Love's Edge (A Dark Erotic Romance Novel) Read Free Page A

to my new home for however long I worked there. Surely, Blake Harrison was a generous man, as evidenced by his treatment of me so far. But would I live up to his exacting standards and expectations? I felt a nervous, excited tug in my chest as I thought about meeting my new employer. Whatever happened next, I was now sure that it was going to be a grand adventure.
     
     
                                                                         Chapter 2 .
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    I looked up in awe as the house came into sight around the corner. It couldn’t really be called house or even a mansion. It was a castle, a palace from a storybook. The tall, stone walls towered over us, cold and imposing in their beauty.  Unruly ivy crawled up the walls, filling in the cracks that age and disrepair had left behind.  We pulled off the main road and onto a smaller, gravel road that led to the mansion.
     
    “Is this the driveway?” I asked the driver in amazement.
     
    “No, but it is a private road to the Harrison Estate,” the driver replied, pointing to an old metal sign as we drove past.
     
    “Private Road. All visitors must wait at front gate for entry,” I read, sounding strangely formal. I was still trying to grasp the enormity of my new employer’s wealth. In Mercy River, the wealthiest family owned a horse and had indoor air conditioning and a pool. For my whole life, those three things had always seemed like the height of luxury. This type of wealth had never seemed real. It belonged in fairytales.
     
    My breath formed shapes on the glass as I pressed my face against the window, staring up at the imposing building as we drew near. As we got closer, the tall wall surrounding the castle blocked out most of my view. The stone walls shot high into the sky and several rounded and pointed turrets peaked out of the top.  The sloped roof was a deep red, set off by the grey of the stone. Tall, slender windows peppered the heavy stone. I counted four stories of windows as we drove close, plus an additional level in each turret.
     
    In my mind, it was the castle from The Count of Monte Cristo . I imagined a grand party, my employer as the mysterious hero. It was silly, but who else would live in an actual castle?
     
    An ornate gate that looked like it had once been sparkling and manned by guards and servants loomed above us. Now, the twisted iron looked old and dull and the local plants had taken the opportunity to climb over the ornate metal.
     
    The driver pulled up to the gate and pulled up a small, rusted panel covering some buttons. He keyed in the code.
     
    “You’ll be getting your own code. He turned the wheel as the gate creaked open. “We all have unique ones so he can monitor comings and goings.”
     
    I nodded as if it made sense. In a way, maybe it did. A rich man needed to take more precautions than a poor man, I assumed. I couldn’t stop the tingling worry in the back of my head that perhaps my new employer was paranoid or controlling. He surely had great wealth, to live in such an estate, but the closer I got, the more I could see the cracks on the surface. The place was falling into disrepair and surely there was some reason behind it.
     
    Those thoughts vanished as we pulled up to the round driveway. The gravel circled around a great fountain in the center, which splashed water over huge statues of horses rearing in a large basin.  The sight stole my breath and I barely noticed when the car pulled to a stop in front of the mansion. My door was pulled open, yanking me back into the moment.  I looked over and saw the driver holding my door open and looking at me with an amused expression.
     
    “You might never gets used to it,” he gestured for me to exit the car, “I certainly haven’t, even after all these years.” His expression suddenly grew cloudy, but quickly lifted as I stepped out onto the driveway and