AMELIA "Hello, Amelia," she drawled. "For a moment there I thought you had developed some kind of sixth sense that told you I was here. I thought you would never come." "This is the exact time I come here everyday," I said shortly. While I spoke, my mind was going a mile a minute. Lora was again up to no good. That much was certain. Damian had told me everything about his meeting with her at the motel room, how she had tried to get him to say something incriminating. No doubt she had come to try the same tactic with me. My eyes skimmed over the skintight jeans and blouse she wore. I wondered whether she was wearing a wire under those clothes. I just had to be careful not to say anything that I wouldn't want recorded. "Nice place you got here," she said, staring at me with a malevolent look in her eyes. "I need us to talk about something very important. I assume there's a place where we can talk." I seriously considered telling her to go to hell when she added, "Or we can tal

AMELIA "I feel a strong connection between you and Damian." I tried not to groan. I had known this was coming. For most of the drive to the airport, my mother had been strangely quiet. That usually meant that she had something weighty to say, and considering her frequent topic of discourse was usually about Damian and I, I could not say I was surprised. Since I quite agreed with her sentiments, I was half inclined to shed tears of vexation, so I settled for 'joking' about Anthony. "I thought you were quiet because you've been thinking about seeing Anthony," I said. She took her eyes off the road to give me a reproachful look. "Don't make jokes. I'm being serious. You seem well suited to each other. I feel something... strong and probably genuine between you two and if I, a third party can feel it, I'm sure you and Damian do." Ugh! Getting her to talk about Anthony usually guaranteed her not talking about anything else. I heaved a sigh. "Mum, need I remind you that our ma

DAMIAN I woke up the next morning thinking that Amelia would have finally gotten over whatever was making her act so weirdly the previous day. I was wrong. When I went downstairs, breakfast had been prepared as usual, but a place had been laid out for only one person. As I lowered myself into my seat, I glanced at my watch. It was a few minutes to 7. Amelia didn't leave for the bakery until half past 7 or thereabout. Wasn't she going to work today then? Was she ill or just letting her staff handle business for the day? "Good morning, sir. Do you need anything else?" The housekeeper, Molly, had appeared at my elbow. I swallowed the bit of toast lodged in my throat so fast I almost choked. Molly would know where Amelia was. "Where is my wife?" I asked her. "Has she had breakfast already?" "I should think so, sir although I didn't see her eating. She was up very early this morning." I frowned. So Amelia was still sticking to having her meals alone. "And she's now in h

DAMIAN I didn't want to miss her, or have her sneak off to work without seeing her. Lately, she seemed to be avoiding contact with me—leaving early to work and returning late so we wouldn’t have to see each other frequently. But I would be waiting for her today. She came down the stairs a while later, hesitated on the bottom stairs when she saw me, but gave up on her hide and seek game. I gritted my teeth. If she thought she was going to leave without giving me a plausible explanation as to why she had returned home late that night, then she was mistaken. I didn’t care about her schedule but the terms of the contract had to be obeyed. She kept her eyes firmly fixed in the direction of the door. "We need to talk right now," I said in a tone of barely suppressed anger. She stopped in her tracks. "About what?” she glanced around before her eyes settled on me. "About what you did last night," I said sharply. "Since when have you begun returning home late? Do you know how c

AMELIA I stuffed a large piece of toast into my mouth and tried to swallow. It was hard to. I grabbed my cup of coffee and drank half the coffee so fast my eyes started to water. The toast eventually slid down my throat and I sighed in relief. I still ate quickly but a lot more carefully now. I wanted to finish eating breakfast before Damian woke up, not choke myself to death. Practically running away from the house so as not to confront Damain was a cowardly move, I knew that. But this morning, I could not bear to face Damian's wrath. He was sure to be pissed about my date with Colin. Though I knew I had held my own during our argument last night, arguing with him wasn't something I was looking forward to doing on a daily basis. I accidentally scalded my tongue as I tried to gulp down the remaining coffee when I heard footsteps approaching. I visibly relaxed when I seconds later, I saw it was Molly, and not Damian as I had thought. "Yes, Molly. What is it?" I asked. Please,