” He tossed the sheet in his hand onto the table.
“Colin—"
“No.” He turned and strode out of the room, leaving her angry and confused. She glanced sideways, and finding a chair, she lowered herself into it, her arms going around her middle.
Anna wished she did not agree to his conditions, but then she would likely have had to return to her father’s house.
