Page 48 of His Forbidden Duchess
She would be eternally grateful to him for rescuing her family, but she was hurt by how cold and businesslike he had become. Even if he felt nothing for her, hadn’t he been a close friend of her family for as long as she could remember?
“Just you wait,” Margaret enthused. “I picked you some flowers to use as a bouquet. It is going to be beautiful. His Grace is a good man. Just imagine, you will soon be a duchess!”
Eloise sighed and turned, flopping down onto a nearby seat. “I would be excited if hewantedme to be his duchess. It is the Duke of Kingswell, Margaret! My brother’s best friend. I dread to think what Jeremy will do when he returns and finds me living with him!”
“Marriedto him,” Margaret corrected. “There is a difference. And I am certain the Marquess will simply be grateful to His Grace for his sacrifice.”
Sacrifice.The word spun around Eloise’s mind.That is all I am to Felix. A sacrifice.
She was crippled with guilt and sadness, disappointed that Felix could never have the same feelings for her as she had for him.
If it had been Mortcombe, she would have handled the rejection in stride. She didn’t care for him at all. But Felix…
“Come, My Lady,” Margaret said, holding her hand out to guide Eloise. “Let us get to the church. The sooner we get there, the sooner it is over, and you can go on living a wonderful life as the Duchess of Kingswell.”
Eloise nodded sadly and allowed herself to be led.
The chapel Felix had organized for their wedding was tiny, the priest old and frail. Eloise shivered as she entered. On one side sat Lord Stentford along with Felix’s aunt, Lady Brimsleigh. A man Eloise recognized as Felix’s solicitor sat alone on a pew at the back, close to the door. On the other side, Hannah stood with Eloise’s mother, who was already weeping.
It hurt Eloise’s heart to see the church so empty and bleak. She’d always imagined that her wedding would be celebrated by a great many people—a huge wedding that would be described in great detail in the society pages and discussed over tea by the women of the Ton.
At least there was music as her lady’s maid walked her down the aisle in Jeremy’s place.
As Eloise stepped up to the altar, some of the initial coldness melted away. There was Felix, the Duke of Kingswell. He wore his finest suit, the brass buttons polished to a high shine. His gloves must have been new because their whiteness shone brightly. He had trimmed his sandy blond beard, and he stoodtall and proud, his hazel-green eyes shining with something Eloise was unable to decipher.
Fear? Love?
“Good morning, Your Grace,” she whispered, lowering her eyes coyly.
“Eloise. You look beautiful.”
She blushed, surprised he had said such a thing. The simple, sweet words warmed her heart, but he had spoken them with a tone of cold objectivity, as though he had felt obliged to say them.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her confusion causing her thoughts to roil chaotically.
“Dearly beloved,” the priest began, his voice soft but steady, “we are gathered here today in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate, instituted by God in the time of man’s innocence, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church.”
Eloise slowly let her breath out, her gaze steady on the priest as he spoke, his arms open as if embracing the world.
She had dreamed of this moment since childhood, but it had never looked like this. Her imagined wedding had never beenmarred by the black cloud that now hung over them, nor had she questioned the groom’s desire to be there. Eloise wept inwardly as her fantasy wedding disintegrated into dust.
This is Felix,she reminded herself.He never does anything he does not want to do.
She risked a glance at him, the man who was about to become her husband. The man who was her brother’s best friend, a known rake, and a gambler and…
She sucked in her breath quickly.
He was more than all those things.
He was also the man she had yearned for over the previous weeks but had never pictured marrying. The man who set her mind to wandering and drove her body senseless with desire. He was the man she had dreamed of, the one who gave her a secret smile and made her heart jump whenever he was present.
That is Felix.
The priest turned and addressed the small congregation.
“I require and charge you both,” he said, “as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know any impediment why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony, you must now speak, or forever hold your peace.”
Because it is all a sham? Because he does not love me? Because Jeremy isn’t even aware, let alone present?
