Bonds of Matrimony Read online

  Bonds of Matrimony

  By A C J McKechnie

  © Copyright 2015 Alexis C J McKechnie

  Cover image courtesy of Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  Cover design by I AE Morrison

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All character names and personalities in this book are entirely fictional, created solely by the author. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Events that occur in this book are also entirely fictional, again created by the author and any resemblance to actual events are also purely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  A knock on his office door had Zachary McCormack looking up from his mountain of paperwork in front of him and sighing. He was inundated with work at the moment, and all of the repeated interruptions weren’t helping with his mood at all.

  The problem was that every interruption so far had been justified, and as vigilant as his secretary was, she knew that there were certain matters that took precedence over his current workload. So regardless of the fact that Mrs Beecham knew that all of the extra interruptions would hinder him, she also knew that they were necessary.

  When the knock sounded again, Zach sighed and growled out a reluctant ‘come’. As the door opened, he found himself confused over the figure entering. The man wasn’t somebody that Zach recognized and he was suddenly at a complete loss over why the man would be there.

  Spotting his secretary’s head peering around the doorframe after the stranger, Zach just sent her a quizzical look, hoping for an explanation.

  “I’m sorry, Mr McCormack, but I thought that you’d need to deal with this,” the older woman said hesitantly, and Zach exhaled heavily.

  “It’s fine, Mrs Beecham,” he said with a small smile for the woman before she just nodded and headed back to her outer office, closing the door behind her.

  Looking back at the other man in the room with him, Zach studied him more closely. He had no idea who the stranger was but he knew that he’d never met him, knew that he’d never had any dealings with him. He looked to be perhaps fifty or so, but life seemed to have aged him heavily judging by the deep lines on his face.

  Although relatively neat and tidy, clearly the man was from a fairly low echelon of society. His clothing was worn, well used, ill-fitting, and obviously cheaply made. He had the look that those who’ve worked hard all of their lives tend to, and Zach was at a complete and utter loss as to what dealings he’d have with the man.

  As the stranger continued to shift on his feet and clear his throat, Zach looked up to focus on the man’s eyes. There was a sort of determination in them, determination mingled with slight regret. The combination confused Zach, and mindful of the heavy workload ahead of him, he decided to try to get to the bottom of the man’s intrusion.

  “What can I do for you?” Zach asked as he leaned back in his comfortable office chair, not even bothering to offer the man a seat in doing so. He needed this encounter over as quickly as possible, inviting the man to sit would only prolong that.

  Clearly the man didn’t need to be invited though. He stepped forward and positioned himself in one of the chairs opposite Zach anyway, and for the first time Zach noticed the envelope clutched in the man’s hands.

  “It’s more what I can do for you, Mr McCormack,” the man said, and Zach heard the distinct accent of the working class. Scottish roots as well he’d guess by the slight lilt in it. Ignoring the clues as to the man’s identity and background, Zach processed the man’s words instead.

  “And what is that then?” he asked nonchalantly.

  “Protection,” he said, and Zach just quirked an eyebrow at the stranger in disbelief. “Protection for your family, Mr McCormack,” the man added.

  “I don’t have a family, Mr …?” he asked as he drifted off, waiting for the older man to fill in the blank.

  “Oh, but you do, Mr McCormack,” he said without giving into Zach’s hint to provide his name. “You have a sister,” he added, and Zach froze. Nobody knew that. Nobody. How had this man found out about that? Zach had a half-sister, a half-sister that he’d found a few years ago.

  Zach had grown up the son of a wealthy businessman. A business mogul really, and Zach had inherited his father’s business. Along with it came the money, the trappings, the possessions. The things that he’d never really thought about when he was growing up, and never really cared about once he had.

  His father had warned him when he was younger that people would want him for what he was worth, would use any methods to get what they wanted out of him. Unlike a lot of other young men who’d grown up wealthy and privileged, he’d listened to his father, heeded his advice, taken on-board what the man he respected had to say on the matter.

  Zach had been cautious about the friends he’d made, the people who he’d let into his life. He’d been especially cautious around women. His mother had shown him that trusting the wrong woman could lead to disaster, after all, she’d used and abandoned his father herself. At least that’s what he’d believed when he was younger.

  Years later he’d tracked her down and realized that she just hadn’t been able to cope with life as the wife of a work-obsessed business giant. She’d left her husband, yes, but only because she’d needed somebody to cherish her and make her his priority. She’d found that with Alan Lawson. The man had treated her like a queen, and they’d had another child together. A daughter. Zach’s half-sister.

  Zach had kept the relationship quiet, he’d been reluctant to put his sister in danger and jeopardize her safety by exposing a link between the two of them. He knew that people could be ruthless, and to get what they wanted they’d use whatever means available to them. Just like this man was doing.

  “What do you want?” Zach asked through gritted teeth as he leaned forward against his desk.

  “To help you, Mr McCormack,” he said, and Zach clenched his teeth more tightly.

  “And how do you propose to do that?” he asked quietly.

  “By keeping your sister safe,” the man replied, then passed over a letter sized envelope that had been in his hands.

  Reluctant to do anything that this man wanted, Zach reached for the envelope hesitantly and pulled out the contents therein. There were photos of his sister. His sister and him together. Followed by photos of his sister with another man. A man who he didn’t recognize himself, and Zach felt his brow furrowing before shooting a glance up at the other man.

  “Her boyfriend, if I’m not mistaken, Mr McCormack,” the man answered just before Zach got to some photos which clearly showed the nature of their relationship. Hastily stuffing the photos back in the envelope, Zach just pinned the other man with a look and waited for what was going to happen next.

  “The thing is, Mr McCormack,
I understand the importance of family. I have one of my own, after all. Family’s important. You’d do anything for them. Anything to make sure that they were safe and protected, that they were looked after and provided for,” he added, and Zach just continued to wait the man out.

  “I love my family, and I imagine that you love yours. Wouldn’t want any harm to come to them. I’m not an uncompassionate man. But the thing is, these photos, well they can provide for my family, you see? To the right people they can provide me with enough to not have to worry about my family’s future,” he explained, and Zach narrowed his eyes at the man.

  “You mean a tabloid,” Zach surmised.

  “Or magazine,” the man confirmed. “There are quite a few who’d be interested to know that the great Zachary McCormack has a sister who he cares about. Cares so much about that he might be willing to do anything to protect her. To protect her and her reputation,” he added lowly, and Zach’s mind snapped back to the latter photos in the stack.

  The man was right. Plenty of publications would pay very handsomely for the rights to those photos. They wouldn’t hesitate on lambasting his sister, and Tessa didn’t deserve that. When Zach had found his mother again they’d come to an agreement that Tessa would be allowed to live her life like she wanted. If it became public knowledge that she was Zach’s sister she could kiss goodbye to that dream.

  Right now she was happy with her life as a nurse. She was happy in her small apartment that Zach insisted on paying for for her, even as she refused to be bought one by him. She was happy hanging out with her friends without worrying that someone would use her or kidnap her for a ransom.

  She was happy, period. He wouldn’t destroy that. But he was also loath to give in to this sleazy man’s demands.

  “What do you want?” Zach gritted out once again and watched as the man focused on him before drawing in a deep breath.

  “It occurs to me, that perhaps you might want first refusal so to speak,” he said, and Zach raised an eyebrow before reaching for his checkbook. “No. I’m not looking for a cash payout,” the man said quickly, and Zach froze in his tracks before slowly looking back at the man in question.

  “What do you want then?”

  “I have a proposition for you that I think you might find agreeable. I don’t want any money from you, Mr McCormack, either now or in the future. What I do want though is something which I think that you might be able to relate to. I want my family to be taken care of.”

  “You want me to employ them? If you don’t want cash I fail to see how –”

  “Marriage, Mr McCormack,” he interrupted, and Zach found his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

  “I’m supposed to marry your wife?” he asked incredulously.

  “Daughter, Mr McCormack. I want you to marry my daughter,” he said in utter seriousness, and Zach was left speechless by this turn of events. With one eye on the man Zach just shook his head and reached for the phone. He’d call security and get this taken care of that way.

  Obviously recognizing his intent, the man said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Mr McCormack. I might not be a man of your stature, but I’m not stupid. If I don’t return this afternoon, a friend of mine has an identical envelope to post to one of the national publications.”

  “I could ruin you, you know?” Zach said, but didn’t pick up the phone.

  “I really don’t see how,” the man said ruefully. “You know nothing about me. And if you did, you’d realize how utterly fruitless that threat was.”

  “You have a daughter. I could ruin her,” Zach threatened.

  “I don’t believe you to be the type of man who would take revenge out on an innocent girl because of something that her father did.”

  “Maybe I’d justify it by laying the blame at your door. You’ve gotten your daughter into this mess, everything that befell her would be on your own head.”

  “I suppose you could do that, but I honestly don’t think you will,” he said. “Besides, all that would do is give me more motivation to go to the press. And then I’d get to add in an additional story of your vindictive ways: preying on an innocent young woman purely for revenge and spite.”

  “You can’t seriously think that forcing me to marry your daughter would be a good idea. You’d be damning her to a life with a man who would despise her, who would mistreat her.”

  “No. I wouldn’t,” the man said firmly, and Zach just smirked.

  “If you force me to marry her, I can guarantee that I’ll make her life hell.”

  “Not if you wanted to keep everything your father worked for,” he said, and Zach stopped short. At first glance the man seemed petty and shallow-minded, but clearly there was more to this stranger than first appearances would suggest. He’d thought things through. He’d been thorough.

  “Meaning?”

  “A pre-nup,” the man said and handed over another large envelope to Zach. He’d been too distracted with the contents of the first to notice the other one. As Zach opened it up, and scanned the pages of legalese, he found himself surprised. The document was well-written, iron-clad, and Zach briefly wondered how the man had afforded a lawyer good enough to draw it up.

  “It stipulates that –,” the man started but Zach interrupted.

  “I can see full well what it stipulates,” he growled as he took in all of the conditions of the marriage to ensure that he retained his fortune and business. If he neglected his wife, she could demand recompense and he’d forfeit all of his possessions. If he revealed the true nature of their marriage and how it came to be to anyone, again he lost everything. If he dated anyone else or cheated, he lost everything. If he moved out of his home, he lost it. If he did anything to cause her to move out of his home, he lost it. If he went to social engagements or functions without her, he lost it all to her. If he refused to dine with her, he lost everything.

  The only thing that he was permitted to do without his wife present was work, in his office in the city. If he had a business trip, he had to take her with him. If he had a dinner meeting, he had to take her with him. He was being leg-shackled. Utterly tied to a woman who he didn’t know and would be forced to marry.

  “You can’t seriously expect me to agree to this,” he said as he looked up at the other man who didn’t seem to see how futile his endeavors would be.

  “It’s only for two years,” the man pointed out.

  “Yes. Two years from the date the marriage is consummated. Interesting how you’d prove that,” he said drily. “Do you want photographic evidence of me taking your daughter to my bed?” he asked with a raised brow, but the man didn’t flinch.

  “Won’t be necessary, Mr McCormack. You have a housekeeper, I believe, and maids, do you not?” he asked, and Zach felt his brow furrow in confusion.

  “You think I’m going to have an audience for the deed?”

  “Don’t be a simpleton. Your sheets will be evidence enough,” the man replied without any timidity, and Zach caught the man’s meaning. His daughter was a virgin. “And if you think to fool me, you should be aware that any claims that you’ve consummated the marriage will need supporting evidence from a gynecologist.”

  “My –,” Zach started, absolutely aghast, and stopped himself before blaspheming. He’d never felt the urge to do so before in his life, but these seemed extraordinary circumstances. “This isn’t the seventeen hundreds!”

  “No. But the techniques still work, don’t they?” he said, and Zach realized how utterly serious the man was about it all.

  “This is insane,” Zach said with a shake of his head. “I’m not agreeing to this foolishness,” he added and reached for the phone again. “You won’t be getting away with this.”

  With a heavy sigh, the man stood and turned sad eyes his way. “Well, I made an offer, and you made your choice. I’m sorry for your sister, Mr McCormack, she seems like a nice young woman,” he added before turning his back to Zach and making his way to the door.

  Zach sat there
staring at the portal, with the phone in one hand and the photos of his sister in the other, and wondered how his day had turned so disastrous.

  Chapter Two

  With a heavy sigh and a smile on her face, Ellie Kincaid opened the door to her small apartment and kicked off her shoes with relief, sighing once more. Her feet really did ache, but then again, working for twelve hours in her ridiculous footwear would do that to anyone she supposed.

  “Ellie?” came the call from the lounge, and Ellie smiled at her dad’s call.

  “You expecting someone else?” she teased as she made her way into the room to look at her father. Her smile drooped as she did so though. The past year had taken its toll on her dad. He looked so much older than his forty-nine years. She knew why, but it didn’t make her any less concerned.

  When he coughed heavily instead of replying, she found herself even more concerned.

  “You still haven’t been to the doctor, have you?” she chastised and watched as he shook his head without breaking his coughing fit.

  With concern warring with discipline, Ellie made her way into the kitchen to run her dad a glass of cool water. Taking it back to him, she smiled when he took the drink off her with his own smile of thanks.

  “I was busy,” he finally answered in a croaky voice after his coughing had been controlled.

  “How’d it go?” she asked as she sat down in the other large armchair and curled her feet underneath her, surreptitiously rubbing them as she did so. Clearly she hadn’t been subtle enough, as she saw her dad’s gaze dart to them before focusing on her face again.

  “Not so good,” he finally replied, and Ellie felt that same tug of compassion for her father. He’d found himself without a job last year when the company he’d been working for for so many years had gone under. At forty-eight he hadn’t been old, but in the construction industry he’d had too much competition from younger, fitter men. They were nowhere near as experienced as him, but that wasn’t all too important to most employers nowadays.