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She breathed a derisive laugh. “As if I am allowed to forget.”
“Aurelia,” He tried to keep it reasonable. “What is it? You seem more and more remote.” Let us put it out in the open, he decided.
Another derisive laugh pressed to come out. Did he really need to ask? Since this afternoon, her blood had been boiling for the night. She would never be able to resist him, stop loving him. She imagined that if she spent time away, she would at least cool down, if not cure from these intense ragged feelings. Away from him would allow her to put circumstances in perspective. She would be capable to think more clearly, even if, in the beginning, she would miss him so much it would twist her insides.
“It’s nothing.” She turned her back to him and paced to the fireplace, trying to level her irregular breaths.
“It cannot be nothing!” He said right behind her. “You have been behaving… differently.”
She gyrated to him. “That’s none of your business.” She fulminated him with her eyes.
He took her by her shoulders, her head falling back to meet his dark serious eyes. “We have a baby on the way; we have to consider it.”
“I am doing it!” She said decisively. “The best is for it to stay far from you.”
He rotated away, raking his hair, expelling air forcefully from his lungs. “I am trying to show you I am not that man anymore.” He turned to her again. “Can you not gauge it from my actions?” He paced to her anew. “Do I have to plead my case every minute of the day?”
She stared at him then. Really stared. Right. Since he arrived, he had done nothing reproachful. He had not gambled. Not a single night out unless with her. No women. He had even avoided drinking. She remembered all of it, of course, she did! But to believe in a complete change?
She nodded, head spinning. “Yes, so you have said.”
“And I do not take it back.”
“You have always been very erratic. You could very well resume your… old ways.”
If she possessed the courage to confess it, the uncertainty of his change was what tore her to pieces. He had been a dream husband from the moment he stepped in the manor from service. Despite his strong personality, which became him, by the way, he had been there for her in everything that counted.
“I won’t, though, I want to be a real father to my children.” His voice came silky and crystalline with sincerity.
Oh, how she wanted to trust him! How she wished she loved him free of any cares!
“I-I …” Emotion clogged her thro
at.
“I am not about to let you down now.” There was a trace of pleading in his tone. “I wish to cherish you for the rest of my life.”
Her fury, which had abated during the conversation, resurged. She neared him blinded by what she regarded as false promises; she stabbed a finger on his broad chest. “Don’t you come with this gibberish!” She stabbed more. “I won’t hear hollow promises.”
He let her vent her fury with stoic patience a strange glint in his dark eyes. As it had subsided, he angled her toward the wall and pressed her with his body.
“Listen to me, Aurelia!” His hands held her shoulders, his voice velvety. “I fell in love with you in my lonely military cot, re-living the moments you were present around my house. I had no women. If the situation became too... tight, I would deal with it on my own. No women, no drink.” His eyes pierced her with hot sentiments. “Then I come home to find a she-wolf burning me to ashes, consuming me with desire. I wondered why I had overlooked the mate I had right under my nose!”
She turned slack against the wall, her eyes so wide on him they went dry. She tried to say something, anything. Her mouth would utter no word. So completely befuddled by his disencumbering her mind swirled without aim.
“Please, I beg you, my beloved wife!” His head lowered, his lips almost touching her. “Let me love you with my body, let me love you with my heart, my thoughts.” He pleaded; his hoarse voice inciting. “It doesn't matter if you don't love me. I realise I have destroyed all my chances. But let me take care of you, of our children, our manor.”
And then she broke.
“Oh, Conrad!” Her arms came around his neck; she glued her body to his, her head on his shoulder. “I fear I have never stopped loving you!” Hot tears rolled abundant down her cheeks.
He took her face between his hands, a look of pure elation on his damned attractive aristocratic face. “Aurelia, my Aurelia!” He breathed out touching his forehead to hers.
“In the beginning, I reckon it was only infatuation.” Her fingers merged further in his midnight smooth hair. “But when you came back, what had been dormant resurfaced full force, transforming in real love!”
His thumbs removed her fat tears in the same moment his mouth overtook hers in a searing kiss. They kissed. Kissed. And kissed her more, not seeming to get enough.
When they came up for air, he teased. “I don’t care to hear what happened between the infatuation and the love.” Meaning her hard feelings towards him.
