Page 216 of Snowbound Surrender

Anne sighedas she leaned back in the carriage. “Are we almost there?”

Every inch of her ached, and she could not remember the last time they had slept in an actual bed. Her back hurt more than ever, and her eyes itched with tiredness. It was not her habit to complain, but if they did not arrive soon…

The carriage jolted and she placed a hand over her swollen belly protectively. As though the little one knew precisely what she was thinking, it gave a little kick.

A smile crept over her face as she looked up. “I suppose a better question would be, are we going to get there before this baby arrives?”

Maxim laughed, his eyes twinkling. Seated opposite her in the carriage, he had encouraged her to place her weary feet up beside him, reducing the weight on them.

“Now then, what sort of a question is that to ask your husband?” he said mischievously. “Have I ever let you down?”

There was a snort from the gentleman beside him. Anne smiled at her father, who was frowning at his son-in-law in a most aggressive way.

Meredith, seated beside her mother, giggled. She was wrapped up in furs to keep the freezing weather from her bones, and she looked very snug.

Anne’s smile did not disappear as she said, “He has had a further eight months to do so, and so far Maxim has done very well. The question is, what about the next thirty years?”

Maxim leaned over and took his wife’s hands in his own. “And the rest.”

She could not help but beam. Alexei Dmitry Immanuil Maximilian Konstantinvich. He was everything she could have ever hoped for, more than she deserved. Doting on Meredith, respectful and caring towards her father, and devoted to her.

What had possessed her to push him away, just at the moment when she could have lost him forever?

Even more strangely, why had she thought she had not wished to marry?

But then, she had not even met Maxim when she had struck that bargain with her father. Her last season. Thank goodness, Maxim had chosen that time to attend St. James’ Court. How different their lives would have been…

The carriage came to an abrupt stop, and Anne pulled her hands from Maxim’s, holding her stomach protectively.

He had immediately peered out of the window, and he said with the joy of a child, “We are here, we are here!”

“Thank God,” Anne muttered. The constant rocking of the carriage of the last – what was it three weeks? Four? They had all merged into one, and now at last she would be able to rest properly in the small family home Maxim had promised her.

True, it was in Russia, hundreds if not thousands of miles away from her beloved Romney marshes, but he had promised that this small house was in one of the warmest parts of Russia.

It did not feel like it when Maxim opened the door. A freezing wind rushed in, making Meredith and Sir Thomas pull their furs more tightly around them.

“What a journey,” Sir Thomas said weakly. “It will be all be worth it, I am sure, once we get into this home of yours, Maxim…”

His voice trailed away as he descended from the carriage.

“Father?” Anne called out, but he did not reply. Instead, a hand appeared to help her down which she took grateful. “Father, what – oh, my!”

Her jaw dropped as she stood beside a grinning Maxim, holding his hand.

Before her was not a home. It was a palace, monstrous in size, elegant, and covered in snow. Four large towers pinned in the corners, and there was a gatehouse with a portcullis, and battlements…

“It is a castle,” Sir Thomas breathed. Meredith was beside him, her eyes wide. “A castle, Maxim!”

“More like a palace, actually, Sir Thomas,” Maxim said airily. “Do you like it, Annika.”

Anne was not sure whether she would be able to find the words. “L-Like it? Maxim, you said it was a small house?”

“I said it was our smallest home,” he corrected, still grinning. “This is the smallest of the palaces I have ever lived in. What was I supposed to say?”

Anne stood and stared. Everywhere she looked, there seemed to be another window, another bit of finery. How was she supposed to live in this? How was she supposed to manage a home – nay, a palace this size?

“And on the subject of secrets – ”