Bonds of Matrimony

by A C J McKechnie

  “No, but it certainly feels like it,” he mumbled under his breath. He could just imagine himself as part of some sort of Victorian or Georgian calumny, being forced into marriage to avoid a scandal.

  “What was that?” his sister asked, and Zach chastised himself. He couldn’t slip up and let things out of the bag.

  “Nothing,” he said with a smile.

  “Well, should we get going then?” she prodded, and Zach tried not to grimace at the prospect.

  “Of course,” he said and held his arm out to her, only to receive a raised brow in return.

  “I should think that it might be more fitting for you to accompany your wife, Zach,” she reprimanded, and Zach couldn’t help but blush. It had been his idea to ensure that the marriage seemed genuine, in an effort to spare his family the truth and also to save his reputation from those who would take the fact that he’d been so easily manipulated as a sign that the same could happen again, and he was the one who wasn’t doing a good enough job.

  “We’ll get her together,” he said with a smile, hoping to cover his blunder. Judging by the raised brow on his sister’s face, he wasn’t fooling her, but she seemed to take pity on him and just nodded before heading towards the woman in white who was smiling and laughing with the rest of the small crowd of guests.

  “Ellie,” he said and watched as she froze in her tracks before turning wary eyes his way. “It’s time we headed back to the house,” he explained then watched as her brow furrowed in confusion.

  “The small meal,” her dad said to her, and she looked at the other man in just as much confusion.

  “What m–,” she started but her dad cut her off.

  “Didn’t I tell you?” he asked, and she shook her head. “Ah, well, everyone’s going back to your new home for a meal,” he said, and Zach watched as her surprise made way to weary acceptance before she nodded and looked back up at Zach.

  Focusing on the rest of the group, she smiled a dazzling smile, before saying, “Well that sounds great. I, for one, am starving.”

  “Too nervous to be eating,” one of the Kincaid’s guests said with a pat of understanding on Ellie’s arm. “And you’ll be needing your strength for later, my dear,” she added with a wink that caused the younger girl to flush red at the comment and turn a startled look his way.

  As the laughter and teasing continued, Zach decided to hurry things along and headed straight for his new wife, grabbing her arm tightly before steering them towards the exit.

  “I didn’t know that there was anything else planned,” Ellie said hesitantly, and Zach cast a quick look her way before shrugging.

  “Appearances. We needed a semblance of reality to all of this, now didn’t we?” he said tightly and felt her stiffen beside him.

  “So you made the decision on your own,” she surmised.

  “You wanted consulting?” he asked drily.

  “It’s supposed to be my wedding day as well, isn’t it?” she said in just as brittle a tone.

  “Think of it as a romantic surprise,” he returned.

  “As opposed to a dictatorial move meant to show the fact that you’re always in control and I have no choice but to do as you demand?” she asked archly, and Zach stopped his lips from twitching in response to her comment. If he didn’t remind himself of the devious nature of this woman he could find himself admiring her for her boldness. Not many people would dare to speak to him that way, and Zach had to admit, only to himself, that he could appreciate the fact that she didn’t cow to him.

  “Precisely,” he only said in reply.

  “As tempting as that sounds, I prefer to live in the real world, Mr McCormack,” she said stiffly.

  “Zach,” he said sharply. “You’re my wife now, you’d best be calling me by something more familiar than my last name, Ellie.”

  “Just as long as you don’t expect us to use terms of endearment. I call tell you right now that I won’t be calling you anything like that, and I most assuredly won’t answer to one,” she said with a sharp look his way.

  “The thought never entered my mind. Honey,” he added with a smirk and watched as she pinched her lips tightly together. His smile fell, however, and he said more seriously, “I don’t think that we need to overplay things, Ellie. Let’s not kid ourselves about this, shall we? As long as we put on a good enough front around other people and stick to the rules laid out in our agreement I think that should suffice.”

  “Perfectly fine with me,” she said just as seriously, and Zach accepted that. There wouldn’t be any kidding between them. They both knew what this marriage was and what it wasn’t. There would be nothing more between them than resentment and a desire not to break any of the rules that had been laid down.

  He could be content with that. Not happy, but content.

  Chapter Five

  Standing in the grand doorway of her new home, Ellie waved off the last of the wedding guests and tried to hold in her sigh of relief. At least the pretense could stop now. She’d had to pretend to be smitten with her new husband, and happy about everything that was occurring, for the past few hours and she was ready to just let the act drop completely.

  Now that everyone was gone she’d be free to explore her new home and have time on her own. So far all she’d seen of the place was the dining room and the downstairs bathroom, and there was plenty more to explore. Though what else did she expect from a man as rich as Zachary McCormack?

  His father had built up a fortune, and by all reports the son had followed in the father’s footsteps. Meeting Zachary’s executive assistant had reinforced that fact as well. The man was a workaholic, obsessed with his company and keeping his father’s legacy alive. And Ellie was more than happy for that to be the case. An absent husband was much more preferable to the alternative in her current situation.

  She knew that all of the documents she’d signed prior to the wedding had insisted that she spend what free time her husband had with him, but if he didn’t have any free time then she’d be free of his company. All in all, it seemed a perfect solution to their predicament.

  As the door shut firmly in front of her, Ellie made to move away when she felt her arm grabbed in a strong hold by the man there. Looking up sharply at Zachary’s face, she noticed the firm set of his jaw and wondered what he was thinking.

  No sooner had she started trying to puzzle out the man’s actions then she found herself roughly pulled along in his wake as he surged towards the grand staircase. Hurrying after him, Ellie didn’t even have a chance to say anything as she concentrated on not tripping up the stairs there. Whatever her new husband was thinking he was obviously determined in his actions.

  Turning right at the top of the stairs, Ellie continued to try to keep up with the man as he made a beeline for a doorway at the end of the hall there. Reaching it, Zachary just pushed the double doors wide before flinging her inside roughly, and Ellie found herself stumbling into a bedroom. A very large bedroom. And obviously a lived in bedroom at that.

  As her eyes frantically searched her surroundings she took in all of the small touches around the room, and even as void of personal mementos as it was, it was clearly apparent that her husband had just forced her into his own bedroom.

  With the sound of the click of a closing door ringing in her ears, Ellie spun around and faced the man who still had that same look of determination on his face. As he made his way towards her, panic set in, and Ellie’s eyes widened as she stumbled backwards, away from the advancing figure.

  “Strip,” he commanded, and Ellie found herself so surprised at his manner that she froze in her retreat momentarily.

  “What?” she asked uncertainly when she found her voice again.

  “Strip,” he repeated as he loosened his tie and started on his own clothing. At the realization of what he was implying, Ellie found herself spurred into action again and continued in her retreat away from him, ignoring the blush blooming on her cheeks.

  “No,” she said while shaki
ng her head at him. The answer obviously surprised him just as much as his initial command had surprised her, as he stopped in his own tracks and looked at her with a raised brow.

  “No?” he asked incredulously, and Ellie strengthened her backbone.

  “No,” she reaffirmed.

  Studying her face, the man just sighed before shaking his head and working on undressing himself again.

  “Why prolong it? You and I both know that this will happen at some point. To get out of this marriage it needs to be consummated at some point, so why not just get it all over and done with?” he asked, and Ellie found herself blushing even harder at his frank remarks. Clearly the man was fully aware of the fact that she’d entered into this arrangement against her will and was hoping to entice her to his bed by using that fact.

  Well, she may have bartered her freedom for her father’s, but she wasn’t about to give the man opposite free rein with her body as well.

  “No,” she said more firmly again and watched as his head came up slowly to study her before he skulked towards her again.

  Finding herself backing up against his incredibly large four poster bed, Ellie started to panic and quickly scrambled up onto the piece of furniture in an effort to escape his reach. As a smirk grew on his face, she found her back bristling at his controlling manner and hastily scooted off the other side to maintain the distance between them.

  “This is ridiculous,” he stated as he waved at where she was positioned opposite him. “You married me. An agreement was made. Now you’ll just have to live with the consequences of that.”

  “I may not have understood everything that I signed but I know for a fact that there was nothing in there about being forced to go to your bed,” she said sternly and watched as his eyebrows shot up at her pronouncement.

  “You remember the condition about –”

  “I remember,” she hastily interrupted as she thought back to the details regarding the consummation of their union. She’d questioned her dad about it, and he’d explained that to get a divorce she’d have to have sex with her husband and then prove it had happened with evidence and a medical professional’s expert opinion. In other words, she couldn’t pretend. She couldn’t lie and say that she’d slept with her husband in order to try to get out of her marriage.

  “Then I fail to see –,” he started, and she interrupted him again.

  “Nowhere else in that document did it mention when the event had to occur, Mr McCormack,” she said, and Zachary studied her before smiling maliciously at her.

  “Is this another ploy?” he asked, and Ellie found her brow puckering. Ploy? Ploy for what? “Another game? What do you want from me, Ellie?” he asked, and she found herself so distracted by his words and what they might mean that she didn’t notice him rounding the bed until he was practically in front of her.

  Starting at the fact that he’d managed to get so close, and had stealthily moved near to her, Ellie made to move away from him when his hand shot out and he grabbed her upper arm firmly in his strong grip. Strong, but not painful, her brain registered, and the fact had Ellie confused again.

  “Would you prefer that I try to seduce you?” he whispered at her as he pulled her gently in towards him and raised his other hand to stroke down her face gently, and Ellie found her breath catching at the movement. This was so very different to anything he’d displayed before, and she couldn’t deny the reaction her body had to it, even if her brain screamed at her that this was still the man who had threatened her father and blackmailed her into marrying him.

  “Is that what you’d like?” he asked before moving slowly behind her without releasing his grip on her. Pulling her back up against his front, Zachary moved her hair to the side before breathing down onto her neck, and Ellie stiffened in response.

  The man was clearly a master at seduction, she hated him and yet she was almost melting in his hands.

  “You’d prefer for me to act? To pretend? To woo you?” he continued to ask against her skin, and Ellie shivered at the sensation. “What would be the point though?” he asked, and Ellie noticed the soft and cajoling timbre of his voice had disappeared and hardness had replaced it instead. “Why bother when we both know what a lie it would be?” he almost growled angrily at her as his touch turned hard and almost rough, banding her to him with an almost brutal force. “Why not just accept what this is and get on with it?” he said before spinning her around and shoving her backwards onto the bed.

  “If you wanted a whore, Mr McCormack, you should have married one!” she returned fiercely and watched as his head shot back at her words. “Marrying you is one thing,” she continued to grit out as she scuttled back off the bed again, away from him. “Sleeping with you is quite another. I may be tied to this house, a virtual prisoner, but there was no stipulation about where that jailing would take place. And I can tell you right now that it won’t be beside you. And it definitely won’t be in your bed!” she spat at him.

  “I’ll live up to every word of that contract,” she continued. “I’ll do everything asked of me, but no more than that. I might have to give an accounting of all of my actions and be locked inside your ‘castle’, but I’ll choose which room I do that in. And it won’t be this one. And it won’t be with you,” she averred as she moved backwards towards the door.

  When she felt the wood behind her, she grappled for the doorknob and twisted it with shaking hands. Keeping her gaze locked on her husband’s icy gray one, she let herself out of his room and abruptly spun around to search the rest of the upstairs for her new quarters.

  As much as she wanted out of this house, out of this arrangement, and out of this marriage, she wouldn’t sacrifice her morals and virtue to do so. She would not sleep with a man who she didn’t love, especially one who she didn’t even like. She may have married him but that didn’t mean much when the vows they’d spoken were complete and utter lies, lies that they were both fully aware of.

  So she’d endure her captivity but she’d do it as far away as possible from her jailor. Which was why she was heading to the complete other side of the building and the set of doors there.

  Zach stared at his bedroom door and had to admit that he was surprised. His new wife certainly appeared determined to avoid his bed, and even avoid him in some respects. But then again he’d never thought that she’d married him for his personality and company. She’d married him for money. Plain and simple as that. She’d married him for his net worth, and Zach was not happy about that.

  He’d ended up married to the type of woman that he’d always tried to avoid throughout his life. The money and power hungry ones. At first glance Ellie didn’t fit that mold whatsoever though. She was cunning that one. Cunning and clever.

  She was right as well, there’d been no stipulation about when the marriage had to be consummated, nothing at all. He’d initially thought that he’d have to endure a life he didn’t want for two years, but her stance and her words made him realize that he could be looking at a hell of a lot longer than that.

  If Ellie held to her current stance on things he could be stuck in a loveless and resentful marriage for the rest of his life. If they never consummated the marriage, they would never get a divorce. How could he have missed that crucial detail? How had he not seen the flaw in it all?

  Ellie could remain perfectly comfortable for the rest of her life, and he’d be stuck without ever having the wife and family which he’d always secretly harbored a desire of having. He knew that he was dedicated to his work, but he’d always dreamt of a loving and supportive woman to be beside him in the future. Some children to raise and pass on his father’s legacy to. Now though, that dream was fading, he could almost feel it slipping out of his grasp.

  In a way he was glad that Ellie had refused him. He hadn’t wanted to perform the deed any more than she seemed to. He might have felt something for her when he’d held her tenderly in his arms, but that was a mere physical connection, and he’d never given in to those before. W
hen he took a woman to his bed he wanted to be in love with her, and he most definitely wasn’t in love with his wife, no matter how much he had to pretend to his family and the rest of the world.

  So in a way Ellie had saved him from a rather large regret. A regret that somehow he knew he’d be able to cope with if it meant gaining his freedom from the shackles he was currently wearing, but a regret nonetheless.

  With a sigh, Zach turned towards his closet and searched out some comfortable clothing. If his wife wasn’t going to do anything with him to speed along the end of their marriage then he’d instead focus on his real priority: his work.

  Coming out dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and sweatshirt, Zach headed out of his room and down towards his study. As he was leaving his room he couldn’t help but smile at the sound of doors repeatedly opening and banging closed. Doors on the other side of his home. It appeared as though his new wife was certainly determined not to be anywhere near his room.

  Shaking his head at the reluctant admiration he felt for her strength and determination, Zach instead continued down to his study and his pile of work awaiting him there. He’d get lost in his work and hopefully put the whole day’s events out of his mind.

  With any luck Ellie wouldn’t want dinner after their afternoon meal earlier, and he could forego dinner himself, thereby allowing himself an evening free of her company. One which, unfortunately, would be few and far between.

  * * *

  Opening yet another door, Ellie stepped inside and couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her as she did so. The room was beautiful. It was exquisite. It was perfect. It was hers.

  She’d been inspecting each of the rooms on the other side of the house from her husband’s room and had despaired at finding one which she liked in this area, but this room, this room was definitely the one. The other rooms were all very nice, but they were either bland, or overly extravagant. This was just right though.