“Buddy, you have separate rooms,” Josh pointed out with a cocked brow.
“So? Plenty of married couples do,” Zach defended.
“Yes, but they generally visit each other at some point during the night as well. You, my friend, do not step a foot inside your wife’s room by all accounts. And she sure as heck doesn’t enter yours.”
“Says who?” he demanded
“You have a whole house full of staff, Zach. They’re not dumb. They know full well that you two don’t sleep together. Everyone accepted the separate rooms, after all, you work such ridiculous hours that leaving Ellie to sleep without being disturbed seemed okay. Kinda odd for a newly married couple, but still, acceptable in a way. But the fact that you don’t spend any time with her there, that’s not gone unnoticed.
“But now I’m starting to wonder if you even talk to her at all. Yeah, so you eat dinner with her, when you’re home,” Josh continued, and Zach took in his friend’s words, suddenly realizing how much of his life that he thought was private was actually public knowledge. “But do you converse with her?” his friend continued, and Zach just stood there under attack.
“Do you even do anything special with her? I mean she’s your wife, Zach, but it’s like she only exists when it’s convenient to you. I never thought of you as selfish, a little self-absorbed perhaps, but not self-centered. And yet now I’m not so sure, because it seems to me that a wife shouldn’t have to turn to a stranger for comfort, which is precisely what she just did, Zach.”
“Maybe you just happened to be here at the right time,” Zach countered, and Josh shrugged.
“Maybe.”
“Or maybe she was looking for more than just a sympathetic shoulder,” Zach gritted out, and Josh snorted at him.
“Firstly, if you truly thought that about your own wife then why’d you marry her? And secondly, I can assure you that Ellie didn’t need anything more than an ear and a shoulder. If she’d wanted my body I wouldn’t have stuck around, Zach. And I sure as heck wouldn’t be defending her.”
“You’ve met her once, Josh, you haven’t got a clue what she’s really like.”
“And apparently neither do you,” he shot back. “But let me give you a piece of advice, Zach. You keep treating your wife the way that you do and it’ll be your mom and dad all over again. That I can guarantee you. Except this time, you won’t even have a kid to keep you company in your lonely and pathetic life,” he said angrily before standing up and shaking his head.
“Stay away from Ellie,” Zach warned.
“In case she decides that I’m a better option than her husband?”
“In case she sucks you in too,” he said and watched as Josh just shook his head in disgust.
“Starting to sound like you never wanted her in the first place,” the man mumbled before heading off to get on with the rest of his day.
“And go earn that exorbitant fee that I pay you!” Zach shouted out to the retreating figure before taking in his surroundings and sighing.
Sitting down on Ellie’s bench, he ran the conversation through his mind again and tried to think over everything that his friend had said. Damn, he was close to breaking the terms of his pre-nup and he needed to do better. He couldn’t afford to mess up. Neither his reputation nor his business would survive him making any more mistakes with regards to how he was seen as treating his wife.
He needed to change things. He needed to behave differently. He needed to change his behavior so that everyone thought that the marriage was real, that he was doing everything he could to make it work. He needed to stop the rumors and speculation.
He’d start tonight. From tonight everyone would think that he was utterly besotted with his wife.
Chapter Fourteen
Ellie looked up from the work in her hands and stared at her bedroom door. Looking over at the clock, she noted the time and wondered who exactly would be knocking on her door at nine o’clock at night. Before she could ask who it was, or even get up to answer it, the door opened by itself, and Ellie’s eyes widened at the sight of her husband entering her chambers.
They widened even further when she noticed that he was dressed in a dressing gown and pajama bottoms, and nothing else.
“What are you doing?!” she screeched and watched as he silently closed the door behind him before stepping further into the room.
“Visiting my wife in her room,” he said simply, and Ellie looked about herself frantically.
“Why?” she demanded and watched as he raised an eyebrow at her and the acidity of the question.
“Why not?” he countered.
“Because … because …,” she floundered. “Because you’ve never done so before,” she finally finished with, and he just raised a brow at her again.
“Well now I have,” he stated simply.
“It’s not right!”
“We’re married, honey, it’s perfectly right. In fact, what would be right would be us sharing a room, but seeing as how that doesn’t seem to be an option, the alternative is for me to visit you here. Or would you rather come to my room?”
“NO!”
“I didn’t think so. So here I am.”
“Why? Why now? Why tonight? I don’t understand,” she said almost hysterically as he continued to move towards her.
“I think it’s about time, don’t you?”
“For what?!” she shouted and watched as he just raised an eyebrow at her while looking her over. As she noticed his gaze roaming to where she was sitting on her bed, Ellie found herself blushing and quickly jumped off it, earning a small smile from the man in return.
“I … I was about to get ready for bed,” she stammered lamely while waving at the door in an attempt to get him to leave.
“Don’t let me stop you,” he said in response, and she floundered with what to do next. She hadn’t expected this turn of events. Was she allowed to kick him out? Would she even be able to? She might not know her husband very well, but she did know that there was very little chance of getting him to do something that he didn’t want to.
Unsure of what to do next, Ellie just stood there in bemusement and confusion, trying to think of what would be her next move. Her sanctuary had been invaded, and she didn’t like it. She’d always felt free of her husband’s presence in her bedroom, certain that he wouldn’t enter without her explicit permission. Now though she realized that that obviously wasn’t the case.
“Weren’t you changing?” he prodded with a smile, and she blushed before looking about herself nervously. “Go on then,” he added and settled down on her bed, leaning back with his arms folded across his chest as he stared at her.
Blushing even redder at his pose, and the insinuation that he was ready to watch her, she spun around and rummaged in her chest of drawers for her pajamas there. Grabbing them close to her, she quickly scooted along to her private bathroom and closed the door firmly behind her.
With a deep breath, and a long slow exhalation, Ellie tried to compose herself. Yes, Zachary had caught her off-guard but she was strong enough to deal with him. She’d dealt with him plenty of times before. Except, she hadn’t had to deal with him since her dad had died, since she’d been dealing with her private grief. She was already tired, and a fight with her husband seemed to be too much to handle at the moment.
Shaking her head, she quickly stripped off her clothing and hurriedly put on her shorts and tank top set. Looking down at herself, she found her blush resurfacing. Did she really want to go back out into her room dressed in so little?
Casting her gaze around, she looked to see if she had a robe hanging up anywhere and reluctantly conceded that she didn’t. She’d never needed one before and she’d told Pauline that it wasn’t necessary when they’d gone shopping together. She didn’t really like the things and saw no need to waste the money on one. Now she was bitterly regretting that stance.
Wondering how long she could get away with hiding out in her bathroom for, Ellie was abruptly pul
led from her contemplations when the door suddenly opened. Staring up at her husband with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, Ellie found herself utterly stunned as he closed the door and neared her.
“Very nice,” he commented as he moved closer, and she found herself blushing again while her mouth snapped closed.
“Get out!” she yelled at him. “You can’t come in here! What if I’d been naked!?” she screeched and just watched in mounting anger as he cocked another brow at her.
“How would that signify?”
“You’re a beast,” she growled out before making to push past him. She stopped in her tracks, however, when he caught her arm and pulled her back towards him.
“For me?” he asked as he ran a finger along the neckline of her top.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” she gritted out at him.
“I don’t need to, you seem to do it for me,” he taunted, and she found her lips pinching tightly at his egotistical manner. “Come on, honey, why the pretense? Why the fight? Why not just get it all over and done with? The sooner we do this, the sooner we can get back to our own lives,” he whispered against her neck, and Ellie shivered at the sensation.
“Just think. Freedom. Two years from now and that freedom is within reach,” he added against her skin as he placed light kisses there while his free hand settled on her lower back and his thumb rubbed small circles against her flesh there.
The contact sent her body to melting and she was surprised at the ease with which this man had managed to control her.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered back at him.
“Face it, Ellie,” he said against her skin, “there isn’t much that can said about us, but what can’t be denied is the physical response we have to each other. Why not just go with it? We’ve got to do this for two years, why not enjoy it?” he asked, and she found herself tensing at his tone. He’d stopped being persuasive and instead sounded like he was almost angry at the truth of that statement. Angry and taunting.
Gathering all the remnants of her scattered willpower, she abruptly pushed out of his grasp and glared at him before storming past and back to her room. She didn’t miss the victorious chuckle that he emitted at her behavior though.
When she’d gotten back to the comfort of her bed she finally asked, “Why are you really here, Mr McCormack?”
Sauntering back into her room, he slid down onto the bed next to her and laid beside her with his hands behind his head. Glancing at him, she noticed him looking at her in that superior and cold manner of his before he shrugged, finally dropping the façade. With a heavy sigh he looked away briefly before focusing back on her and finally answering her question.
“You do remember that little document we signed, don’t you?” he asked with a raised brow, and she shrugged.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it little,” she retorted and tensed as he rolled onto his side, propping his head on one hand to look at her, while the other edged near to her legs, where she was sitting cross-legged.
“You do remember it though. In it was a condition of this marriage.”
“If I recall there were quite a lot of conditions for our marriage. A lot of which I don’t even understand. You can’t expect me to know which one this little scenario relates to.”
“Part of the agreement between us is that nobody knows the true nature of this marriage, correct?”
“That one I did understand, yes,” she said stiffly and glared at him as his hand landed on her knee. Shrugging, he removed it and rolled back onto his back.
“It came to my attention today that we aren’t fulfilling that criteria,” he said, and she frowned at him in response.
“What do you mean? I haven’t said anything to anybody,” she said in surprise.
“And neither have I. But apparently questions are being asked, people have their suspicions.”
“Because of Oscar?” she asked in bemusement.
“No,” he said with a shake of his head as he cast a glance at her.
“Then why?” she asked in confusion.
“Have you noticed how many people work in our home, Ellie?” he inquired, and she frowned over that.
“But they’re your employees,” she pointed out. “They wouldn’t go spreading rumors,” she declared and heard him snort at that.
“Of course they would. The great Zachary McCormack has a wife who doesn’t spend any time in his bed? They’d have a field day with that tidbit of gossip.”
“But they should be loyal,” she said in shock and noticed him look at her in astonishment before he shook his head.
“You do baffle me sometimes,” he mumbled, and she frowned at that. “The fact is that they’re not, honey. They’re merrily spreading the word that apart from dinner we spend no time together.”
“So you’re hoping to change that impression.”
“I’m not hoping, I will change their opinion on the matter.”
“Meaning?” she asked warily.
“Meaning that from now on we’ll spend time together each night, time enough for them to believe that we’re behaving like any other newly married couple,” he declared.
“What will we be doing instead though?” she asked nervously.
“Well, we could –”
“No,” she cut him off and watched as he smiled wolfishly at her.
“I was going to say we could spend the time getting to know each other, but clearly your mind was wandering in other directions,” he taunted, and she blushed beet red. It had been. Proximity to him tended to do that to her. “In any case, whatever we decide on, one thing that’s for sure about it all is that we aren’t going to be having any arguments. As thick as these walls are they’re not soundproof.”
“Perhaps we’d be better served if we didn’t even attempt conversation then,” she said drily and watched as his eyebrow rose again before she blushed once more, causing him to laugh at her reaction.
Quickly turning her head away, she tensed when she felt his hand playing with her hair.
“What are you doing?” she asked crisply.
“If we’re not going to talk, I’m going to get very bored,” he said, and she cast him a quick withering glance.
“Then maybe you should have brought a book with you.”
“Yes, just the impression that I want to give them all out there,” he said with a hand waving at the doorway. “I’m off to my wife’s room ready to spend the night reading. That would do wonders for my reputation.”
“Which of course is the real issue here,” she mumbled to herself.
“It’s one of them,” he confessed. “I don’t really relish the idea that people don’t think I have it in me to satisfy my own wife.”
“As opposed to satisfying other people’s?” she inquired acerbically and snapped her head around at the laugh he emitted.
“You’re clever, aren’t you, honey? A quick wit in that beautiful head of yours.”
Unsure what to do with such a comment, Ellie instead focused back on the work in her hands, plunging the pair of them into silence yet again. Concentrating on her current endeavor, she tried ignoring her husband’s hand as it played with her hair, rubbed her shoulder, and skimmed down her back. When it started doing that same motion with his thumb at the base of her spine that had set her to melting in the bathroom, Ellie decided that she needed to do something before she turned into a puddle.
Shifting slightly forward and sending him a glare of impatience, she pursed her lips when all he did was shrug again.
“Like I said. I’m bored.”
“Then perhaps you should have planned this all out better.”
“I’ll remember that for tomorrow,” he declared drily.
“Do,” she said succinctly, plunging them into silence again.
“What are you doing anyway?” he finally asked, and Ellie sighed once more at the repeated interruptions.
“Making something.”
“I can see that. But what? And why?” he asked as he
sat up to look at the yarn in her hands. Sighing with resignation, Ellie held up her current project for him to see.
“It’s a dress,” she said.
“A very small dress.”
“Funnily enough, babies tend to be small,” she countered.
“Unless I’ve missed something, you’re not having a baby, honey.”
“And I’m not the only woman in the world.”
“So you’re just randomly making baby dresses for those who are?” he asked, and she pinched her lips together tightly at his mocking tone.
“Yes, Mr McCormack, that’s precisely what I’m doing,” she said sarcastically.
“Zach,” he corrected, and she just pinched her lips together again as she focused on the pattern in her hands. “So if it’s not for a random stranger, who is it for then?” he finally asked more seriously.
“A former work colleague of mine,” she explained.
“You mean a maid from The Palatio?”
“Yes.”
“One that left with one of those high paying clients?”
“No. Sarah left to marry her longtime boyfriend. He got a job in a different state and they finally got married before they left.”
“And now they’re expecting a baby.”
“A daughter,” she said with a smile.
“Clearly. Otherwise that baby was going to end up very confused when its mom stuck him in a pink dress,” he teased, and Ellie felt her lips curve into a reluctant smile before she hastily wiped it away.
After a few more minutes of silence, he spoke again, “So why are you making something anyway instead of just buying it?”
“I enjoy crocheting.”
“Is that what that is?”
“Uh huh. When I was younger I found it relatively cheap as a hobby. Useful when you don’t have much money. There are plenty of patterns that you can find for free, and all you really need are some hooks and the yarn.
“A lot of the older people in the neighborhood were big crocheters and would happily pass on their hooks when they found their hands couldn’t cope anymore, and you could either pick up yarn quite cheaply, or just reuse some from old knitted or crocheted items that people no longer wanted,” she explained.
Bonds of Matrimony Page 18