The Once-a-Mistress Wife

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“Didn’t you already eat?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be fine. We can go back to Grandfather’s—I mean, my house—and I’ll grab a salad there.”

“You’re the boss.”

“I wish. You aren’t the type to let a woman tell you what to do,” she said, walking across the park toward the parking lot.

“You’re right,” he said, falling into step beside her. “But I do always consider your desires.”

She flushed. He knew her well enough to know the look on her face meant she was thinking of sex. His personality was dominant in the bedroom and out. He remembered building her to the edge of climax time and again, then waiting for her sweet cries of frustration before he finally plunged deep into her body and brought them both the relief they desperately needed.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, causing her to stop. She tipped her head back to look at him, and he noted that her pupils were dilated and her breathing was a little heavier than it had been earlier. “Do you want me, Mary-Belle?”

She opened her mouth, her small pink tongue darting out to wet her lips. “Yes.”

That one little word washed over him like a satin glove on his naked skin. His blood pumped harder, his erection stirred, and his entire body longed for her. It had been too long since he’d last sated himself in her curvy body, and he wanted—no, needed—to do so again.

He lowered his head to taste her, to make up for the hurt he’d caused earlier when he’d threatened her. He’d never have the words she wanted to hear, but he would always show her with his actions what he really felt.

Their lips barely brushed. He rubbed his over hers, building the moment between them, knowing that they couldn’t go much further than this one little kiss. But later, after she’d eaten and they’d discussed business…then he’d deliver on the promise of this one small kiss. Vaguely he registered the sound of footsteps behind them.

“Third time, Mary.”

Kane pulled back from her ready to deck her cousin. She turned in Kane’s arms—not pulling away from him—to face her cousin.

“I thought you had a company to run, Channing. I know that your inheritance is tied to the profit of Duvall-Moorehead Manufacturing. Aren’t you afraid that skulking around after me is going to distract you?”

“I can handle my job and keep an eye on you.”

“That’s not your job, Moorehead,” Kane said.

“Is it yours?”

“That’s irrelevant. Anyone who threatens Mary will have to go through me first.”

Mary led the way into the kitchen, very aware of Kane’s heavy footsteps behind her. She felt so out of control, and for the first time since she’d come back to Eastwick she was glad of Grandfather’s lessons in composure. The old Mary would have skipped lunch, grabbed Kane’s hand and led him to her bedroom.

But now she thought about the consequences of her rash actions, what would be lost and what would be gained. So instead she was heading toward her sunny kitchen, intent on the mundane task of eating a salad.

She’d simmered all the way home thinking of the way that Channing and Kane had reacted to each other. She really was sick of the men in her life thinking she needed them to fight her battles.

Carmen, the Duvall family housekeeper, was in the kitchen when Mary entered. “Good afternoon, Carmen.”

“Good afternoon, Miss Mary. Can I help you with something?”

“I’d like a salad and some tea brought into the study. Kane, do you want anything?”

“Perrier, please.”

“I’ll bring it in.”

Mary waited until they were in the study with the door closed before she addressed Kane again.

“I don’t want you fighting my battles.”

“Too bad.”

“Kane, I’m serious about this. Channing is going to be around the rest of my life and, when you’re gone, that kind of macho display is going to come back to haunt me.”

“What makes you think I’ll be gone?”

She didn’t let herself dwell on those words. She ignored him, turning away and seating herself behind the desk. Her life was in flux right now. She’d experienced this type of soul-changing, life-altering event twice before. Each time it had involved a complete upheaval of everything she knew about herself and the world around her.

And each time Kane had somehow come into her life. But he never stayed. No matter how content or happy they were together, he always had one foot out the door. She’d come to accept that she was meant to spend her life alone. Not like the women in the Debs Club, who were pairing up like animals on Noah’s ark. Mary had always been a little different, and her life’s path was, too.

“Ignoring me won’t make me go away.”

“I’m not ignoring you,” she said, tossing her head and gathering her thoughts. She could never completely ignore Kane. His blatant masculinity dominated whatever space he occupied. He tempted her to forget about trusts and cousins and family and…to act like a fool again?

“You’re here to work, right?” she asked, angry at herself for being so weak where he was concerned. Sometimes it really ticked her off that the only man she’d allowed herself to fall in love with was someone who could never live with her in a normal way. She wondered what that said about her.

“That’s one reason.”

“The only one that counts.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.”

He took a seat across from her, pulling out a notepad from the briefcase he carried. She hadn’t noticed the case earlier but did so now. She’d helped him pick it out.

“I made a few phone calls earlier and have set up a meeting for us with an attorney friend of mine. He’ll talk us through the legalities of what you want to do.”

Kane was a thorough man, so she wasn’t surprised that he’d already started working on setting up her trust. And she knew this wasn’t just business to him. For a minute she wanted to bask in the feeling of being cherished and taken care of. That was one of the reasons she’d stayed with him so long. He’d been the first person in her life to actually take care of her.

True, she’d taken care of all his sexual needs in exchange, rendering their relationship in terms of an agreement. Had she reneged on her agreement with her parents? Had they never approved of her because she’d never even tried to be the daughter they’d wanted her to be? That was a path to pursue another time.

“Thanks. We need to have a contingency built into the investment plan in case I have to pay back my inheritance.”

“Why would you have to do that?”

“The will has some stipulations, remember?”

“When will the money be available to you?”

“Mr. Previn has okayed a release of the funds in three months’ time. But I’ll have a probationary period that will last for the following two years.”

“Probationary period? What exactly are they watching you for?”

“Behavior. I’m supposed to follow the rules of comportment that were written by my great-grandmother. The rules were revised by both my grandmother and my own mother.”

Kane didn’t say anything and she was glad for it. She hated that stupid comportment book. She hated how every detail of her childhood had been used as an example of what not to do in her mother’s version of the book.

“Sounds like a long line of rules.”

He had no idea. They were stringent, too. No room for mistakes in the Duvall family. Her mother had once told Mary that she’d felt the mantle of expectation on her own shoulders once she’d married Mary’s father. But to Mary that mantle had always felt like a choke hold.

“You know how family is. Your own has rules, as well.”

“They don’t apply to me anymore.”

“Why not?” she asked. The past three years she’d deliberately cut herself off from anything that would carry information about Kane. She hadn’t read the Globe or talked to any of the friends she had in London. It had been too painful to think of him in a new relationship with another woman, the two of them living a life together.

“When I divorced Victoria I was told to never come back again.”

“Why did you divorce her?”

“That has nothing to do with your investments.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry, Kane. I had no right to pry.”

He set down his notepad and came to where she sat, leaning one hip against the huge walnut desk. “I wouldn’t deny you anything you ask for. But you were very adamant about keeping this afternoon all about business.”

“I guess I was.”

“Changed your mind?” he asked, stroking one finger down her face.

“I’m not sure.”

Kane lifted Mary from the chair and set her on the edge of the desk. He pushed her thighs apart and stepped between her legs. Sliding his hands down her back, he grabbed her butt and pulled her forward until he could nestle his erection against the center of her body.

She gripped his upper arms and tipped her head back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, leaning toward him.

“Convincing you to change your mind,” he said, letting his gaze drift down her body, lingering on her breasts and her taut nipples pushing against her blouse. He remembered the way she looked—the curves of her breasts, the dark pink color of her nipples. He remembered how sensitive she was to all kinds of stimulation.

“Looks like my plan is working,” he said, his eyes reconnecting with hers.

“You have a plan for sex.”

“Darling, this is so much more than sex.”

She closed her eyes. “I hope so.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. So he lowered his head and took her mouth with his. He slipped one hand into her silky hair, holding her head at the angle that gave him full access to her mouth.

He ran his tongue over her lips, teasing the both of them. Her breath brushed over his tongue as she opened her mouth, inviting him inside. But he waited. Anticipation turned her on, and this was all about Mary.

She shifted against him, a subtle movement of her hips that brought her against the tip of his shaft. He moaned and bit her lower lip in retaliation. He sucked on it to soothe the sting from his teeth and she undulated against him.

The tips of her breasts brushed against his chest, and he wished they were both naked so he could feel her nipples against his flesh.

He slipped his tongue into her mouth for a quick foray, pulling back when she tangled her tongue with his. She shifted her head, trying to move closer to him, but he held her still.

For this one moment he was in control of her. Or so he thought, until he felt her fingers at his neck, her nails scraping down under his shirt collar.

He stopped teasing them both and took her mouth in the kiss he’d been wanting since he’d first seen her again. He thrust his tongue deep inside and let his instincts take over. He stopped thinking and analyzing. Stopped worrying about wooing her and keeping his cool.

No man could be cool around Mary. She was fire and passion. The kind of heat he’d never felt before…and never would again. She warmed that cold part of him that no one else even realized he had.

His tongue and mouth took hers the way he needed to take her body again. He wanted to reestablish the physical bond between them. To bind her to him as tightly as he could so that she’d never leave him again.