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“As long as you need to be here, Blue.” His voice was more curt. Rough. Did he really mean it? Goodness, it was difficult as hell to read this fascinating man. Perhaps that was all part of his allure. He didn’t wear his emotions on his tailored sleeves.
“Well…I…thank you, again. I don’t know how I will ever repay you,” she said, almost breathless.
Zack’s dark, sexy gaze caught hers and she thought her breath was stolen away. Her belly caved in with the massive butterflies flapping about inside her. Was he always this irresistible? She had to get hold of herself. Her life was in danger. That was the bottom line.
Her breathing shallowed. His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Without taking his gaze off Blue, Zack reached into his pocket so smoothly and answered it with a deep, low “yes” to the person on the other end. Whoever it was.
“Good. Keep me posted,” Zack said after a moment. He ended the call and replaced the phone in his pocket. He breathed deeply.
“Dinner will be ready at eight. Our chef is preparing seafood tonight. We’ll be eating in the east wing. This will give you a chance to meet the rest of the family.”
“Oh?” This caught Blue off guard. Family? Dinner? At eight? “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“You and your sister must be hungry. I’ll leave you to change.”
Blue realized that she was a guest in his home at the end of the day and she bit down on her lip, trying not to sound ungrateful. After all, this gorgeous businessman who probably had an incredibly full agenda made time for her and her sister on such short notice. He must have shifted plans for them. She was thankful to that at least.
And oh, God! Her stomach squeezed mercilessly. She could still see that blue SUV speeding up behind her and slamming into her bumper. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to block out the gut-wrenching feeling of virtually seeing her life flash before her eyes. If anything had happened to her, what in God’s name would happen to Courtney? Her sister was eighteen and at the age of majority but in Blue’s eyes, she was still a kid and that would make her an orphan with no family.
Blue snapped back to reality and tried to think positive and worry about the present time. At the moment she was not in any peril. That was what mattered, right? Worrying never solved anything. Most of the time the things one worried about almost never happened. Her father had told her that once, when she was in college.
* * *
Blue’s heart hammered against her ribs. She thought she was going to pass out. It was a good thing Courtney was with her walking towards the dining area of the east wing. She was with Louise, the housekeeping staff member. She couldn’t call her a maid exactly. She didn’t seem as formal though she was dressed in a black flowing skirt and a white shirt wearing a silver necklace with a blue pendant.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about. The Romeros are very friendly,” Louise said to Blue as if she noticed her silence.
“This is really cool,” Courtney said, gaping at the artwork in the corridor as they walked towards the main foyer. “I can’t believe you guys live here like this. It’s like royalty or something.”
Louise laughed heartily. She was an older woman with a very round and friendly face. Her hair had turned silky silver and was tied back neatly in a bun. Blue was grateful to have her escort them to the dining area. She wondered why Zack hadn’t suggested that they have something delivered to their rooms. It was more like a grand hotel than a mansion in any case.
As they neared the dining area, Blue could hear the chatter and laughter of a few members of the household. That was when her heart pounded harder and faster. Could she take much more anxiety? She was shy about meeting new faces in a social setting such as this. She’d been working for the past few weeks at the vineyard but went nowhere near the main house on the estate.
What if she didn’t use the right forks? Start from the inside and work your way out, she’d read somewhere. Or was that her imagination? Shit! That was a scene from the movie Titanic! Molly Brown was instructing Jack Dawson on the proper way to eat dinner with the rich passengers on the first class deck of the ship.
