In an alternate timeline in England, Lord Kerrick Calloway’s wife has become a problem. The government in Europe is run by the church. As liaison between the church and the state, Kerrick must follow the church’s law explicitly.

How could he know, before their marriage, that his wife, Liora, had been raised in heresy? Following church rulings concerning sex and marriage changed at least a century out of date, she seldom agreed to sleep with him.

As a descendant of a line of confessors, Kerrick knew what would happen to her if this knowledge came to the attention of the church. He also knew what they would do to him if he didn’t bring her to the church to confess.

In an attempt to save his wife and his life, Kerrick takes her away to an isolated family counry home for a time of study and seduction. His hope is to win her over to the new teachings of the church, root out the heresy in the little village where she grew up, and finally have a wife who could enjoy being with him.

Liora is terrified by the thought of having sex with her new husband. Handsome, well-situated, and kind, she finds it nearly impossible not to enjoy being with him. But since she firmly believes that enjoying sex, even with her husband, is no different than being a prostitute, she finds it more and more difficult to give her body to him without sinning.

It’ll be easy, she’d been told. It isn’t really enjoyable for women anyway. Just let him have you when he must and you can at least save his soul by keeping him in the marriage bed.

But how could she give herself to him to save his soul without consigning hers to hell?

“Paradise preserve me,” Kerrick muttered, shaking his head. Hadn’t today been aggravating enough already?
“What’s wrong?” Liora, his wife asked. “Why are you angry?” Shrugging her shoulders, she began to turn away as she waited for his answer. His arm shot out toward her, his hand grasping her jaw firmly, tuning her to face him.
“Why? I just want to know why I can’t have a proper kiss from my wife! After working all day, it would be nice to feel that my wife cares for me, rather than tolerates me.” Releasing her with disgust, he started toward his study.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Liora replied. “Every day I meet you at the door with a kiss.”
“You call that a kiss? That’s the sort of kiss you’d give to a brother or father, not the kiss a husband expects from his wife.”
“Well, what’s the difference? I greet you each and every day to show that I love you. Does the kiss matter that much? At least you get a kiss.”
“Yes, it does matter that much!” he shouted in anger. “A man expects a few niceties when he gets home, and a proper kiss from his wife is one of them.”
“Why are you going on so much about a kiss? You know I love you.”
“Do I?” Kerrick asked, exasperated. “And how am I supposed to know that? Your kisses are brotherly at best, unless I press the issue. And in our bed, half the time, I feel I’m committing rape. You agree to sleep with me, but show no passion for me. Can you even feel passion?”
Suddenly wanting to know if she could show anything at all, he pulled her to him roughly, one arm firmly around her waist, one hand twined in her hair turning her face to his. He kissed her savagely at first, his mouth hard on hers, until it became more sensual than demanding. At first she tried to struggle free, and then, for just a brief moment, he felt the beginnings of awakening arousal before she stiffened into her usual stance—endurance.
“Don’t, Kerrick,” she pleaded with him as he released her. “Please, never do that. I can’t bear it.”
“Can’t bear what? The thought that you might feel something for me? You didn’t have to accept my proposal of marriage.”
“Decent gentlewomen should not give in to the temptations of the flesh. Men can’t help but fall prey to their desires, but women must not, for the sake of both their salvations.”
“Where did you learn such rot? I thought all those bizarre sects had disappeared decades ago.”
“How dare you say such things? The Holy Writings of the Prophet teach us that the pleasures of the flesh are evil.”
“Yes, when indulged outside the marriage bed. But we exchanged vows. That changes things considerably.”
“No, it doesn’t. Would you be married to a whore? Women, even married women, who give themselves to the seduction of carnal pleasures are whores, or just as good as. I should think that a man in your position would be happy to have a chaste, gods-fearing wife.”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Kerrick stated in amazement. “You really believe that?”
“I do,” Liora responded.
“Then why did you even get married? Didn’t you know that sex is part of that bargain?”
“I married you because I love you,” she answered. “And one of a wife’s duties is to redeem her husband by keeping his lusts contained within the marriage bed, not out buying the favors of prostitutes!”