Lord Carfield was a kind man, if a little daft, and while he was certainly a better man to walk her down the aisle than her father,she wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t noticed she was about to burst into tears.
“I suppose so,” she said although it was becoming difficult to speak. She was so nervous, and the knot in her stomach was so tight that words were hard.
“Well then.” Lord Carfield clapped his hands together then offered her his arm. At the same moment, the organ began to play.
That was their cue.
The doors swung open, and Rosalie and Lord Carfield moved forward.
Despite the quickness of the wedding, the pews were packed, and Rosalie forced herself not to look at anyone as she walked past. She didn’t want them to see the terror on her face.
The person she couldn’t help but look at, because he was standing at the end of the aisle right in her line of vision, was the Duke of Carramere.
He looked particularly handsome in all black attire, but as she drew closer to him, the knot in her stomach only tightened. He wasn’t smiling, and the look on his face bordered on anger.
The Beast of Carramere, she thought.That’s who I’m marrying.
It took all her courage to allow her cousin to hand her over to this man, who towered above her, and as the Archbishop began to recite the opening lines of the ceremony, she felt as if she were being read her last rights.
My bride looks miserable.
Nathan wondered if everyone else could see it or if it was just him. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, as if she had been crying for hours, and she was holding onto her bouquet so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. And as the Archbishop began to intone, it looked as if she were fighting not to burst into tears.
The thought sent a wave of both grief and guilt through him, both of which soon flared into anger.
Not at Rosalie, of course. At himself.
You’re the one doing this to her. You’re causing her this misery. Perhaps you really are your father’s son.
His hand clenched into a fist, but he relaxed it quickly before she noticed. Covertly, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Despite the bloodshot eyes and quivering lip, she looked beautiful if a bit pale. Her hair had been done up in an elaborate coiffure of curls, and there was a flush of pink in her cheeksthat made him want to reach out and trace a finger along her cheekbone.
Of course, he resisted.
It’s just the alcohol in your system, he told himself.It’s making you think ungentlemanly thoughts.
He spent the rest of the ceremony like this: caught somewhere between wanting to comfort his bride and feeling unworthy to even have her on his arm.
To his great relief, the Archbishop at last announced them husband and wife. It was done.
He turned toward her and smiled down at her. She didn’t smile back.
“Come,” he said, and he led her down the aisle as the audience applauded. Even to his ears, however, the sound was wooden and dispassionate.They know what a farce this is!
As they neared the doors to the exit, Rosalie suddenly stumbled. Instinctively, he reached out and stopped her fall with his free hand while with the arm supporting her, he tried to keep her upright.
“Don’t worry,” he murmured as he supported her weight with both arms. “I’ve got you.”
She glanced up at him, her eyes wide and her lips parted, and he tried to smile reassuringly. It probably came out more like a grimace because she looked away, her eyes fearful.
Very gently, he lifted her back into a standing position. It was easy, easier than he’d have guessed. She was very light, he realized.Too light.He looked at her then, more closely than he ever had before, and took in her hollowed-out cheekbones, how thin her wrists were, and how prominent the collarbones were below her neck.
She was far too thin. It was unhealthy looking, and it reminded him of how his mother had looked on days when she wasn’t eating, convinced that if she could just be thinner, then her husband might love her.
Something twisted inside of him: a deep, sharp anger.
But at what?Why am I angry?
“Did you have breakfast this morning?” he asked more sharply than he intended as they stepped out into the foyer of the church.
