Begin Again novel Chapter 196

Eden was jolted out of her long dreamless sleep by the unrelenting heat splashing through the windows. For a head-splitting second, she lay comatose on her back, staring at the ceiling, thinking about last night, afraid to even move because even the slightest movement left her feeling sore and tender.

There was a reason she ran to the Blue Mountains and hung on to her panties for two years. That reason was now 37 000 feet in the air, somewhere halfway across the world, sipping fancy cognac in his private jet.

"Whee!" Eden squealed like a little girl as she flung the covers over her face when she remembered her very long chat with Liam and all the unholy things they'd done afterwards.

When he said he didn't think he could trust her anymore, she was convinced it was pretty much game over for them. But goodness, her guardian angel had come through for her and pulled a rabbit out of a hat and turned what should have been the end of her and Liam into a possible happily ever after. And now she was completely and utterly happy and at peace, and head over heels in love, and she couldn't wait to tell her friends.

But first, she had to check on Aiden.

Yeah—she thought as she sat up and squinted at the baby monitor at her bedside table—where was her son? He'd barely made a squeak this morning.

"No rest for the wicked!" She groaned as she rolled onto her stomach and felt around the side table for her glasses, but she found her phone instead.

She brought it very close to her face to check the time.

09:15 AM, and apparently, the world had gone up in flames while she was passed out in loved-up bliss.

She had forty missed calls and an equally impressive number of texts, friends and foes screaming for her attention.

She ignored them all since her vision was blurry as hell without her glasses as she jumped out of bed and felt her way through the room, looking for her sleepshirt. It wasn't appropriate attire to prance around the house in, especially with Liam's housekeeping staff around, but she couldn't exactly leave the room naked.

When she didn't find it, she stepped into the walk-in closet and threw on one of Liam's work shirts. Surely he wouldn't mind, she thought as she buttoned it up and returned to the bedroom.

She was crawling on all fours, searching under the bed for her clutch, convinced that's where Liam had slipped her glasses when Mrs Stone waltzed in with a severe scowl on her face, a weekender bag in one hand and Aiden's backpack in the other.

"Missus," she jerked her head in Eden's direction in a curt nod and pursed her lips. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Yes, I did, thank you," Eden said as she stood up and stared at her bare feet. They were far less threatening than the look of disapproval in the other woman's eyes.

"Please call me Eden," she added as an afterthought, squinting up at the housekeeper.

"Mr Anderson asked us to bring this to you and help you unpack," Mrs Stone said as she held out the travel bag. "He's made space for you in the walk-in closet. But if you need more room once you move in, you can use any of the closets in the guest rooms."

"Thank you. Do you have any idea where Mr Anderson left my clutch? I can't find it anywhere, and I think my glasses are in there." Still squinting, Eden took it and smiled.

Mrs Stone didn't smile back, though. Her eyes remained as hard and luminous like the emerald stone in Cleopatra's ring Liam had fought so hard to win in the auction last night.

She was a pretty woman, with blond curls framing her small heart-shaped face. The scarlet lipstick splashed on her bow lips brought out the green in her eyes. But there was something about her that made Eden very nervous, a familiarity she couldn't put her finger on.

She gawked at her now, racking her brain as she tried to remember where she'd seen her before, other than Liam's house in Willow Hills two years ago, of course.

"No, I'm sorry. I haven't seen your bag," Mrs Stone gave her one final curt nod before she turned on her heel, her lips still pressed tightly together in a thin line of displeasure.

At the door, she turned and appraised her coolly. "Perhaps you shouldn't drink so much."

"Excuse me?" Eden was stunned by her boldness.

Of course, she knew she shouldn't touch alcohol, especially when Liam was around since he had proven to be her kryptonite after one too many drinks, but it wasn't Mrs Stone's place to tell her this.

Besides, she was no heavyweight when it comes to alcohol, but she could certainly hold her own. So the three glasses of champagne she had last night were not responsible for the mess she'd left in Matthew's car, that much she knew—