The guest list was huge. Rupert and Henrietta had a large circle of friends, many from far away. They also made sure that anyone and everyone who had ...had a hand in Henry and Samantha's childhood was there. Henry and Samantha had school friends, London friends, regimental friends, including the escorts, plus some specials such as Jean Simkins, the Frobishers, Veronica and Alison Worthington.The marriage itself in the morning was attended by the four Cavendishes only. It was brief and functional.. Mary and Bill never did see the exchange of the £200 that John had just sold Mary for, and shortly after entering the hall they both stopped dead in their tracks for in front of them in the centre of the floor was an old dirty double mattress, and this was sat upon a large plastic sheet. Just as Mary's courage began to desert her, she felt the hand of John on her shoulder and he turned to her and told her simply to take care of business. When she claimsed she did not understand what he meant by. " He's rich and powerful," I said, "but hardly good looking." No, he's not. But in these uncertain times he's what I need. I'll dumphim and trade up when I'm in a better position to do so."So no love lost there then. She really was only interested in looking outfor number one after all. I now understood why she assumed I was a fellowgold-digger.Lexi got up from the bed."We need to make ourselves presentable and rejoin the boys," she said."We've been gone over an hour. They'll be wondering where. Did it happen much like in the part I just read? Did she actually scratch you on the arm?”I showed her where the faint scars could still be seen.“Damn! Did you actually whip her with the crop, making her count the strokes?” I nodded. “Did it actually make her come, like in the story?”“Yeah, but that’s where we stopped our scene,” I said. “We both felt things were getting a little too intense, and we really wanted to talk about how we felt about it all.”“You continue to surprise me,” she said..