by Diana Ames
“And you thought she’d spill all her secrets to you if you hopped into bed with her?” Mellissandra said in a hushed shout. “You’re great in bed, Damian—not that I have anyone to compare it to—but I doubt you’re that good.”
“I wasn’t going to hop into bed with her,” Damian said defensively. “I was just leading her on, asking little questions while distracting her. When you burst into the room, you ruined any chance I had of getting information out of her!”
“What if your kisses weren’t enough of a distraction, huh? Then what? How far were you willing to go to get answers from her? Were you willing to fondle and kiss her breasts? Maybe kiss her pussy like you do to me? I’m sure that would have distracted her!” Mellissandra stood up, angry. “And what did I really ruin—your chance to get information or your chance to get her into bed?”
“I was not going to sleep with her!” Damian roared, rising to his feet as well. “I fucking love you to the point that I might as well lie down and die if I had to live without you! I was doing my best to protect our family and our children!”
“If the reporter had been a man,” Mellissandra said, putting her face into his, “would you have let me do a little distracting to get information?”
Defeated, Damian collapsed back into his chair. Before ever walking into the apartment, he had known that he was in the wrong this time. He was completely and utterly wrong. He’d gone too far in his attempt to protect his family, and it had blown up in his face.
“I deserve that,” he said weakly. “I deserve every word you’ve just thrown at me. You know I wouldn’t want you to even think of touching or kissing another man, regardless of the circumstances.”
***
Mellissandra was taken aback by his acquiescence. She didn’t know what to say or where to go from here. As angry and hurt as she still was, she nearly believed what he was telling her. She knew Damian would go to extraordinary lengths to protect their family, and he would definitely see a snooping reporter as a threat.
“What happened after I left?” Mellissandra asked quietly, sitting back down.
“I couldn’t just let her run around, asking questions to whomever she came across,” Damian said tiredly. “She was already staying at Jenalynn’s boarding house. That’s how I found out about her.”
“Damian?” Mellissandra’s voice gave away none of the trepidation in her heart, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like whatever came next. “Where is she now?”
“She’s in an apartment one floor down,” he said with a sigh. “I told her I would assist her with her prison article and get her the information she needed from the records department.”
Mellissandra’s jaw dropped in shock. She refused to believe what she was hearing. There was no way Damian would bring the woman he’d been caught in a passionate embrace with back to the castle, to their home.
“She wants to speak with you tomorrow,” he continued. “She wants to reassure you that nothing happened and that nothing will happen between the two of us. Apparently, she has too much integrity to be with a married man,” he snorted.
“That’s out of the question,” she told him. “I’m liable to claw her eyes out if I ever see her again.”
“Sandra,” he said softly, “I swear to you, on my life, that I am not, nor was I ever, interested in having sex with her. It looked very bad. I will admit that. Yes, my arms were around her, and she was pressed against me. Yes, I was kissing her and attempting to seduce her.” Damian looked straight at her. “But not for one second did I feel even a twinge of desire.”
He moved to kneel in front of her. “I am here, on my knees, begging you to understand. You know this is not an easy position for me. My pride, my dominance, the very fiber of my being is fighting against humbling myself before you.”
He picked up her hands and brought them to his lips. “We have to find out what this woman is after and what she already knows,” he said. “I won’t risk one of our children growing up like I did. I know only one of them is biologically ours, but I love them both the same, almost as much as I love you.”
Mellissandra pushed the chair back, kneeled with him, and took his face in her hands. His broken expression brought tears to her already sore eyes. She pressed her lips to his and wrapped her arms around his middle.
“I will do what needs to be done,” she whispered. “But, Damian, if I catch you touching her again…” She broke off.
“I won’t. I swear, I won’t,” he said, returning her embrace.
***
Anton awoke unusually early, but the early hour didn’t stop him from being wide-awake. Bringing a hand to his cheek, he could still feel Mellissandra’s soft lips, but it was spiked raven hair that flickered in his mind. He didn’t like that another woman had penetrated his thoughts, he felt like he was being disloyal to the woman he loved—even if she would never belong to him.
He briefly considered going to see Dr. Servo. There was a war taking place inside of him; one side said that he loved Mellissandra and should only think of her while the other screamed that she wasn’t his and it was good that he’d finally felt physical desire again. He knew Dr. Servo would be able to help him put these feelings in perspective, but she wasn’t exactly unbiased, and Anton was tossed up as to which side he wanted to win.
Pushing the conflicting thoughts aside, he climbed out of bed and headed for his bathing chamber with purpose. He wanted to get the ball rolling on some of the modernization plans as quickly as possible. Time was of the essence now that Mellissandra wanted to work on developing an education program. He was going to do everything in his power to see that she succeeded because no matter what his cock felt, Anton knew his heart belonged to Mellissandra.
CHAPTER 16
Alondra awoke to a loud banging. At first thought, she thought it was coming from inside her head. When she realized she wasn’t in pain, she opened her eyes and sat up. The banging rang through the apartment again, and she flew out of bed. She was going to give whoever decided she needed to be awake at this ungodly hour a piece of her mind.
She grabbed the door and swung it open to see Damian and his redheaded wife. Alondra’s furious words died in her throat as the couple just stared at her with their mouths open.
“Uh…” Damian said, automatically averting his eyes. “Did we wake you?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Mellissandra muttered before shoving Damian behind her. “Do you realize you just answered the door virtually naked?”
Alondra looked down at herself and gasped as she quickly tried to shield her body with her arms. “I’ll be right back,” she said before jetting off back down the hallway.
Alondra searched her bag quickly for a robe or a nightshirt, anything to cover her nudity, so she could get back to the people in her foyer. A glance at the window told her it had to be at least midday, and now that she’d been shocked and humiliated, she wanted to get to work.
After putting on a nightshirt, Alondra nearly had a heart attack when she glanced in the mirror. The hair gel that had held her spikes in place the previous night had turned to paste and plastered her hair down against her head as though she’d worn a helmet continuously for the last decade. Makeup that should have been washed off before she had fallen asleep was smeared all over her face, making her resemble an insane clown. The light blue nightshirt completed the look. Ending mid-thigh, it had a picture of a cartoon woman’s body with exaggerated breasts and slinky lingerie on the front.
Shrugging her shoulders and putting on a game face, Alondra left the bedroom again. She figured she’d already embarrassed herself so much that the way she looked now hardly mattered.
***
“Thank you for looking away,” Mellissandra said quietly.
“Hmm?” Damian said, smiling softly at her.
“I know nudity is nothing to you, Damian. Last night when I entered the club, I realized just how commonplace it is for you. But you looked away from her body out of respect for me, and
I want you to know I appreciate it,” she told him.
Damian swept his wife into his arms and planted a firm kiss on her lips. “Other women just don’t interest me,” he told her. “Even at the club, I don’t pay attention unless it’s in a professional capacity.”
“Sorry about that,” Alondra said, stepping into the foyer.
Mellissandra pulled away from Damian and took in the woman in front of her. If the woman’s prior nudity had stunned her, this new look had Mellissandra struggling to contain laughter.
“I think we’ve caught you at a bad time,” Mellissandra said.
“I will admit to still being in bed when you arrived,” Alondra said. “I’m Alondra Burkheart by the way,” she said. “It was so late last night or this morning when they finally brought food—”
“Say no more,” Mellissandra said, raising a hand to cut her off. “I know what it’s like to wait for food around here.” She thought of her first days in the training room. “We can do this another time,” she offered.
Something about this woman caused Mellissandra to feel instantly at ease with her. Had they met under better circumstances, she was sure they could have even been friends.
“I hate to inconvenience you,” Alondra said, “but if you could give me an hour or so, that would be great.”
“It’ll have to be later this evening,” Mellissandra said. “I have a meeting in an hour.”
“What meeting?” Damian said, his eyes snapping sharply to his wife.
“I’m meeting with Anton to discuss our lack of an educational program,” she said, her tone slightly defensive.
She knew he would take exception to her taking on a project without consulting him first, but she had told him from the beginning that she wasn’t going to be submissive to him, so she wouldn’t back down.
“I felt it was time I accept a more hands-on role, and this will give me something to focus on rather than sitting in our apartment all day, watching the babies discover their toes.”
“We’ll discuss this later,” Damian said with narrowed eyes.
“No, we won’t,” she told him firmly. “I’m doing this.”
“You don’t have time for a project this large,” Damian said through clenched teeth. “You will not neglect our children in favor of a job.”
***
Alondra watched the exchange with interest. It seemed that the couple had forgotten they were standing in her foyer. They squared off but didn’t shout, yell, or throw things, although the fire flew between them just the same.
“I would never neglect our children, Damian Bellaro,” Mellissandra hissed at him. “How dare you suggest that I would!”
“Well, look at you,” he sneered, truly angry now. “Wally’s been here a day, and you’ve already dumped them off on her to go to the club. Now, you want to start working with Anton on a huge project that you know nothing about.”
“You are the one who brought Wally here,” she told him, her fists clenched at her sides. “You wanted me to—”
“I wanted you to focus on setting up a daycare inside the castle with Wally’s help,” he shot back, cutting off her words. “You know what you’re doing when it comes to babies and children and keeping them busy. Our children could be with you every step of the way for that!”
Alondra could see things were getting more and more heated by the second, and she was starting to wonder if there was going to be bloodshed. If someone had insinuated that all she was good for was babysitting, Alondra would be furious. From the heat creeping into the redhead’s face, furious was a pretty good description for how she was feeling.
“I’m good for more than a glorified babysitter,” Mellissandra retorted hotly. “Did you ever stop to think that I could have something worthwhile to offer to this country?”
“What about offering something worthwhile to your husband?” he snapped. “You barely have time for me now—”
“Oh, yes, everything has to be about you,” she uttered under her breath.
“Uh…Damian and Mrs. Bellaro,” Alondra began. She wanted to let them continue to argue, but it just felt wrong and intrusive. This was definitely something that should have been done privately.
“What?” they shouted simultaneously and turned to look at her.
“Oh, dear Lord,” Mellissandra said as her cheeks flushed even hotter. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Burkheart. We didn’t drag you out of bed to argue in front of you.”
“Call me Alondra, please,” she said with a small smile. “Really, it’s not a problem. I was just starting to wonder if, in addition to cleaning myself up, I was going to have to clean blood off the walls as well.”
“Didn’t you have something you wanted to tell my wife?” Damian snapped at Alondra. “Apparently, she has plans for this afternoon, so let’s get this over with.”
“Yes, I did,” Alondra said, giving him a vicious gaze. “Mrs. Bellaro, I wanted to speak with you privately, woman-to-woman, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen right now.” She sighed. “I wanted to assure you that nothing like yesterday will ever happen again. That type of behavior is not usual for me, and I can only think that it was a combination of excitement at the lead for my story and the atmosphere of the club that sent my hormones running out of control.”
“I see,” Mellissandra said. “I want you to know that I’m not completely comfortable with you being here, and if I catch you in another inappropriate situation with my husband, I might do violence upon your person.”
“I guarantee you—”
Mellissandra raised a hand, bringing a halt to Alondra’s words. “We’ll chat more later.”
“Damian, can you arrange an escort and access for me later this afternoon? I’d like to get started as soon as possible,” Alondra said.
“I’ll return in two hours then,” he said without looking at Mellissandra.
Alondra watched the couple leave, and she knew without a doubt that their marriage was on the up-and-up. That argument hadn’t been for show, and she had a feeling it was far from over, but that left her confused. Why had Damian come on to me if he had a gorgeous wife waiting for him?
***
“You are going to escort her around the castle?” Mellissandra asked after the door had closed behind them. “You know, I would have an easier time believing her if she’d have just said she didn’t know you were married. Trying to make excuses just made her seem guilty.”
“She had no idea who I am, Sandra. There is no way she knew I was married.” Damian sighed. “And I can’t have her questioning random servants until I know what she’s after,” Damian said. “It’s safer for everyone if I am with her while she’s doing her research.” He braced himself for the explosion he was sure would come with this revelation.
He wasn’t thrilled about Mellissandra spending time with Anton while working on a project that could take years to complete, especially with the uneasy state of their marriage right now. Given the fact that Damian had already been caught in a compromising situation with Alondra, he had fully been prepared for an angry attack, but he was disappointed.
“I see,” Mellissandra said softly. “Will you be home for dinner?”
“I-I don’t know,” he said, stunned.
“Well then, I guess I’ll see you sometime later.” She started off toward Anton’s office.
“Sandra,” he said plaintively.
She turned back to look at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too, Damian,” she said before hurrying down the corridor.
***
Anton took another bite of his sandwich and scrolled through the search engine, looking for information on developing a school system. He was astounded at just how much work would be involved in this project—locations, curriculum, teachers, administrators. He was overwhelmed from just doing some research.
Anton’s head snapped up as his office door opened, and Mellissandra walked in. He took
in her appearance, and once again, he was amazed at how beautiful she could look in something as simple as a pair of jeans and a casual blouse. One look at her face though made him choke on his sandwich.
Anton washed the food down with a swig of water. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she muttered, falling into the chair across from him.
“Have you talked to Damian yet?”
“Yes,” she said. Her tone was flat and left no room for discussion. “I’d like to get started.”
“Okay,” Anton said, drawing out the word.
This was a side of Mellissandra he’d never seen before. She had shut down, allowing no emotion to reach the surface. He didn’t like it. It reminded him too much of himself trying to contain his beast.
“I think we need to begin with a village-by-village head count,” she said. “It might be possible to combine resources and build some schools in between several villages. While we are scouting locations, I’d like to hold countrywide interviews with people ages sixteen and up. Depending upon the number needed, we’re going to have to send the selected people out of the country for education and training. By the time we manage to build or convert buildings into appropriate schools, they should have enough education to be qualified to teach our children.”
“You’ve really given this some thought,” Anton remarked, sitting back in his chair to study her.
“For most of my life,” she responded. “It was never even a possibility for me to leave for schooling, but I dreamed of it. Along with reading and writing, my mother taught me as much math as she was able. In turn, I did the same with my siblings.”
Mellissandra shook her head in disgust. “There are so few opportunities for women, especially those coming from large families. When my family was struggling with my brother’s illness, I wanted to get a job to help out. That’s how I ended up here. Had he lived, my brother would have been sent abroad for education, but my father never considered sending me. With the modernization, more skilled positions would be up for grabs. I’d like to see the women of our country have the same opportunities as the men.” She looked at him for the first time.