Page 96 of The Language of Love

“Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”

“I will.”

When he took Annis’s hands in his, he could feel they were ice cold, even through two layers of gloves. He rubbed his thumb over her clenched knuckles and smiled down at her.

Her eyes widened and some of the tension eased from her body.

He must have lost himself in her blue gaze for a moment, because the next thing Henry knew, he was escorting her from the church and walking toward the friends and family who’d gathered to shake his hand and embrace Henry’s new wife.

***

They were married.

Annis was his wife.

She looked down the long table toward her husband, her stomach churning at the word: husband.

Uncle Thomas had insisted the wedding breakfast be at North Audley Street and Annis knew it would be churlish to suggest some place else, even though her aunt’s stiffness toward her had not abated in the week since the betrothal.

If anything, her family had grown chillier, as if displeased by her good fortune.

But the morning had gone off well, and this breakfast was a festive occasion with some of Annis’s dearest friends and her grandmother in attendance.

Henry’s offer to send his traveling chaise for Lady Cecily had spurred her uncle out from beneath the cat’s paw and he’d sent his own carriage for his mother, bringing her in two very easy stages to London and putting her in a lovely suite of rooms in his house. In the past, her uncle had allowed Aunt Agnes to force Grandmama to travel in a crowded coach and then shunt her into the smallest guest room.

“See how you have raised my status already, my dear?” her grandmother had laughingly whispered upon arriving in London.

When Annis looked at her grandmother—so happy and safe now—she could not regret the lying and scheming she had done to arrive at this point.

Lady Cecily would have a life of comfort and Annis could also buy her grandmother additional luxuries with the ridiculously generous pin allowance Henry had granted her.

Thinking of the pin money reminded Annis of her last private conversation with Henry when she had asked him to keep part of her quarterly allowance back as repayment for the loan.

It was the first time Annis had seen him truly angry.

“Do you really believe that I would dun my own wife for a loan like some back-alley moneylender? Let us not speak of this matter again, ma’am.”

His fury about the money had left her speechless.

And tonight, Annis would pay for that money.

Fear and dread coursed through her as she pondered the evening ahead.

Oh, it wasn’t the thought of physical love she feared. Indeed, just thinking about tonight had woken her up repeatedly over the past week. Each time she’d been flushed, hot, and aroused. Each time she’d taken her pleasure from her body, using her hand the way Henry had done.

No, it wasn’t the marriage bed that terrified her.

It was her dread of the moment when he realized that she'd lied to him, again. That he’d married a ruined woman.

Annis struggled to swallow down the lump in her throat as she cut a furtive glance down the table to where Henry was engaged in conversation with Lorelei. Whatever Henry was saying to Annis’s usually prickly friend—at least where men were concerned—was making Lorie laugh.

Lorie had arrived unexpectedly only two days before—her appearance such a delightful surprise that Annis had cried. She loved all her friends, of course, but she had known Lorie the longest.

Lorie was even poorer than Annis, so a trip from Cornwall to London would have been a significant expenditure.

But when Annis had offered to pay for her fare back home, Lorie had surprised her yet again. “I will stay in London for a while.”

“Did you find work?”