Chapter 47

“Of course, you may, Sir Derek Fraser,” she said and giggled. “Although I must warn you, I haven’t danced the waltz in quite a long time. I may have forgotten how it’s done.”

“Have no fear, my fair lady. I shall remind you,” he said and led her to the dance floor. He placed one hand on her lower waist and the other held up one of her gloved hands.

Before long, they were spinning slowly across the floor to the sonorous tune from the band, and eventually, other couples began to join them one by one until nearly everyone in the room was dancing.

As far as Rachel was concerned, it was just her and Derek in the room and she allowed herself to be sucked into the blueness of his beautiful eyes. She pretended that they were both head over heels in love with each other and they were waltzing to the tune of their love that was floating around the room, surrounding the two of them with warmth. No other experience in her life could compare to how special she felt right then that moment.

************

The rest of the party was a delightful blur for her; she got to cut a huge three-tier birthday cake made into the shape of a layered ball gown, and there was more dancing, drinking, and eating. They partied until the early hours of the next day before the guests started to leave one after the other.

“This was an unbelievably amazing night, Uncle Alfred,” she said after the last of the guests had left around 3 a.m. “Thank you.”

“It’s Alfred,” he replied warmly. “And you are welcome. Now, I gotta go crash in my bed. I haven’t had this much fun since forever and my 65-year-old body now needs to recuperate from all that adrenalin rush. I’ll say goodnight to you two,” he said and attempted a bow that almost had him keeling over.

“All right, that’s it. I’m walking you to your room,” Derek said firmly and led Alfred away before he could reject the offer of assistance.

Rachel strode through the double doors on the other end of the room and ended up on a wide balcony overlooking the east wing of the house. She could see the shimmering of a body of water that looked like a lake and she made a mental note to check it out tomorrow and probably take a swim in it with Derek if he’s up to it.

“You look like a queen,” said Derek, coming up behind her.

Rachel turned around and welcomed him with a smile. “And you look like my king,” she said. “Tonight was simply magical. I have never had that much fun in my life.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “Uncle Alfred was more than happy to do this, you know. I haven’t seen him that thrilled since he lost his partner five years ago.”

“I was going to ask if he didn’t have any family, you know, a wife and kids somewhere, but there never seemed to be a good time to ask.”

“He and Leonard were soulmates,” Derek said wistfully. “They were together for fifteen years but never tied the knot because Leonard wasn’t a fan of marriages. Can’t say I blame him.”

“What happened to Leonard?”

“Died of a malignant brain tumor. He’d had a series of surgeries over the years to take out the bugger but it kept coming back until it finally snuffed the life out of the poor guy. Uncle Alfred was inconsolable after Leonard’s death and he has been mourning him ever since. He bought this place a year after Leonard’s funeral and it became his hiding place, so to speak. He stepped down as CEO of his conglomerate and initiated a merger with the Fraser empire, giving me a large chunk of his holdings.”

Rachel was intrigued. “Wow. How rich are you?”

He grinned. “I have no idea but I know that the kind of money I have right now cannot be used up in one lifetime.”

“I don’t mean to sound judgy but don’t you ever feel… weird about having such an obscene amount of money to yourself in a world where many people are still living below the poverty line?”

“Fraser Holdings has several charity organizations across the world that cater to that. Besides, every year, we contribute generously to many projects targeted at helping the less privileged in our society. And the truth is, billionaires can’t solve the problem of world hunger because it is largely an infrastructural problem that the government needs to work on. There’s only so much me and my ilk can do to save the world.”

“Well said,” she replied with a smile. “You should probably become a politician too.”

“Nah, that’s not for me. I’m not a fan of politics.”

“So… are we going to address the elephant in the room?” She asked in reference to their primary reason for coming to England.

“Ugh, Rachel. I said we’ll bring it up tomorrow.”

“You mean, today?”

“Ah, yes,” he said and glanced at his pocket watch. “It’s a new day already. I’ll ask him after breakfast, I promise.”

“Good, because that unsolved puzzle seems to be hanging over us like a dark cloud and I want it to go away so that we can enjoy the rest of our vacation.”

He waved his hands above their heads as if he was clearing away cobwebs. “See? I’ve chased the clouds away.”

Rachel laughed. “That’s better.”

“So, Lady Rachel, may I escort you to your room?” He asked in a poor imitation of the English accent while extending his elbow toward her.

“Why, thank you, Sir Derek,” she replied in a similar accent. “That is awfully kind of you.”

She looped her arm with his and let him lead her back into the house where they followed a windy staircase up to the second floor of the building where their room was located. They stopped at Zoe’s room which was beside their own and checked to see how she was doing. Her room was done in pink and white and had a cute princess bed on which she was sleeping peacefully. Elaine’s bed was near the window and she too was fast asleep.

They closed the bedroom door softly and tiptoed to their own room. It was more of a suite with a spacious living area and then the sleeping section was dominated by a king-sized four-poster bed with gilded frames and a canopy on it. There was a large ottoman at the foot of the bed, a huge mahogany wardrobe, and an elegant dressing table with a wide mirror in front of it.

“I can’t get over how classy this room is,” Rachel gushed. “It’s perfect!”

Derek grinned. “You are not hard to impress and I like that.”

She shrugged. “I’m a simple girl who loves simple things, that’s why.”

“You are not a girl anymore, my lady,” he said suggestively. “Allow me to welcome you properly to the third floor of life.”

He strode to where she stood by the bed and kissed her hungrily. He had been dying to do that all night and now that he finally had her in his arms, he was going to savor the sweetness of her lips, the softness of her body, and bask in her sighs of pleasure.

“We never got our second massage with Kira,” she murmured against his lips after he broke the kiss.

“Let me make it up to you then,” he said. “I’ll be your masseuse and lover tonight.”

“That sounds like a complete package,” she giggled.

“Oh, you have no idea,” he laughed and began to undress her methodically, starting with her gloves. He then undid the clasp at the back of her dress and peeled it off her like a second skin. Next was her underwear which was a chemise, a corset, and a pair of old-fashioned knickers. “I see you really took the theme of the party seriously. The only medieval-looking thing on me is this suit. I’m wearing my Calvin Klein boxers and Emporio Armani singlet under it.”

Rachel laughed. “Alfred should have ordered a strip search on everyone before the party started. I’m sure you were not the only rule breaker there tonight.”

“Rules are meant to be broken, my love,” he replied suggestively.

Her heart did a flip when she heard him call her ‘my love’. Oh, how she wanted that to be true!

By the time she was fully naked, she lifted her hands to her hair to undo the pins holding it in place but Derek stopped her.

“Not yet,” he said. “That’s the icing on the cake.”

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.