[Groff] Macros and Spaces

[Jeremy Cowgar]

I am curious, how can I create a macro that does not introduce a space? 
For instance, here is a small snipplet.

.de verseId
.nr bibleVerse \\$1
.ps -3
\\fB\\v'-0.10v'\\$1\\v'0.10v'\\h'-0.1m'\\fR
.ps +3
..

Hello, this is a verse,
.verseId 2
This is verse two.

The problem is that between the 2 and the word "This" is a space, and it 
does get broken at bad places, such as at the end of a line, so the 
verse id is on the end of the line and the verse starts on the next.

I tried adding a \~ to the end of \\fR with no luck.

I also have a few other senarios that would be simplified if I could 
solve this problem.

Thanks,

Jeremy