His Unveiled Passion

"Be good," Stephen murmured. "Don't worry. I bolted the door when I came in earlier. They won't be able to come in."

The door to the garden was made of solid wood. It had a bolt installed that essentially functioned as a lock. With the bolt slid into place, Sienna and Naomi could not open the door from the other side.

Stephen pressed close to Tessa and whispered into her ear, "Darling, they're worried that something's happened to you. Hurry and tell them that you're fine."

"I can't... Not with my voice like this..."

The moment she opened her mouth, the truth would come to light.

"If you don't respond to them now, they'll just get more worried. What if they call the police?"

"Are you still in there, Tessa?" Naomi raised her voice and asked again.

"Tessa, don't tell me you passed out?" Sienna called, panic lacing her words.

Tessa closed her eyes and steeled her nerves. "I'm fine," she replied.

Naomi and Sienna breathed a sigh of relief on the other side of the door.

quite a fright," Sienna said. "We thought something happened to you because you were soaking in the

strange expression. She lowered her voice so that only Sienna could hear and asked,

shook her head and replied, "No. Did she sound

"I can't say for

what?" Sienna

elaborate.

Want

her voice once more and hollered, "Tessa, how much more time do you need? Sienna and to playcards with Samantha. We need four people to play, so we're

waiting for Tessa's response, she whispered, "When did I say that I

lips and shushed

toward them, once again sounding a little strange. "The three of

of red. Although she was personally inexperienced with such things, she wasn't completely clueless. Tessa's last reply had made it quite

when she replied, "You don't want to play cards with us? Alright, then. Sienna and I will head

didn't receive a response from the people in the

mouth to stifle her laughter while she used her other hand to take Sienna's hand. "Let's go, Sienna," she said. "Let's not get in the way of Tessa having a good

restored to the surroundings.

in the slightest. His breaths were steady as he carried Tessa out of