A Perfect Husband

by Fiona Brand

  She released her grip on the sketchpad to reclaim the sunglasses. Zane let her have the glasses, but straightened, taking her sketchpad with him.

  Irritation at the sneaky trick, followed by mortification that he might glance through and discover her guilty secret, burned through her. “Give that back.”

  She caught the edge of his grin as he stepped into the shadowy interior of the sitting room. Launching off the recliner, she raced after him, blinking as she adjusted to the dimness of the sitting room. She made a lunge for the pad. Zane evaded her reach by taking a half step back.

  “Why do you need it so badly?” His gaze was curiously intent, making her stomach sink.

  “Those sketches are…private.”

  And guiltily, embarrassingly revealing.

  The drawings cataloged just how empty her private life had been. He would know just how much she had thought about him, focused on him and how often.

  He handed her the pad but instead of letting it go, used it to draw her closer by degrees until her knuckles brushed the warm, hard muscles of his chest.

  The relief that had spiraled through her when she thought he hadn’t checked out the drawings dissolved. “You looked.”

  “Uh-huh.” Gaze locked with hers, he drew her close enough that her thighs brushed his and the sketchpad, which she was clutching like a shield, was flattened between them.

  He lifted a dark brow. “And you would be drawing and painting me because…?”

  Lilah briefly closed her eyes. The old cliché about wishing the ground would open up and swallow her had nothing on this. “You saw the painting in my apartment.”

  “It was hard to miss.”

  She drew in a stifled breath. “I was hoping you wouldn’t.”

  “Because then you could avoid admitting that you’re attracted to me. And have been ever since we met two years ago.”

  Gently, he eased the sketchpad from her grip. “You don’t need that anymore.” He tossed the pad aside. “Not when you have the real thing.”

  Seven

  Lilah was frozen to the spot, gripped by the inescapable knowledge that if she wanted Zane, he wanted her. “Maybe I prefer the fantasy.”

  “Liar.” His head dipped, his forehead touched hers. “What now?” The question was soft and flat.

  “Nothing.” She swallowed, unable to take her gaze from his mouth, or to forget the memory of the kisses that morning.

  Just that morning. In the interim a lot had happened. The passage of time seemed wildly distorted, as if days had passed, not hours.

  And that was when she understood what had happened.

  Somehow she had done the very thing she had worked to avoid. She had allowed herself to get caught in the grip of a physical obsession. And not just any obsession.

  She stared into the riveting depths of Zane’s eyes. She had followed a path well-trodden by Cole women. She had fallen victim to the coup de foudre.

  That was why she had ended up on the couch with Zane. It explained her inability to say “no” to kissing Zane on the flight and during the press conference.

  Somehow, without her quite knowing how, she had allowed sex to sabotage her life.

  Zane’s gaze narrowed. “Don’t look at me like that.”

  “Like what?” But she knew.

  Her guilty secret had been exposed, the emotions and longings she had kept quietly tucked away—all the better to deny them—had been forced to the surface.

  And Zane wasn’t helping the process. Instead of backing off, he was making no bones about the fact that he liked it that she wanted him.

  He dipped his head to kiss her. Lifting up on her toes, she wound her arms around his neck and met him halfway.

  It was crazy. She hardly knew him, but already she knew how to fit herself against him, how to angle her jaw so his mouth could settle against hers.

  With a stifled groan, he wrapped her close. Half lifting her, he walked her backward across the sitting room. Somewhere in the distance, Lilah registered the phone ringing, then they were in his room. The back of her knees hit the edge of his bed.

  He came down beside her. Conscious thought evaporated as his mouth reclaimed hers. Long minutes later, he rolled and pulled her on top of him, his fingers tangling in her hair. Charmed and utterly seduced by the clear invitation to play, to kiss him back, she framed his face and lowered her mouth to his.

  His palms smoothed down the curve of her spine, pressing her against him so that she was intimately aware of every curve and plane of heated muscle, the firm shape of his arousal. On the upward journey, he peeled her camisole up until he met the barrier of her bra.

  Murmuring something short and soft beneath his breath, he fumbled at the fastening then shifted his hands around to cup her breasts.

  The distinctive sound of the front door opening cut through the dizzying haze. Elena, dressed in a shimmering, ankle-length black dress and looking like a sleek well-fed raven in spectacles, appeared in the doorway to Zane’s room.

  Zane muttered something short beneath his breath and rolled over in an attempt to shield Lilah from his assistant’s view.

  Cheeks flushed, Lilah dragged her camisole back into place.

  Elena dragged her fascinated gaze from Zane’s chest and seemed to remember herself. She checked the dainty watch on her wrist and addressed Zane in rapid Medinian.

  Zane rose to his feet and pulled on a shirt that was draped over a nearby chair. “English, please, Elena.”

  “The car is ready. Gemma, your, uh, date—” she directed an apologetic glance at Lilah “—is waiting. Providing we reach the museum in the next twenty minutes, we won’t be late.”

  Gemma. Lilah jackknifed. She was Zane’s previous personal assistant and the pretty redhead he had escorted to almost every function the charity had held over the last two years.

  Hurt shimmered through her. Above all the gorgeous girls Zane had dated, Gemma reigned supreme. Zane always went back to her. If Lilah had been tempted to fantasize about any kind of a future with Zane, this was exactly the wake-up call she needed.

  A second salient fact registered. The museum. And an auction of a private art collection that had been donated to the charity.

  Somehow in the craziness of the past few days, she had forgotten she was supposed to attend. Frantically, she checked her wristwatch.

  She should have been dressed by now and calling a taxi.

  Another thought occurred to her. “Howard.”

  Zane’s head snapped around as he shrugged into a shirt. He gave her a questioning look.

  “My date.” She scrambled off the bed. She was supposed to be meeting Howard outside the museum in fifteen minutes.

  She dashed into her room, snatched an uncrushable cream dress off its hanger, dressed and fixed her hair. She slipped into cream heels and applied a quick dash of mascara and lip-gloss, a spray of her favorite perfume and she was ready.

  Picking up her clutch, she joined Zane and Elena. The venue wasn’t far away, but there was no way she would make her rendezvous with Howard in time. To compound matters, this was a first date recommended by the online dating agency she had started using just weeks ago. She had never physically met Howard. All she knew was that he had ticked all the boxes in terms of her requirements in a husband.

  Now that Lucas was history, Howard was number one on her list of eligible bachelors and her most likely prospect for marriage.

  She dragged her gaze from the riveting sight of Zane in a black tuxedo, and tried to gloss over the fact that she had just climbed out of his bed and was now going to meet a prospective husband. “I need a lift to the museum.”

  Lilah was five minutes late.

  Howard White was waiting in the appointed place in the museum foyer, although at first she had difficulty picking him out because he was older than the photograph he had supplied. Mid-forties, she guessed, rather than the age of thirty-two, which he had given.

  Flustered and ashamed at herself for her loss of con
trol with Zane, and for forgetting she was even meeting Howard, Lilah resolved to overlook his dishonesty.

  Howard smiled pleasantly as they shook hands. “I feel like I know you already.”

  Guilt burned through her as Howard continued to study her in a way that was just a little too familiar for comfort.

  Her picture had been splashed across the tabloids. Her only hope now was that he wouldn’t put two and two together when he saw Zane. She would have to do her best to make sure that they were not seen together.

  As he released her hand, she couldn’t help but notice that he had a pale strip across the third finger of his left hand, which seemed to indicate that Howard had been recently married.

  The evening progressed at a snail’s pace.

  Burningly aware of Zane just a short distance away with Gemma clinging on his arm, Lilah found it hard to focus on Howard and his accounting business.

  Howard placed his empty mineral water on a nearby side table and beckoned a passing waiter. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like some champagne?”

  “No. Thank you.” Lilah was beginning to get a little annoyed at the pressure Howard was applying with regard to alcohol, especially when he had not touched anything alcoholic himself.

  “Very sensible.” He put his wallet away.

  She tried to think of something else to say, but the conversation had staggered to a halt.

  Howard jerked at his collar as if it was too tight. “My—uh, mother doesn’t agree with alcohol, especially not for women.”

  Lilah dragged her gaze from Zane’s profile. She had barely paid Howard any attention, but all of her Cole instincts were on high alert. She had received the strong impression that Howard had been about to say “wife.” “Your mother?”

  Howard’s gaze shifted to the auctioneer, who was just setting up. He dragged at his tie as if he was having trouble breathing. “I live with my, uh, mother. She’s a fine woman.”

  Feeling suddenly wary of Howard, Lilah excused herself on the grounds that she needed some fresh air before the auction started.

  She stepped outside onto a small paved terrace dotted with modern sculpture. A footfall sounded behind her. Zane. Light slanted across his cheekbones, making him look even tougher and edgier.

  She had been aware that he had been keeping an eye on her the entire time and had hoped he would follow her.

  He jerked his head in the direction of the crowded room. “When did you meet him?”

  “Tonight.”

  His expression was incredulous. “A blind date?”

  She stared at the soaring, shadowy shape of a concrete obelisk, as if the outline was riveting. “More or less.”

  It was none of Zane’s business that Howard had contacted her through her online dating service. His application was very recent. It had appeared in her in-box just before she had gone to Medinos. She had felt raw enough on her return that she had agreed to her first actual date.

  “I don’t like him, and you’re not leaving with him.” There was a vibrating pause. “He’s old enough to be your father.”

  There was an oddly accusing note to Zane’s voice. Lilah stared hard at a tortured arrangement of pipes at the center of the small courtyard, a piece of art that, according to a plaque, had something to do with the inner-city “vibe.” “He is older than I thought.”

  She rubbed her bare arms against the coolness of the night, suddenly desperate to change the subject. “Where’s Gemma?”

  “Gemma won’t miss me for a few minutes. Is that why you dated Lucas, because he was older?”

  Her gaze connected with Zane’s. She didn’t know why he was so stuck on the issue of age. “I don’t see what this has to do with anything.”

  “I’ve read your personnel file. I know how old you are, I also know that you seem to date older men. Is that a requirement for your future husband?“

  Despite the chilly air it was suddenly way too hot. She tried to whip up some outrage that Zane had accessed her personal information, but the implications of his prying were riveting. She couldn’t think of any reason for Zane to focus on the age of her dates unless it affected him personally. The thought that Zane was comparing himself with her dates and that he was actually worried that he was too young, was dizzying. “No.”

  Something like relief flickered in his gaze. “Good.”

  His fingers linked with hers, drew her close.

  Lilah swallowed against the sudden dryness in her mouth. After the disaster on Medinos followed by the deadening effect of Howard’s company, Zane’s interest in her was fatally seductive. “This is a bad idea. You’re with someone else.”

  In theory so was she, but Howard, with his sneaky lies and deceptions, had ceased to count.

  “Gemma works for The Atraeus Group. She just helps me out on occasion.”

  Zane’s head dipped, his breath wafted over her cheek, and suddenly, irresistibly, they were back where they’d been less than two hours ago—on the verge of…something.

  His lips touched hers. Heat shivered through her, she lifted up on her toes. Her palms automatically slid over his shoulders, fingers digging into pliant muscle. His hands closed on her waist.

  The sound of the auctioneer taking bids flowed out into the night, but even that faded as she stepped closer, angled her chin and leaned into the kiss.

  Something shifted in the shadows, flashed. Zane’s head jerked up.

  A second shadow flickered. A night security officer with a flashlight in one hand nodded as he walked past.

  Confused, Lilah stepped back from Zane. For a moment she was certain someone had used a camera flash. She couldn’t stop the gossip and the sensationalized stories, but that didn’t mean she had to like the sneakiness of the reporters. “I’d better go back inside. Howard will be missing me.”

  Zane was still watching the shadowy figure of the security officer as he stepped into a concealed side entrance. “Are you serious about him?”

  “Not anymore.” Feeling a wrenching regret at leaving the courtyard, Lilah made her way back into the crowded room.

  Howard was still engrossed in conversation with a knot of older men. He didn’t bother to look her way. Lilah decided that Zane was right; he looked depressingly paternal.

  Zane fell into step beside her. His fingers closed on hers.

  Pleasure and guilty heat shooting through her, Lilah jerked her fingers free. Zane’s teasing grin made her heart pound. She resisted the almost overpowering urge to smile back. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  The wicked grin faded. “Something I should have done before, checking out your date. I want to make sure Howard doesn’t have an agenda.”

  “He does. I realized tonight that he’s married.”

  Zane’s expression went from irritated to remote as he slid his cell out of his pocket and spoke briefly into it.

  He snapped the phone closed. “Go to the car with Gemma and Elena. Spiros has just pulled up to the curb outside. I’ll deal with Howard. Your boyfriend was also out in the courtyard with a phone camera.”

  Lilah stared at Howard who she noticed, was now knocking back something that looked extremely alcoholic. She remembered the shuffling sound, the extra flash.

  Zane inserted himself into the jovial male group with the confidence and ease that came from being a supreme predator in the business world. She saw the moment Howard realized he had been made, the automatic reach for his pocket as if he wanted to shield his cell phone.

  Howard’s wild gaze connected briefly with hers. With calm deliberation, Lilah turned her back on Howard and walked through to the museum lobby. She noted that she didn’t feel in the least shocked or depressed by the betrayal. On the contrary, there had been something highly satisfying in watching Zane go into battle for her. Unfortunately, along with her new ruthless streak, she seemed to have also gotten used to leading a life of notoriety.

  Gemma and Elena strolled out directly behind her. Spiros held the door for them while they climbed into t
he limousine. Elena chatted with Spiros in Medinian, leaving Lilah with a clearly unhappy Gemma.

  Seconds later Zane joined them. Gemma beamed and patted the vacant space beside her. Instead of climbing in, Zane glanced across at a group of boys Lilah had noticed loitering a small distance away from the limo.

  He glanced at Lilah. “I won’t be long.”

  Gemma, looking distinctly irritable as Zane walked over to the boys, extracted a cell from her clutch and within seconds was deep in conversation about her new job and a move overseas. Elena retrieved a romance novel from her clutch, attached an efficient looking little LED light to the back pages, and was promptly engrossed.

  Lilah decided she clearly hadn’t lived, because she hadn’t thought to bring an activity with her that was suitable for downtime in a limousine. Absently, she noted Howard slinking off to his car, which turned out to be a sleek little hatchback with a personalized licence plate that read “HERS.”

  Zane terminated a cell phone conversation as he walked back to the car. “I can’t come back to the hotel with you right now. I have to take care of these kids. They saw the posters for the charity auction—that’s why they came.”

  Lilah stared across at the lean wraiths clustered around a park bench as if that small landmark was all they had. “What can you do?”

  “Get them in a house for the night with state foster care. That doesn’t guarantee they’ll stay, but at least it’s a start. I’ll see you later.”

  Lilah watched as Zane walked back to the kids, seeing the instant brightening of their faces. She hadn’t realized how personally involved he was, or how much kids liked him.

  She felt like she was seeing him for the first time, not the quintessential bad boy or the exciting, elusive lover the media liked to publicize, but a committed, protective man who would make an excellent father.

  With the rest of the night in Zane’s hotel suite looming, it was not a good time to discover that Zane had somehow managed to transcend the list of attributes she was searching for in a husband and had made her requirements seem petty and flawed.