His vulnerability touched her and Rachel returned to sit beside him on the bed. “I know, but we have to. I know this is very difficult for you and I can’t even imagine just how distressed you are feeling inside right now,” she said softly. “What can I do to make you feel better?”He leaned forward and rested his forehead on her shoulder. “I feel as if my world has been flipped upside down. What else am I going to discover to be a lie about my life?”“I don’t know, but I do know that Zoe and I are real, and I am here for you.”He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. “Thank you,” he said quietly.“For what?”“For being you. You’re amazing, Rachel.”She smiled. “So are you, Derek. Now, let’s get dressed and solve this mystery once and for all.”“I didn’t bring any change of clothes,” he said. “I didn’t envisage that we would be meeting a mystery hostess for lunch. There goes our romantic getaway!”“Stop whining,” she laughed. “We’ll have many other opportunities to have romantic get

“What do you mean by you have been watching me?” Derek asked in surprise. “How?”Yasmin exhaled slowly. “I know you are probably going to hate me more than you already do by the time I am done with this next round of my confession,” she said and sounded tired even though her face still looked flawlessly beautiful and her youthful skin still glowed as before.“I don’t hate you,” said Derek. “I simply don’t know you.”“I understand,” she said indulgently. “Now, back to my confession. I have a friend named Ariana Connolly. We’ve been friends since high school and all through college. She was my maid-of-honor when I married your father. She was with me all through those years when I suffered emotional abuse from your father and when I seemingly spiraled out of control and started getting involved with different men. You see, Ariana has a daughter. This brilliant girl finished top of her class in Princeton and her dream was to work in the Fraser empire with you.”“Me?”“Yes, and when Arian

Alfred Rickman’s estate in the English countryside reminded Rachel of Downtown Abbey. The ginormous manor house was surrounded by lush greenery, woods, and many hills in the distance. The lawn was trimmed to perfection and the two fountains in front of the house were reminiscent of those exquisite marble statues in Rome. The place looked like something out of a Beatrix Potter storybook.Their host had sent a helicopter to pick them up, while their bodyguards would join them later in a rental car that they’d gotten at the airport. It was Rachel’s first helicopter ride and she couldn’t hide her excitement. Zoe kept giggling and pointing at everything in sight, and Derek gladly indulged her playfulness.When they landed, a butler showed up to lead them into the house.“Welcome, Mr. Fraser,” the man greeted Derek politely. “It is good to see you again.”“Thank you, Connor. It’s good to see you too,” replied Derek. “This is my family; Rachel, my girlfriend, Zoe, my daughter, and this is El

He began to undress and when he was naked, he led her to the bed and laid her on her back before walking to the dresser to pick up a bottle of body oil that Rachel had put there earlier. He returned to the bed and squeezed out a few drops of oil on Rachel’s body before putting the bottle on the dresser. He then started to work the oil all over her body; massaging her neck, shoulders, arms, thighs, legs, and feet, leaving out the sensitive spots for later.When he finally began to massage her boobs, a moan escaped through her lips. He took his time stroking her nipples until they were taut and almost painful to the touch. He worked his way down her belly, stopping briefly at her navel to give it a rub before traveling down to the mound between her legs. He caressed her lower lips while stroking her inner thighs at the same time. Rachel was writhing beneath him, thrusting her hips in his face because she wanted him to touch her clit and put her out of her misery but Derek wasn’t done to

“What’s that?” Rachel asked, pointing at a wall of perfectly manicured hedges that seemed to have been grown in circles.“That’s a maze,” replied Alfred with a lopsided smile. “It leads to a lovely cottage on the other side of the property. It’s pretty secluded and even has a swimming pool and some modern conveniences that the manor doesn’t have. I had it built as a guest quarter away from the main house but I never have people over for more than a day, so it’s barely in use. I even toyed with the idea of letting your bodyguards stay there but I don’t trust those big guys. My cottage is too delicate to accommodate four giants who walk like elephants, no offense to you, Derek.”“None taken,” said Derek with a laugh.“Has anyone ever gotten lost in the maze before?” Rachel wanted to know.“Yeah, me,” said Alfred. “Twice. By the third time, I had to go with a map of the maze because I was tired of getting lost in the middle of my own creation.”Rachel laughed, thoroughly enjoying Alfred’