Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Benjamin set the tray down and nodded toward the telescope. “Have you ever whale watched?”
I smiled more to myself than him. “Every year with my mom.”
“Oh?” He seemed genuinely interested. “You’ve been here before then?”
Why did it feel like he was digging when it was just a simple question?
“Every year, but—” I answered with a sad smile and stopped myself from saying she had vanished. “It was just my mom and me, and since we didn’t have a lot of money, this was all we could afford, though I’d take orcas over Disneyland any day.”
“Orcas, you say?” His face was completely indifferent as he stared me down, arms crossed. “That’s interesting; most just call all whales… whales.”
“But they aren’t like other whales,” I blurted, earning a narrowed gaze yet again from his handsome features. “I mean, they’re giant dolphins, right?”
“Right,” he agreed, and then the conversation was dropped as he went over to the tray and poured two rather large measures of wine into the crystal glasses.
He handed me mine first and then reached for his.
“Thank you.” I lifted my glass in a toast. “For saving my life.”
“I wouldn’t.” He took a tentative sip of his wine.
Confusion washed over me, and that damn sweet smell wasn’t helping the rolling in my stomach. “Wouldn’t what?”
“Thank me.” He downed another gulp and then looked over my head toward the door we just came through. “Remember, you were the one that stepped into this household. I was going to shut the door in your face.”
I inwardly flinched at his rudeness. Smile tight, I responded. “How could I forget? It was less than an hour ago.”
“Was it, though?” he said cryptically as he lifted his glass with the biggest smile I’d seen him give since meeting him. “And to think, I was projecting another extremely boring year.”
And then he just left.
Left me alone next to the tray, which I then noticed had another glass placed on it. Alone in a house, I hadn’t even been invited into, and alone with a giant roaring fireplace.
What the hell?
Was he coming back?
I weighed my options.
I could either leave and screw my one and only opportunity to do some digging, or I could sit there like the uninvited creepy guest I was and wait.
For what?
Him to come back?
Was this some sort of test rich people conducted for their own amusement because they were just that bored with their lives as they waited to lock you in their basement?
I squirmed in my seat, and my eyes searched the room for any sort of evidence related to the town, Mom’s disappearance, and truly anything else I could get my hands on.
After a few minutes, my thoughts drifted back to the library.
Maybe one peek.
It couldn’t hurt, right?
I stood and glanced over my shoulder.
He hadn’t returned.
The scent of candy was lessening, so that was nice.
I took another large gulp of wine. My mom would be so disappointed that I was in this situation and gulping rather than sipping and enjoying, but my morning hadn’t been normal. Therefore, if I wanted to gulp the entire bottle, that was my right as an almost nineteen-year-old weighing the disappearance of her only remaining relative in a strange town she’d visited since birth. God, this really was turning into a melodrama.
A few large family portraits littered the walls in the salon, and then above the fireplace was one that had at first escaped my notice.
I’m not sure how I didn’t notice it.
In fact, now that I saw the portrait, it was all I could see. All I could focus on. I wanted to crawl inside it and just exist.
The man was hauntingly beautiful.
With longer, jet-black hair that teased broad shoulders and bright emerald green eyes that almost seemed to come alive the longer I stared. A square jaw paired with an aristocratic nose that should look arrogant and pompous but instead gave the idea of a swoon-worthy Duke from Regency London.
His long, elegant fingers gripped the leather chair, and his face was completely void of emotion except for the slight tug on the right corner of his mouth, implying that he was smirking.
My heart thudded harder against my chest as heat filled my veins, and more images played through my head like a movie on slow-mo.
“Are you here for the maid position?” A smooth voice asked from the door.
Slowly, almost too slow, I turned on my heel and stared.
It was the guy in the picture.
Live and in the flesh.
It took every ounce of strength I had to keep my jaw clenched. It wanted to drop it in awe. Blood pounded in my ears as I stared.
His eyes locked on mine, and that same smirk I’d just been admiring was suddenly directed at me.
“The maid position?” Was this my in? Possibly with the extremely hot and sexy son of Mr. Wells? I hadn’t even seen a maid position online! “Um, yes, yes I am.” I’d just tell Mr. Wells that he left before I could ask about the job. That was if he ever reappeared.