Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
“Are you all right? Are you warm enough?”
She glanced up at Regent and her fears melted away. Of course this was the right thing.
“Yes, thank you.”
He frowned. “You look exhausted. Lean against me and close your eyes. You told work you wouldn’t be in this week?”
“Um, well, I said I wouldn’t be in today.”
He eyed her. “You’re not going back for at least a week. Actually, perhaps it would be best to tell them you quit.”
“I can’t quit. I need the money.”
“Baby, you know you don’t. I’ll buy you whatever you need.”
There was that strange feeling again. She didn’t expect him to just pay for things.
“But we can discuss that later.”
Jilly closed her eyes. She could hear him talking quietly on his phone but didn’t pay much attention to what he was saying as she drifted off.
The car slowed as she felt him shake her slightly.
“Jilly? We’re here.”
Sitting up, she yawned and looked out the window.
Whoa.
Okay, she’d always assumed that he lived somewhere wonderful. But this was incredible.
The driveway led them through lush grounds and up to an enormous house. It was painted a dark gray with white trim. An extensive porch ran along the front of the house with large, imposing columns and wide stairs that led up to the front door.
“This is impressive.”
He grunted. “I suppose it is.”
He supposed?
“Who actually lives here?” It looked like it could house a small town.
“Just me. And Gerald.”
“Right. Wow. That’s a lot of house for two people.”
“My brothers and their women usually come around for Sunday lunch.”
Sure. Sure.
Sunday lunch. What about the rest of the time? Did he just rattle around here on his own? That seemed a bit . . . sad.
Was he lonely? He’d never mentioned that.
Not that he would. Regent wasn’t a man who dwelled on his feelings, let alone expressed them.
She was lucky he’d told her how much she meant to him. And she wasn’t worried about the fact that he couldn’t say he loved her.
It didn’t matter. Maybe he wasn’t there yet.
Perhaps he would never be able to say it.
It was fine. Everything was fine.
32
All right . . . she was talking herself into a darn panic attack. She didn’t know what was wrong with her.
This was what she wanted. Everything would be just fine.
There was no point in worrying about something when there wasn’t really a problem.
It was all fine.
She really had to stop saying the word ‘fine’.
As the car came to a stop, Regent undid her belt and then his before his door opened.
“Slide across, baby,” he told her as he got out, then reached back in to grab her.
Jilly could feel herself growing red as he picked her up. She caught a glimpse of Jose and another man she didn’t know. She tried to take in her surroundings as Regent carried her up the stairs.
“I really can walk.”
“You really can’t,” he countered.
Lord, he was hard work.
She was beginning to realize that she needed to pick her battles, or she would wear herself out very quickly.
The door opened and she saw Gerald. He gave them both a brief nod.
“Hi, Gerald,” she said.
“Ms. Crane.”
“Gerald, did you get everything ready?” Regent asked.
“Yes, your bedroom is all set up for Ms. Crane.”
What did he need to set up?
Regent didn’t give her a chance to ask, though, as he carried her upstairs.
She barely had time to take in the gorgeous foyer, marble floors, and dark blue walls.
The staircase was ornate and huge. Big, expensive-looking paintings adorned the walls. Everywhere she looked, the place screamed money.
And she felt more and more intimidated.
Finally, Regent carried her into a huge bedroom. There was a four-poster bed with a deep blue cover. Large pieces of dark wooden furniture filled the room. There were landscape images on the walls. Paintings of forests and mountains. She was sure they were all gorgeous and expensive on their own.
There was a bust of a man on a side table in the corner.
She didn’t realize people actually had things like that in their houses. Lord knew how much that thing cost, but she wasn’t going near it in case she knocked it over.
The bed was already turned down, and on the nightstand she saw a whole lot of medicine.
It seriously looked like someone had raided a pharmacy.
Regent laid her on the bed and she sunk right in.
Oh man.
Why was she so tired? She’d barely done anything.
Regent turned back toward the door. Where was he going? Was he just going to leave her here?
Opening the door, he picked up her suitcase and carried it inside.
“If you’ve forgotten anything, you can tell Gerald and he’ll go get it for you.”
Ahh, yeah. She wouldn’t be doing that.
He opened her suitcase, searching through it until he found her last pair of clean pajamas. These were her sexy ones. Well, probably no one else thought that. They were pale pink and cute with lace around the bottom hems.