Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
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Her mother had never prepared her for life as a married woman, not really. Isabella placed her hand on her husband’s stomach and smiled. They’d been inside the villa for two weeks. Whenever she tried to venture out, he refused to let her go, and he would take her. His carnal appetite surprised her. She’d been warned Klaus wouldn’t want her for anything other than making babies. He’d have the wedding night, then wait to see if she bled that month.
No one had prepared her for the lovemaking and the fucking her husband demanded, not that she minded. She’d heard enough to know that a great deal of men took their time with women outside of marriage. Even her own father had an array of mistresses, and when some of them came to the house, she did see the unhappiness on her mother’s face. She hated it. Hated their world, but nothing could be done about it. At least not to her. The women in their world had only one role, to look pretty and pop out babies. Her father had often told her she failed in one department. The only way he could sell her was to put a bag over her head.
The humiliation he’d caused her over the years was hard to forget. Even in Klaus’s arms, after two weeks of being desired and told she was beautiful, she still didn’t believe it.
“I can feel you thinking,” Klaus said, his lips brushing across her shoulder. “Share it.”
“It’s nothing.”
His grip tightened around her. “What have I told you about lying?”
“I’m not lying. Am I not allowed some privacy?”
“Nope. You’re tense in my arms. That tells me you’re not thinking good thoughts.” He kissed her shoulder and she turned as he looked down at her. It was late, past two in the morning. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“I’m just thinking about how life is going to be when we go home, you know?”
He sighed. “Yeah, when we’ve got to go back to wearing clothes and actually attending parties and doing shit that other people want us to do.” He wrinkled his nose. “I wish we could stay here.”
“But we can’t.”
“No. Believe me, it was a miracle getting these two weeks.”
“And they didn’t come without a cost.” She put her hand across the ink that was his family crest. She couldn’t make much out in the darkness. He was devoted to his family. “What will … how will…” She nibbled on her lip, not wanting to put into words the nerves that flooded her body.
“Talk to me, Bella,” he said. He cupped her face, running his thumb across her bottom lip.
“I know what…” She stopped, unsure how to voice her thoughts. “The men in our world, they take…” She laughed. “This is harder than I thought.”
“They take other women. Mistresses.”
“Yes.”
Silence fell between them and she stared at his chest, terrified of what he was going to say.
“Do you expect me to take a mistress?”
“Do you want to take a mistress?” she asked.
His finger went beneath her chin and he tilted her head back. “I don’t like talking in riddles, and I certainly don’t like asking a question and getting a question back. Answer me.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want you to take a mistress.”
“I have no plans to.”
She returned her gaze to his. “What?”
He smiled. “I know what our men are like, but I don’t want to take a mistress, and I certainly don’t want you to take a lover.”
“A lover?”
“I’m sure there are some of the married women who dare to take a lover or two.” He smirked.
“I don’t know about any of that.” She’d never heard of wives taking lovers, far from it.
“Any man who would ever dare to come near you, I will fucking kill him, Isabella. I want you all to myself.”
“And I don’t want to share you either.”
He captured her hand, pressing a kiss to her inside wrist. “When we get home, the only thing that will change is I have to go out to work every day.”
She licked her lips. “I know you have houses with women who offer out their services.”
He smiled. “You’re so cute when you’re being nice. They’re brothels, and we own them, but I won’t ever use them.”
“Have you used them?” She didn’t know why she kept asking these questions when the truth was she really didn’t want to know the answer.
“I didn’t live like a monk, Bella. I had plenty of women at my disposal. I’ve never had to pay for the pleasure, but I’ve paid to remove them from my life. I have no girlfriend or mistress waiting for me. The only woman I want is here, in my arms.” He grabbed her and she let out a gasp as he lifted her up to straddle his waist. His hands went to her thighs and she had no choice but to put a hand on his chest to stop herself from falling.