Page 28 of His Accidental Duchess

Nottooquickly, of course. She didn’t want it to seem as if she were hurrying towards her groom, but there was also no point in taking dainty, mincing steps down the aisle.

I want to get this over with.

She saw a few familiar faces in the crowd out of the corner of her eye. Beatrice was one of them, and Anna felt a twinge of guilt that she hadn’t talked more to her friend during the past week. Beatrice hadn’t been betrayed by Henry like Anna had been, but he was her friend, too.

And then she was there, at the altar, with the priest eyeing her warily, and Octavia released her arm and leaned in to kiss her.

“You look beautiful, darling,” she whispered. “I just realized that I never told you.”

Anna’s throat closed up, but then it was over, and Octavia was sitting down beside the twins, and there was nothing else for Anna to do but face the Duke.

Herhusband. Almost.

“Dearly beloved,” the priest began, speaking fast as if he were afraid one of them would make a mad dash for the exit.

Anna breathed in deeply, steeling herself, and looked the Duke directly in his cool blue eyes. He regarded her straight back, his expression unreadable.

Abruptly, his gaze slid to the side, and Anna had to follow it to see what he was looking at.

His daughter, of course. Kitty sat on one of the front pews, a nervous-looking maid beside her.

The little girl was wearing a frilly blue-and-pink gown, beaming at both her father and Anna. Her feet, which did not touch the floor, were swinging wildly.

Anna glanced back at the Duke just in time to see him flash a smile and a wink at his daughter. Then the smile was gone, and the cold, impassive mask was back.

“Do you, Theodore Stanley, the Duke of Langdon, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do,” the Duke answered, his voice steady.

“And do you, Anna Belmont, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do,” Anna managed, her voice cracking just a little, a fact which would doubtless be noticed and reported by the scandal sheets.

“Then it is my pleasure to pronounce you man and wife, the Duke and Duchess of Langdon. You may kiss the bride.”

Anna just had time for her eyes to widen before the congregation erupted in applause. The Duke’s face had not changed, showing not even a flicker of emotion. His gaze darted down to her mouth, the way it had when she’d been so sure he was going to kiss her before, and he leaned forward.

Panic bloomed. Part of Anna wanted to recoil, but that would end up humiliating both of them in front of the whole congregation, and the Duke did not seem like the sort of man to easily forgive slights and humiliation.

So she stood stock still and waited. At the last moment, she let her eyes flutter shut.

His lips never touched hers. Instead, she received a dry, chaste kiss on the cheekbone, and he pulled back.

Oh.

“Smile,” he said, his teeth gritted, and she hastily flashed a nervous grin at the congregation.

It seemed to work, as the applause intensified. On the front pew, Octavia was wiping tears from her eyes.

Anna struggled not to flinch when the Duke’s hand unceremoniously closed around hers, but it seemed to be for practical reasons, as he began to tow her down the aisle.

Congratulations rained down on either side, and Anna managed to reply with quick thank yous and occasionally a nod and a smile. Her head was spinning.

Outside, the rain was falling hard, but a footman waited with a large umbrella, ushering them to a carriage, a different one from the one that had brought Anna and her family here. Acting automatically, Anna climbed into the carriage and sat on the plush velvet bench before she even knew what was going on. The Duke climbed in after her, the door closed, and the carriage took off.

Just like that, they were alone. Silence descended.

Anna swallowed hard. “That… that was quick.”

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