Free Knots (Club Imperial Book 4) by Katherine Rhodes

me.”
    “But now you have all these Imperial friends showing up now.” He smiled.
    Cece laughed. “True., but my statement still stands.”
    “I feel the same way, Cece.” He cleared his throat. “Now don’t go getting all mushy on me, Mistress. I like the hard side of the paddle.”
    ~*~*~
    Cece shut her computer down and sighed. Six o’clock, and she wished it wasn't. She shut the light off on the desk and just sat for a moment. She wasn’t in the mood for this evening’s plans, but this was the better of the plans: have dinner with the parents at their house, or have to deal with them in her cottage when they invaded, trying to find out where she was.
    Worse, risk Chas showing up. Chas in her personal space. Dear God.
    Cece steeled herself and stood, grabbing her purse. This had to happen, and it was best to get it over and done. She finished tidying up the few stray papers and locked the desk, grabbing her coat. It was getting cold in Pittsburgh and she had being cold.
    She walked out of the library and to her car- one of the few extravagance she let herself have- an Audi A8 L W12. It was a gorgeous, over the top vehicle with a pearlescent blue color, and soft black leather interior. Cece had walked into the dealer to buy something far more understated, but once she had the W12 on the road, she was completely enchanted. She wanted it; she so rarely wanted something as ridiculously priced as something like this, and just decided to tap the bank account this once. She never regretted the purchase.
    Cece drove the car through the oddly light traffic out to the Indianola estate that she had been raised on. She pulled the car around the rotary drive and aimed it back down the drive so she could get the hell out once they were done.
    She looked up at the semi-imposing faux-Center Hall Colonial entrance. She hated this place. Formal rooms, and formal dinners and fancy guests-- never anything genuine. Everything was breakable and nothing was real. If someone touched something it would shatter. As soon as she received her acceptance letter from UPitt, she was out and gone. She moved into an apartment, and then as soon as she could, she’d bought the cottage. All with the money she made at Club Imperial.
    Cece walked to the front door, and rang once. She had the key, but she never let herself in. This wasn’t her home; it had never been a home. It had always been a house where she lived. The cottage was home. Cozy, small with all kinds of her in it.
    Her heart dropped to her feet when the door swung open. Cece stared at the face there for a long, hard minute before either of them spoke.
    “Frances.” She heard the fear in his voice.
    “Gordon.” Her own voice shook. He stepped out of the way, and Cece glanced around, walking in. “I thought you weren’t working for my parents anymore?”
    “I left,” he said. “But they asked me back last year. I guess…we just haven’t crossed paths.”
    “Entirely possible since I avoid the place.” He closed the door as Cece looked through the hall to see if anyone was around, or waiting for her.
    Gordon considered he a moment. “Understandable.”
    She gave up. Cece stepped in to him, pulling him into a hug. “It’s good to see you, Sir.”
    “It’s good to see you too, Dusty,” he whispered in her ear. They quickly pulled away from each other knowing that Chas and her parents would have a fit about a member of the house hugging the help. Never mind that Gordon had inducted her into the lifestyle, just that she hugged the help.
    “I would like to have coffee with you, Sir. It’s been so long.”
    “I would like that very much, Dusty,” he smiled. “But you must stop calling me ‘sir’. Or I’ll be forced to start calling you mistress.”
    Cece laughed-- they’d always had an easy rapport. “Of course. Donny.”
    “Thank you, Cece.” He motioned her into the house. “I believe that your family is waiting in the den for you, and Mister Robbe is