when his mind cleared enough to realize that she wasn’t just shifting but running away. Again! This time though, it didn’t look like she was trying to avoid him so much as just terrified. He immediately started to think that perhaps someone had done something to her, something to scare her into hating or being afraid of sex.
He watched with rising fury as she ran out of the stables, her fingers barely holding her shirt together as she sprinted as far away from him as she could get.
Chapter 3
Rachel sighed with relief as she pulled into the parking lot of her downtown office building. She smoothed the tan skirt down over her hips, then pulled the suit’s jacket off the backseat of her vehicle, wanting to look nice for work today. She had a big wedding she was assisting with this coming weekend which would really help her in the firm. The company she worked for, Elegant Events, was one of the preeminent events firms in the city, catering to some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Washington, D.C. The wedding this weekend was for a senator’s daughter who was getting married at the Mayflower Hotel, one of the ritziest and well known establishments in the city. Everyone in town was working hard to get an invitation to this event. All the who’s who will be there this weekend. Although she wasn’t in charge of the wedding, being too inexperienced at this point in her career, she was one of four assistants who were helping the main coordinator, a tyrant named Marissa Banks who was one of the best in the industry.
Rachel had been working long hours to ensure that her tasks for the wedding were all taken care of well in advance of the deadline Marissa had set out. So as she walked into the building, she was reviewing her notes, looking at all the items that would be reviewed in the Monday morning meeting so that she could be able to tell Marissa that all of her to-do items were completed.
“Rachel, you’re wanted in Derrick’s office,” the receptionist called out as soon as Rachel passed through the frosted glass doors.
Rachel looked over at Lenora, the sweet and friendly receptionist who guarded the lobby area with sugar coated words, helping the clients with coffee and tea, ensuring that everyone felt like they were the company’s number one client from the moment they walked in the door.
Rachel was halfway through the lobby area when she did a double take at Lenora’s words. Derrick was the head of the firm and ran the agency with flair and good humor. She really liked him, knew that he’d grown this agency from almost nothing so she had a great deal of respect for him as well.
“I’m supposed to be in Marissa’s meeting in ten minutes,” Rachel called back. “Are you sure Derrick wanted me?” It was almost unheard of for the head of the agency to speak with one of the lowly junior members of the staff.
Lenora nodded her head emphatically. “Derrick asked for you personally, Rachel. He seemed very excited about something.”
Rachel closed her file folder and looked around as if she could find the reason for this unexpected summons in the walls or carpeting. The lobby area was done in shades of white and cream colors with fresh flowers brought in every week in various shades depending on the season. Because fall was in full swing, there were yellows and golds this week, creating a stark contrast to the white and cream décor. But even the flowers couldn’t provide an explanation.
“Did he say what this was about?”
Lenora shrugged her shoulders and answered the next call, efficiently directing the call to the appropriate person.
Rachel went to her tiny office and put her notes down. She pulled the papers out of the folder she’d worked on yesterday after returning home from her father’s cottage. Okay, she acknowledged to herself that it was more of a running away scenario. She’d spent the rest of Saturday evening locked away in her tiny apartment vacillating between fits of anger over Rais for pushing her to the breaking point and crying at how pathetic he probably viewed her after the pitiable way she’d scrambled away from him in the loft.
Even now, thinking about the dumbfounded expression on his handsome face when she’d glanced back up to him from the stable doorway, she couldn’t believe how childish she’d acted.
She looked at her small desk covered with