Bonds of Matrimony

by A C J McKechnie

  “You’d have a better idea than me, Mr McCormack. I don’t speak legalese, after all.”

  “Fine. I’ll tell you then, shall I?” he asked firmly and watched as she stiffened again at his tone. “There was a little something in there about not letting people know the true nature of our marriage.”

  “What?” she asked in confusion. “I haven’t,” she declared.

  “Do you not think that flirting with men around you might seem suspicious for a woman married for only four days now?” he demanded.

  “Flirting? With who?” she asked in puzzlement.

  “I’m not an idiot, Ellie, don’t treat me like one,” he growled at her as he stood up and advanced towards her. “And don’t make me look like a fool!”

  “Then don’t act like one!” she returned hotly. “The only person making you look foolish, Mr McCormack, is you. Right now,” she said angrily.

  “Zach,” he said down at her face. “It’s Zach.”

  “I wasn’t flirting with anyone,” she declared, completely ignoring his demand to use his given name.

  “I’m not blind, honey.”

  “Maybe not, but you’ve got one heck of an imagination, haven’t you? Who exactly was I flirting with?” she demanded with hands on her hips.

  “Could be plenty of men for all I know, but one I do know for sure was that guy in the hallway just then,” he said at her and watched as her eyes widened at his declaration before she just shook her head and made to turn away.

  Grabbing her arm, he pulled her back towards him and held her tightly against him.

  “Don’t do it again,” he warned, and she clenched her jaw tightly as fire shot out of her emerald eyes.

  “I don’t know what your definition of flirting is, Mr McCormack, but I wasn’t. I was being friendly. I was being nice. Something that I know you might have difficulty with as you don’t seem to understand the concept, but that’s all it was. If I was dumb enough to break the conditions of our marriage, do you really think I’d do it in your own home?” she demanded.

  “Who knows? I don’t really know you now, do I?” he sneered at her as he released her and backed up a step.

  “No. You don’t. So maybe you shouldn’t try to tell me what I have or haven’t been doing,” she gritted out at him.

  “And maybe you should behave more appropriately,” he returned.

  “Why don’t you just write me a list, huh? List everything forbidden for me to do. Number one, don’t smile at people. Number two, don’t talk to people. Number three, stay locked in your room all day!” she said fiercely.

  “You went out today, didn’t you?” he queried with a raised brow.

  “Only to do your bidding.”

  “By the looks of the foyer it doesn’t seem like you minded too much,” he pointed out.

  “You had quite a comprehensive list to fulfill,” she retorted, and Zach frowned at the comment.

  “Is this another game of yours, Ellie?” he asked and watched as her own brow furrowed in confusion. “What list?”

  “Pauline had a list of items you deemed absolutely necessary for me to purchase. I was just doing as I was told.”

  “I never gave Pauline a list. I told her that you needed a new wardrobe and to make sure that you had a dress for the dinner next week,” he said as he moved behind his desk. Sitting down, he looked up at his wife to see her standing there with a frown on her face. “What?” he asked.

  “She said you gave her basic instructions of what I needed, but we had free rein in choosing it,” Ellie mumbled almost worriedly.

  “What’s that matter?” he asked sharply and watched as her gaze snapped to his again. “It’s not like I can’t afford it, after all.”

  “Of course not. How could we forget that?” she said drily, and Zach cocked an eyebrow at her, waiting for an explanation. “Money’s your life, isn’t it?”

  “Meaning?”

  “All you care about are your possessions. All you need to make you happy is your things. Those items that belong to you and you possess,” she said fiercely.

  “Don’t pretend you know me, Ellie,” he warned, and her eyes narrowed at him.

  “No. I don’t. At all. Do I? And that fact won’t go unnoticed either. You expect me to live up to my part in this charade and yet you seem to be trying to ensure that that’s impossible.”

  “Meaning?” he asked again.

  “I don’t know a thing about you. My supposed husband. You expect me to be able to play a role in public, and yet if anyone even asked me one question about you of a personal nature I wouldn’t have a clue how to answer it,” she said, and Zach leaned back in his chair to study her.

  “Why does that matter? You have a sudden urge to get to know me all of a sudden? You weren’t that interested in my company on our wedding day,” he pointed out and watched as she flushed in front of him.

  “No,” she gritted out. “But seeing as how we’re stuck going into public with each other and spending time with other people it might be helpful if I could at least know enough that people won’t think that we never talk.”

  “Never talk? Now that’s an interesting comment. What do you suppose they’d be thinking we’re doing instead?” he teased and watched as her blush brightened even further.

  “Precisely my point,” she persevered. “You refuse to be embarrassed by me in public by dressing in a manner beneath you, and I refuse to be thought of as nothing more than your bed companion who you married,” she declared with a straight back, and Zach thought on that.

  She had a point. If she knew nothing about him, others would soon pick up on that and the only logical conclusion of her lack of knowledge was that they never spoke to each other. Although plenty of men wouldn’t have any problems with being thought of as spending all of their time in bed with a wife who looked like Ellie, Zach wasn’t one of them. He didn’t want others to think that he’d married someone just for sex. It was especially galling considering that he wasn’t indulging in it, and most likely wouldn’t be.

  No, he valued the opinions and respect of his contemporaries, and to maintain it he’d need to make sure that they truly believed he’d married his wife for her dazzling personality as well as her amazing body. And the way to prove that would be to prove that he spent time conversing with the woman, talking to her, getting to know her, letting her get to know him.

  “And what is your proposed solution?” he queried.

  “I would propose that we actually talk to each other. About ourselves. Something more than this ridiculous game of one upping each other all the time,” she said stiffly. “You and I aren’t idiots, we know what this marriage is all about. But now we’re in it and there’s no getting out. So to that extent I would think that we should probably try to do what we can,” she said stiffly again, and Zach inhaled deeply.

  “Fine,” he conceded. “Dinnertime seems the best time for doing so. We have to spend it together anyway, we may as well make the most of it. We’ll start tonight. You can ask me all of your burning little questions,” he said before reaching over for a stack of papers nearby.

  When he noticed that Ellie hadn’t moved, he looked up in question at her and waited for her to speak.

  “I … I wanted to ask one thing,” she hazarded.

  “Now?”

  “We’re in private, aren’t we?” she said, and Zach reluctantly nodded before waving for her to continue. “Your mother. What happened?” she asked, and Zach looked at her sharply.

  “When?”

  “Between your father and her. What happened?”

  “She left.”

  “Because he worked all the time,” she said lowly, and Zach looked up at her sharply.

  “Says who?” he demanded fiercely and watched as her eyes widened at his aggressive tone.

  “She had a separate room, didn’t she? The one I’m in, in fact,” Ellie continued, and Zach glared at her. If he didn’t know about the clause in their pre-nup forbidding her from ever goi
ng to the press he’d think that she was bringing this all up to go to them with it.

  “Yes,” he reluctantly answered.

  “Then she left him for Alan Lawson,” she added. “And had Tessa. Tessa’s not much older than me, is she? Twenty-four maybe?” she asked, and Zach narrowed his eyes at her.

  “What’s your point, Ellie?”

  “You’re thirty-two,” she added. “That’s only eight years’ difference. How young were you when she left?”

  “I was eight,” he said and looked down at his desk again before he could see the realization enter her eyes. Yes, his mother had had an affair. Yes, she’d left his father when she’d found out that she was pregnant. She’d gotten a divorce and married the man who had loved her unconditionally. To be truthful, his mother had left the marriage years before anyway. She’d remained in the house with them but she’d stopped being a wife. What was the point, after all, when there was never anyone there to be a wife to?

  When she’d discovered her pregnancy, she’d told her husband everything and he’d allowed her a divorce under the proviso that he had full custody of their son. When his mother had wavered, Duncan McCormack had gone on to enlighten her as to the fact that he would never raise another man’s child. She’d had to choose. If she stayed with Zach she’d have to abort the baby of the man she loved and who loved her in return. Or she could keep her growing child, the man who treasured her, and turn her back on her son in the process.

  A difficult choice for any woman to make, Zach supposed. But for a woman to have to make it against a powerful man like the great Duncan McCormack was something else entirely. With the amount of power that his father had, his mother would never have been able to stand against him.

  So she’d made her choice and kept the man and baby that represented everything she’d ever dared dream of being able to have.

  “It was never about you, you know?” his wife said tentatively, and Zach looked up sharply at her soft tone. “Children get caught in the crossfire all the time, but it’s never because of them at all. Your parents made their own choices, and they weren’t affected by you at all,” she added, and Zach sneered at her act. Did she really think that this solicitousness was going to fool him? She couldn’t care less about him, she’d made that painfully clear all along, so why start now?

  “What do you want?” he demanded with narrowed eyes and watched as she looked at him in shock. As she stood there in silence, Zach could see the wheels turning in her head, obviously trying to figure out how to spin this one.

  “Why the caring attitude all of a sudden, honey?” he sneered. “Worried about the lasting effects of a broken home?” he mocked and watched as she stiffened again.

  “Now why would I ever do something so foolish as to worry about someone with no feelings?” she shot out at him before spinning on her heel and storming out of his room, slamming the door behind her.

  When Zach heard voices from the other side he immediately stood up and marched after his wife. She might think that she could get the upper hand but she wasn’t about to manipulate him again.

  Just when she thought she’d seen some sort of human side to the man she’d married, Ellie had been brought back to earth with a resounding crash. He was so cold. Cold and unfeeling.

  She’d felt real compassion for him when he’d mentioned his mother and father, mentioned the fact that the woman had left at the same time as she’d either been due her baby or discovered her pregnancy. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that his mother had had an affair. Which would explain her sudden disappearance.

  The previous Mr McCormack had had the ability to rid himself of an unfaithful wife. Ellie had already seen how much Zachary valued the correct appearance, clearly he’d learnt that behavior from his father. The woman had been shunted off into oblivion to save him the embarrassment of a straying spouse.

  It also explained all of the many clauses in that ridiculous document between them, ensuring that she remained faithful to her wedding vows. No matter that she’d lied while making them, she still had to stay faithful to her husband. She couldn’t even allow any sort of appearance of wrongdoing.

  Judging by Zachary’s reaction when he’d ordered her into his study, Ellie was going to have to be a heck of a lot more careful about how she interacted with others if he thought that light banter constituted flirting.

  With determined steps, she headed back to the foyer to find that all of her new purchases were gone. Obviously the men had taken them to her and Pauline’s rooms. Ellie had insisted that Pauline buy herself some items as payment for helping so much. It had taken some persuading, but the woman had finally relented, accepting it as a ‘thank you’ for guiding Ellie through a completely new and foreign experience to her.

  Noticing the older woman heading back towards the front door from the rear of the foyer, and the hallway that led towards the kitchen, Ellie smiled at her and turned to thank the men that they’d dragged in to help them with their purchases.

  The group of men had been kind enough to help her and Pauline pack their bags into the large car that they’d used to get to the stores. It had all been rather comical, watching as they’d all tried to fit everything into the thing. As large and spacious as the vehicle was though, it had been brimming over, and the men had kindly offered to use their own transport to take the rest of the purchases to their destination.

  Pauline had spoken to them and gathered that they were new to the area, a small music group that were trying their hand in the city. With nothing to do for the moment they’d readily agreed to spend the time helping two women who hadn’t thought everything through before they’d shopped ‘til they’d almost dropped.

  On the ride home, Ellie and Pauline had agreed to offer them a substantial tip for all of their help, and the men had then insisted on unloading the bags and carrying them upstairs as well. Ellie smiled as she thought of the fact that Zachary’s butler had stationed staff along the route to ensure that the men weren’t going to take advantage of the situation by palming anything and she supposed that that was where Pauline was coming back from; receiving a report as to the men’s honesty before handing over any payment to them.

  “Thank you so much for all your help,” Ellie said with a smile.

  “Yes. We appreciate it. Immensely,” Pauline said with her own smile.

  “It was nothing. Our mothers raised us to never let a woman struggle along on their own. They’d kill us all if they ever found out that we’d left you there without offering to help,” one of the men said.

  “Well, we still appreciate it,” Ellie said.

  “Yes. We do. And don’t think that you can get away without us showing our appreciation to you,” Pauline added before heading over to a desk that was sitting at the side of the foyer.

  “Really, we don’t need –”

  “Look,” Ellie interrupted. “If you hadn’t helped us out we’d have had to hire a cab or maybe even two to help us get back here with everything that we had. Instead we didn’t have that sort of hassle, and we had your help in bringing everything in,” she said with a grateful smile. “It really is the least we can do, and you can’t tell me that it wouldn’t come in useful,” she pointed out with a raised brow, earning a chuckle from the four men.

  “Well, no. We can’t,” one of them said, and Ellie smiled back before a noise behind her caught her attention. Turning slightly, she found herself surprised at the sight of her husband bearing down on them and wondered what he was doing.

  She didn’t have long to find out. As soon as she was within reach of him he reached out and pulled her flush against him before bending down and claiming her lips in a scorching kiss. Ellie’s shock and resistance was automatic and she immediately found herself pushing herself away from him.

  With his arms clamped tightly around her though, there was nowhere for her to go, and instead of continuing to push him away she found her hands relaxing on his firm chest. At the slight difference in her attitude she felt
his kiss change and soften in response.

  The change was remarkable, and instead of instinctively fighting against him, Ellie found herself not only accepting but also reciprocating the kiss. With a muffled sound of pleasure in his throat, her husband changed tack and Ellie felt her mouth opening under his endeavors.

  As the pair of them got swept away in each other and the kiss they shared, Ellie could feel his hands loosen from around her waist and delve into her hair. Taking the opportunity presented to her, she returned the gesture and ran her hands through his own locks.

  When the sound of a voice behind them intruded, Zachary abruptly pulled away from her, and Ellie almost collapsed against his chest as she tried to regain her breath. Darn the man could kiss.

  “Mr McCormack?” Pauline’s voice said.

  “Yes?” came the labored response, and Ellie noticed his own heavy breathing.

  “I was just thanking these men for helping us and coming to our aid earlier.”

  “That’s fine,” he said, and Ellie felt the nod on the top of her head that he obviously gave them. “Thank you for helping today, gentlemen. My wife appreciates it, as do I.”

  “It’s really not a problem,” one of the voices said, and Ellie made to turn around when she felt Zachary’s arms pull her close into him again. At least this time she was nestled against his side, and not that incredibly firm chest of his.

  “Thank you all the same,” Zachary repeated, and Ellie smiled her thanks as well.

  “It really was a great help,” she added and felt her husband’s grip on her waist tighten. Looking up at him, she saw the scowl on his face and her smile fell away. He really had been serious about her actions earlier. She’d initially thought that he was just ordering her around again, being picky about everything, but it was clearly obvious that the man thought that she was flirting with the men in front of her.

  “And hopefully this will make it all worthwhile for you. And good luck with your music,” Pauline added as she handed over a sealed envelope. Ellie wasn’t sure how much was in there but judging by the thickness of it, she expected there to be a hefty amount.