Married to Krampus - Marina Simcoe Page 0,23

Governor’s Ball is tonight. I have been invited to attend. The Governor is requesting I bring my new wife along.”

“Me?”

“Evidently.” He tilted his head, folding his arms over his chest.

“I—I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Not when I was determined to leave here at the first opportunity. Going out in public as Colonel’s wife would only perpetuate the lie that ours was a valid marriage.

His chest rose with a deep breath, his eyes focused on mine.

“Please,” he said suddenly.

I nearly choked on the air I inhaled. I hadn’t heard the word “please” from him before. I didn’t think he even knew it existed.

“Why?” I glanced at him suspiciously, searching for signs of hidden motives in his expression.

I’d figured that the purpose of him getting a wife in the first place was so that she would escort him to some high-profile events. The Governor’s Ball must be an important one to attend, since he’d actually asked me nicely. He wasn’t shouting or breaking things. Not yet, anyway.

“This marriage was the Governor’s idea—” he started.

“Oh, I get it. You want to show him that you appreciate his gift? And with the gift being me, I’ll need to play along. Right?”

He took his time to reply, his jaw moving under his beard, eyes set on me. “Right.”

I couldn’t immediately decide whether his straightforwardness was insulting or admirable, but I was determined to be honest in return.

“Well, you see, doing that wouldn’t be helping my intentions. Because I believe it’s best to dissolve this marriage.”

The muscles in his face twitched. He balled his hands into fists. Surprisingly, no explosion followed. Having witnessed his temper, I appreciated his current composure.

“Why?” he asked in a rough, low voice.

“Why?” I repeated in shock. “Are you kidding me? Do you really not see the problem here?” I waved my hand between us. “You’ve done nothing but yell and growl at me ever since I got here. And I don’t particularly enjoy the idea of being yelled and growled at for the rest of my life.”

He shifted hoof to hoof.

“You have yelled, too.”

My own temper heated at this accusation.

“Because you yelled first!”

“You’re yelling at me, right now,” he observed, infuriatingly calmly.

“Fuck,” I cursed under my breath. Hiding my face in my hands, I inhaled deeply, willing my agitation to subside.

Normally, it would take a lot to set me off. The Colonel had managed to do it within seconds of his arrival.

“I would also like you to reconsider exposing our domestic situation to the Committee this week.” His voice sounded strained, the calm in it forced. “I don’t want any government organizations to stick their noses into my private life. What happens in my household is entirely my business.”

“Not entirely,” I objected. “Not when I’m a part of your household too. For now, anyway.”

“Daisy.” He heaved a breath, moving my way.

I scooted all the way to the opposite end of the mattress as he came closer and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Only a fraction of males in Voran ever have the opportunity to get married,” he said. “Mine was presented to me at a state-wide ceremony, with our high officials and a large part of the city’s population present. I was not the only one who waited for your arrival on our planet. If our marriage works, many more Voranian men would get a chance to have a human wife.”

“But it’s not working...” I shook my head slowly.

“Maybe,” he agreed. “But if my highly anticipated wife takes off mere days after her arrival, it’d cause a highly-publicized scandal that I may never fully recover from.”

“A scandal?”

Was that what he really worried about? His reputation?

“So, you’re concerned about what strangers may think of you?” I squinted at him. “You want to present yourself in the best light possible to the city, but you don’t care at all about your behavior at home?”

He winced.

“I don’t care what strangers think about me, but I am concerned about the future of this program.”

“Are you now?” That the Colonel cared about anything at all was news to me. “Then why didn’t you tell me that before? Why have you not made any attempt at a courteous conversation with me until now?”

“I, er...conversed,” he objected.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes in exasperation.

“What we had weren’t conversations. Even before the yelling started, there’d been just grunts, single-word answers, and strained arguments.”

Did he really believe those were all parts of a loving relationship between a husband and wife?

“I saw—” He stopped then corrected