Tiger Woods’ devastated wife, Elin Nordegren, may be trying to ease the pain of her husband’s hurtful indiscretions by reminding herself that the growing list of buxom nightclub hostesses and waitresses were just hookups. But, in fact, Tiger committed the ultimate act of betrayal — he fell in love with one of his mistresses.

In Touch can exclusively reveal that the woman originally at the center of the storm, party promoter Rachel Uchitel, was more than a fling to Tiger. They weren’t just having sex — they were in a relationship. “Tiger told her he would divorce his wife for her,” an insider says. In fact, hundreds of secret e-mails between the two show that not only was the superstar athlete over the moon for Rachel, he desperately wanted to leave Elin and their two kids to be with her.

On November 9, Tiger, 33, wrote Rachel, 34, and showered her with gooey, angst-ridden proclamations of devotion. In an e-mail exclusively obtained by In Touch, the golfer gushed, “I know it’s brutal on you that you can’t be with me all the time. I get it. It f***ing kills me, too. I finally found someone I connect with, someone I have never found like this. Not even at home. You want someone to witness your life. I want you to lay next to me, lay on me or where ever you want to lay. F***. Why didn’t we find each other years ago. We wouldn’t be having this conversation.” After Rachel replied and complained that she didn’t want to play out their relationship over the computer, Tiger wrote back, “You don’t have to answer that e-mail. I just wanted you to know what’s going on inside me.”

Also in their correspondence, Tiger and Rachel got into a fight after he questioned her motives and accused her of only sleeping with him because he was famous. “I don’t know if this is going to work,” Tiger said. “I thought I was getting to know you, but it feels like I’m just another person who happens to be famous. Every time I think about it, I get a lump in my throat. Some of the other parts of your past really get to me. I don’t know what person I was falling for so hard. The one I got to know on the phone, e-mail, text and in person. Or the one who likes famous people. I am so confused, because what my brain is saying and what my heart is saying are two different things. Is it the Rachel I know or the character? That’s what’s hard. It guts me to think I’ve fallen for the wrong one.”

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