Strictly Business

Strictly Business: Chapter 9

Mortified at her reaction in the backyard that day, Elizabeth tried to avoid Shane as best as she could, which wasn't very difficult as he continued to leave the house very early and only returned late at night.

Now that she knew that he was busy training for a yacht race, she did notice he was visibly weary each night he came in. Lucy was constantly fretting that he was pushing himself too hard and tried to mother him in eating more to replenish his strength whenever she could.

Elizabeth herself has been working doggedly, having weekly meetings with her father and William and working with various departments of both companies to get the tender together. The deadline for submitting the bid is less than three months away and although it was an invited tender with only a few conglomerates bidding due to the size of the intended project, competition was fierce. Elizabeth was determined to win this so as to bring her grandmother's dream to fruition.

She chose to work from home one weekend and was going through a thick pile of research the agro-technology department had prepared for her. She sat on the back pouch with a glass of iced tea and her files. It was a fairly warm day and she was dressed casually in a white tank top and shorts. She was tired of being indoors all the time and decided to sit in the back porch instead of the more comfortable sitting room.

Shane was just returning to the house after his morning swim when he saw Elizabeth sitting on the back porch. He had never seen her dressed this casually before. His eyes traversed the length of her long slender legs and up to the white tank top that showed off her shoulders. She was so engrossed in her reading she did not notice Shane coming up the garden path.

"That is one thick file you're reading." Elizabeth gave a start and looked up to see Shane standing before her in his swimming trunks and dripping wet. He took the towel that was around his shoulders and began to vigorously rubbed his hair dry. She couldn't help staring at his body. Shane had excellent physique. His shoulders were broad, his chest and abs were well-defined.

Shane emerged from his toweling and Elizabeth quickly dropped her eyes. "It's just some background on the agriculture technology your company specialises in. Just thought I'll do some studying."

"Think you can understand it all?" Shane plonked himself down on a chair on the other side of the table.

"I'm sure I can manage," Elizabeth replied coolly. Shane shrugged and stretched out on the chair, enjoying the warm sun.

"Your taste sure had changed," she said suddenly.

"What?"

"Bored of supermodels and socialites and decided to try rich old ladies instead?" she looked at him. "The couple of galas you'd attended lately. Saw your picture in the papers. Didn't know you had a thing for old ladies."

"You make me sound like a toy-boy," he replied angrily. "Attending those galas were a necessity you won't understand. Would you have preferred to see me with a bevy of babes then? Thought I would spare you the humiliation of seeing your husband in the papers with another woman and the paparazzi making a whole big deal about it. Our marriage may be a sham but at least I have the decency to give you the basic respect a wife deserves. I may have been a playboy as you so often claimed but I'm not a cad. I was only trying to be at least a decent husband. Looks like i shouldn't have bothered." Shane pushed his chair back roughly and stormed off.

Elizabeth was speechless. She never thought he would make the effort to only be seen with the older ladies of society instead of his usual dates in respect to her. She knew a lot of wives of rich businessmen have had to turn a blind eye to those photos of their husbands with a sexy young model on his arms and pretend that all is well and loving in their homes when it's far from the truth. Elizabeth felt a deep sense of shame. Shane had actually done his basic duty as a husband but it seems like she haven't even spared a thought for him as a wife.