Chapter Ten
Aidan was exhausted and content to lay under the covers with Maura's warm body next to his. That is, until his mind began to wander.
Something had niggled at his brain while he consummated his new marriage. Something just outside his conscious thought that did not line up with the facts as he knew them. It was the alcohol and passion that dulled his senses, allowing him to ignore his unease. But now, in dawn's early light, he could think more clearly. And the truth laid itself bare.
"Maura. Is there something you would like to tell me?" His words were clipped and sharp.
He felt her tense against him, but she didn't respond to his question nor did she move away.
He waited, his mind racing at the repercussions of his lapse in judgment.
"Maura." He pushed her off his chest into a sitting position. He no longer felt the emotional connection. She had lied to him, that much was clear.
Cautious, she rose over him, her naked breasts taunting him, but he wouldn't allow himself to be distracted this time.
He watched her raise her chin in defiance. She stared down at him with those treacherous Jackson green eyes.
"You cheated me," he accused.
She rolled off him, covering her body from view with the tangled sheets of their marriage bed.
"How the hell did I cheat you, Aidan? It seems to me you got as good as you gave."
"You lied. About being a virgin."
She had the nerve to laugh at him. "A virgin? Is that what this is about? Well, then I guess that makes us even. You obviously can't claim to be a virgin either." She threw the accusation back in his face.
He left their bed and jerked on his rumpled clothing from the night before. He faced her with every ounce of indignation he could muster. "That's ridiculous. Of course, I'm not a virgin."
"Then why is it you expected me to be one? I'm twenty-four years old, Aidan. Not exactly virginal material at this point." She was taunting him.
"You should have said something," he informed her.
"You should have asked," she countered.
Maura lay in the bed long after Aidan stomped out of the cabin. She thought there might be questions, but she never dreamed Aidan would be such a jerk about the fact she had been intimate before. It wasn't like she had a reputation for sleeping around. If he had given her half a chance, she would have told him about it. But, the man never bothered to ask.
Aidan acted as if she had trapped him into marriage under false pretenses. They knew why they were here, and they had both coming willingly. Well, maybe not totally willingly but neither of them had been forced. They had weighed their options and made their decision.
Maura needed a bath, but the little cabin was the original dwelling Aidan's great-grandfather built with no indoor plumbing. Was she expected to make the walk of shame to the big house to take a bath? She prayed not.
As if an answer to her prayer, a knock on the door signaled an unexpected visitor. The woman stuck her head inside the front door. “Good morning, Mrs. Langley.” Maura had seen her the day of the wedding. It was Nola, the great-niece of the Langley family's nanny-turned-housekeeper, Nessa.
"Good morning, Nola. I’m not exactly dressed for company.” Maura tucked herself behind the half open bedroom door.
“Oh, no. Of course not. I saw Aidan leave, so I thought it was safe to bring you a tub and hot water for a bath."
Maura started to step out in her bedsheets but saw two men carrying a tub and several buckets of hot water. She stepped back inside and called to Nola through the door. "Thank you so much for thinking of me."
"I brought you and Aidan a breakfast tray. Since he seems to be already on the move, there will be plenty for you."
The aroma of food drifted through the open door. Maura realized she was starving.
"Thank you, Nola. I'm so grateful to you—"
"Nonsense. You are part of our family now. If there is anything at all you need—anything at all, you let me know."
Maura wanted to tell the friendly woman she probably wouldn’t still be on the Langley ranch by the end of the day once Aidan announced to the world her deception of not being a virgin. It was humiliating.
She heard the door close and then all was quiet. The aroma of the food enticed her out of the bedroom. She peeked her head around the door and saw the scrumptious tray loaded with food. All thoughts of her tantrum-throwing husband disappeared when Maura wrapped the sheet around her and settled herself at the table. Two pieces of fried bacon, two pancakes covered in maple syrup, a biscuit smothered in gravy, and the best coffee she had ever drunk later, Maura dropped the rumpled bedsheets and slipped beneath the hot water in the old tin bathtub in front of the fire in the living room. It was heaven.
She must have dozed off for a bit because the next thing she was aware of was a sense of someone watching her.
Aidan stood inside the door with a dog she assumed was his. He stood stock-still as if he were afraid to come further into the room. Her eyes met his. She knew that look, and she knew what he was thinking.
He might be beating his chest and crying foul to the world, but she read him like the open book he was. That was pure unadulterated lust in his eyes. And if the bulge behind the fly of his jeans was any indication, he wanted more of what she had to offer.
She was under no illusions when it came to Aidan Langley. He had no feelings of a loving nature toward her. No. Theirs was a business arrangement. But he most definitely had feelings of a carnal nature for her. And that's all it took to make a baby. Once she was pregnant with the heir apparent, then maybe they could reach an agreement of sorts. Perhaps they could live separate lives in peaceful harmony. She would help her momma with her herbs, and she would raise their child to be a fine human being. He could go back to doing whatever he’d been doing before this agreement changed their both their lives.
She watched him cast furtive glances at her naked body underneath the water. He wanted her, but he was wallowing in his male pride. Should she let him off the hook?
"I thought when you left you were gone for good. Did you…forget something, Aidan?"
He was most definitely flustered. "I forgot the keys—"
Maura chose that moment to stand in the tub, water sluicing from her body, running in rivulets down her stomach, her breasts, her legs.
"Can you hand me that towel on the chair, please? And would you mind putting another log on the fire? It's a bit chilly in here this morning."
He stood frozen in place by the door. He tried to look everywhere in the room but at her.
"Aidan? The towel. I'm freezing."
She waited for a second more and then stepped out of the tub, water soaking the braided rug on the floor.
Aidan rushed to give her the towel, making a fuss about the water on the rug. "That's my great-grandmother's braided rug, you know. She made that with her bare hands and rags from worn-out clothing—"
Maura took the towel from Aidan purposely brushing her fingers against his. Aidan was making a fuss about the rug, but she was certain it was not the priceless heirloom Aidan was making it out to be. It was a rug that had seen many decades of use and had proven itself quite durable.
“Aidan?” she wanted him to be honest with them both. Otherwise, this was going to be a long, lonely marriage.
And then, blue eyes met green. She held her breath, waiting to see what he would do. She could see the war he waged in his clear blue eyes. Would he give in to his baser needs or would he insist on playing the martyr again?
He turned away from her and walked to the front door. Disappointment hit her deep in her stomach. She had hoped—
Aidan opened the door, but instead of leaving, he ushered his dog outside. “Go on, Willow. Go find Nola. She’ll feed you some breakfast.” He closed the door behind the dog, and turned, the feral gaze in his eyes left her no doubt as to her new husband's intentions. Her woman’s core wept with anticipation.
He didn't waste words, and he wasn't gentle. But that was okay with Maura. She’d had a taste of her husband's passion last night, and as much as it pained her to admit it, she enjoyed his—company. And she had no intentions of pretending otherwise.
He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, roughly depositing her in the middle of the bed. The bedsheets were lying on the living room floor where she’d left them.
There didn't seem to be any need for subterfuge. Last night, their sex was to consummate their marriage. They had done that in spades. Now, it seemed her husband was open to the fact his new wife wasn't virginal material, if the way he was looking at her was any indication. He wanted sex for the sake of the pure pleasure of it.
Aidan ripped off his shirt. She watched the buttons ricochet everywhere. He unzipped his pants, his hard gaze never leaving hers. She lay on the bed where he dropped her, watching the sensual scene before her unfold.
He shoved his pants from his body. He was magnificent. The fact he knew this was evident by his swagger toward her.
He wasted no time on niceties. There was no preamble. No foreplay. He covered her with his taut body and entered her. His blue eyes held her gaze. He withdrew and entered her again. He was punishing her. That's what this was about. He was exacting his pound of flesh for her supposed deception at not being a virgin.
Sensations at her core rose. She wanted to get lost in the moment and just let things happen. But she couldn't. She hadn't done anything wrong. And she wasn't about to let Aidan think he could rule over her. They were partners in this arrangement. Martyrs of equal proportions. If anything, she was the one who would sacrifice her body for the sake of these two families. She would be the one bearing this child, nurturing it, loving it. Committing to its well-being.
She threw her leg over his thigh and pulled his arm, pushing his weight off-center. She pushed him to his side and gained the higher ground. Now she straddled him, looking down into his surprised face.
He was a well-endowed male, and she had no reason to apologize for enjoying her marriage bed. She pushed his hands to the bed on either side of his head, her fingers entwined in his, holding him in place.
Maura rode him for all she was worth. She rode him to assert her dominance in this relationship. And she rode him because—she wanted to.