Page 28 of Married to the Devil

“I’m sorry for last night,” I say.

“Which part?” she asks. She tries to cover the hurt with anger, but my actions wounded her. I can tell myself that it’s better this way, but I didn’t handle it cleanly. Even now, her presence, eager to care for the territory she never expected to lead, blurs the shape I expected her to fill here.

Barnes’s lips purse like he’d rather walk away and not hear any of this, but Stella sits still, her usual frenetic energy halted for my response.

I tilt my head. “The parts you didn’t enjoy.”

Her brows rise. “Oh, all of it?”

Vixen.

“I should have laid out what you should expect from our relationship rather than skipping to claiming you,” I allow.

She enjoyed submitting to me. She may not like the memories of it because of how the rest of my actions hurt her, but she’d given over her trust guilelessly.

She won’t give so freely again. I sacrificed that to keep her hopes for me low.

I could have done that better. “It was a poor way to begin a business partnership.”

Stella leans back into the couch with an air of disbelief. “A business partnership where we sleep in the same bed and presumably fuck?”

“Ideally, yes. I’m told it will put people in the territory at ease.”

Her eyes narrow even as her cheeks pinken. “You’re only apologizing because we didn’t consummate. Francesca probably told you as much since she’s so concerned about the sensitive noses of shifters.”

Is that a sizzle of pride in my chest? Stella is excelling in anticipating my moves already. It’s inconvenient.

“You didn’t consummate?” Barnes’s eyes widen and face reddens when we both look at him. “I’m sorry, I’ll give you privacy.”

“No, stay,” I say, standing. “I need to start my investigation.”

I address my wife. “Accept my apology or don’t. It doesn’t change what we must do.”

That is a bit of bluffing on my part. Stella could continue to bar me from our bed. She is the one who has a blood right to this territory. I do not.

But I think I can work this in a way that will be satisfying for both of us. At that thought, I turn to the demon currently clenching his fists in his lap. His emotions lie so close to the surface when it comes to this firefly.

“Barnes, will you stay until I return?”

“I don’t answer to you,” he snaps at me.

My lips twitch. He’s as prickly as my wife. The challenge of breaking him will be just as sweet.

“I was clear in the email I sent that you wouldn’t. It was a question, not an order.”

His glare has me loosening my wings. I want to show this demon exactly how much he’d enjoy receiving orders from me, but that is something that must wait.

“Of course,” he says.

I turn to go but pause to correct her.

“You assume that I don’t expect much, but you’re wrong. Your wishes have just been different from what I anticipated.Silas mentioned that he didn’t get a chance to show you your workshop. It’s the room to the right of our bedroom.”

Stella’s mouth opens in bewildered surprise. “Workshop?”

My smile is victorious. “Until later, wife.”

9

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