Chapter 4: The Carriage to Wexmoor

We were married nine days later in my father's village church, in front of half the county and every Rook who could fit in a pew.

Edmund sat in the third row with Seraphine on his arm.

He smiled at me the whole way up the aisle.

I smiled back, fixing my gaze on the stones in the floor to keep my face still.

The bishop asked if anyone knew a reason we should not be joined.

Nobody spoke.

I felt the whole church leaning toward Edmund to see if he would.

He only crossed one ankle over the other and waited.

"Then by the law of this kingdom and the grace of heaven," said the bishop, "I pronounce you man and wife."

The duke took my left hand to put the ring on.

His hand was steady.

Mine was not, and he saw it, and held on one breath longer than the vow needed before he let go.

The ring was plain gold, and it fit.

"You measured me," I whispered.

"Your father's housekeeper measured you," he said. "I was not allowed to see how."

My father wept openly in the front pew.

Maud, beside him, passed him a handkerchief and told him not to be ridiculous, and he laughed through it.

That was the moment I almost broke.

Then the doors opened, and the sun hit the aisle, and we walked out into rice and bells.

The ducal carriage was black and gold, with four grey horses stamping on the lane.

Wynne was already up on the box beside the coachman with her lap full of my hatboxes, grinning at every village child we passed.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Awakening Love: Reborn to Be His Duchess from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.