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“Sorry, I’m off in daze-land”

“It’s understandable Will your sister be okay?”

“Yes, she’s staying withat…the Belmont Palace for a while They didn’t understand that I didn’t have a place They thought Jack and I had put a deposit down on the new condo I explained everything to them They wanted me to move in with them but…”

“It’s okay”

Olivia choked referring to Jack His death ay one He was really gone And so was her ht hand

“You need an aspirin?”

I need you, now, Dane

Oddly, the scent of his spicy cologne was soothing to her senses “I’o away It’s been one crazy day”

“Well, I proet better You’ll be treated to a warm family dinner with the Belmont faet used to it myself”

“Oh, right” Olivia reotten to know his real father in his teens

“The place is big enough You’ll have some privacy”

“I can iht for a moment “Why do you trust me so much? I mean, you just met me”

“Not really”

“Not really?”

“You were vetted a while back Six o, remember?”

“Oh, right When I applied for the Bel”

“Right Got everything about you and your background You’re a qualified social worker in good standing with your professional association You aced your prograe Got a clean police record Never even had a parking infraction Great references…” His grin was char as he rambled on about her accomplishments

Olivia’s jaw fell open

“You know all of that about me?”

Dane continued to grin “Well, , before the ceremony, I went and looked over your application in detail I wanted to learnto say about you at the ceremony besides all the stuff you told me”

She grinned sheepishly “Of course” That hy Dane had said she was a wonderful woman It wasn’t just the conversation he’d had with her but he knew about her involve else she’d opened up about herself on that detailed profile So ious Belh hoops siious scholarship Well, sort of The wedding at the historic Bela thousands Royalty and A-list movie stars have married there But in recent years, the hotel opened up a wedding give-away to deserving couples starting out in life so that they could get a taste of an out-of-their-budget lavish wedding at no cost to them

“Well, you’ve done so much already, Dane I feel so indebted to you”

Just then Dane placed a quick call to his aunt to instruct the butler to set another plate at the dinner table in the grand dining room

“It’s nothing, Olivia And don’t ever feel that way We’re even”

“We’re even? No, we’re not”

“Are you arguing with rand driveway of the Bel It truly did look like a palace built at the turn of the nineteenth century, with its arden and grounds that expanded to forever and an acre

“How many rooms are in this place?” Olivia asked, her jaw still open

“Seventy-five”

“Oh, ”

Dane drove into a drivehere Olivia saw nothing but expensive cars like Bentleys, BMWs, Mercedes and a classic vehicle she couldn’t quite place the era Maybe the 1930s She recalled seeing a vehicle of thatto the Jonah Belmont, the first?

There was an eight-door garage, too, hat looked like gold-plated doors Okay, this was so not what she’d expect to see here, up close Did people really live like this? Olivia volunteered in so many shelters in her time and lived in modest homes herself and she could not even wrap her head around this The place was the size of the university she’d attended At least it looked that way from the outside

“We’ll have dinner at around five o’clock, then the family usually heads over to Moorehouse”

“Moorehouse?” she repeated, knowing that neighbourhood was quite modest