Marcel: BWWM, Arranged Marriage, Billionaire Romance

Chapter 16

“Have I thanked you yet?” Marcel asked quietly as he handed the glass to his dad.

“I think you said something to that effect.” James grinned at his son as he accepted the glass. They had just wrapped up a deposition and were still seated in the conference room.

“I cannot thank you enough. Nothing I say would ever be enough. I love her.” He said simply. He took his drink with him and walked to the table to sit across from his dad.

“How is she?”

“She is giving up some of her clients. After what almost happened last week, we both got scared.”

“Which is understandable. But the OB said there was no chance of her losing the baby.”

“She is three months into the pregnancy, and we want to take things slow. My wife has a way of doing everything to the very extreme.” A smile hovered on his lips. “She is accustomed to doing everything at full tint and thinks taking a day off is a crime.”

“And she has been entertaining.”

Marcel nodded. “I have assigned several of her clients to a few partners.” A frown touched his brow. “Peter is still a problem, and I am to blame for it. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.”

“Simone leaving him is not on you.” His father pointed out.

“Isn’t it?” Marcel’s voice was grim. “I started this thing with her, and I told myself I believed her when she told me they were separated. I am happily married, and he walks around like a shadow. He blames me.”

“No,” James told him firmly. “He blames himself. The good thing about it was the prenup; we insisted on him making her sing. That woman was an opportunist.

She has run off with a man old enough to be her grandfather, and I want to say happy riddance to bad rubbish. Peter is slowly getting over her betrayal. He is more embarrassed than anything else and confessed to me that he had misgivings about the marriage and still went through with it.”

Marcel stared at his dad. “I am happy she is gone.” A bemused smile touched his lips. “My wife is insisting that we go trick or treating later.”

“What on earth for?”

“To get into the role of being parents,” Marcel told him with a grin. “Ever since Matthew and Grace had their daughter last month, she has been obsessed with learning all there is to learn about being a mother.

And she has so far changed her mind about wanting a son. She has fallen in love with Abigail and now wants a daughter who looks exactly like me, but with her smarts, as she puts it.”

“But, of course, you want a son.”

“It does not matter to me. Nikki claims she wants four children.”

James burst out laughing, slapping his hands on his thighs. “Four.”

Marcel grinned. “She is on her own when it comes to that decision. I am not even entertaining any of it.”

James stared at his second child with a fond expression on his face. “I am very proud of you.”

“I almost ruined my life and the reputation of this firm.”

“That’s in the past now. You are married to a wonderful woman and expecting your first child.”

“And I keep wondering what will go wrong,” he admitted. Lunging to his feet, he went to put the glass away. “I cannot believe I am so happy, and Dad, I am happy. Nikki is my best friend. I used to love going out to functions, mixing and mingling with other lawyers, but now I am like an old married guy who just wants to be with his wife.”

Shaking his head, he came and sat back down. “She has me doing projects. We have started on the nursery.”

“So soon?”

“My wife wants to get a head start on the room.” His phone pinged just then. “I have a meeting I am running late for.”

“Dinner this Sunday.” James reminded him.

Pushing the chair away from the table, he poured himself a glass of orange juice. Marcel was not the only one over the moon. He and his wife were basking in the pleasure of seeing their children happily married and settled.

*****

He was stuffing some things into his briefcase when his door was pushed open. “Darling, I am running late. I-” His voice trailed off as he looked up and saw not his wife but Peter Wellington standing inside the doorway.

“I am on my way out.” Marcel straightened, looking at him warily. The man looked haggard and had aged in the past two weeks. Grooves ran between his nostrils, and his eyes looked sunken. Marcel knew his dad had urged him to take some vacation time, but Peter refused.

“I heard. I assumed you thought it was your wife just now.”

“Yes. A meeting ran over. We are supposed to be heading home.”

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his dress pants, Peter rocked back on his heels. “I have been at this firm for almost thirty years,” he said.

“I am aware.” Marcel was desperately hoping for an interruption. He had sent his assistant home for the day, and his wife was waiting for him in her office. “You are an excellent lawyer.”

Amusement flickered over the older man’s face. “Flattery? Really?”

“I am just stating a fact.”

“I wanted to leave after what happened.”

“But you signed a noncompete.”

“As well as the fact that this is the best damn law firm in the state, possibly in the country. I earned my partnership. I have been bringing in clients while you were still in diapers.” his mouth twisted bitterly.

“I rooted for you when you graduated top of your class from Harvard and told James that you were the kind of lawyer the firm needs. You are not just his son but possibly the best lawyer in the whole goddamned firm. You are ruthless, which sets you apart from your brother.”

He took a deep breath. “She wanted you. I saw it in her eyes the first time she saw you, and I pretended not to notice. It was at the party - Rochester’s masquerade ball. The minute you stepped into the room, she noticed.

And from that time on, I knew I had lost her. I could not compete with you. Young, handsome, very rich - there was no way I could compete.”

“Peter-”

“I need to have my say!” He said harshly. “You slept with my wife; the least you can do is hear me the hell out.”

“All right. Shall we sit?”

His jeering laugh echoed around the vast room. “What? Handle this like gentlemen?”

“Precisely,” Marcel said calmly.

“I prefer to stand. I know how she is and what she does. She wanted you and would have done anything: spin her lies, tell you that I am mistreating her.”

“She never said that.”

“No. Instead, she told you that we were separated and on the way to being divorced. I knew she was sneaking behind my back. When she started complaining about little things, I was snoring too much, and she wanted some space. She was unhappy and wanted to be by herself, I knew.”

His gaze flickered over the younger man standing behind the desk. “She was trying to find an excuse to leave me. But she did not love you. You were a bigger fish to her, and she was upset with herself that she had not waited- that she had settled for me when she could have landed you.

She could have been Mrs. Marcel Hadley.” He shook his head. “I saw the signs before I married her, people - your dad warned me to think long and hard before tying the knot, but I would not listen. She was so beautiful, and I was a foolish middle-aged man who fell for a pretty face; that was just what she was. Nothing more.” His smile came.

“Now you are married and in love with your wife. It’s obvious. I have seen the way you look at her. Think about that. Think about how you would feel if she was with another man. And think about what you cost me.” With that parting shot, he left.

Marcel lowered himself into his chair, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. That was all he could think about.

*****

He found her lying down on the sofa in her office, a contract resting on her stomach and her eyes closed. Forgetting the unpleasant encounter in his office, he flew to her side and dropped to his knees.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Her eyes flickered open as she stared at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was feeling a little dizzy and decided to lie down.” One hand lifted to cup his jaw. “I love seeing you in this position.”

“What position is that?”

“On your knees.” Her smile bolstered his spirit and took away his worry.

“Don’t get used to it.” Getting to his feet, he sat on the sofa, pulling her legs on his lap, and started to massage her insteps. “I had a visitor just now.” He had spent the time in his office mulling over what Peter had told him, and he had promised her that they would always bring things out in the open.

“Who?”

“Peter.” His eyes met hers and saw when she flinched.

“What did he want?”

“To air his grievances.” He told her grimly. “I am sorry.”

“For?”

“For my error in judgment. For sleeping with another man’s wife.”

“She told you they were separated.”

“And I am wondering if I knew she was lying.” His hands wandered upwards to her calves, where he kneaded the supple skin. “I might not be the one to break up the marriage, but I had a hand in it. And I am so damn pissed at myself right now. He said something very profound.”

“I can hardly wait to hear it.”

“He said he noticed how much I love you. I should consider what I would do if you were with another man.” His eyes darkened as he stared at her.

Her hair was loose and spread out on the velvet cushions propped beneath her head, the dark brown strands laced through with blonde highlights, a startling contrast to the blue color of the cushions.

Her exquisite face sent heat straight to the core of him. She had dispensed herself with the ruby red jacket that matched her pants, and her champagne-colored silk blouse was molded to her skin. “I sat there thinking, and the answer was clear.”

“What answer?” She whispered, shaken by the fierce look on his handsome face.

“I wouldn’t be a goddamned gentleman about it. I would kill him, plain and simple. Because I would never be able to bear the idea of another man touching you, tasting you, being with you, sliding himself inside you-” Reaching over, he drew her onto his lap. “I would commit murder.”

His hands shook as he untied the bow at her neck and opened the tiny pearl buttons. “I would never be able to live with another man doing this-” Pushing the blouse aside, he unhooked her bra, his eyes still holding hers as he cupped her bare breasts. “It would kill me-” His thumbs were massaging her nipples.

“If you find someone else, do me the courtesy of telling me.” His face was taut with tension, his eyes fierce as he stared at her. “After what I did, I don’t deserve that much, but I could not bear-”

Bending his head, he seized her lips with his. He was brutal, his tongue plunging into her mouth as he devoured her. Nikki felt like she was spinning in the middle of an erupting volcano!

His hands were busy bracing her back against the cushions, the hardened length of his supple body pressing her into the cushions. Removing his mouth from hers, he grabbed fistfuls of her hair into his fists as he stared down at her.

“If you ever leave me, I will die,” he whispered raggedly, his breathing shallow.

“There is no chance of that happening.” Lifting trembling hands, she cupped his face. “I love you, darling. I am yours.”

“I deserve to be punished.”

“Want me to spank you?” She asked him shakily, utterly moved by his potent words.

“I never dreamed-” He had to take a breath. “I never knew -” He kissed her again, and this time, the slow movements of his mouth sent her into such a state of desire that she was desperate to have him.

Tearing her lips from his, her breathing shallow, she pressed her face into the hollow of his throat as she tried to compose herself. “My nipples.” She whispered against his skin. It did not matter that they were in her office, and someone could come in any minute now. Nothing mattered except being here with him, like this.

“Tell me,” He urged.

Lifting her from his chest, she gazed at the man she loved so much she could scarcely breathe. “They are excruciatingly sensitive.”

“What would you have me do?” He asked her thickly.

“I need your mouth on them.”

Shifting down slightly, he swirled his tongue around the unbearably tight bud. She came immediately and had to bite down on her lip to stop the scream. Her fingers latched onto the thick strands of hair as he continued to torment her with his mouth.

By the time he had switched to the other nipple, she was mindless with a desire so powerful that she could hardly stand it.

Reaching between them, he fumbled for his zipper to ease out his swollen and aching shaft. Undoing the zipper of her pants, he pulled it and the underwear over her hips and entered her.

Gripping her hair in his fist, he realized dimly that he was past the point of control, and suddenly, he did not care. He was making love to her in her office, where they were exposed, but nothing mattered except the woman under him.

She enclosed him like a glove, pulling him in. His eyes smoldered as he stared down at her, his body shuddering at the sight of her.

“You are so beautiful. Say you are mine. Always.”

“I am yours, always. She whispered, feeling the thrill that this powerful man needed validation from her. “There is no one else, and there never will be.”

“Repeat it,” he demanded, his mouth brushing hers slowly. If he moved now, it was going to be all over.

“I am yours. I belong to you.”

With a feral growl, he seized her lips and drove into her with a force that shoved her head up against the side of the sofa. She came again, the tears streaming down her face as her body surged towards his. He came then; his groan swallowed deep inside her throat as he poured his life into her as if he would not stop.

*****

The ceremony binding Gerrald and Julia together was lovely. The church was the same one where she and Marcel exchanged vows, but things were different now after only four months. The church was packed with friends and people from the firm.

The October afternoon was lovely as if nature had decided to smile down on the couple’s special day. The sun was shining, and what should have been a blustery day turned out to be bright and sunny, with just a slight chill in the air.

Nikki and Grace made up the bridal party, with Marcel being the best man and Matthew being the usher. Baby Abigail was adorable in her pink frilly dress with her grandmother.

Her eyes drifted to her husband as the couple repeated their vows. As if he knew she would choose that moment, he met her eyes, his golden gaze warm and intimate by shared memories.

She was four months pregnant but still barely showing. The maid of honor dress, a lovely wintergreen wool, had a full skirt to hide the small bump, one that her husband paid particular attention to every night they were in bed. The bust was tight-fitting, revealing an enticing glimpse of her flesh.

Tenderness swept over her as the couple promised to love, honor, and cherish each other. She had married the same man twice and told him she would do it every day of the week, which was true.

Marcel interpreted the naked emotions on her exquisite face and felt his body tightening. It was as if they were alone. His eyes drifted over the curve of her cheek to lips coated in delicate pink, emphasizing the lush bottom lip, before wandering down to the swell of flesh revealed by the cut of the dress.

Sweeping back to her eyes, his bold glance transmitted a clear message to her. He would soon find a private place and sink deep into her. A sensuous smile carved his lips at the flustered look on her face as she received the message.

*****

“You did that on purpose,” she accused him. They were at the manor, where the reception was in full swing.

“I have no idea what you are implying.” He turned her smoothly around the floor, his hands clamped possessively around her waist.

“That stunt you pulled while Gerrald and Julia were exchanging vows.” Tilting her head, she gave him a look of reproach. “I was wet.”

He tutted, a grin splitting his lips. “Shame on you, Mrs. Hadley. I suspected as much, hence the need for us to go into one of the little rooms at the chapel.”

“I cannot believe you lied to the woman there, telling her that your wife was not feeling well and needed a few minutes.”

He quirked a thick brow at her. “It wasn’t exactly a lie. You were flustered and needed my help.”

“And your help was locking the door and taking me against it. You are terrible.”“Terribly in love and obsessed with my wife.” His head lowered, but before he could take her lips with his, she moved her head. “You are not starting that again. I still feel awful that we did what we did in the chapel, no less.”

“We are married,” he reminded her. Tucking a hand under her chin, he lifted it to possess her mouth. With a sigh of capitulation, she wrapped her hands around his neck and returned the kiss.

Leaning weakly against him, her entire body shattered, she took deep breaths. “I felt as if we were the ones saying those vows.’ She whispered.

“I felt the same way,” he said somberly. “I was saying them in my heart, promising to love, honor, and cherish you beyond death.”

Lifting her head, she stared at him, her eyes blurry with tears. “Oh, Marcel.”

“Ready to leave, my love?” He asked her tenderly.

“Yes. Absolutely.”

*****

Their son, Mark Terrence, was born on the very first day of spring after twelve grueling hours of labor, with the anxious father almost going out of his mind with worry.

After spending a day in the hospital, both mother and son were declared fit to be discharged. The proud grandparents, uncles, and aunts followed them home and did not leave until late in the evening when the baby had been fed and put into his cot.

“Now that the crowd has left, it’s time for you to get some sleep.” her husband told her firmly.

“He is so beautiful.“ She whispered, leaning back against her husband. “His hair is brown, and his eyes - I have never seen such a beautiful shade of gold except yours.” She turned to look at him, a smile flitting around her lips.

A lousy moment had assailed her when she realized her parents would never know their grandson. But her husband, completely attuned to her moods, had comforted her.

“Thank you,” he whispered hoarsely. “Thank you for changing my life, for giving me life and hope and happiness.” He had been there for her through every morning sickness, the appointments, her mood swings, and her impossible cravings.

He had rubbed her swollen feet and bathed her when she felt as sick as a dog and could not get out of bed. Turning in his arms, she gently cupped his beloved face. “Loving you makes up for the fact that I am an orphan. You and Mark are my family, and for that, I am so grateful. I cannot really express how much I am. I love you, darling.”

“And I adore you, my love,” he told her softly. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her out of their son’s room and into theirs.

The end...