Page 27 of The Duke and the Unwanted Bride

It was a small ceremony, made even smaller, as Teresa had decided not to attend… as had Selina. Less than a dozen guests populated the nave, most of them from Hannah’s side of the family while the rest, she guessed, were the Duke’s family and friends. But she didn’t take much notice of them as she reached the end of the aisle, for all her attention was focused on her husband-to-be.

He stood at the altar beside a man she did not recognize—his younger brother was her guess. They were chatting quietly until his brother spotted her and nudged him to indicate her arrival.

The Duke straightened up before looking at her. As soon as his eyes landed on her, his mouth dropped open.

Hannah beamed as she started walking down the aisle, relishing the way he gaped at her. Oh, she could see his efforts to look away and control himself. She could tell that he wanted very much not to gawk and stare. But the closer she came to him, the more obvious it became that for this moment at least, he was completely in her thrall.

From there, the ceremony got underway in a typical manner. The minister began by welcoming them all and then proceeded to read from the Book of Common Prayer. Soon, he was asking Lord Ramsbury if he would give his daughter to the Duke, to which the Earl said, “Yes.”

Hannah held out her hands for the Duke to take. He hesitated, eyeing her hands as if they were snakes that might bite him. But he relented and took them gently, holding them by slightly trembling fingertips. She tried her best to meet his gaze, but he refused to give it, looking down at his feet in a very purposeful way.

But he could not do so forever, and Hannah listened to the minister, waiting for the words that she knew would come to define this marriage.

“Your Grace, do you take Lady Hannah Bolton to be your wife?” he asked.

“I-I do.”

“Lady Hannah, do you take His Grace to be your husband?”

“I do.” Hannah was looking right at the Duke, refusing to blink, waiting for him to meet her eyes.

“Under the eyes of God Almighty, I pronounce you man and wife,” the minister announced.

It was as if the entire church held a collective breath. Or perhaps that was just Hannah. She could hear her heart thumping as she waited for the Duke to act. Slowly, his eyes traveled from his feet and up her body, until they met her eyes. He looked right into them, steadying himself, exerting all the self-control he could muster as he smiled politely.

And Hannah took her chance.

Still holding his hands, she licked her lips as she leaned forward, gazing into his eyes, willing him to do what he had promised he would not.

A moment of hesitation. She could literally see the conflict in his eyes. And for a brief moment, she worried that all of this would be for naught and that her husband would deny her.

“Oh, give her a kiss, Brother!” The Duke’s brother called from behind them, to which those in the audience chuckled and cheered along.

The Duke grimaced, but she could also see a sort of relief on his face. Eyes flicking down to her bare neck, over her breasts, that same look that she had come to recognize crossed his visage, and he nodded to himself, smiled lightly and pressed his lips together.

Hannah stepped forward and met his kiss, wanting to be close to him as they joined as man and wife. And what started as a simple peck—for clearly that was what the Duke wanted—very soon turned into something that even she had not expected.

They had nearly kissed twice already.

Both times had been awkward and unexpected. The first one she had tried to trick him, the second one had come about due to an argument and again an effort to try and almost force the other to admit to something. Near kisses that had lingered on Hannah’s mind as she had wondered time and again what it might feel like should their lips finally meet.

Even in her two weeks of imagining and yearning, she had not in her wildest dreams thought it would feel like this.

She lost herself in that kiss. As his skin finally caressed her own, as he melted into her in a way that she hadn’t expected, as his lips finally parted and he breathed her in while cupping her face in his hands, for a moment there she forgot that she was in a church in front of her entire family, very nearly grabbing her husband by his shirt and holding him there.

They kissed for a second, but it felt like an age. Her chest tightened. Her heart was racing. Her mind turned blank. Her tongue was just starting to find its way inside his mouth when?—

The Duke pulled away, and the congregation erupted in applause.

Hannah, only just now realizing how inappropriate their kiss was, blushed furiously and cast a glance at her husband, who too was doing everything he could not to look at her. He smiled for the small crowd and accepted their plaudits, but he would not look at her. No need to say why.

Her goal today was to prove to the Duke that his determination not to touch her was a fool’s errand, and if she had to evaluate her success, she would say she was triumphant. There was a problem now, however.

She wanted him more than she had realized. That kiss… her lips still tingled from it, and if her plan was not as successful as she thought and somehow the Duke stayed strong, she did not know how long she could survive without another kiss.

Tonight was their wedding night, and it was as her parents approached her, crying and cheering and looking joyful, that she decided that she would not see sleep tonight until she proved that this kiss was not a flash-in-the-pan type of thing.

The Duke would take her tonight, or she would embarrass herself trying.

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