UNASSUMED: Zara Zee and the Unassuming Case of the Billionaire Heir

by Kailin Gow

  Zara blushed. “Should I get another room? Should we even…”

  “Zara, I’m in my late twenties. I’m nearly thirty years old. My parents would have to realize I’m an adult with adult urges, and since I’m here with my special woman, I expect to be spending some time with her here, too.” He smiled. “They love you already, Zara. Since the holidays. Mother has been pressuring me to finally ask you to marry me.”

  Zara smiled widely. “You mean they’ve accepted me?”

  “How could they not?” Peter said, pulling her into his chest and hugging her. “You make me happy. You turned me into a responsible and hard-working grown man instead of a spoiled British playboy, which would have been my path have I not caught sight of you on my trip to Hong Kong with my father years ago. You helped me fall into a career I have a passion and devotion to thanks to you. And, my dear Zara,” he kissed her on top of her head. “You made me into a man my parents could respect and be proud of.”

  “Peter, I did not! You did that all on your own, and…”

  “It wouldn’t be possible if I hadn’t fallen for you and followed you into law enforcement. I was just going to sit back and help run my father’s business from some tower, but with you, I can’t let anyone else be near you, watch over you, for fear they would snatch you away, Zara.”

  “Peter, you care that much for me?”

  “Since you don’t believe me when I say ‘I love you’, I’ve been showing you that I do in these ways.”

  “Oh Peter,” Zara said, hugging him tightly. “I don’t deserve you. You are too good for me. I…”

  “Just say ‘yes’ to me, Zara.” Peter held her. “It would make me the happiest man alive.”

  “Peter?” Peter’s mom was knocking at the door again. “Are you even in there? Maybe not since no one is responding. I’m coming in…”

  Peter quickly shoved Zara away from the door when it opened, and a tall elegant older woman in her fifties with fading auburn hair in a chin-length bob walked through. She was dressed in a Chanel yellow suit, and looked very much like her title, Lady Penelope Brock.

  “Hi Mother,” Peter kissed her on both cheeks. “You’re looking radiant.”

  “And so do you, Peter,” she said looking at him and his glowing face. She looked around his room, and walked up straight to the heavy curtains, pulling it open. “You need more fresh air, though. It smells musky in here, and…oh hi…Zara?”

  Zara walked out of the bathroom in a sunny yellow lace sundress and white high heel sandals. Her hair was pinned back with a pretty dairy and diamond hair clip, and she wore a bright coral lipstick that brighten her entire face. “Hi Lady Brock,” she said, walking up to her and giving her a hug. “I hope your trip here was nice.”

  “Oh, Zara, aren’t you adorable?” Lady Brock smiled widely. “And I almost forgot how pretty you are…no wonder my Peter is all heads over heels for you.”

  Zara looked over at Peter and caught his quick smile. He was also nodding his approval of her prim but proper and very sweet look.

  “Lady Brock, you look radiant. Your trip to Spain must’ve have been exciting. You must tell me all about it.”

  “Oh, I wish you and Peter were on the cruise with us. It would’ve been so much fun with you two around instead of me with old hubs,” Lady Brock said. “Next time, I would love for you two to come along. I want us to have more family trips together, especially when the little ones come along. I want to be able to see them all the time, and you can drop them off with me while I care for them on weekends…”

  Zara couldn’t help liking this vivacious woman next to her.

  Peter came up behind her while she walked with Lady Brock. “You could call her ‘mom’ too,” he said smiling.

  Zara nearly elbowed him. “Subtle, Peter…”

  “I want you to picture life with me, Zara. Family trips…”

  “I love what you did with the wallpaper in the dining room, Lady Brock,” Zara said to her hostess.

  “You do? I thought it was time to let go of the stodgy velvet paisley print and bring in some pastel swirls and florals.”

  “It modernizes the entire room,” Zara said.

  “I’m glad someone here appreciates the efforts I’ve made to bring this old estate into the new century,” Lady Brock said.

  “And you can help Mother out some more when we come out here to visit,” Peter said.

  “That would be so nice,” Lady Brock said. “I would love the company. We have so much land here and the place is so large. There are only the two of us here, me and the old man, with Peter off in Hong Kong and all. I would love to see this place filled with children and parties, and…”

  “Well, there you are,” a large man with grey hair and grey eyes wearing a black suit walked into the foyer where they were. “Peter, you brought your girl,” he smiled at Zara and looked her up and down appreciatively. “Just like you’ve described her, too.”

  “Hi Zara,” he bent down to kiss one of her cheeks, “Happy to have you here. Welcome back to Brockshire.”

  “Thank you, Lord Brock,” Zara said smiling and feeling a little uneasy and awkward around the great bear of a man who stood next to Peter and Penelope Brock. He wasn’t as accepting of her as Peter’s mother, and Zara could sense a strange coldness in his eyes toward her.

  “Well, let’s go have breakfast on the terrace this morning.” He turned to Peter. “I’m sorry, son, but I have to cut this weekend short. I have to fly out to Macao this evening for a meeting so we’ll have this brunch instead of dinner.”

  “Fine, Dad,” Peter said. “As long as you can have it with all of us, including Zara, that’s fine.”

  “Great, so now, Zara…” Lord Brock eyed her while the maids poured coffee and tea into each of their cups. “What important cases have you been working on?”

  “Dad?” Peter said, embarrassed. “No talk about cases here. We’re not allowed to discuss any of the details outside, and you can't get anything out of Zara, too.”

  “Just wanted to see how dedicated your potential fiancé is to her work before she decides to chuck it to come live out here with you and Mom.”

  Peter shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I know how dedicated Zara is to her work, but she has a life of her own outside of work, as do I, and we want to make the most of it here or anywhere we decide to live after we get married.”

  Zara shifted uncomfortably in her chair now.

  “Peter,” Lady Brock exclaimed excitedly, “did she say ‘yes’?” She turned to Zara, “You did say ‘yes’ to Peter’s proposal, didn’t you? Please tell me you did. I would die if you didn’t agree to marry Peter, after all these years he had been waiting for you, been in love with you. It would break his heart and mine if…”

  “Mother!” Peter said, reaching for Zara’s hand.

  Lady Brock looked dismayed and upset. “Peter, I just wanted Zara to know how you felt. You’ve never been able to get your feelings across well since you were a little boy. You always put others’ feelings above your own first before letting yours known and, well, here I wanted you to at least tell Zara…”

  “Mother, Zara knows exactly how I feel about her. We spent the night in my bed together. Together,” he said, with emphasis, looking pointedly at his mother.

  “Oh,” Lady Brock said. “I…”

  “It’s okay,” Zara said, putting down the toast she was buttering. “I know how much Peter’s happiness means to you and you love your son very much, which I can understand. He’s a wonderful man. And I would be a fool not to have any feelings for him, too.”

  “Please tell me you said, ‘yes’,” Lady Brock said.

  Zara looked to Peter and then to Lady Brock’s desperate face. “I…”

  “Mother!” Peter said, “Zara said…”

  “Yes,” Zara said. “I told him I will ask my grandmother first. Peter proposed last night in bed, and well, my head’s spinning, but I realize how much I care for him, and it’s ‘yes’.”


  Lady Brock’s eyes widen and her mouth opened into a big wide smile. “Yes?”

  Peter was the most surprised one of the bunch. He got up and pulled Zara up with him. “Yes? You said ‘yes’?” He let out a big whoop and swept her up into his arms and kissed her hard. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. I am in shock. I am the most happiest shocked man in the world right now.”

  “Well, congratulations!” Lord Brock said, slapping his son’s back. “I knew this girl’s going to make a man of you.”

  He bent and kissed Zara on top of her head. “Welcome to the family.”

  The rest of the breakfast or brunch as it turned out to be was a fog for Zara. She sat through conversations between Peter and his parents about arrangements for a wedding. Of course Lady Brock wanted to hold the wedding at Brockshire. Peter wanted to, too, but also wanted to hold a reception back in Hong Kong, where he intended to live with Zara in a high rise. He will be taking over his father’s job in a few years, and having Zara, a girl from Hong Kong, whom the citizens admire as one of their own, especially a police officer who had help their communities, would seal the deal for his job as the trade commissioner between Hong Kong and England.

  When Peter and Zara finished up with brunch and headed back to their room, Zara was feeling exhausted. She had agreed to marry Peter before she talked to her grandmother. Why did she acted so hastily?

  “Having second thoughts about saying ‘yes’ to me?” Peter asked, walking up to her from behind and wrapping his arms around her waist before nuzzling her neck. “If you do, I will work on erasing any and all doubts right now.” He began unzipping her dress, and letting it fall to the ground, while one hand dipped inside her lace panties to find the moist and heated folds of skin he was seeking.

  “Ohhh, Peter,” Zara leaned back against his chest.

  He increased his pressure on her folds, dipping his fingers inside. “You looked so cute and sexy all dolled up in this dress this morning, Zara. I wanted to tear it off and lay you down on top of the table and fuck you right there. But…”

  “But parents were there,” Zara laughed.

  “But not right here,” Peter said, turning her around and removing her bra. He dipped his head down and placed his mouth on top of her breast and sucked hard while licking her nipples, flicking each until they were hard as pebbles.

  “Peter…”

  “Zara, last night was not enough. I need to have you right now.”

  He continued his tongue’s assault on her breast but lifted her and carried her to the bed where he slowly made love to her, bringing her to orgasm.

  They continued making love and trying all kinds of positions in bed and out of bed all morning and then into the afternoon, until it was dark.

  After their ninth or tenth orgasm, Zara climbed out of bed and said, “Peter! Your parents. Are they still here? Did they leave? Oh no, we have to say bye to them.”

  Zara turned to Peter, and she had to laugh. He was knocked out, exhausted from all their physical activities. She got out of bed, took a shower, and got dressed. She had to go out to say something to her new future in-laws before they took off and don’t see each other for months.

  The house was dark, but there was a light coming from the end of the hallway from Peter’s parents’ room. She was going to go knock on their door when she heard a voice talking, angrily.

  She followed the voice and was about to walk into what looked like a library, but saw that the door was nearly shut, and someone had their back to the door. It was Lord Brock, and he was on the phone.

  Oh, thank heavens, Lord Brock was still here. That means she could say her good-byes, and maybe get to know her future father-in-law better.

  But the tone of his voice clearly stated that he was in the middle of a heated conversation. No doubt business-related. She would have to wait for the conversation to be over, but she didn’t want to miss him on his way out.

  “What do you mean the deal in Hong Kong didn’t go through? I thought you greased the hands of that inspector pretty well or are you telling me these chumps want more? Keep an eye on him, and if he thinks he can bypass my authority, we’ll have to send him a message. Yeah, the same way as always. Now how’s Macao? I shouldn’t have to fly in tonight if you ran things more smoothly. Yeah, I have to interrupt an important family occasion to fly in to get the job done. If you show any more of that incompetency, I wouldn’t have a need for you any longer, you know what I mean…Good so you understand. Ship up or the next time you hear from me, it will be the last.”

  Zara didn’t want to be hearing this conversation but she thought something was suspicious. She knew she should talk to Peter about it first, but something about the way Peter and his father interacted showed Peter barely knew what his father did as a commissioner. She was about to head back to Peter’s room when Lord Brock startled her by walking out of the library, his face red with anger.

  “Oh, hi,” Zara said. “I was just coming down to see if you and Lady Brock would be able to stay for the evening. Peter and I wanted to get some dinner in town, but if you are staying, we can have dinner here…”

  Lord Brock’s mind was preoccupied, but he looked up and watched Zara’s face. It was a dimly-lit room, and she was standing in the hallway, which made her even hard to see.

  “You just came by just now?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said. “I saw you were busy so I stepped away but came back just now.”

  “How much did you hear of my conversation?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

  “Conversation?” she asked. “I barely noticed you were on the phone. I just heard your voice, but thought you were busy so I went away. Didn’t hear anything at all. Nothing but the sound of your voice. I couldn’t even tell you if you were speaking English or Cantonese or whatever…”

  He looked hard at her and then nodded. “It’s a good thing Peter is crazy about you. At first I wondered what kind of girl would make my son lose his head and drop everything just to remain in Hong Kong after his first trip, and it seems the type of girl happens to be a smart one – one who knows how to mind her business, one who knows how to stay quiet when she needs it, and one who knows not to question certain things the elders have worked hard on for years to put in place.”

  Zara remained expressionless, but nodded. “Peter seems to know what he wants.”

  “He is a good boy, and he has a kind heart,” Lord Brock said. “But he also knows what to do when he wants to get what he wants. He’s a go-getter, Zara. He got you, didn’t he?”

  Zara almost choke when he said that, but then she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around. “Zara, so there you are,” Peter said. “I was looking for you, and I thought I heard voices.” He looked over at his father. “So Dad, are you staying for dinner or do you still have plans to fly to Macao?”

  Lord Brock looked at Zara. “I’m afraid I have to fly to Macao. My men there can’t seem to handle the slightest problems. I can’t wait to retire, but then again, I will only retire when Peter can handle my job. Right, Peter?”

  Peter beamed. “If I get appointed in, Dad. Those are big shoes to fill. And it’s very political. I don’t know if I have the finesse…”

  “You do and you will,” Lord Brock said. “You’ve already got this lovely girl from Hong Kong to agree to marry you. And you hold a very respectable job in Hong Kong. You will have the respect and confidence of people from Hong Kong and here behind you.”

  “Thank you, Dad, for the vote of confidence,” Peter beamed. “I will try my best.”

  “Good, good!” Lord Brock said. “Now where is Penelope? I promised her an unforgettable dinner in Macao if she can come with me tonight.” He leaned into Peter and nudged him with his shoulder, “That would leave you two alone for the rest of the evening. I see how you two are. Disappearing into your room for hours. I know you two rather spend the evening together alone than with us old folks getting in the way.”

  Zara blushed while Peter la
ughed.

  “Go on now, kids,” Lord Brock said. “I’ll get Penelope, and we’ll say our good-byes and get out of your hair right afterwards. I can see how Peter is eager to get back to whatever it was you two were doing before we came out here.”

  “Dad!” Peter said. “Zara and I have a lot of planning to do, and…”

  “Yeah, so that’s what you call it nowadays…back in our day…”

  “Dad!”

  Penelope came over and said, “There you all are…it’s like a maze here sometimes. I have to tie a string to your Dad to be able to find him in this house. It’s enormous. Well. I did hear him saying how we have to get going to Macao. It’s late, and we will leave you two alone. The faster I can think of having little ones running around this place on holidays,” she squealed. “I can’t wait to become a grandma! Oh, Zara, I just love you. You made me so very happy.”

  Zara couldn’t help smiling back. “You too, Lady Brock.”

  Penelope took Lord Brock’s hand and said, “We have to get going now. I want them to get started on their honeymoon…”

  “Mother, not you too?” Peter looked at Zara and whispered, “See, sharing a room together wasn’t all that bad. It’s expected.”

  Zara blushed while the Brocks looked at her with smiles on their faces.

  When Lord and Lady Brock left, Peter swept her into his arms and said, “Now, where were we, my beautiful fiancé?” He kissed her and said, “I still can’t believe you’re finally mine. I don’t know how I can stand not being able to touch you all the time when we’re together at the office…” He smiled. “We can have a short engagement period and then the wedding, but knowing my mother, she would want a big society wedding.”

  Zara smiled but looked down. She already loved being part of Peter’s family, but something was nagging at her, and it had something to do with Lord Brock’s conversation. It was a side of him she didn’t expect to find, and the thinly veiled threat he planted on her when he bumped into her in the hallway made her uneasy. What exactly was Lord Brock’s work in Macao and Hong Kong, and would she want Peter to follow in those footsteps once they were married?