Page 34 of A Duchess Disciplined

William hauled open the doors and entered the chapel. It was not a particularly impressive building, more suited for the common people who had once lived on the estate hundreds of years before. Now, the church was seldom attended.

Only his eccentric great-great-grandfather, with his unrivaled passion for history, had kept the church from falling entirely into disrepair. William had made further efforts to ensure that the place was prepared for his bride. Bouquets of white roses and trailing ivy were spread throughout the chapel, lending a little color to the otherwise gray and dismal stone.

The vicar, an aged man who always behaved as though he was a mouse only a hairsbreadth away from a cat’s angry paw, jumped and bowed so quickly that the old man nearly toppled over. “Your Grace!” he exclaimed.

William nodded curtly. “I am here with my bride. I trust that you are ready to perform the marriage rites?”

“Yes, of course, Your Grace.”

The sooner the ceremony began, the sooner it would end. William was not a romantic man, and he had always found weddings to be needlessly long affairs. Besides, what mattered was receiving the bride at the end, not everything that came before it.

Perhaps what happenedafterthe wedding matters, too. William glanced at Lady Catherine, his eyes lingering on her full bosom and slowly sweeping down over her delicate curves, hidden by those full skirts and layers of fabric. Soon, he would see that all stripped away and cast aside. He wondered if she would still be brazen then.

The Leedway siblings seated themselves in the empty pew on the right. Hester and Hannah took their position on the left. William rolled back his shoulders and fixed his attention on Lady Catherine’s face. She stood across from him, her gaze calm and unreadable.

The vicar producedThe Common Book of Prayersand opened it. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God…”

Most regrettably, the vicar’s voice did nothing to alleviate the length of the ceremony, for his voice was dull and flat. Halfway through the proceedings, the man paused and retrieved his spectacles. Lady Catherine smiled serenely, while William grew hot with impatience.

“If any man can show just cause, for why these two shall not be wed, let him speak now or forever hold his peace,” the vicar said.

There was a pause of silence and a heaviness in the air. Lady Catherine’s eyes darted in the direction of her brother and sisters, and her calm, unreadable composure wavered for just an instant. William clenched his jaw.

He was so close to having his bride and a feminine presence for his sisters, a woman who could guide them into society and later marriages. William would not accept a refusal then. If Lady Catherine or Reeds didanythingto prevent this union?—

The moment passed before William could continue the line of thought, and the vicar resumed speaking. At last, the vicar reached the only part of the sermon that mattered. “Will you, William Richards, Duke of Sarsen, take this woman Lady Catherine Leedway to have and to hold as your lawfully wedded wife?”

Lady Catherine exhaled softly, her eyes wide and her lips trembling. The vicar asked some more things—the usual questions about cherishing her and forsaking all others—that fell away to a faint hum, like the sound of a bee flitting to a flower.

She was beautiful. She was everything he could ask for, everything he had been promised, and some things that he had not been. Lady Catherine could be the duchess he wanted.

“I do,” William said.

Lady Catherine audibly gulped, and her breath quickened. William watched her body as the vicar repeated the same questions to her. This was the last moment that she might feasibly escape. Once they were wed, she would be his forever.

“I do,” she said.

William smirked, wondering how long it would be before Lady Catherine wanted to test the promise toobeyhim as her lawfully wedded husband. A feeling of victory surged through him, like lightning crashing into a tree. He had his wife and duchess! Here was a woman to be a guardian to his sisters and to produce his heirs. It had all been so easy in the end.

Reeds stood. This was the part of the ceremony where he was to give his sister away. William tried not to looktoosatisfied, but there was a small, smug part of him that wanted to remind the other man ofjusthow frustrating he had made this process and all for nothing. Lady Catherine was nowhis, the Duchess of Sarsen, in the eyes of God and everyone present.

William had won, as he always did.

CHAPTER10

Catherine was the Duchess of Sarsen, and it was her wedding night. She paced across the floor in the duchess’s chambers, newly given to her. Soon, her husband would join her. Herhusband. Catherine’s breath shuddered in her breast.

She wore her cotton nightdress and over it her dressing gown. Catherine had considered her night cap as well, but the maid had already arrived and stoked a fire in the fireplace. The room was not cold.

It was warm and comfortable, so why did she feel suffocated? Catherine threw herself across the loveseat and propped her head up against the back cushion. She watched the flames flicker in the fireplace. A knot twisted in her chest. Dorothy would know what to do. Her parting question, “Are you sure that you are all right?” still lingered in Catherine’s mind.

Even though their departure had been inevitable, she wished her siblings had not left so hastily. Catherine rubbed the heels of her palms against her eyes, trying to put all the conflicting and colliding thoughts into some coherent order, but she still found it difficult to believe that she was the Duchess of Sarsen. A wife.

The door opened, and Catherine bolted to her feet. His Grace entered, clad in only his trousers and shirtsleeves. Catherine inhaled sharply, having never seen a man in such a state of undress. “Your Grace,” she rasped.

“My lady,” he said. “I see that you have made yourself comfortable.”

“Have I?”

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