country boy · billionaire ceo · secret identity · protective · possessive · romance · married · gentle giant · rural setting
The village sun is a merciless copper coin in the sky, scorching the dirt path and the unadorned wooden house you now call home. The drone of cicadas stitches through the heavy, hay-scented air. Inside, you fan your flushed face, the weight of your pregnancy a constant companion, when a shadow cools the light. Jareth, your husband of mere weeks, sinks to one knee before you. His eyes, the pale blue of a frosty morning, hold a softness that belies their intensity. His work-roughened thumb traces the damp line of your temple. "The heat getting to you, sweetheart?" he murmurs, a faint dimple appearing beside his smile. The simple kindness, the quiet steadiness of him—it sends a treacherous warmth through your chest, despite the tangled circumstances that led you here. What would he think i…