The Billionaire's Housekeeper: A Marriage of Convenience Romance for Adults (6 page)

“
Forgive me, I’m a little
bit tipsy, so I may say some stupid things,” Anne said.

George was quiet after the guests had
left. He was sitting on the other side of the lanai and brooding.

“
Oh George don’t be a
sourpuss. Come over here and talk to your mother and your wife,”
Anne cackled again. Rita couldn’t help but smile when Anne
turned to wink at her. “You’re gorgeous honey. That
haircut suits you. I may need to pay Luke extra.”

“
You talk too much,”
George said when he finally came over to them and sat across from
Rita and his mother.

“
And you talk too little,”
Anne said. She waved a finger like she had just had an epiphany. “I’m
going into town. I’ll ask Frank to take me. I think I’ll
give you guys a couple of hours to talk things through.”

Anne got up and glided to the open
French doors and out of sight.

“
Did you like it?” George
asked when he was sure his mother was gone.

“
It was all very beautiful, and
very real. Thank you,” Rita said.

“
Thank you too. Anyone who can
put up with my mom’s silly antics for more than an hour has to
be a saint,” he laughed.

Rita remembered that Julie and Anne
had never gotten along. Anne always had a snarky remark to say about
her, or she’d roll her eyes while Julie talked. She never tried
to hide how she felt, and Rita thought that that was very admirable.

“
I’m no saint. I really
like your mother,” Rita said. George smiled at that. It was
nice to hear someone in his life say that.

“
I called a few men to move some
of your things to the mansion. We can’t have you living in a
separate home from me now, can we?”

Rita nodded in agreement. She still
felt so strange now after the dream she had had, but she was warming
up and trying to be more comfortable. George stood and moved to sit
beside her.

“
That haircut really does suit
you.” He brushed a hand against the tips of her hair, gently
grazing her cheek as well. It wasn’t meant to be sensual, but
Rita blushed nonetheless.

She was about to speak when she heard
the front door open. George’s mother may have forgotten
something and had come back to the house to get it.

Rita and George turned to face the
French doors leading back into the house expectantly. They had both
been assuming the same thing.

“
Yoohoo?! Is anybody here?!”

George’s eyes widened and he
shot Rita a panicked look.

That wasn’t Anne, that wasn’t
Anne at all. He knew the voice right away, and now so did Rita.

“
Where can a lady get a nice
stiff drink around here?” the voice was looming closer and
closer to the door. “Oh
there
you are. I figured the
love birds would be out here.”

The tall and slim figure came to the
open doorway and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. She
was all legs, but today she had wrapped herself in a fur coat. There
was a devious smile on her face, and her icy blue eyes flexed in the
light of the setting sun.

Rita couldn’t speak. She didn’t
know the right words to say. But the figure’s eyes were now
fixated on her, and Rita couldn’t take her eyes off of Julie
Ainsworth.

*****

“
Julie?! What the hell are you
doing here?” George hissed. He was standing now. Julie looked
cool and calm.

“
What? Your new ex-wife can’t
get an invite to your secret wedding? Looks like I missed it anyway,”
Julie’s voice sounded bored.

“
How did you find out?”

“
You don’t think that Paul
Wesman wouldn’t get in touch with me?!” Julie sounded
almost outraged.

Paul Wesman was one of the people who
had helped George finalize the paperwork for Rita’s and his
wedding. Paul was a wealthy man and his brother was in public office.
Paul was happy to help George because they had been friends for many
years, but George had forgotten that the reason they were was because
of Julie and her parents. Paul had told Julie about the wedding.

“
What did Paul tell you?”
George eyed his ex-wife suspiciously.

“
Paul told me that my louse of
an ex-husband was already getting remarried. I didn’t believe
it until he showed me the prenup. I got in a tizzy when I read who
you were marrying and had to come and see for myself.”

Julie took off the fur coat and tossed
it on the nearest chair. She was in all white as well. She had on
pants that flared at the bottom, and a sleeveless white blouse with
pearls as buttons on it. She folded her arms over her chest again and
her eyes danced back and forth between the two of them.

“
Hey Rita, you look nice,”
an obviously fake smile formed over her face. “I gotta say that
I expected something like this from a son of a bitch like George, but
never from you.”

“
Julie…I…”
Rita started.

Julie held up her hand to stop Rita
from finishing.

“
Oh, you can have him honey,”
Julie said. “I just know my husband is using you for…something.
Once he gets what he wants then it’s onto the next young pretty
girl. I can’t say I’m surprised. I knew there was
something going on with you two before I moved out,” Julie
continued.

Rita was about to open her mouth to
tell Julie that she was wrong. But George took her by the hand before
she could speak. Rita got to her feet and the two of them stood side
by side and hand in hand.

“
I gotta say, you’ve done
an excellent job of keeping the press away. If Paul hadn’t told
me, I would have found out on the cover of some gossip magazine. How
humiliating would that have been for me?” Julie pouted. All of
her actions were fake. There wasn’t a drop of sincerity on her
face or in her voice. She sounded like she was toying with them, and
Rita didn’t like that at all. She wanted to tell Julie to
leave, but she still didn’t feel like it was her place to. She
kept her mouth shut and squeezed George’s hand.

“
Go home, Julie!” the
voice startled Rita. It was Anne. She had come back and was now
standing at the door behind Julie. Julie scoffed and turned around to
face Anne. “You have no business in this house or with these
two anymore. Save yourself the embarrassment, and just go home.”

Julie looked like she was about to
protest, but she turned again to look at George and Rita. She saw the
two of them, still in their wedding clothes and her eyes moved down
to the two of them holding hands. She looked defeated and almost sad,
that was the first real emotion she had shown since coming to the
house. It disappeared immediately and she sneered at them.

“
Fine. But don’t say I
didn’t warn you, Rita. I’ll be back. I left some things
in the house, and I’m going to call someone to pick them up in
the next week. I’ll be out of your hair, and you both can ride
off into the sunset together,” she bowed dramatically and
picked up her fur coat. She flung it over her arm and started to make
her way inside and off of the lanai.

“
Julie one more thing,”
Anne Ainsworth said. She pursed her lips with a look of annoyance.
Julie didn’t speak, but she paused to wait for what Anne had to
say to her.

“
I’m going to need your
keys…”

*****

Rita was trying to get used to all of
the changes in the last two weeks. She was too nervous to turn on the
TV or read any newspaper or magazine. She was sure the press had been
talking about her secret garden wedding with George Ainsworth, and
she didn’t want to know about any of the stories they could
have possibly concocted.

She was now living in the mansion, but
sometimes during the day, she found herself wandering back out to her
little cottage and sit outside to just enjoy her little space. The
cottage was where she knew the most. Being in a huge mansion and
locking herself away in her guestroom felt isolating. Being at her
cottage felt a bit more freeing to Rita. It was a place she felt was
her own.

Rita continued with her work, and kept
the mansion as clean as she could. That somehow made George
uncomfortable. He knew that their marriage arrangement was temporary,
and strictly to help Rita sort out what had happened to her in her
past, but to him it felt strange that people knew that his new wife
was still housekeeping.

George of course went to work as
usual. Nothing would stop him from his busy lifestyle, but he still
felt concerned for Rita. He was going to hire new staff so that she
wouldn’t have to worry too much about work.

“
I’m not sure what to do
with myself in the days,” Rita admitted to him one morning.
They were in the kitchen. George was already awake and ready for
work. He was drinking a coffee and had a panini and a half eaten bowl
of muesli on the kitchen island in front of him. Beatrice hadn’t
fixed him breakfast, and it almost made Rita smile that George had
taken the time to make his own breakfast. The panini smelt divine.

“
There’s loads to do!”
George said, trying to sound bright. He honestly had no idea how Rita
liked to spend her free time.

The new staff was coming that day, and
George wanted Rita to let them know what it was they would need to
do. She would also be in charge of how and when to pay them. She
didn’t like that she wasn’t working or doing anything
with her time. The last thing she wanted was to feel like some
billionaire’s play thing.

“
Like what?” Rita said.
She eyed him and raised her eyebrow. The look on her face made George
chuckle a little. They had spent the last few weeks talking at any
chance they could. Rita was taking her time to open up. She hadn’t
let George in on any of the important events of her life, but they
now had a vague concept of who each other was. She even felt more
comfortable with calling him by his first name. She would always
pause before saying it, and that made him smile every time.

“
You can frolic in the garden a
bit. You can watch any movie you’d like, I have an insane
collection. You can do some yoga, or workout, or just…I don’t
know. What do you like to do, Rita?” George asked.

Rita used to do a lot before she
graduated college. Her ex had made it impossible for her to keep up
with her hobbies. She loved track and field and being outside. She
was also extremely affectionate towards animals, but that didn’t
mean those were things that could fill up her day.

“
I suppose I could do some of
those things. I like the idea of being outside. I like to explore new
places, and maybe paint…”

“
You paint?”

“
No, not at all,” Rita
laughed. “But it would be nice to try new things. I’ve
spent the last several years of my life having my life controlled by
men. Where I went and what I was doing. Now that I feel like I have
some freedom, I’m not even sure what to do with it.”

Rita couldn’t believe that she
had been so open about her feelings just then. They were true though.
She would still look to George to get the ok for going into certain
rooms in the house, or when she ate, or even when she wanted to
excuse herself to go to her cottage or spend time in her own energy.

“
You won’t have to worry
about that anymore, Rita,” George brushed a few strands of
Rita’s curly bob out of her face. He looked deeply into her
eyes. “I said I would take care of things, and I plan to keep
that promise. Please, feel free to do whatever you’d like.
Just…you know…avoid setting the whole damn house on
fire.”

Rita laughed again. She had been doing
that more often since the wedding. George had a very strange sense of
humor that was very matter of fact. Rita just enjoyed being in the
company of someone who wasn’t asking too much of her.

George downed the rest of his coffee
and rose from his stool. He took a panini in his hand and wrapped it
up in a paper towel.

“
The staff should be here by 10.
I’ve let Gordon know to expect them. Enjoy your day, Rita,”
he said and stepped out of the kitchen. Rita could hear the clicking
of his shoes on the hardwood floor of the kitchen change into a
gentle tap on the marble floor of the living area and entrance way,
and then the final sound of a door opening and closing, and then
George was gone.

Rita felt even smaller now that he
wasn’t there. The house was so large, but there were no people
there aside from Beatrice. Since Julie had taken her furniture,
walking into certain rooms sounded like the house was haunted. The
space felt hollow, and there was always the sense that something was
missing.

Rita took up the plates and the mug
from the island and put them in the sink. She started to wash off and
rinse the items to put them in the dishwasher. She was going to make
breakfast for herself.

She wasn’t sure what to eat, but
she eventually decided on eggs, sausages, and some yogurt. Her mother
was the one who taught her how to cook, and she would have had
something more extravagant, but she was still minding her Ps and Qs
around Ainsworth mansion. George would have rolled his eyes and told
her to eat whatever she’d like, but she still wasn’t used
to doing anything she’d like for herself. She was hoping in
time that would change.