The Billionaire's Ballet: A Contemporary Billionaire Friends to Lovers Romance (Friends with Benefits) Read Online Free

for me. He was obviously expecting some fresh female tennis instructor. A live-in, no less. Now that I thought about it, his hand on my elbow was more creepy than titillating. Did he hit on everyone that way? Had he always? He obviously didn’t know the woman or he would have realized I wasn’t her.
    By the time I arrived at the front door, the estate cook was already heading my way, her short legs a blur beneath her ample body in a blue dress and white apron. “Juliet?” she called. “Is that you?”
    I arranged my luggage on the porch and waited for her, delighted to see the tiny woman who had worked here since before any of the Claremont children were born. “Yes, Amelia. So good to see you!”
    Amelia was small and round and smelled of flour and vanilla, like a walking pastry. She pressed her palms to my cheeks. “You look so different! All grown up! And beautiful!”
    “Thank you,” I said. “Is Mother at the dance studio?”
    “No, I believe she is out.” A concerned emotion flitted across Amelia’s face.
    “I’m sure her schedule has changed. Rose is gone, right? To college? Only Pearl would still be here.”
    Amelia’s smile was more forced now. “Miss Rose is in Europe traveling. Miss Pearl has little interest in dance these days.”
    “Oh.” I worried that Mother’s job was in jeopardy. Maybe that’s why she didn’t make it to New York. Saving her money.
    I would have to adjust my plans. Base out of someplace less expensive than Manhattan. Find a studio that needed an instructor. Maybe we could buy her into one so she wasn’t just working hourly as an instructor, but getting a percentage of the profits.
    My mind raced.
    “Don’t you worry about anything,” Amelia said. She reached behind me to open Mother’s door with her enormous set of keys. “You settle yourself right in. Will you be here long?”
    “About a month,” I said as I rolled the bags inside. “How did you know I was here?”
    “Master Quinn,” she said with a grin. “He was carrying on about you.”
    My heart sped up again. “What did he say?”
    “Just that he’d seen you and that he couldn’t believe it was you!”
    I bit my lip. “How has he been? I heard he was engaged.”
    Amelia shook her head. “That boy. Engaged three times while you were gone! Three! Always asking. Then discarding. It’s all the talk.” She stuck her keys in her pocket. “You hungry? I can send a boy with something to eat.”
    “Not now, thank you,” I said. The fact that she offered to send someone with food rather than have me come to the kitchen was not lost on me. Nothing had really changed at all. I was still meant to stay behind the wall.
    “All right, honey. I will see you again real soon.” She pinched my cheek as though I were still five. “Don’t you worry your pretty head about anything.”
    I went inside the darkened living room. It was like a cave. Interesting. Mother always liked things filled with light. I raised the blinds and pushed aside the curtains.
    Most everything was the same as six years ago. The wicker furniture with padded cushions. The colorful pillows and bright tapestries on the walls. I felt a surge of happiness. Mom had surrounded me with cheer. She had tried. I had been such a mess. Mooning over Quinn. Rarely leaving the estate other than for school.
    I headed back to my old bedroom with the window that faced the stone wall. Everything was as I had left it. The white ruffled bedspread. The desk with a mirror. My closet had some new boxes in it, but the clothes I’d left behind were still there.
    I sat on the bed. As much as I wanted to think of Quinn as creepy or intolerable, I couldn’t. I remembered young Quinn, riding a horse beside me. Taking walks on the back lot of the estate. Brushing down Jezebelle.
    Jezebelle!
    I hurried for my bag to change out of the fancy clothes. I would go see my mare. A quick ride would certainly cheer me up.
    The jeans I chose were soft and worn but well made. The