“What are you doing?” she asked shrilly.
“Getting an answer from my wife,” he gritted out at her. “We’re not going anywhere until you answer my questions!”
“Zachary, it’s freezing. It’s snowing. It’s the end of November. We can’t sit here all night. Especially with the engine off. We’ll freeze!”
“Then I suggest you answer the damn question!” he roared, and Ellie found her temper spiking again. Truth be told it hadn’t ever really dissipated from her confrontation with Oscar Langley, but Zachary was heating it up again.
“What do you care?” she growled at him with narrowed eyes. “What the heck does it even matter to you?! You spent the whole darn night ignoring me! Pretending that I wasn’t even there! What does it matter what happened?!”
“I think it matters very much,” he gritted out. “You planted a knee in the man’s groin on the dance floor by all accounts,” he said at her, and Ellie just clenched her jaw and pinched her lips tightly together again. The man hadn’t even been in the room to see it all.
“And not only that but when he tried to apologize you punched him and broke his nose! That’s hardly the type of behavior that I expect from my wife!” he continued to yell, and Ellie just continued to breathe deeply and pinch her lips more tightly together before folding her arms over her chest.
“So you’re going to tell me what happened to get things to that stage!” he demanded.
“I don’t have to do anything of the kind,” she gritted out through clenched teeth at him.
“You damn well do, Mrs McCormack.”
“Or what? You kick me out of the house? Go on then. Get rid of me! Send me away! Go on!” she screamed at him and watched as his own jaw clenched before his eyes narrowed at her.
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”
“Darn right I would!”
“Well tough luck, honey,” he growled at her. “You’re stuck with me. You’re not going anywhere,” he declared, and she narrowed her eyes before turning away from him and staring out at the snow falling outside. Zachary might have a luxurious and expensive car, but she could already feel the chill setting in from where the heater was no longer working.
He must have seen her shiver and rub her arms because he added victoriously, “And you’re not going anywhere now either until you finally tell me what happened.”
“I’m not the only one who’s going to be stuck in this car, Mr McCormack,” she returned. “And I’m going to guess that you’ll give in to your desire to get back to your precious work long before I succumb to the cold,” she said icily and shot him a quick glance, pleased to see his eyes narrow at her before he abruptly faced forward and turned over the ignition again.
“You haven’t won,” he said sternly a few minutes later. “We’ll just have to sort all of this out at home,” he declared. “And you will answer me, Ellie. You will tell me what had you acting like such a –”
“Low class hussy?” she filled in. “Someone below your supreme social circle? An oafish and boorish commoner?”
“Child,” he corrected. “Grown women don’t resort to such childish acts, Ellie. A grown woman would behave like a lady.”
“Of course. I’m ever so sorry, Mr McCormack, that I felt the need to throw a tantrum like a three-year old. Maybe you need to write me a more explicit list of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Maybe you should give me some homework to do on it. Perhaps you need to spend more time instructing your new wife in the rules of your world. I forgot that I was your puppy dog ready to be trained and molded into your perfect accessory. My mistake in thinking that I might be respected for my own intelligence and brain. I almost forgot that I’m no longer an actual person, but instead an extension of you and your darn reputation and image!” she snapped at him.
“Perhaps you’re right, because right now you really are acting like a spoiled child, honey,” he said before they delved back into silence again.
When they pulled into their large garage and the engine had been turned off, leaving absolutely no sound whatsoever around them, Ellie hastily removed her seatbelt and got out of the car. Before she closed the door, however, she finally spoke to her husband once more.
“Funny how the only person who seems to see and treat me like a child is my own husband, isn’t it?” she snapped before slamming the door and storming out of the structure and up to the house that represented her prison.
Zach stared after his wife and narrowed his eyes at her. No, she definitely wasn’t a child. Most assuredly not. But he knew how much she hated him treating her like one. He knew how much she hated being ordered and bossed about by him.
Truly though, she was still very young. Twenty-two, a whole decade younger than him in reality. At first glance you wouldn’t even think that she was that age, he certainly hadn’t. But she’d worked hard for so much of her life that it had obviously matured her. Thinking back to himself when he was twenty-two, Zach knew that he’d been nowhere near as mature or strong as Ellie was now.
The problem though was that she might think that she was old enough to be her own person, but everything tonight proved that she was out of her depth at the moment.
When Zach had seen her on the dance floor with Oscar he’d decided that it was time to head home and get out of there. He’d made his farewells and then headed to the coatroom to grab Ellie’s new coat. Just as he was entering the ballroom again though, ready to collect his wife, he’d heard the gasps and whisperings.
He’d had no idea, and no interest in, what had occurred. He’d just been determined to find Ellie and get going home. Unfortunately, he was then waylaid by Preston Finkman who had gleefully told Zach how his new wife had dealt Oscar Langley a low blow then proceeded to punch and break the man’s nose when he’d called out an apology to her.
Zach had been furious that she’d make such a spectacle of herself and even more furious that Oscar would be gloating about causing it all. Consequently he’d marched straight into the fray, grabbed his wife’s arm, and pulled her out of there without another word.
As he’d driven though, he’d thought it all over. Generally Ellie was cordial to people, she had been so to Oscar at the start of dinner as well, and as loath as Zach was to admit it, he couldn’t deny that there was most likely a good reason for her actions. Which meant that Oscar had done something to provoke her. Something that Zach was desperate to find out.
He didn’t really want to analyze why he was so desperate to discover what the cause of Ellie’s distress had been. For the moment he was contenting himself with believing that he needed to know what Oscar had been up to. A part of him whispered that that wasn’t entirely true though. A part of him seemed to cry out that he cared about his wife to a certain degree, cared that she’d been upset enough by something the man had said or done to react violently to him.
An even smaller part was screaming out that he needed to find out because Ellie was his wife, and a husband should be entitled to know what had happened to upset their wife so much. But he wasn’t going to admit to any feelings that were indicative of the fact that he was starting to soften towards the woman. So he was happy to think that his interest was just because of his feud with Oscar.
Regardless of the reasons behind it all though, he did need to know what had happened. Which meant that he was going to have to deal with his wife before he got a chance to get back to work or into his bed.
With the realization that the sooner they started, the sooner it would all be over with, Zach flung open the car door and stormed after the woman. Although she had a head start, she was also having to contend with her heels and an attempt at a graceful exit. Zach didn’t need to worry about such things and just charged straight after her, catching her just inside the foyer of his home.
Grabbing her arm tightly, he spun her around, taking her off-guard and throwing her up against him bodily. With her unable to escape his grasp, he banded his arms around her furious frame and stared down into her bl
azing green eyes.
“I told you that we were going to sort this all out at home. So start talking, Ellie,” he demanded and watched as she clamped her jaw tightly shut again before trying to push herself out of his arms. No matter how futile the struggle he had to admire her tenacity in trying to get away from him.
“What did your last comment mean?” he tried and watched as she stopped to glare at him.
“So you do listen then?” she spat at him, and he found his own temper peaking at her attitude. It wasn’t like this whole scenario was his idea. If she was so dissatisfied with the results of her and her father’s plan she had no one to blame but herself.
“Yes. And unfortunately I generally don’t have much to hear from my wife, now do I?” he said pointedly and watched as she clamped her jaw shut again. “At least nothing worth listening to,” he added smugly and wasn’t the least bit surprised when she struggled to break free of his hold again.
“Face facts, Ellie, there’s no getting away, so you may as well tell me what happened,” he gloated and held in a chuckle when she upped her efforts to try to break his hold, punctuating her movements with a variety of insults about his ungentlemanly and boorish behavior.
“You didn’t seem to mind being this close to a man earlier tonight, now did you?” he finally said down at her form and noticed her still and tense immediately at his words. “You seemed to quite enjoy being held by Oscar like this,” he added and knew that venom and disapproval had seeped into his tone. He hadn’t liked seeing it at the time, but hadn’t been able to say anything without causing a scene.
Of course, then everything else had happened afterwards and knocked the issue out of his head until now. But now that he’d remembered her ease and acceptance of the man’s embrace he found that same anger brewing in him again at it all.
“If you believe that, Mr McCormack,” she said through her labored breathing and gritted teeth, “then perhaps you’re just too stupid to know that I say anything of worth.”
“Meaning?” he inquired with a raised brow at her.
“Surely you can figure it out, oh great and mighty one,” she mocked.
“You were happily dancing with the man, Ellie. Everyone could see it. Everyone could see how close you two were to each other, how tightly he held you to him. Everyone could see you acting completely inappropriately!”
“Inappropriately?” she asked in what he suspected was feigned surprise, and Zach snorted at her.
“You can’t seriously tell me that you thought that type of behavior would be acceptable.”
“But …,” she said with a furrowed brow. “But I looked around. There were plenty of other couples dancing that close,” she said, and Zach studied her more closely. She genuinely seemed surprised to find out that she’d behaved inappropriately with Oscar, and he suddenly thought over that.
Zach had spent his whole life rich and mingling in this society. Ellie on the other hand had grown up poor, working class. She’d never been to anything like the dinner tonight. He’d noticed her at the very start of the evening looking around herself and hadn’t really thought much of it, but now it made sense. She had a responsibility on her shoulders to make sure that she kept up the pretense of an acceptable society wife and yet she knew absolutely nothing about how to do that.
In the car she’d complained that he hadn’t trained her enough. Yes, she’d been angry and she hadn’t really meant that she wanted him to treat her like a pet or trained monkey, but he suddenly suspected that underneath it all she did need at least a little guidance in it.
She might have been kidding when she said he should draw up a list of do’s and do not’s, but right now he didn’t think that it was that much of a crazy suggestion. She didn’t know how to behave, how to interact with people. She didn’t know what would be frowned upon as far as behavior went. And he hadn’t helped her at all with any of it.
He was angry at her for her behavior and lack of discipline tonight, but it was as much his fault in the grand scheme of things. They were both stuck in the situation and he should have helped her, should have assisted her in her endeavors, instead of leaving her adrift in a sea of the unknown.
With the realization that there was a very good chance that Ellie hadn’t sabotaged the whole night on purpose, and, in fact, had just done so inadvertently, Zach found his anger dissipating and studied her more intently, with more of an open mind.
Yes, she was most definitely unaware of her social faux pas. She hadn’t realized that she’d done anything wrong.
With a sigh, he loosened his grip on her and noticed that she didn’t step away from him, most likely picking up on the fact that the anger between them had disappeared with this sudden revelation.
“Yes, there were other people dancing like that, Ellie, but they were couples. Married or in a stable relationship,” he expounded and watched as she looked up at him with a furrowed brow.
“Well how was I supposed to know that?” she demanded petulantly, and he sighed again. She was right, he hadn’t introduced her to anyone at all. She had no idea who the people were, and so would have no idea that where a husband and wife could dance with their bodies pressed tightly against each other, it was different for a pair who weren’t a romantic couple.
“I’m sorry,” he said with another sigh and watched as she shot him a shocked look. “You’re right. You had no way of knowing. But you can’t go dancing that closely with anyone, Ellie.”
“Oh,” she said on a breath before she frowned at the floor. “I didn’t realize,” she whispered.
“I know,” he said apologetically. “The only person who you can dance with like that, is me. Alright?” he asked and watched as she nodded. “Oscar knew better though,” he said with a heavy breath.
“Yeah, well, Oscar’s a creep,” she mumbled, and he looked down at her in suspicion as she fiddled with the buttons on her coat, undoing it now that they were inside again.
“Meaning?” he demanded with a tinge of anger and watched as her startled gaze shot up to his. “What did that mean, Ellie? What did he do to you tonight?” he demanded again and watched as she swallowed nervously before looking about herself. He could see her intention and grabbed her arm firmly, but gently this time, before she could escape up the stairs.
With a firm hand under her chin he raised her gaze to his and asked again, “What did he do, Ellie?”
“Nothing. Not really,” she said nervously, and Zach narrowed his eyes at her.
“You said that you didn’t like dancing with him that closely. Was that it?” he asked, and she shook her head slowly. “Then what was it? What happened?” he asked more gently and watched as she looked about herself again before sighing with resignation.
“It was probably my own fault,” she said, and Zach found himself surprised at the admission. “I didn’t realize that I wasn’t supposed to dance that close to him, so he probably thought that I was encouraging him or something,” she said on a sigh, and Zach’s jaw clenched firmly at where this seemed to be heading.
“Encouraged him to do what, Ellie?” he asked in what he hoped was a controlled manner. Judging by the look on her face, he hadn’t been entirely successful though.
“Well, uh …,” she hedged. “It’s a little complicated to explain,” she tried, and Zach just continued to pin her with a look.
“I am a highly successful businessman, Ellie. I think that I can handle complicated.”
“Well then maybe I should have said longwinded. It’s going to take a little while to explain it all.”
“Then get started,” he demanded and watched as she frowned at his dictatorial tone, but he didn’t back down. When she obviously realized that she wasn’t getting away with leaving things as they were, she sighed a deep sigh and started to relate everything that had happened between her and Oscar, starting at their conversation at dinner and his interest in the maids who worked at The Palatio and the services that they offered.
“Do they?” he inte
rrupted, and she looked up at him in confusion. “The maids, do they offer extra services? Do they sleep with the hotel guests?”
Ellie shrugged, “Some of them, yeah. If you didn’t have much, slaved every day, and a rich and powerful man came and offered you more money than you could think of, or experiences that you’d only ever dreamt of, in exchange for going to their bed, wouldn’t you be tempted?” she asked pointedly, and Zach stared down at her as he responded.
“Did you?” he asked.
“No,” she answered without any hesitation before she narrowed her eyes at him. “You should know that anyway. Isn’t there a clause in that contract of ours about you getting my virginity?” she inquired, and Zach cleared his throat over that.
“Would you have been tempted?” he asked instead and watched as she mulled that over seriously. When he realized what she was doing he suddenly demanded, “Were you ever propositioned?!”
“A few times.”
“A few?” he asked with narrowed eyes and watched as she sighed deeply.
“You want me to tally them up, Mr McCormack? I don’t know how many times. It was frequently enough, but it wasn’t like it was a daily or even weekly occurrence. I don’t know, maybe once a month or so some guy would demand maid services and you’d turn up only to find out that the room was immaculate. Sometimes a guy would see you in the hallways and try it on then. It came with the territory.”
“Why’d you put up with it?” he asked in bewilderment. She’d had men propositioning her monthly and she’d still stayed to have to deal with it. Why? Why not just leave and go somewhere else?
“The job was good. The money was good. The management were good. The benefits were good. As long as you did a good job and behaved yourself you had job security. The Palatio takes care of its staff.”
“But they let their guests demand extra services from the maids,” he pointed out.
“No. They’re not stupid, they know it happens, but if they found out that a maid slept with a guest she’d get fired, they didn’t accept the behavior.”
Bonds of Matrimony Page 12