Page 58 of Savage Games

Richard interjected. “Mr. Simmons, if you would be so kind as to give us a moment.”

Mr. Simmons snapped his leather portfolio closed and bowed as he stepped back. “Of course, Your Grace. Take all the time you need.”

Even though it was probably still months away, I wasn’t ready for all the pomp and circumstance, not to mention attention, the wedding would bring down on me. I wasn’t ready to be a duchess. I wasn’t ready for any of this. It was too much. I could feel the icy fist of anxiety squeezing my lungs. This was happening too fast.

Keeping my eyes averted, I whispered, “I can’t do this.”

“Look at me, little one.”

I kept my gaze lowered. My breathing was labored as I tried to stop the room from spinning.

Richard placed a crooked finger under my chin and lifted my head up. “You will do this because I’m not giving you any choice. You’re mine, baby, and it’s past time I made that official.”

My vision blurred as tears pooled in my eyes. “I don’t know how to be a duchess. I don’t know royal protocol. I don’t fit in your world.”

“None of that matters to me.”

“It should! It should matter to you.”

Taking my arm, Richard walked me the few steps till we were standing in front of the altar. “Here is what matters to me,” he said.

Taking both of my hands into his own, the timbre of his voice was quiet and solemn as he said, “Before God and man, I vow to take Elizabeth Adelaide Larkin to be my wife. I will love, comfort, honor and protect her, and will forsake all others, to be faithful to her as long as I live.”

I was speechless.

Then Richard took a step forward, then another.

“Richard?”

I took several steps back, trying to pull my hands free from his tightening grasp.

“Richard, what are you doing?” I asked as my alarm built.

Something hard hit my lower back, and I turned to look over my shoulder to see it was the altar. Richard finally let go of my hands, only to cage me in by placing his hands on the altar on either side of me.

“Those are the words I will say out loud, but this is what I want you to hear as I do…”

Richard leaned down to whisper in my ear as if he knew his words would violate the sanctity of the church and God’s order and therefore could only be uttered in hushed tones.

“I, Richard Payne the third, Duke of Winterbourne and various other exalted titles of the realm, do hereby claim Elizabeth Adelaide Larkin as my own. She will love, honor, and obey me as her rightful lord and master, forsaking all others and remaining faithful in her duty to me in mind, body, and soul, for as long as she lives, or face the consequences of my wrath.”

Oh, my God.

“Richard… I… you…”

Richard leaned in. I could feel the threatening press of his hard cock against my middle.

“Don’t test my resolve where you are concerned, little one. It is taking all my willpower not to force you to your knees here and now, to prove the truth of my words.”

I clawed at the lapels of his suit, trying to keep myself upright as my world tilted. I could feel the steady beat of his heart through my palms.

He was right. The truth of it hit me like a punch to the stomach. If he commanded me to fall to my knees, I would do so. He had that much power over me. There was nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice if he asked it of me.

Even if it meant eternal damnation for violating the sanctity of this church. I would burn for him, right on this spot.

Looking down, I could see we were standing in the center of the Cosmati Pavement. The inlaid stone mosaic depicted the elements of the universe and foretold the end of the world. How fitting.

These violent delights have violent ends.

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