Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(69)

“I’m sure they were,” I said under my breath, not wanting him to know how it hurt me to think of him with anyone else.

“You look like you’ve been hunting. Did you have an interesting evening, lover?” Dev’s voice held a hard edge.

I noticed the large bed dominating the room. The bed was fit for way more than two, and there were armoires and a dresser. I crossed to the bedroom portion of the room. “It was trying. How about you?”

He sighed. “Oh, the usual. We called the undead to us and my wife lied to my face and ran off into the night, placing our unborn child in the gravest of dangers. All in all, just another day as the husband of Zoey Donovan Quinn.”

So he was going to play the martyr. I would rather he just yelled at me. “I was convinced I was helping you. I didn’t just run off for fun.”

“Deception is always a helpful way to manage a marriage.” He shook his head and crossed his arms over his naked torso. “You’re never going to settle down, are you? You’re never going to be a proper wife and mother. My brother told me. I should have listened.”

“Yes, you married me for my skills as a housewife,” I said bitterly, feeling those damn tears bubbling up again. “I tricked you, Dev. You can’t blame yourself. I presented myself as perfect-wife material.” I stood up and looked down at him, completely ignoring the women who huddled together, their perfect faces turning between me and their priest like they were watching an emotional tennis match. “I have never lied to you. I told you the first night we met what I did for a living and then proceeded to nearly burn your club down when a job went bad. If that wasn’t a hint that I was trouble then I don’t know how I should have let you know. I’ve never hidden who I am or what I wanted, but I have to wonder if you’ve given me the same courtesy.”

His eyes narrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”

I shook my head. “It means that if you wanted a proper wife, you should have found someone else. It wasn’t fair for you to marry me and then try to change everything I am.”

I expected him to yell, to scream, to say some truly awful things. It was the way he fought. Instead he turned and snapped his fingers.

“I need help with my bath.” He commanded the women and they obliged him by entering the tub, not bothering to take off their shifts. “Perhaps you are right, Zoey,” he said in an imminently logical voice as he let the women begin to soap his body. “We are from two completely different worlds. It was a mistake. I am trying to change you and you have already changed me into something different. If we separate, we can go our own ways and be the people we were meant to be.”

“How have I changed you?” I asked curiously because I wasn’t afraid of this conversation anymore. He told me all I needed to know with one glance at his body. My incredibly horny, always ready to go at it husband, had eight soft female hands on his body and he wasn’t sporting even the hint of an erection. I didn’t know what he was looking for from me, but I intended to find out and give it to him. He needed me and I wasn’t going to let his stubbornness tear us up. If he wouldn’t listen to reason from Daniel, then I would have to appeal to his other instincts.

He gestured around him as though the answer was evident. “I am used to the attention of many women, Zoey. It has been difficult to remain monogamous.”

I couldn’t help the small smile. “Yes, I can see it’s been boring for you.”

I pulled my tank top off and let it fall. He couldn’t possibly know about my earlier conversation with Herne. I had been reminded that the reason Bris had accepted him was his willingness to remain faithful to his wife. I kicked off my sneakers and unbuckled the sheaths on my thighs, placing the knives on a table by the bed.

“I am used to variety, wife,” Dev said and I noticed he had not once looked at the lithe bodies around him. His gaze was steady on me as I undressed. “I allowed you Daniel but I am held to monogamy, though my nature runs against it.”

I shimmied out of my bra. Why he was lying to me I had no idea, but it didn’t matter. I could win this war and I wouldn’t have to fight. I let my underwear drop to the ground and walked to the spring. Tossing aside the band that held my hair in its ponytail, I let it flow down my shoulders. I knelt down and cupped my hands. Filling them with warm water, I showered my breasts.

He frowned my way. “Do you have to do that here?”

“I’ve been in a bloody fight too, Dev. I hope you don’t mind.” I looked down and now my non-monogamy loving husband was sporting an enormous erection. One of the priestesses tried to run her hand down his chest, and Dev seemed startled at the action. He moved away before remembering the game he was playing.

“I mind, Zoey,” he said, his attention focused solely on me. “I mind that you could have killed our child.”

“And I mind that my child might lose his father. I won’t let you go without a fight. I won’t raise my child that way. If you want someone who will hide in a closet for nine months, then you should start knocking up some of these women.”

He looked at me and practically snarled. “If I was doing my duty, I would impregnate them all.”

“I thought you tried that once.” I lobbed that grenade back his way because he was seriously pissing me off. “It must not have worked out since I don’t see a passel of tiny Devs running around.”