Contract Husband.

The Vacation.

"Is everything ready for my departure?" Rosalind asked Alexa who was standing behind her helping her with her dress.

"Of course my lady, I packed everything you needed with a little extra just in case" Alexa answered.

"Thank you Alexa" Rosalind smiled and so did Alexa.

"All done my lady, I have adjusted the ropes behind the dress" Alexa said.

"Alright, get someone to help bring down my luggage" Rosalind said, Alexa nodded and ran out of the room to look for someone, Rosalind stared at herself from the mirror and let out a satisfied smile, almost immediately, Alexa burst into the room with a young man who seemed to work in the household.

"The carriage is here my lady" Alexa said, she gestured to the man where he could pick the luggage and moved over to her Madam.

"Pick up the small box and follow me" Rosalind ordered, Alexa picked up the reasonably small box and followed her down the stairs. Finally they all made their way out of the building and towards the carriage, as they approached the carriage, Victor was standing next to it with a few men, when he turned for a moment and set his eyes on Rosalind, he was amazed at what he saw, he knew Rosalind was quite pretty, but he had never seen her looking this beautiful, she had some sort of aura he hadn't noticed before and it really captivated him.

"My lord?" One of the men called, it seemed the man's voice broke a strong enchantment and Victor shook his head on impulse.

"That would be all gentlemen, I need to get going" Victor said, dismissing the men immediately. They all bowed and took their leave. Rosalind finally got to where Victor stood as she signaled to her maid and the man who was with her to begin loading her luggage into the carriage.

"I'm ready my lord" Rosalind announced.

"I must say, you look charming, even in this simple white lace gown" Victor commended.

"Thank you my lord" Rosalind bowed.

"Alright then, hop in, Barcelona isn't Close" Victor said as he entered into the carriage. Rosalind followed behind him closely and got into the carriage as well, when the couple were in, the coach began to move the carriage.

The trip to Barcelona was a smooth one, and before nightfall, they were already in Barcelona. They moved a bit further into Barcelona and soon they stopped at magnificent building, Rosalind's eyes widened in amazement at the sight of the large building, Victor watched her and giggled.

"Open the gates!" The coach shouted.

"And who may that be?" The guards at the top of the watcher asked.

"The Duke of Madrid and his new wife!" The coach yelled, instantly the gates were opened, and the carriage majestically strolled in.

"This is El Dorado, it's the vacation home of the Hernandez household" Victor said proudly. Rosalind wasn't paying any attention to him rather she was looking at the beautiful flowers and well trimmed grass that graced the surroundings of the magnificent building. The carriage moved further towards the building till it stopped in front of it.

"We are finally here, thank goodness" Victor muttered as he stepped out of the carriage. Rosalind followed him out of the carriage and the two walked into the house.

"Welcome my lord, welcome my lady" a man and a lady chorused when Victor and Rosalind walked into the house, behind them were a group of young men and women, presumably servants of the house.

"Oh thank you Mr and Mrs Maurice, it seems you took proper care of this place while we were away" Victor laughed.

"We did our best my lord" Mr Maurice said, "but we have a little problem" he continued.

"And what could that be Mr Maurice?" Victor asked, his brows narrowed immediately which sent shivers down Mr Maurice's spine.

"Uhmmm sir we didn't know that you were coming soon and we have a termite problem we are trying to take care of" Mr Maurice managed to say, Victor was instantly infuriated.

"Why didn't send words to me or my mother?!" Victor yelled.

"We did my lord but repairs are not done yet, but we are done with the main rooms and only your bedroom" Mrs. Maurice answered immediately. Just as Victor was about to let out another angry word, Rosalind held his arm, he froze at the spot, he turned and stared at Rosalind, she shook her head, a way of telling him not to say another word, then she turned to Mr and Mrs Maurice.

"His bedroom is the only bedroom that has been repaired, am I right?" Rosalind asked.

"Yes my lady" the couple chorused.

"Very well, the two of us could use a room" Rosalind smiled, the couple was relieved by those words.

"Thank you my lady" they bowed.

"Take our luggages to the room, we had a long day so we would love to have dinner as soon as possible" Rosalind said.

"Alright my lady, please follow me to the dinning room" Mrs Maurice said as she began leading the way, Victor followed closely behind Rosalind.

"Why did you cut me off while I was about to talk?" Victor asked to Rosalind.

"Because I didn't want you shouting again, we are really worn out from the trip, so we shouldn't be sensitive right now, you could do all that tomorrow morning" Rosalind answered. Victor hissed as the two made there way to the dinning room.

"I know you are repulsed by the idea of sharing a room with me, well so do I" Victor said as he and Rosalind stepped into the bedroom.

"If you don't mind, I'll love to take a shower and rest, not fight with you" Rosalind said nonchalantly, she was already very tired. "I'll just take a walk around the house, I'll be back soon" Rosalind said as she slipped her tiny feet into the slipper in front of her, and made her way out of the room. She took steps through the stairs till she got out of the building, she ran straight to the flowers, bent over and smelt them, the fragrance brightened up her face and she smiled sheepishly.

"You are the best things that I've ever seen in a while" she said to the flowers as she smelt them again, "oh that damned man called Victor, why did I ever agree to be in the same room with him?" Rosalind muttered to herself. She plucked a flower and put it in her in her hair and smiled again, almost immediately she yawned.

"I guess it's time to sleep already" she muttered as she began to go back into the house. She got to the room and knocked at the door but no one answered, so she decided to go in. Just as she stepped in, she saw Victor in a way she never expected, he had just come out of the shower and was topless, he was still wiping his hair when she got in but he didn't even notice when Rosalind entered the room. She couldn't get her eyes off him, he had bulging and firm bisceps, his chest was wide but full, his arms looked so strong with his veins popping out of his hands. Rosalind was frozen on the spot, her knees jerked, for the first time she wanted him, body and all. With every stare she took, she swallowed hard. Victor suddenly turned his head towards the door and made eye contact with her, Rosalind looked away shyly.

"How long have you been standing there?" Victor asked.

"A couple of seconds" Rosalind answered quickly as she walked towards the bed and sat on it.

"Goodnight then, I'm so tired, we would be going to see the Duke of Barcelona tomorrow" Victor announced as he bounced on the bed in exhaustion. Rosalind didn't answer back, she began to remove her jewelleries and undo her hair, she decided to quickly take a shower, before she could go into the bathroom, Victor was already fast asleep. When she was done, she sat in front of the mirror to brush her hair, as she slowly moved the brush up and down on her hair, the image of Victor continued to flash through her mind. His body, and his beautiful face were all that filled her emotions, she felt herself getting moist by the mere though alone. The whole thought began to consume every bit of her but, she managed to get herself together, she shook her head fiercely and then whispered, "no Rosa, this is not time for games", and the thought settled, a bit.

The next day came faster than expected, despite dullness of the day, Rosalind and Victor left to see the Duke of Barcelona, it wasn't a very long ride to his mansion. Everything was quite beautiful at this place and both Rosalind and Victor were impressed with what they saw. They were both ushered into the large living room and when they got in, they saw the Duke and duchess in the living room but, they weren't alone, other powerful nobles were present too and this got Victor quite uncomfortable, Rosalind noticed this but she didn't say a word to him. The Duke and his wife saw both Rosalind and Victor and rushed towards them.

"Oh welcome lord Victor and Lady Rosalind" the Duke said as he shook Victor while his wife kissed Rosalind. "I know you may have questions in your mind my lady, I'm Sir Ernesto and this is my wife, lady Rachel" he said to Rosalind.

"It's an honour meeting you two" bowed Rosalind to the couple who both smiled in return.

"You never told me a party was going to take place at your mansion Sir Ernesto" Victor said.

"Oh, my apologies Lord Victor, it's just a small party, and since you were on honeymoon, I believe it wasn't a big deal to invite you and your beautiful wife over" Sir Ernesto said all smiles.

"And at the end of the party, my husband has something important to discuss with you" Lady Rachel said.

"Alright it's fine then" Victor said reluctantly, Sir Ernesto patted him on his back, soon the two men walked off to meet other people.

"Come, let's meet other women" Lady Rachel said, Rosalind didn't even get a chance to protest, Lady Rachel had already dragged her off. Soon they approached a small group of noblewomen who were chatting and giggling away.

"Oh dear" Rosalind whispered, she hated such clusters as she believed it was nothing but a circle of gossip and stupid talk.

"Ladies, this is Lady Rosalind, wife to Lord Victor, Duke of Madrid" Lady Rachel announced. All their eyes turned to Rosalind who was standing beside lady Rachel. Their gaze was very strong, Rosalind could feel every bit of it.

"It's an honour to meet you all" Rosalind greeted.

"I guess you are the new wife, never really got to see you during your wedding" a lady said, Rosalind only smiled dryly, "Lady Rebecca, wife to Sir Bernard, Count of Monte Carlo" she continued as she stretched her hand.

"It's an honour my lady" Rosalind said as she shook her hand.

"You haven't been officially made the duchess, am I right?" another lady asked.

"Not yet" Rosalind answered.

"Your household?" Lady Rebecca asked. Rosalind looked sternly at her,

"She intends to mock me in this gathering" Rosalind thought, their obnoxious attitude had long told her what they were set on doing.

"I'm from the Blanco household" Rosalind answered proudly. They all stared at her for a minute.

"Not bad, not bad at all" said Lady Rebecca as she giggled.

"So how did you get the Duke to marry you? Did your family beg him to marry you? Did you seduce him?" Lady Rebecca asked as other women giggled. Rosalind was crushed, looking into the faces of those spiteful women, she felt rage and sadness creep into her, her eyes were turning red as she fought back her tears from pouring out her eyes, just as she opened her mouth to give any answer, a hand held her's.

"I married her because I loved her" a voice answered. Rosalind was shocked, all the women there gasped, Rosalind turned to see who it was and lo and behold, it was lord Victor.

"My lord" Lady Rebecca bowed. Victor smirked and walked closer to her.

"How are you doing my lady?" Victor smirked.

"I'm doing well my lord" lady Rebecca answered, avoiding his gaze.

"I heard all you asked, and I'll answer your question" Lord Victor said. "I asked for her hand in marriage because I love, her poise, her charm and intelligence won my heart, she is really the woman of my dreams" Victor continued as he looked at Rosalind who in turn gave a light smile.

"You on the other hand if I remember, seduced your way to the top, from a lady-in-waiting to the princess to the mistress of Sir Bernard, even when he had a wife, the affair was caused his wife grief till she died of it and immediately you married her husband and became countess" Victor continued, a smirk on his face. Lady Rebecca gasped, her face was Red with both embarrassment and anger, she began to sweat profusely as her hands shook, the very words Victor spoke pierced into her very being.

"I'm, I'm vvveeery ssssoory my lord" Lady Rebecca stammered.

"Good, now my lovely Rosa let's go" Victor said as he took Rosalind by the hand and smiled at her and the two of them walked away from the small group. Lady Rebecca and the other ladies just stood there in shock.

"Thank you lord Victor, for everything" Rosalind whispered, Victor smiled.

"Call me Victor from on" Victor said as he looked at her. She gave him a smile and the two walked together to greet a guest Victor knew.