After another half hour, Niyol skated them to the edge of the rink.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

Margery nodded. “Starving.”

“Rose told me she would have dinner waiting for us at the inn if you would like to go there to eat. The only other place in town to eat is your diner, but we could go there if you prefer.”

“I like Rose’s cooking,” Margery said. “Let’s go to the inn.”

After removing and dumping their skates onto the used counter, they made their way back to Niyol’s car. He helped her into her seat before jumping into his own and pulling out of the parking lot. As he steered the car toward the inn, he laced his fingers in hers.

They ate a quick but delicious dinner at the inn, then joined Rose and the others down in the bar. Margery stayed away from Rose’s home-brew, deciding instead to try Danny’s root beer. Niyol spotted Jill and excused himself to go talk to her. Rose and Margery watched as he leaned over to speak to her. Jill frowned at him before throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. She broke away from him and leaned her head closer to talk to him, squeezing his arm as she did so. It looked as if she was confirming what both Margery and Rose had told Niyol: she wasn’t mad at him.

Margery turned to Rose, but before she could say anything, Cathy marched up to them.

“I don’t see how you can guilt Mitchell into spending the whole weekend with his daughter, forcing him to cancel our date night, and then you show up here with a man—on a school night, no less,” Cathy hissed.

“Cathy,” Margery said with forced patience. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t force Mitchell to do anything. All I told him was that instead of hiring a stranger to watch our daughter, he could bring her home to me.”

“So, if he wants to go out on a date with his wife, he has to bring his daughter to you? I don’t see why you always make him choose between me and Ainsley.”

Margery scowled. “What the hell are you talking about? He only has Ainsley every other weekend. Plan date night on the weekends she isn’t there. How hard is that? Why don’t you stop making him choose between you and his daughter? You’ve never cared one bit for Ainsley, and you never will.”

“She isn’t mine,” Cathy retorted. “I don’t have to be her mother, Margery. She has you. I put up with her for Mitchell’s sake, but I refuse to work my whole schedule and life around one little girl.”

“That ‘one little girl’ is your husband’s daughter, Cathy. If you refuse to ‘work around her’ then you are the one forcing Mitchell to choose. Not me. Back off and let them have a relationship. Ainsley sees him a handful of days each month while you get him all the time.”

“He is my husband.”

“And Ainsley’s father,” Margery bit back. “Do you realize you’re jealous of a child? Stop acting like a spoiled toddler throwing a tantrum and grow up, Cathy. Mitchell may say I’m the bitch, but you’re the one acting like a bitch right now.”

“What did you just call me?” Cathy snarled, taking a step forward.

“Play nice, Cathy,” Rose interrupted in a sharp voice, making Margery jump; she had almost forgotten Rose was there. “Or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Cathy turned toward Rose who raised one eyebrow.

“Whatever,” Cathy spat and stomped off.

Before Rose could say anything, Niyol walked up and sat down next to Margery. Noticing Margery’s mood change, he gave her a questioning look. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” Margery whispered.

Niyol looked at Rose who shrugged and gave him a pointed look. He would have to figure this one out on his own, but she was silently urging him not to give up. Sighing, Niyol turned to Margery to try again, but an angry Mitchell interrupted him.

“What did you do to Cathy?” Mitchell demanded, scowling at Margery.

She glared back. “I didn’t do a damn thing to Cathy.”

“You got your friend here to threaten her.”

“Excuse me,” Rose snapped. “I told your wife she needed to behave herself and not start any fights in my bar, or I would throw her out. That is the same rule for everyone, Mitchell, and you know that.”

Mitchell glared at Rose, then glanced at Niyol who still had Margery’s hand clasped in his own, and his expression turned furious. “You are such a hypocrite.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Margery snapped.

“You give me a hard time and force me to spend time with Ainsley. You threaten to take her if I leave her with a babysitter so I can go on a date with my wife. But you can leave her with a sitter to go on a date with some guy you barely know.”

“First of all,” Margery said, “Ainsley is with my mother, who is making her costume for the pageant, not with a babysitter neither of us knows well. Second, you do not know who my friends are or how well I know this man, and you don’t get to know those things, Mitchell.

“You can throw words like ‘wife’ around all you like, but we all know you found that wife while you already had one—me. I didn’t have the luxury of finding someone while we were still married. I was at home raising our child while you fucked every girl in town who would have you. So, what I do now—on my own time—is none of your business, Mitchell.

“Oh, and I did not threaten to take Ainsley away from you. You have her every other weekend. You can date your wife on the weekends you don’t have your daughter. Don’t throw your guilt over Ainsley back on me. I am not married to you anymore, and I do not have to take it. Now, leave me alone.”

“Why do you always have to be such a bitch?” Mitchell hissed.

Before either Rose or Margery could answer, Niyol stood up. He towered a good six inches over Mitchell, forcing the angry man to look up at him.

“Do not disrespect her like that,” Niyol growled, his voice taking on a dangerous tone that Margery had never heard from him. “She is not your wife anymore, and you have no right to speak to her that way. In fact, even when she was your wife, you had no right to speak to her that way. You will not continue to humiliate her because it makes you feel like more of a man.”

Mitchell spluttered angrily.

“And for the record,” Niyol added, his voice deadly calm. “No one in this town thinks badly of Margery. They all think badly of you. You make a total ass of yourself every time you start this shit in public. If you can’t be civil, then don’t bother talking.”

Mitchell finally found his voice again. “Or what?”

“Or you’ll answer to me,” Niyol stated with a shrug, glaring down at Mitchell.

Before Mitchell could retort and escalate the situation, Danny walked up and tapped him on the shoulder. “Your cab is here, Mitchell.”

“I didn’t call a cab.”

“And yet,” Danny said, “there’s one here for you. I suggest you take it and go home to sleep it off.”

Mitchell looked from Danny to Niyol. Cursing, he stomped off to get Cathy before leaving the bar.

“Thank you, Danny,” Margery murmured. She turned to Niyol and clutched his arm. “And thank you.”

He reached down and brushed her hair back from her face. “Any time.”

Margery sucked in a breath. “Can we go upstairs? It’s really hot down here.”

Nodding, Niyol took her by the arm and led her upstairs. There were guests in the sitting room, so he took her up to his room, maneuvering her into an armchair next to the small fireplace. He knelt down next to her and rubbed his hands over her legs while she caught her breath. He knew from his own bitter experience that she was having a small anxiety attack and just needed time to calm down. After a few minutes, Margery grabbed his hands and squeezed them gently.

“Thank you,” she whispered again.

Niyol looked up at her and stroked her cheek with his thumb, wiping her tears away.

“I mean it,” Margery continued. “No one has ever taken up for me like that except for Rose. It means the world that you did that, Niyol.”

“I would do it again.”

She smiled. “I’m sorry I lost it a little bit there. He makes me so angry, and I can’t help but feel like it’s my fault still.”

“It isn’t, but I understand. Do you need a few moments alone?” He didn’t want to leave her, but he also didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Margery admitted.

She took his hand and stood up, pulling him with her, and walked backward toward the bed, a question in her eyes. He answered her by drawing her to him, pressing her body against his own, and kissing her deeply.

Margery melted into him, her hands fisting in his shirt. She gripped the hem of his shirt and tugged it over his head, breaking their kiss for a beat before reclaiming his mouth with hers. She explored the planes of his chest with her hands, drawing patterns on his skin with her fingers while her tongue explored his mouth. Niyol gave a soft grunt of pleasure at her exploration and let her do as she pleased until her hands trailed down toward his jeans.

Breaking their kiss once more and smirking at the small whine she let out when he did, he mimicked her earlier movements, grabbing the hem of her shirt and lifting it over her head. As he reached around to unhook her bra, she unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans before shoving them and her underwear down her hips, impatient to feel his bare skin against hers. He steadied her as she stepped out of them and kicked them away, and only then, when his mouth was on her nipple, did she notice her bra had disappeared.

Margery gasped as his teeth grazed her sensitive flesh and she grasped his head, twining his fingers in her hair and holding him in place. She let him move to the other nipple, her head falling back when he sucked particularly hard. Tugging on his hair, she pulled him up for another kiss.

To Niyol’s surprise, she pushed him back onto the bed. He gazed up at her, admiring her soft curves as she hungrily studied his naked chest. Before he could blink, she had climbed onto the bed and straddled him, burying her face in his neck to press kisses to the sensitive skin there. She inhaled the intoxicating scent of him she had become so addicted to in the last few days.

She trailed her mouth and tongue down his neck to his chest, pausing to nip at his collarbone and suck one of his nipples into her mouth, and then lower to his sculpted abdomen. Niyol watched as she fiddled with his belt buckle and yanked his pants off of him, letting them clatter to the floor.

With a coy smile on her lips, Margery met his gaze before letting her eyes drop to take in his manhood. He let out a groan when she licked her lips, the groan turning into a hiss as she dipped her head and flicked her tongue over the tip of his erection. Smirking, Margery slid her fingers over the length of his shaft. Niyol groaned again as she took him fully in her mouth, sucking a little as she did. She slowly bobbed her head up and down a few times, swirling her tongue over the tip of his cock, making it twitch and throb with need.

Only a few minutes later, he pulled her off him with a gasp, unable to stand it any longer. In one fluid motion, he stood up and pushed her in front of him onto the bed. He scrambled up behind her, raising her hips into the air and pushing her shoulders toward the mattress. Reaching around her, he swirled his finger over her clitoris in a slow spiral. She cried out at his touch, pushing her hips back against him. He continued his ministrations, and when Margery was slick and writhing against him, he lined himself up and plunged into her.

Niyol set a demanding pace, thrusting into her from behind, his attentions on her pleasure bud never wavering. She met his thrusts with her hips, moaning his name. When he felt her muscles begin to clench around him, he pulled out of her and flipped her around, wanting to see her face when she climaxed. Lust clouded her eyes, and they rolled back as Niyol thrust into her again, impaling her over and over. Her muscles squeezed him, milking his cock as his vision blurred and waves of pleasure washed over him.

As the pleasure ebbed away, he collapsed next to Margery, breathing hard and shaking. Niyol pulled Margery close, and she laid her head on his heaving chest, listening to his heart beat as it slowed. He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her lips to his in a tender kiss.

Gazing into her eyes, Niyol realized, as much as he’d denied it, he was hers, and he had been from the moment he’d met her. He would leave his guilt for tomorrow. Tonight, he wanted nothing more than to hold Margery in his arms. His Margery. For some reason, that thought didn’t feel so scary anymore.