Wedded Bliss by Barbara Metzger

Author:Barbara Metzger [Metzger, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9781611873634
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2004-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

“Hell.” he cursed, then begged her pardon. Or that of the many-armed goddess now in many pieces. Bedding his wife was not only not part of his plan, but it was not part of his life. He did not want to be involved with a woman. Any woman. The Austrian princess was business, not pleasure, he told himself. No emotions were involved. No unruly passions were raised, at least not his. The princess was known to toss the occasional knickknack.

His former marriages had accounted for some of the most unpleasant intervals of Rockford’s life, years filled with tears and shouts and sulks and scenes, especially when his wives were increasing. And those women he had wed were ladies. Heaven knew what Mrs. Henning, his new countess, would subject him to. She was already off to a good start, if her aim was to destroy his home, his career, and his peace of mind.

“Dash it,” he said, “how could you want another infant when you have enough children to satisfy the maternal instincts of a queen bee? And if your sister is not young enough to count as a daughter, go adopt one. I am certain there are any number of moppets languishing in orphanages. Or I could have my secretary put an advertisement in the paper, if I still had a secretary, that is, for a family with extras. I’d think people would be glad to see a daughter go to a good home. Plaguey nuisances, girls. Just look at my sister.”

“No.”

He carefully swept the fragments of the goddess into a pile on his desk while he wondered how the nondescript nobody he’d married had turned into a woman of such strong convictions. He had admired her pluck, but independence was better at a distance. Now she was staring straight at him, daring him to disagree, as if they were equals.

“You owe me a baby. Nothing was ever said about not honoring the marriage vows. That is part of what marriage means to me.”

Equals, hell. The female was far better at this than he was. He had to try, though. “I do not recall the vicar telling us to go forth and multiply. Did I miss that part?”

“Marriage is a sacred rite for the begetting of children.”

“Oh, no, it is not. Marriage makes offspring legitimate. It does not demand them.”

“You never said you felt that way.”

“And you never said you wanted more children.”

“I never had the chance. I would have on our wedding night, when we consummated the marriage.”

“Confound it, I could not force myself on a woman who hardly knew me. I thought that would offend you.”

She stared at her hands laced in her lap. “I am a widow, Robert, not a virgin.”

There was his name again. Lud, last time he’d repeated it to himself to see if the unfamiliar syllables had any effect. They had not, not giving him the slightest inclination to leap across his desk, the way he did now. Unseemly, that’s what it was. Beneath his dignity.

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