The Heir's Secret Bride

Byron wasn't about to give Maeve any time to prepare herself.

He had always been a bit of a clean freak, and going two days without

anging clothes was already his limit.

If it weren't for his aversion to being touched by strangers, he wouldn't have asked Maeve to help at all.

"What, do I need to personally invite you?" Seeing her standing there like a statue, Byron urged her coolly. "N-No need," Maeve answered.

Maeve took a deep breath, steeling herself, and went to the bathroom to prepare a basin of warm water. "Mr. Mcdaniel, should I help you take off your shirt?"

Her voice trembled with barely concealed nervousness, but Byron acted like he didn't notice. "Go ahead."Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Maeve bit her lip as she approached the bed and began unbuttoning his shirt.

One button, two buttons, three... The further she went, the more her face heated up, and her fingers started trembling slightly.

It was not like she hadn't seen his upper body before-she'd been changing his bandages every day for a while now

But unbuttoning his shirt like this felt oddly intimate, almost suggestive.

As his chiseled chest and defined abs gradually came into view, especially those perfectly sculpted eight-pack muscles, Maeve couldn't bring herself to look directly at him. starting now," she said.

"I-I'm

eyes with a hint of weariness in his expression.

Maeve bit her lip, carefully avoiding his injuries as she gently wiped his shoulders, chest, and arms.

But she kept repeating the same areas over and over. Noticing this, Byron smirked slightly and teased, "Maeve, did you eat the rest of me? Why haven't you touched my lower half yet?" By "lower half," he meant his abdomen, but to Maeve's ears, it sounded entirely indecent. "Mr. Mcdaniel!"

She angrily threw the towel onto his left hand, her face flushed a deep red. "It's already nice of me to help you at all! Can you stop saying weird things and making this awkward?" She thought, 'What on earth is he thinking?"

Byron was momentarily caught off guard by her reaction.

Realizing how she'd interpreted his words, a faint blush crept up behind his dark hair, though he remained outwardly composed.

"Really? Isn't it your own dirty mind that's making you overreact"

He honestly hadn't meant it that way-he was just annoyed at her half-hearted effort.

But now that she had repeated his words, he realized they did come across as suggestive. Unfortunately, it was too late to

take them back.

3

Maeve stared at him in disbelief, shocked by his shameless rebuttal. She thought, 'How can he accuse me of having impure thoughts when he is the one making such inappropriate comments?" "Fine! If you keep talking like this, I'll just call the nurse to help you instead!" she snapped.

Byron, who had never been threatened like this before, was left speechless.

The room fell silent for a long moment.

"Maeve," Byron finally broke the silence, "What I was trying to say is that you've wiped everywhere else except my abs. Are you avoiding them because you're nervous or embarrassed?" Maeve's fingers twitched, and she muttered defensively, "I already wiped them-you just didn't notice." "I'm injured, not paralyzed."

Maeve decided to ignore him, thinking, I am human, not made of stone. Faced with a physique straight out of a comic book, how can I not feel a little flustered?' She was already doing her best to avoid certain areas, and yet he just kept pushing.

Frustrated, she started scrubbing his back more vigorously.

But then, in that annoyingly calm tone, Byron commented, "If you scrubbed my abs with this much effort, how could I not feel it?" Is this topic ever going to end?'

Maeve finally lost it and tossed the towel aside. "Can't feel anything with the towel, huh? How about I just use my hands and give you a dry rub?"

and

Before Byron could respond, she placed both hands on his abs and rubbed them vigorously as if she were scrubbing laundry on a washboard.

As

soon as she did, they both froze.

She was shocked-his abs looked rock-hard but felt surprisingly soft.

He was stunned, thinking, 'Did she actually just go ahead and touch me like that? Is she out of her mind?'

For a

moment, neither of them moved.

Maeve was the first to snap back to reality. She quickly pulled her hands away, pretending nothing had happened, and picked up the towel again. "There, all good now. Let me just finish wiping your back," she said.

Byron nearly laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

After she finished wiping his back, Maeve finally exhaled in relief. "All done."

"Done?" Byron shot her a sideways glance, a teasing smirk tugging at his lips. "You only wash the top half when you shower?"

Maeve's hand shook, and the towel slipped into the water basin. You... you don't expect me to..."

Byron cut her off coolly. "I was asking you to wring out the towel"

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08.21 Chapter Realizing

she had completely misunderstood, Maeve wanted to crawl into a hole out of embarrassment. She kept her gaze down, too flustered to meet his eyes, and quickly wrung out the towel before handing it to him. She then turned around, waiting for him to finish and hand the towel back so she could wring it out again. Somehow, even though the water wasn't that warm, the towel felt like it was burning her hands.

After repeating the process several times, she finally heard Byron say, "That's enough." Maeve kept her eyes downcast as she picked up a clean set of clothes to help him change. Just then, the

door

to the room swung open.

"Byron, I heard you finally woke up..." Gilbert entered with tears of relief in his eyes, only to be greeted by a scene that left him speechless. There was Byron, lying shirtless in bed, while Maeve stood beside him, holding what looked like his freshly removed clothes... Gilbert coughed awkwardly. "Looks like I walked in at a bad time..."

Maeve stood frozen for a moment before realizing what Gilbert must be thinking, and she almost dropped the clothes in her hands.

In contrast to her panic, Byron remained completely composed.

clothes," Byron explained.

Grandpa, Maeve was just helping me change le creeping onto his face. "Byron, you just woke up and aren't fully recovered yet. You really should avoid any strenuous activities."

"Oh." Gilbert gave him a him a knowing look, a sly

He had originally thought

Byron married Maeve just to humor him, but seeing this, it seemed like his hopes of having a great-grandchild might not be so far-fetched after all. As soon as Gilb Gilbert t made that comment, Maeve's face turned bright red.

"Mr. Mcdaniel, it's not what you think! I was really just helping Byron change clothes. We're not... we didn't..."

Gilbert nodded sagely."

"Yes, yes, I understand. You young people do your thing. Anyway, I have some things to take care of, so I'll leave Byron in your capable hands, Maeve." With that, Gilbert hurried out of the room, closing the door behind him.

The words Maeve wanted to say got stuck in her throat. She spun around to face Byron, frustrated. "Why didn't you explain things to him?"

"He thinks we have a great relationship, which works in my favor. Why would I correct him?" Byron raised an eyebrow, clearly unfazed.

Maeve blurted out, embarrassed and annoyed, "That's because it's not your reputation on the line! Now he definitely thinks I'm up to something with you!"

Byron remained utterly unbothered. "What could you even do to me? And don't worry-I may be desperate, but I'm not that desperate. I wouldn't be interested in a little girl like you."