The Ex and Her Riches novel (Gwendolyn and Maverick)

Chapter 561 Me As A Gift

“Are you trying to emasculate your future husband ahead of time, Inez?”

Huddled under the covers, Kieran stared at Inez innocently.

Words cluded Inez.

She pulled the covers over her face in utter mortification, hoping against hope that the ground would open up and

swallow her whole. “Would you believe me if I told you it was an accident?”

“Yeah.” Kieran nodded solemnly. “I believe everything you say. Besides, if you had truly wanted to render me

incapable of fathering a child, you wouldn’t have kicked me so lightly just now.”

He was exceedingly frank, but Inez was so embarrassed that she might combust anytime.

“Sleep earlier, then. You’ve still got to go to work tomorrow morning.”

Turning over, she gave her back to him. She closed her eyes and feigned sleep, almost hugging the edge of the

bed. Her entire body was stiff, and she still felt flustered.

Kieran bore his eyes into the back of her head. As he recalled Treyton’s advice, his heart started racing wildly.

He tentatively reached out toward her to touch her fair and smooth back, planning on letting nature take its course.

However, he withdrew his hand mid–way.

Verily, he could not bring himself to do such a thing while sober, for he was too shy.

Feeling dejected, he sat up, only to inadvertently glimpse the marble dining table opposite the bed. On the table

were a bottle of unopened red wine and two glasses. On top of that, there were exquisite red candles that were

unlit.

He got to his feet and went over, swiftly uncorking the bottle of red wine.

Upon hearing movements, Inez slowly sat up. “What are you doing, Mr. Kieran?”

When she asked that question, Kieran had already opened the bottle of red wine. Ignoring her, he poured himself a

full glass and downed it resolutely.

Undeniably, the saying that alcohol emboldened a timid person was true to a certain extent.

He picked up the empty glass at the side and brandished it at Inez. “Can you sleep, Inez? Would you like to have a

drink with me?”

“No, thanks. You go ahead, Mr. Kieran.”

Without standing on ceremony with her, Kieran guzzled four or five glasses successively. Soon, he had consumed

half the bottle of red wine.

Having drunk too fast and possessing low alcohol tolerance, he started growing dizzy, and his cheeks flushed bright

red.

Inez had gone to bed with the towel wrapped around her. While it was uncomfortable, it gave her a sense

of security.

Nevertheless, the bath towel knotted at her chest could neither conceal her delicate and sexy collarbones nor her

ivory white shoulders.

Kieran gazed at her from afar. Under the influence of alcohol, his mouth became increasingly dry at the sight of her

slender and alluring figure on the bed.

Putting down the wine glass, he drank straight out of the bottle.

Red wine dribbled out the corner of his mouth, running down his neck to stain the white bathrobe he wore. It added

a sense of asceticism to him.

At his frenzied drinking, Inez kindly urged, “Red wine is intoxicating. It’s best that you don’t drink too much since

your alcohol tolerance isn’t that high, Mr. Kieran.”

“Alcohol tolerance comes with practice. I’ll get it after drinking a few more times,” Kieran countered.

After he had finished the entire bottle of red wine, he stumbled toward the bed with his mind all and promptly

slipped under the covers.

woozy

Drawing from the liquid courage, he inched close to Inez and carefully hugged her arm from behind.

“Happy birthday, Inez. I hope I can keep you company for every birthday you celebrate henceforth,” he murmured

in her ear, his voice cool and husky.

A wealth of warmth suffused Inez. She clutched the top of the covers nervously without saying anything.

Meanwhile, Kieran continued, “Tonight, I want to give you the greatest birthday present ever.”

Oh? He even has a gift for me?

Inez glanced back over her shoulder. “What is it?”

“It’s… me.”

After saying that in a seductive voice, Kieran leaned down and planted a kiss on her soft lips. Then, he added, “I

want to be your fiancé in body and mind.”

His words struck a chord with Inez.

Her eyes fluttered closed, and she unknowingly lost herself in his rare initiative.

Although the red candles on the table remained unlit, the scent of love and desire permeated the room.

In Harrick Villa in Salinsburgh, Cedrick did not sleep the entire night, secretly observing Gwendolyn’s

state.

Gwendolyn had not had a manic episode in two days, making it evident that Joshua’s medicine was effective

Nonetheless, he felt that he should still take her to the laboratory for an intravenous infusion to consolidate the

medicine’s efficacy.

For that reason, he did not dare sleep but waited silently. He planned to wait until she was sound asleep before

furtively putting his plan into action.

However, never had he expected her to suffer from insomnia that night.

Gwendolyn was distracted from the moment she stepped into the basement until she closed her eyes to sleep. She

kept thinking about everything that happened with Annie in the morning.

The events that had transpired when she personally drove the latter to the Harris residence on Mount Tranquil

played in her mind like a reel in slow motion.

As she pondered upon it, the more she found Annie suspicious, especially because her attitude toward Asher

seemed different.

If it weren’t because of Asher’s looks and allure, then Annie was indeed too concerned about him. When I spoke

about how I punished him with scripture studies on his knees and even gave him twenty whips, resulting in him

losing his voice and contracting rheumatism, her expression showed obvious distress and indignance on his behalf.

It was the first time I’d ever seen a stranger being emphatic to such an extent. Is she overly kind, or does she

harbor a different degree of affection toward him at the end of the day? But then, all this is just my conjecture.

Without solid evidence or a confession from her, it doesn’t count.

As her mind was whirring, she distinctly sensed someone picking her up. At once, she opened her eyes.

There were no windows in the basement, so it was pitch–dark. Even with her eyes opened, she could not see

anything.

Thus, she could only ask aloud, “What are you doing? And where are you taking me?”

Cedrick’s back stiffened, and his arms awkwardly froze in mid–air.

“You’re still awake, Darling? I couldn’t sleep either, so I wanted to do a few squats with you in my arms.”

He gave that excuse without thinking, sounding absurd and hilarious.

“Ouch! Take it easy, Darling.”

In the darkness, Gwendolyn pinched his face unerringly.

Aware of her own strength, she knew that it could not be all that painful. Of course, she could not bring herself to

inflict much pain on him either and was merely putting on a show.

“Tell me the truth. What exactly were you planning to do?”

“You hadn’t had a manic episode in the past two days. I think Joshua’s medicine is effective, and you should

continue taking the IV drip to consolidate its efficacy. So, I was planning to wait until you were asleep to carry you

out secretly,” Cedrick admitted.

Tsking, Gwendolyn precisely and mischievously flicked him on the forehead. “What were you thinking? Don’t tell me

you got hit in the head by my belt some time ago? You could’ve just told me about this trivial matter. Yet, you

wanted to act arbitrarily?”

Cedrick went silent. I merely saw that she was already asleep and couldn’t bring myself to wake her!

“Let’s go. We’ll go to the lab and look for Prof. Mallory, I can’t sleep anyway. It’s good to have more intravenous

infusions so I can be cured of my mania earlier.” Gwendolyn retracted her hand from his face. She groped around

for the switch and turned on the lights.

Subsequently, the two of them changed and left home hand in hand.

In reality, it was extremely boring to receive an intravenous infusion while conscious.

Amazement flooded Gwendolyn at Cedrick’s ability to endure the lengthy time required for an intravenous infusion

back when he kept watch by her sickbed.

+5 Bonus

Two and a half hours later, they were both slightly drowsy. They left the laboratory and climbed into the luxurious

car, planning to head home.

Unexpectedly, just after Cedrick had started the engine, Gwendolyn turned to him and queried. “Are you tired,

Ceddy?”

Cedrick shook his head. “I was rather sleepy when I watched you on the IV drip. But having left the lab and had

some cold wind hitting me in the face, my mind has cleared significantly. I’m fine staying up

for a night, so I’m not really tired.”

That being the case, Gwendolyn quickly made up her mind. “Then, let’s not go back to Harrick Villa. We’ll return to

Mount Tranquil and visit the Harris residence instead.”