Page 101 of The King's Man
Thamsine obliged. ‘Come on, they’ll be waiting for us!’ May said.
Kit had found an obliging priest, happy to fulfil the requirements of a speedy marriage. With banns and licenses outlawed, the only requirement was for a priest or Justice of the Peace to announce the impending nuptials in a public place. The letter of the law had been complied with, and Kit waited at the church of St. Sepulchre at the end of the Old Bailey for his bride to appear.
Thamsine walked slowly down the aisle and stood beside him, looking up at him with a small, shy smile. Not for the first time that morning, she wondered whether she had made the right decision. Had she merely jumped from the frying pan into a fire?
Kit smiled back at her. He found her hand and gripped her cold fingers. Hidden from general view within the folds of her skirt, he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
In the space of a short ceremony, Christopher Lovell of the parish of Eveleigh in Cheshire became tied in the eyes of God and the State to Thamsine Granville, spinster of the parish of Hartley in Hampshire.
Chapter 31
Awelcoming fire burned in the grate of The Ship Inn’s best bedchamber. The twins had lit the room with expensive wax candles and left a cold supper set on the table.
Kit closed the door behind him and turned the key in the lock. He paused just to watch Thamsine. In the light of the candles, he could not see the darns and frayed edges of the amber gown and it glowed like a jewel, shimmering as she walked towards the window. The low cut of the bodice exposed her back, the long line of the stays lending an elegant grace to her slender figure.
She stopped by the window, looking down into the street, her hand resting on the sill, her face half-turned away from him. His heart ached at her beauty and the sudden realisation that she was beautiful. Every woman he had ever known paled into insipid prettiness beside her.
That thought made her unattainable and untouchable. A few days ago he had slept with her in his arms; now he stood in hiswedding chamber like a virgin youth, at a loss to know what to say or even what to do.
She turned to look at him. ‘What are you thinking?’
He paused for a moment before replying, unable to concoct a suitable answer that did not sound hackneyed or ribald or just plain stupid, so he opted for the truth.
‘I was thinking how beautiful you are,’ he said.
A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth. ‘No one has ever told me that before.’
‘No one has ever seen you looking as you do now. That gown becomes you well.’
She looked down at the bodice. ‘I thought it a little immodest,’ she said, ‘but then I have very little to be immodest about.’
Kit forced his wooden feet towards the table and poured a glass of wine from the jug. Jem had assured him it was the very best the inn had to offer. He took a sip and, satisfied that Jem was correct in his opinion that it was marginally better than the usual gut rot served in the taproom, he poured Thamsine a glass and walked over to where she still stood by the window.
‘I was watching life go by,’ she said. ‘And thinking how fortunate the people in the street are to be just going about their business.’
‘They probably have their share of problems,’ Kit replied pragmatically. ‘Life is hard for everyone, Thamsine.’ He raised his glass. ‘Shall we toast a new beginning?’
She gave a small, tight smile and raised her glass to his. ‘A new beginning for both of us.’ She sipped the wine and sighed. ‘This feels strange.’
‘In what way?’
‘Well, here we are, man and wife, and yet we know so little of each other.’
‘Would it make a difference?’ Kit asked. ‘I doubt one person ever really knows another. Anyway, we have a whole lifetime to make those discoveries.’
She frowned. ‘A whole lifetime! We have to survive the next few weeks first, Kit.’
Kit set his glass down and took her hand. ‘I refuse to let any thought of what lies outside this room intrude on us tonight, Thamsine. What little time we have is for us and us alone to start learning those little things about each other.’
She looked up at him and her eyes twinkled. ‘The twins have already told me things about you that I am sure you would be flattered to hear.’
He pulled a face. ‘I can only imagine what they have been saying.’ His eyes sought out hers. ‘Thamsine, I make no apologies for my life. I have never made a pretence of being a saint. I have made love to a number of women but I want you to know, I have never loved a woman as I do you.’
There – the words were out.
Her brown eyes seemed large and luminous in the dim light as she searched his face. ‘Did you say you loved me, Kit?’
He reached out and touched her face. The softness of her skin beneath his rough fingers sent bolts of lightning through his body. She leaned into his hand, drawing it around to her mouth, her lips brushing the palm and the fingers. He closed his eyes for a moment.
