Page 40 of The Rancher's Pregnancy Surprise

"Was that really what you intended to say?" her husband asked silkily, his dark eyes glittering with amusement.

Not wanting to lie but not wanting to admit the truth either, Mairi looked around for a distraction and found it. "Oh, look, Claude's finally here—" She broke off upon seeing the glint in Ronan's amber eyes.

Oh no.

"Excuse me for a moment," Ronan said calmly.

Mairi looked at Damen worriedly as the other man disappeared from view. "I thought everything was okay with them."

"It depends on how you define okay," her husband murmured, his arm sliding possessively around her waist.

"Um..." The last she heard, Claude had been reinstated in his grandmother's will, but his monthly allowance had been greatly reduced, and it was probably why he had signed away his rights to fatherhood for a hefty sum.

"Legally speaking, it's all good, right?"

"It is."

"There's a but, isn't there?"

"But the boy has more ego than sense, unfortunately. He has been texting Ronan's wife nonstop, convinced that she's still in love with him and doing this out of spite. And so what you see unfolding right now is Ronan about to prove him wrong..."

Their vantage point from the uppermost deck allowed Mairi to see Claude's face darkening when he glimpsed Ronan pulling his wife into one of the staterooms.

"Please don't tell me there's going to be a fight," she said worriedly.

Damen's eyes glinted. "It will not be necessary. Claude only has to hear the truth to know he will never win this war."

"Listen?" Mairi frowned in confusion. "Listen to what?"

She turned towards the room again, wondering what Ronan and his wife could possibly...oh.

Damen's lips curved at the way his wife blushed. All these years, and she remained incurably naïve.

Mairi turned to Damen, and that was when she saw the smoldering look of heat in his gaze.Uh...oh.She only managed to take one step, but then he was whirling her into his arms—

"Don't you think we should also prove to everyone we are still passionately in love?"

"Um, not—"

He cut her off with a kiss, his tongue driving inside her mouth, andum,what was she saying no to again?

ACACIA GASPED AS RONANsuddenly took her hand, his amber eyes dark with intent as he pulled her through the corridor and into one of the staterooms. The door closed behind them with a soft click, and he immediately pressed her against it, his powerful frame caging her in.

"W-What's wrong?" she whispered, searching his face. His jaw was tense, his eyes feverishly bright.

"You asked what I wanted as my wedding gift," he murmured, his breath hot against her ear.

"I...I did." She had a hard time concentrating, with him already working on the buttons of her dress, his fingers deftly exposing her skin to the cool air. Heat pooled low in her belly at the hungry look in his eyes.

The yacht rocked gently beneath them, the distant sounds of celebration a stark contrast to the building tension in the luxurious stateroom. Sunlight streamed through the porthole, turning his skin to burnished gold as he shed his own jacket and tie.

He leaned in, his lips brushing her ear as he whispered his desire, the words making her face flame even as a thrill of excitement raced through her veins.

At the very same moment, he claimed her body, joining them as one, and all she could do was moan at the combined heat of his demand and his possession.

Her face burned at what he was asking of her, but since she had promised to give him whatever he wanted...

Her husband's movements grew more urgent, more demanding, and she surrendered to the tide of sensations washing over her. Lost in the moment, not knowing that her ex-boyfriend stood outside, able to hear everything, Acacia began to cry out.

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