The Duke's Runaway Princess Page 0,50
go inside to change. Zarah blushed when he stepped away because he knew she was thinking about the things they’d done the previous night. “What time will you be finished tonight?” he asked as he unlocked her door, then handed her keys back to her.
“I think Mary needs me until about six o’clock.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you up then.” He didn’t ask, and Zarah didn’t reject his offer. She was happy to be able to anticipate seeing him again tonight. He kissed her once again briefly, then hurried down the stairway before disappearing from her site.
Zarah’s day was wonderful. She floated through her meetings with the shop owners, answered all of their questions, checked on the status of various issues for the festival and sold ten more dresses to villagers while working in Mary’s shop. Mary smiled with glee at her increasing profits and during Zarah’s downtime in the shop she worked on building a web site for Mary’s dresses. She’d start off slowly with about twenty designs, then expand as Mary learned how to get her distribution processes in place.
And the whole day, she kept smiling over the fact that she would be seeing Derrick soon.
When he arrived a bit before six o’clock, Zarah was helping a customer from another village. Zarah tried to pretend he wasn’t there but his large presence was hard to ignore. Mary came up to him, flirting outrageously and laughing at his compliments back to her. Even the new customer saw Derrick and blushed even though the woman had to be at least sixty years old. It was sweet the way Derrick made every female think she was special.
He took her back to the castle that night and his housekeeper fed them a delicious meal of grilled steaks with some sort of creamy potato and steamed vegetables. It was an elegant meal but Zarah loved the way it was just the two of them, his housekeeper having left everything in the oven for them and then disappeared. Over a bottle of wine, she and Derrick talked about the festival, about his work and what had happened over the day. By the time the sun had set, Derrick pulled her into his arms and Zarah went willingly, eager to experience his magical touch once again.
By the time the weekend rolled around, Zarah knew that she was in love with Derrick. He was kind, gentle, passionate, intelligent and one of the most interesting men she’d ever met. She didn’t understand why he was doing something so generous for the villagers but knew that there was a story behind all of it, something the other villagers wouldn’t reveal to her. It might be because she was an outsider, or because they had all worked so hard to get the two of them together and whatever secret there was could be a problem.
She didn’t know and didn’t care. She was so in love with him that she actually missed his company during the day. The festival was coming together perfectly and vendors were lining up, eager to sell their wares along with the village shop owners. So it was wonderful to give Derrick daily reports and see the admiration on his handsome face at her progress. She eagerly accepted his suggestions, incorporating them into the plans because she respected his intelligence so much and his ideas turned out to be ingenious.
She woke up on Saturday morning and sighed with resentment at having to take the time to drive all the way to London just to call her brother. Reassuring him was becoming a burden that she didn’t feel was necessary. As she curled up against Derrick’s muscular chest for a few more precious moments with him, she considered various ways she could try and convince Rashid that she was fine and didn’t need to marry some disgusting man. After having been with Derrick the past week, she knew that she couldn’t marry another man. She was so in love with Derrick that the idea of another man touching her was repulsive.
With a sigh of resignation, she slipped out of Derrick’s bed and headed for the bathroom. She had to get this phone call out of the way so they could enjoy their weekend. She showered quickly, then pulled on a clean pair of khaki slacks. She’d started bringing a change of clothes with her to Derrick’s each day, knowing that she would be spending the night with him and the thought of putting on the previous day’s clothes each