by Douglas, Michelle; Gordon, Lucy; Pembroke, Sophie; Hardy, Kate
Hanging the beautiful wedding dress up carefully on its padded hanger, Thea stepped back and stared at it. Her fairytale dress, all sparkle and shine. The moment she put it on she became a different person. A wife, perhaps. That dress, whatever it had cost, was worth every penny if it made her into that person, made her fit.
This time, this dress, this wedding...it had to be the one that stuck. That bought her the place in the world she needed. Nothing else she’d tried had worked.
Shaking her head, Thea tugged the straps of her sundress up over her shoulders, thankful for a moment or two to regroup. To remind herself that this didn’t change anything. So Zeke was there, lurking around their Tuscan villa. So what? He wasn’t there for her. She was still marrying Flynn. She belonged with Flynn. She had the dress; she had the plan. She had Helena at her side to make sure she said, wore and did the right thing at the right time. This was it. This villa, this wedding. This was where she was supposed to be. Everything was in its right place—apart from Zeke Ashton.
Well, he could just stay out of her perfect picture, thank you very much. Besides, the villa was big enough she probably wouldn’t even notice he was in residence most of the time. Not a problem.
Sandals on, Thea smoothed down her hair and stepped back out. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with the wedding planner to attend.’
‘Of course,’ Zeke said, with that infuriating mocking smile still in place. ‘We wouldn’t dream of delaying the blushing bride.’
Thea nodded sharply. She was not blushing.
She’d made a promise to herself eight years ago. A decision. And part of that decision meant that Zeke Ashton would never be able to make her blush again.
That part of her life was dead and buried.
Just two days until the wedding. Two more days—that was all. Two days until Thea Morrison got her happily-ever-after.
‘In fact,’ Zeke said, ‘why don’t I walk you there? We can catch up.’
Thea’s jaw clenched. ‘That would be lovely,’ she lied.
Two days and this miserable week would be over. Thea couldn’t wait.
* * *
She barely looked like Thea. With her dark hair straightened and pinned back, her slender arms and legs bronzed to the perfect shade of tan...she looked like someone else. Zeke studied her as she walked ahead of him, long strides clearly designed to get her away from his company as soon as physically possible.
Did she even remember the time when that had been the last thing she’d wanted? When she’d smile and perform her hostess duties at her father’s dinner parties and company barbecues, then sneak off to hide out somewhere private, often dark and cosy, with him...? Whoever she’d pretended to be for their parents—the good girl, the dutiful daughter—when they were alone Zeke had seen the real Thea. Seen glimpses of the woman he’d always believed she’d become.
Zeke shook his head. Apparently he’d been wrong. Those times were gone. And as he watched Thea—all high-heeled sandals, sundress and God only knew what underneath, rather than jeans, sneakers and hot pink knickers—he knew the girl he’d loved was gone, too. The Thea he’d fallen in love with would never have agreed to marry his brother, whatever their respective fathers’ arguments for why it was a good idea. She’d wanted love—true love. And for a few brief months he’d thought she’d found it.
He’d been wrong again, though.
Lengthening his own stride, he caught up to her easily. She might have long legs, but his were longer. ‘So,’ he asked casually, ‘how many people are coming to this shindig, anyway?’
‘Shindig?’ Thea stopped walking. ‘Did you just call my wedding a shindig?’
Zeke shrugged. Nice to know he could still get under her skin so easily. It might make the next couple of days a little more fun. Something had to. ‘Sorry. I meant to say your fairytale-worthy perfect day, when thou shalt join your body in heavenly communion with the deepest love of your heart and soul. How many people are coming to that?’
Colour rose in her cheeks, filling him with a strange sense of satisfaction. It was childish, maybe. But he wasn’t going to let her get away with pretending that this was a real, true love-match. It was business, just like everything else the Morrisons and the Ashtons held dear.
Including him, these days. Even if his business wasn’t the family one any more.
‘Two hundred and sixty-eight,’ Thea said, her tone crisp. ‘At the last count.’
‘Small and intimate, then?’ Zeke said. ‘Just how my father likes things. Where are you putting them all up? I mean, I get that this place is enormous, but still...I can’t imagine your guests doubling up on camp beds on the veranda.’
‘We’ve booked out the hotel down the road. There’ll be executive coaches and cabs running back and forth on the day.’
A small line had formed between her eyebrows, highlighting her irritation. That was new, too.
‘Why do you care, anyway?’
‘I’m the best man,’ he reminded her. ‘It’s my job to know these things.’
That, apparently, was the line that did it. Spinning round to face him straight on, Thea planted her hands on her hips and scowled at him. ‘Why are you here, Zeke? And don’t give me some line about brotherly duties. I know full well what you think about Flynn.’
Did she? Maybe she could enlighten him, then. Zeke had long since given up trying to make sense of his relationship with his adopted brother. After he’d left home he’d spent months lying awake thinking about it. Wondering if he could have changed things if he’d realised sooner, before that last conversation with his father that had driven him away for good... But in the end the past was the past. He’d had to move on. Besides, this wasn’t about him and Flynn. It was about Flynn and Thea.
‘Well, if you’re not going to buy brotherly affection, I doubt you’ll go for family loyalty either.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m far more interested in what our fathers said to get you to agree to marry the Great Pretender.’
‘Don’t call him that,’ Thea snapped. ‘It wasn’t funny when we were kids, and it’s not funny now. And is it so hard to believe that I might actually want to marry Flynn?’
‘Yes,’ Zeke said automatically. And not just because she wasn’t marrying him, whatever his business partner, Deb, said.
‘Well, I do.’ Thea stared at him mulishly, as if she were barely resisting the urge to add, So there!
Zeke leant back against the sunny yellow stone of the hallway, staring down through the arches towards the terrace beyond and the green vines snaking up the trellis. Clearly they were no longer in a hurry to get to the meeting, which gave him a chance to find out what had been going on around here lately.
‘Really?’ he said, folding his arms across his chest. ‘So you’re saying that the fact that your marriage will merge both sides of the business for all time, and give your heirs total control, hasn’t even crossed your mind?’
Thea pulled a face. ‘Of course it has.’
‘And if it hadn’t I’m sure your father would have made it very clear.’ Thomas Morrison was always very good about making his daughter understand the implications of her actions, as Zeke remembered it. Especially when they could benefit him—or threatened to inconvenience him.
‘But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t my decision,’ Thea said.
And suddenly all Zeke could think about was the last decision Thea had made, right before he’d skipped out on the family, the business and the rest of his life.
‘Of course not,’ he said, with a sharp, bitter taste in his mouth at the words. ‘I know you like to weigh your decisions very carefully. Make sure you’re choosing the most beneficial option.’
Thea’s jaw dropped slightly. What? Had she expected him not to notice exactly how mercenary her behaviour was? Maybe eight years ago she might have fooled him, but
he knew better now. He knew exactly what mattered to her—and it wasn’t him.
‘What, exactly, are you trying to say?’ She bit the words out, as if she were barely holding back a tirade of insulted pride. ‘And I’d think very carefully before answering.’
Zeke gave her his most blinding smile. ‘Exactly what you think I’m trying to say. That suddenly it makes an awful lot of sense why you chose to stay here instead of coming away with me eight years ago. What was the point once you knew I wasn’t the heir any more?’ He shrugged, nonchalantly, knowing it would irritate her even more. ‘Gotta say, though...I’m surprised it took you this long to bag Flynn.’
* * *
She was going to explode. Literally just pop with rage and frustration, spilling bitterness and anger all over the expensively rustic scrubbed walls of this beautiful villa.
Except that would probably make Zeke Ashton smirk even more. So, instead, Thea took a deep breath and prepared to lie.
‘As hard as it may be for you to believe, I am in love with your brother.’ Her voice came out calm and cool, and Thea felt a small bubble of pride swelling up amongst all the fury. There’d been a time when any words Zeke had spoken to her had provoked an extreme reaction. When they were kids it had usually been annoyance, or anger. Then, when they were teenagers, that annoyance had suddenly become attraction, and then anger, arousal... By the time he’d left...all sorts of other complicated reactions had come into play.
But not any more. Now she was an adult, in control of her own life and making her own decisions. Zeke Ashton’s barbs and comments had no power over her any longer. It felt incredibly freeing.
‘Love?’ Zeke raised an eyebrow. ‘You know, I’m starting to think you’ve got your definition of that word wrong.’
‘Trust me, I know exactly what it means.’ Love meant the incredible pain of loss when it was gone. Or the uncertainty of never knowing if it was returned. It baffled Thea why so many people thought love was a good thing.
‘Really? Well, I’m sure I’m just thrilled that you’ve finally found true love. Guess I was just a practice run.’
Thea’s stomach rolled at the reminder. It wasn’t that she’d thought he’d forgotten their teenage fling, or even forgiven her for the way it had ended—he’d made it very clear in the half-hour he’d been in the villa that neither had happened. But she hadn’t expected him to want to actually talk about it. Weren’t men supposed to be strong and silent on matters of the heart? Suffering in silence, and all that?
Except Zeke had always loved the sound of his own voice. Apparently that hadn’t changed, even if nearly everything else had.
‘That was a long time ago, Zeke. We were kids.’ Too far in the past to bring up now, surely? Even for Zeke, with his ridiculous need to talk about everything. ‘We’ve both moved on. We’re different people now.’
‘Want to throw in a few more clichés with that?’ Zeke shook his head. ‘Look, you can rewrite history any way you like. And, trust me, I’m not here to try and win you back—even to get one over on Flynn. But you’re not going to convince me that this is anything but a business deal with rings.’
‘You’re wrong,’ Thea lied. ‘And you’ll see that. But...’
‘But?’ Zeke asked, one eyebrow raised again in that mocking expression that drove her crazy. ‘But what?’
‘Even if it was a business deal...what would be wrong with that? As long as we both know what we’re getting into...’ She shrugged. ‘There are worse reasons to get married.’
‘Maybe.’ Zeke gave her a slow smile—the one that used to make her insides melt. ‘But there are so many better reasons, too.’
* * *
‘Like love,’ Thea said, apparently still determined to stick to her story.
Zeke didn’t buy it, and knew he wouldn’t, no matter how hard she tried to convince him. He knew what Thea in love looked like, and this wasn’t it.
At least not his Thea. The old Thea. He shook his head. He couldn’t let doubt in now. The only thing in his life that had never let him down was gut instinct. He had to trust himself, especially since he couldn’t trust anyone else. Not even Thea.
‘Love’s the big one,’ Zeke agreed. ‘But it’s not the only thing that counts. Trust. Respect. Common values—’
‘We have those too,’ Thea broke in.
‘Sexual compatibility,’ Zeke finished, smirking when her mouth snapped shut. ‘That’s always important for long-term happiness, I find.’
Her gaze hardened. ‘Really? And how’s that working out for you? I can’t help but notice you’ve come to my wedding alone, after all.’
He had a comeback for that somewhere, he was sure. But since Flynn arrived at that moment—cool, collected, and always an inch and a half taller than Zeke—he didn’t have to search for it.
‘Zeke! You made it.’ Flynn stepped up and held out a hand, but before Zeke could even take it Thea had latched on to her fiancé’s other arm, smiling up at him in a sickeningly adoring manner.
Keeping the handshake as perfunctory as possible, Zeke moved out of their circle of love and into his own space of scepticism. ‘How could I resist the opportunity to be the best man for once? Might be the only chance I get.’
Flynn’s smile stiffened a little at that, but he soldiered on regardless. Always so keen to play up the family loyalty—to be a part of the family he’d never really thought he belonged in. Zeke would have thought that their father choosing Flynn over him would have gone a long way to convincing his brother that there was only one golden boy in the family, and that blood didn’t matter at all.
‘I wouldn’t want anyone but my brother beside me on such an important day,’ Flynn said.
He didn’t even sound as if he was lying, which Zeke thought was quite an accomplishment.
‘Really? Because I have to admit I was kind of surprised to be asked.’ Zeke glanced at Thea, who gave him an I knew it! look. ‘Not as surprised as Thea was to see me here, of course,’ he added, just because he could. She glared at him, and snuggled closer against Flynn’s arm. There was absolutely no chemistry between them at all. And not a chance in hell they’d ever slept together. What on earth was Thea doing with him?
‘You said he wasn’t coming,’ Thea pointed out—rather accusingly, Zeke thought.
‘I wasn’t sure he would,’ Flynn admitted, glancing down at Thea with an apologetic smile.
Zeke wasn’t sure he liked the idea of them talking about him in his absence. What had she said? How much had she told him?
‘But, Zeke, you were the one who left us, remember? Not the other way round. Of course I asked you. You’re my brother.’
‘And that’s the only reason?’ Zeke asked. An uncomfortable feeling wriggled in his chest at the reminder of his disappearance, but he pushed it aside. He hadn’t had a choice. His father had made his position very clear, and that position had taken any other options Zeke might have had off the table. He’d only hung around long enough to waste his time talking to Thea that same night, then he’d been gone. And nobody looking at Zeke now, at how far he’d come and how much he’d achieved, could say that he’d made a mistake by leaving.
Flynn didn’t answer his question. With a sigh, he said, ‘Dad’s got a dinner planned for tonight, by the way. To welcome you home.’
Zeke appreciated the warning too much to point out that a luxury Tuscan villa belonging to some client or another wasn’t actually ‘home’, no matter how many swimming pools it had. ‘A prodigal son type thing? Hope he’s found a suitably fatted calf.’
‘I’m sure there was some poor animal just begging to be sacrificed on your behalf,’ Thea said. ‘But before then don’t we have a meeting with the wedding planner to get to, darling?’
The endearment sounded unnatural on her tongue, and Flynn actually looked uncomfortable as she said
it. Nobody would ever believe these two actually loved each other or wanted to see each other naked. Watching them, Zeke couldn’t even see that they’d ever met before, let alone been childhood friends. He could imagine them on their wedding night—all unnatural politeness and a wall of pillows down the middle of the bed. If it wasn’t Thea doing the marrying, it would be hilarious.
‘She had to leave,’ Flynn said. ‘But I think we sorted out all the last-minute details. I said you’d call her later if there was anything you were concerned about.’
‘I’m sure it’s all fine,’ Thea said, smiling serenely.
Even that seemed false. Shouldn’t a woman getting married in two days be a little bit more involved in the details?
A door opened somewhere, slamming shut again as Hurricane Helena came blowing through.
‘Are you guys still here?’ she asked, waves of blonde hair bobbing past her shoulders. ‘Shouldn’t you all be getting ready for dinner? Thea, I had the maid press your dress for tonight. It’s hanging in your room. Can I borrow your bronze shoes, though?’
‘Of course,’ Thea said, just as she always had to Helena, ever since their mother had died.
Zeke wondered if she even realised she did it.
‘Come on, I’ll find them for you now.’
As the women made their way down the corridor Helena spun round, walking backwards for a moment. ‘Hope you brought your dinner jacket, Zeke. Apparently this welcome home bash is a formal affair.’
So his father had been sure he’d come, even if no one else had. Why else would he have set up a formal dinner for his arrival?
Helena turned back, slipping a hand through her sister’s arm and giggling. Thea, Zeke couldn’t help but notice, didn’t look back at all.
Beside him, Flynn gave him an awkward smile. He’d always hated having to wear a bow tie, Zeke remembered suddenly. At least someone else would be miserable that evening.