Free Her Billionaire Secret: Part 4: An Alpha Billionaire Romance by Jenna Chase, Elise Kelby Page A

the specialist craft shops and the small bookstores. She strode under the arch set in the city wall and glanced across at Exhibition Square. For a moment she was tempted to visit the Art Gallery, but she knew it would only be a time wasting exercise. For three days she'd put off asking her father the questions she knew would provide her with painful answers.
    It was time to put old ghosts to rest.
    Crossing the road, she picked up her pace. Fifteen minutes later she opened a gate set in the old high stone wall and let herself into the garden at the back of her father's house. She knew where he'd be, in the studio down at the end by the old oak tree. Sarah and Elliot were playing together on the lawn and as she passed them she stopped for a couple of minutes to chat and to play with the little boy.
    As she stood again, Sarah smiled at her. “It's been good to have you home for a few days. Elliot has missed you”.
    “I've missed him too—I've missed all of you.”
    “You should come home more often.”
    Claire could see the concern in Sarah's eyes.
    “I'll try to in future. I still have things to sort out.” They both knew what those things were—the press and her old life pressing back in on her. She hadn't spoken about Tevis to her father or to Sarah, but she suspected they knew there was something else. “I need to talk to Dad. Is he busy?”
    “You know he's never too busy for you,” Sarah laughed.
    Claire smiled back before walking further down the garden. The studio was purpose built, soundproofed and had floor to ceiling windows. Her father liked to look out at the garden when he was working. She could see him at the piano, his head cocked to one side as he listened to the notes he was putting down. She stood for a moment, watching him as he worked.
    He seemed to sense she was there, turning to look at her.
    Erland Tyler grinned at her through the glass and waved her in. Her father never looked any different. His hair, just long enough to run his fingers through was now greying, but his face didn't seem any older. A few more laughter lines crinkled around his eyes and Claire sensed Sarah and Elliot had put them there.
    She waved back and walked into a world of peace. The noise of traffic in the streets beyond the house ceased with only the notes her father tinkered with on the piano cutting through the silence.
    “That's beautiful, Dad.”
    “You like it?” he muttered as he turned to face her.
    “Love it.”
    “It's only the first few bars, but I think I've got something.”
    They were skirting around the conversation they both knew was coming. She stalked around the studio, looking through the door to the room containing her father's recording equipment. Many prominent names from the music world had spent time in these rooms working with Erland Tyler. She stepped over to the piano and traced the curve of the instrument with her finger. Her father had never stopped her putting fingerprints on his treasured possession. He didn't say anything now.
    “Dad, I want to ask something about you and Mum.”
    “I've been waiting for you to bring it up for years,” he smiled at her encouragingly. “It seems the time is now right for you?”
    How could she ask the question— the one that had haunted her for years? She couldn't do it without explaining why she needed to know. It wasn't fair to put him through the pain without him understanding how important this was to her.
    “Something happened back in London and I made a decision based on what I thought I knew.” Claire dropped down on the sofa near her father's piano. “I might have made a huge mistake.”
    It wasn’t ‘might’, she was certain she had. Life was impossible without Tevis and she’d walked away without even saying good-bye. Without giving him a chance.
    Her father sat down in his old battered chair opposite her and relaxed. “Go on.”
    “I've fallen in love.”
    “Does he love you?”
    The memories of his kisses, of the moment he’d