Page 19 of A Linton Scandal

“Fine,” I said, not wanting her to notice she’d caused me to become flustered. Walking over to her, I found my nose tickled by something sweet. “What perfume are you wearing?”

She frowned. “I’m not wearing any, maybe you’re talking about my lotion. But the smell isn’t that strong, does it bother you?”

The temptation of her upturned face was surprising. I wasn’t accustomed to holding myself back, and here Juliette seemed to be offering up her lips for me to take. I dropped my eyes to them. They were glistening with something she’d applied. The pink color drawing my eyes and stirring my mind to ideas of claiming and domination.

“Mihai,” the way she said my name, with an almost breathless voice pushed me to turn away.

“Let’s go.” I hadn’t accounted for being attracted to Juliette. I’d only thought of the child she’d carried, and she’d come second. Yet, now I could see this supposed fake marriage may become a lot more complicated than I wanted it to be.

I walked out into the hallway, where Nao was waiting for us.

“I was planning on meeting with the doctor who diagnosed Ms. Juliette, but after some thought I believe it’s better to take her to the DuVall’s clinic,” he said.

“Why?”

Nao and I both glanced at Juliette, who’d come outside. “It would keep certain people from learning about you for a longer time. We don’t want to give them a chance to get ahead of us,” Nao explained.

“Oh, that makes sense,” She said. “Besides, it would be kind of awkward to see Dr. Howard again, I might have freaked out on him a little bit when he told me I was pregnant.”

Seeing a small smile graced her lips, and the slight flush to her cheeks. I turned away, only to notice the looks of two of my guards. Irritated, I reached out and grabbed her hand. “Let’s get going, we have a lot scheduled today.”

Nao immediately moved aside so that we could pass him and head out, followed by the two guards. Once we got downstairs. I reluctantly released her hand to let her get in the car.

A few minutes later we were on our way, I couldn’t stop from glancing at Juliette every once and a while. Something about her drew my eye, even when I wanted to ignore her. She didn’t even do much, an occasional sigh or humming noise here and there.

For some unknown reason, I couldn’t stop watching her. Frustrated with myself, I finally asked. “Have you told your friends or family about us getting married?”

“No, not yet,” she said as she turned to face me with a serious expression. “I was, but I thought I should wait to make sure that you were really going to go through with it.”

“I never repeat myself, nor do I go back on a promise,” I firmly said. It went against my honor. “I will marry you and protect our child.”

Her eyes widened and she looked at me surprised.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I demanded, feeling weird under her quiet stare.

“That’s the first time you’ve said,our child.” She smiled. “I don’t know why, but I feel like that’s the first time I’ve felt like you’re this child’s father.”

Feeling embarrassed I looked away. “I never acted any other way, the child is mine and…”So are you.

I swallowed the last few words that I wanted to say. Juliette was doing something to me, and while I wasn’t flustered by the lust, she inspired it with these weird moments of warmth I wasn’t accustomed to. She stirred up my desire to protect, claim, and dominate like I was some animal.

The rest of the drive was in silence. I was afraid I would say something that would scare her off, but also change the dynamic of our relationship. What if this was a phase, something new and I was only captivated by the idea of this woman because she was different from the women I usually associated with.

The car came to a stop finally. I swiftly got out of the car, trying to regain my composure. Walking around the car, I looked up at the six-floor clinic that only a few A-list stars, politicians and wealthy people could come to.

This time without taking Juliette’s hand, we entered the building. The only one who followed us this time was Nao.

Juliette

I should have known that my experience going to the clinic with Mihai would be different then when I went to see my own doctor. The minute we entered, there were people lined up on the other side of the glass doors to greet him.

Seeing the sight was both funny and terrifying, funny because it seemed more pompous than necessary, but terrifying because it fermented the reality that Mihai and I were from two different worlds. I glanced down at my clothes, feeling relief that I’d put some time into getting dressed.

Otherwise, I would have come in a T-shirt, a nice pair of jeans and converses with my favorite leather jacket. I patted my chest in solace as we entered what looked like a private elevator and headed up some floors.

“From here, we’re going to have to act,” Mihai said as he reached out his hand.

I looked at it, it was larger than mine and despite my expectation there were a few cuts there. I wondered where he’d gotten them, he wasn’t a cook. And I couldn’t imagine him doing hard labor, even with the large build he had.

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