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That’s a new rule I will put in place. I will not lie with my wife.
He feared doing so could lead to feelings, and that would truly break one of the first rules he ever put in place.
No love.
“Marriages of convenience are marriages seen by the church only. We can live under the same roof and barely see one another,” James explained in a rush.
“Yes, but I am as good at staying away from a glass of port as you are at staying away from an attractive woman.” Michael’s words urged James to glare his way.
“You are not helping.”
“I was simply trying to have an open conversation.”
“Shh, not now,” James said quietly. “It is to begin.” On cue, the vicar stepped forward, nodding to James in greeting, then the organ music began in the distant regions of the church. It was quiet music as if the organist didn’t want to give the piece its usual full gusto.
The doors to the back of the church opened, and James turned to watch his bride approach. Seeing Lady Marina, he did a double take.
She hadn’t had many days to prepare for the wedding, yet she had prepared well indeed. The gown she wore was cream in color with the skirt cinched high on the waist and so much lace across the bust and shoulders that it repeatedly drew the eyeline toward the neck of her gown and her ample curves.
James growled under his breath quietly, a sound he thought hadn’t been heard until he heard Michael clear his throat behind him.
“Yes, I see what you mean. Such a woman is easy to stay away from,” Michael whispered.
“Shh.”
There was a golden chiffon overlay to the skirt of her gown that just reached the floor. The material moved from side to side as she walked, emphasizing the curve of her hips. With her cinnamon-colored hair gathered into an updo of curls, her face was completely revealed. She’d applied a dark rouge to those full lips, and it had altered the focus of her face.
Well, maybe I do not always have to stay away from my wife. It’s something I can decide as time progresses.
He tried to block out the thought of Marina in that chamber, wearing just her corset and her chemise.
As she reached his side, her father passed her hand over to James. A jolt passed through him as they touched, and judging by the way Marina’s eyes snapped to his own, she felt it too. Looping her hand through his arm, James led her up to the altar, ready for the ceremony to begin.
With the organ music still playing, he felt at liberty to whisper something to her without fear of being overheard.
“After the wedding has passed, we will return to my lodgings. We cannot have a wedding breakfast.” He hoped by being matter of fact and practical, it would make the moment easier.
“Yes, I know.” She sighed with the words and looked away, blinking a little too quickly.
In that moment, James thought he saw tears in her eyes. He couldn’t be certain of it, for the glistening effect was there one second then gone in the next.
Oh, God’s wounds.
Something happened to him at that moment. It was as if he was standing outside of his own body, perhaps perched on the altar and staring at himself with Marina. She was on the verge of tears, staring forward prepared to be wed, meanwhile he had taken her hand and spoken of how they could not celebrate the wedding nor see their family. She was to be taken back to his lodgings, more like a prisoner than a bride.
When did I become so cold?
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God to join together this man and this woman…” the vicar began as the organ music ended, and James became quite wooden. Part of him was acutely aware of Lady Marina’s hand on his arm, the incredibly light pressure there but nothing more.
“Now, Your Grace, would you repeat after me please?” The vicar took Lady Marina’s hand from his arm and held it aloft. “I, James Follet, the Duke of Curton, take thee, Marina Hodge, to be my lawfully wedded wife…”
James listened to the vow in full before he took Marina’s hand then he said the words. The moment he uttered her name, he looked up from the joining of their hands and into her eyes.
“…to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish…” He hesitated. Without meaning to, his tongue had tripped on the words. James realized that he could talk of ‘marriages of convenience’ all he liked, but he was the only one vowing to protect the woman who stood before him. No other would make this promise now.
Her brows furrowed a little at his hesitation, and he went on. “Until death do us part. According to God’s holy ordinance, and thereto, I plight thee me troth.”
As the vicar urged Marina to say the same vow, James felt his hand grip hers a little harder. She didn’t appear to notice though he was all too aware of it.
