Page 28 of His Collateral Wife

A sheepish smile touched his wife's lips. "I can't say it is---" Her voice broke off, and her eyes widened. "H-How..."

"How do you think?"

She choked, laughed, and sputtered at the same time. "Did you read my prayer journal?"

He looked at her thoughtfully. "Is that what they call diaries these days?"

"Don't change the subject," his wife protested even as she failed to keep herself from smiling.

"I'm not. You just don't sound angry enough for me to feel guilty."

Eden was now looking at him like she was torn between doubling over in laughter and divorcing him. "I don't think it's that big a sin, by the way."

His wife stared at him like he had lost his mind at this point.

"I think it was part of His plan, since I ended up believing in your God because of what you wrote."

Her mouth opened and closed, and a smirk curved over his lips. "You think I'm lying?"

"No."

It was his turn to feel disconcerted, with how swiftly she answered him, and in so fierce a tone, too.

"Talk to me, mon ange." His admission had made her happy. That part, he didn't doubt. But at the same time, there was obviously something else that troubled her now---

"It's nothing."

But because he had yet to win her trust, his hands remained tied.

All he could do was wait.

The choice had to be hers.

And when that day came...

It was his worst fears come true, with his wife choosing to break his heart.

I Really Can't

"This is too much."

"You say that every time, but it is never too much."

"But..."

"Be a good girl," Calixte says silkily, "and just open your mouth."

I can feel myself blushing even as I obey his command, and I blush even more as my husband starts feeding me.

Calixte gazes in satisfaction as I start chewing. "Good?"

"Everything your chef does is good."

"Then you will continue being a good girl and finish your food, oui?"

His words have me eyeing my plate in uncertainty. Toast and jam with a herbed omelet with melted Gruyére cheese, plus a colorful selection of fresh fruits on the side. "Um..."

"For me, mon ange, will you eat it all?"

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