Inside the chapel, the organist began to play, and the doors swung open. Violet nearly dropped her bouquet. The pews were filled with people—more people than she had ever met in her secluded life at Carfield House.
As she and the Duke began to walk down the aisle, she stared around her, trying to glimpse a familiar face. And while she did recognize many of the attendees, they weren’t close friends of her or her family. They were mostly the Duke’s friends and acquaintances. And they were being very loud, cheering, laughing, and even singing along to the organ in celebration. There were also, she noted most curiously, a few young ladies weeping into their handkerchiefs, accompanied by their sour-faced mamas.
Despite his reputation, the Duke is still considered a catch.
She couldn’t help but marvel at this, and even feel a twinge of resentment.
The same would not be true for a lady with a fearsome reputation.
The ceremony passed in a blur. The words the vicar spoke were the same as those that had been spoken at Iris’s wedding, and Violet barely heard them. Before she knew it, she and the Duke were saying their vows, then they exchanged rings, and then, all of a sudden, the vicar was declaring them husband and wife.
And it was done. She was now the Duchess of Attorton. She was a married woman.
I’m safeshe reminded herself as she and the Duke receded down the aisle to thunderous applause. The Duke’s closest friends, who were sitting in the front rows, were particularly boisterous.
But she didn’t feel particularly safe. She felt like another woman who had only her dowry and ability to produce heirs to barter with. Other than marriage and children, she was useless.
“Don’t be scared,” she heard her husband mutter, and she glanced up at him.
Although he was smiling at those they passed, reaching out his free hand to shake his friends’ hands and generally acting like a victorious conqueror, he seemed to be watching her.
“Nothing will happen to you now. I promise.”
“There’s something you should know about me,” she murmured as someone took out a tin whistle and began to play.
“What’s that?”
She smiled slightly. “I don’t like parties.”
To Violet’s immense relief, the wedding breakfast was a more subdued and intimate affair than the grand ceremony. After kissing both her cheeks goodbye outside of the church, the Duke’s friends departed. That left just her, her new husband, and their closest friends and family to make their way to the wedding breakfast at the Duke’s—no,their—townhouse, Bolden House.
The Duke helped her up into the carriage and then seated himself across from her. It was a very fine carriage, even finer than her father’s, and she couldn’t help but admire it as she looked around. At last, her gaze settled on her new husband, who was watching her with a very serious look on his face.
“There is something I would like to discuss with you.” James’s eyes had become distant, and there was a coldness to him that he hadn’t exhibited at the wedding. It made her nervous.
“What is the matter?” she asked, her heart beginning to beat faster.
“We didn’t have enough time to discuss this, but this is not going to be a traditional marriage.”
Violet frowned. “What do you mean? If you think it untraditional that we married so hastily, or out of convenience, then you are mistak?—”
“No, no, that’s not what I mean.” James watched her closely, his expression implacable. “I am referring to what our marriage will look like going forward. While I needed to be legally married, I do not intend for us to live together as man and wife. Do you understand what I mean by that? I have no intention of fathering any children, so sharing a bed is not a risk I am willing to take.”
Violet blinked at him. She was pretty sure she understood what he meant, but it didn’t make it any less shocking.
“You do not desire to have marital relations with me?” she asked, and she felt grim satisfaction at watching him flush.
“It’s nothing personal. I would feel this way about any woman I married.”
“So it is not because you find me… displeasing?”
James snorted. “Of course not.”
Violet raised an eyebrow. She didn’t think this was so obvious.
“I’m surprised you know so much about all of this,” he muttered when she didn’t say anything else.
“I’m no fool,” she snapped, fixing him with a cold stare. “I was a curious child, and when I was sixteen, I learned as much as I could about what happens in the marriage bed. I wanted to be prepared.”
