The Executive's Decision ~The Sweetened Version~ (The Keller Family Series)

by Marie, Bernadette

  “You would.”

  “Oui,” she promised.

  Zach took a deep breath. He’d confided in Simone since they were children at school together. No matter what he said, she’d see through him if he lied, as easily as his mother could.

  “I can’t get her out of my mind, but at the moment I don’t think she’s fond of me.”

  “I will talk to her.” She pushed at a dark curl that had inched toward her face.

  “No, you won’t.” That was the last thing he needed. If Simone showed up at Regan’s desk demanding she be nice to him, Regan would come unglued. And who would blame her? “She’s done all she can to keep her distance, but last night we kissed.”

  Simone applauded with the tips of her fingers in celebration. “That is wonderful.”

  “It was wonderful. But she bolted out of the office, and then this morning I was cold to her.”

  “Salopard!” She shook her head at him, then said in English, “You must apologize. If you love this woman, you must go after her.”

  “Wait!” He held up his hands and shook his head. “I didn’t say I love her.” That might be moving too fast for even him. He liked to build big and wait it out.

  “You did not have to.” Her eyes became soft behind the shield of long dark lashes. She eased back in her chair and tilted her head to the side as she sized him up. “Zachary Benson, I have known you too long for you to sit and lie to me.”

  “I didn’t realize that was what I was doing.”

  “Well then, if not to me, to yourself.” She drank down the rest of her mimosa. “What are you doing here with me? Go to her.”

  “No.” He was cool and he shifted to let the waiter set his plate in front of him. “I’m leaving town today. This wouldn’t be the time to get into it with her.”

  “You are leaving town on business?”

  “Yes, I’ll do some business while I’m there.”

  “Ah, you are leaving town to get away from her.” She stabbed a finger in his direction.

  “And I thought I could sneak that past you.” He laughed and she shook her head.

  “Nothing passes by me, mon ami.” She waved a hand in the air. “Where are you going?” she asked with a raised brow.

  He was already wincing. “I’m going to Kansas City.”

  “What?” Her eyes flew open. “Oh, you are not going to see her! That… that…”

  “No,” he said calmly, but he knew the mere mention of the city would receive that kind of reaction from her. “That was three years ago, Simone. I haven’t seen her since you put an end to it.”

  “Good. Senator’s daughter or not, she was using you.”

  “Perhaps.” And he knew that she had. It had been his only serious relationship. It was the only time he’d let his mother choose the woman he’d be with. He’d promised himself he’d choose the next one.

  Simone shook her head. “What would you do without me alleviating you of useless women?”

  “I don’t suppose I’ll ever know.”

  “Correct.”

  Zach sipped at his own mimosa as the waiter filled their water goblets. He couldn’t remember a day when Simone Pierpont hadn’t been his best friend. A sexy French woman as his dearest friend could come in handy when he needed it to, but he wondered what Regan would think of her.

  Regan. He set down his glass. He hadn’t left her on good terms that morning, and the last thing he’d mentioned to her was meeting Simone.

  Reluctantly Regan drove to the Benson Estate for lunch with Audrey on Saturday morning. She’d spent a restless night trying to tell herself it didn’t matter that Zach Benson had some French tart on the side. Regan wasn’t seeing him. She’d done her best to let him know she wouldn’t be either. But to have kissed her and then flaunt the name Simone Pierpont in her face, well, that was too much. Regan had a computer and Internet access. She’d gotten quite a lesson on the oil heiress and her lengthy list of affairs.

  Her breath caught as she drove down the road toward the beautiful house at the end of the tree-lined drive. She was in paradise, and the pinching between her shoulder blades from her bad attitude released.

  Gardens were blooming around the circle drive at the entrance. The floral aroma filled her senses and made the bouquet of mixed flowers she’d brought for Audrey seem inadequate.

  She climbed from the car, stood in the vast openness, and took in the view. Horses grazed in meadows on either side of the house. The leaves rustled in the light breeze, and the sounds of a rippling creek nearby calmed her instantly. She was right in the place she’d always dreamed of being. Tennessee sprawling land and rocking chairs on the porch. She was very happy to have made friends with Audrey Benson.

  When she rang the doorbell, a handsome man with eyes that matched Zachary's answered the door.

  “You must be Regan,” he said.

  “Yes.”

  He extended his hand. “Tyler Benson.”

  “It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “Please come in.” She walked into the entrance of the grand house with a smile.“Audrey is expecting you on the patio.”

  Regan followed him down the hallway to an enormous kitchen and out the back door. Beyond the patio more rose bushes were in full bloom. Acreage spilled out before her with a grove of trees beyond the first field that hid the creek she could hear. Audrey awaited her next to the pool on a lounge.

  “Oh, Regan, you’re here!” She stood, her sunglasses hiding her eyes and the large brim of her hat shielding her face. She kissed both of Regan’s cheeks.

  “Thank you for the invitation. These are for you.” She handed her the bouquet.

  “Oh, aren’t you just the sweetest thing.” Audrey buried her nose in the flowers and then looked around. “Where is Zachary?”

  “Zachary?” Her jaw tightened at the mere mention of his name. “I wasn’t aware he was coming to lunch.”

  “That little…” She cut herself off and waved a hand to clear the air. “Well, let’s have some wine.” She took Regan’s arm and escorted her to a shaded lounge by the pool.

  Audrey was easy with conversation. Her favorite topic, of course, was her son, and it made Regan relax into the lounge and laugh effortlessly when she went into detail about his antics at boarding school when he ran naked across the school grounds.

  “Mom, you tell that story like you were there.” Zach walked toward, them smiling. “How come you tell people that story? Don’t you want them to like me?” He looked at Regan. “She forgot to add I was chasing the dog who ran off with my clothes after I took a dip in the river.”

  Audrey smiled, sipped her wine, and then let her face grow concerned. “Where have you been?” She stood and kissed him on the cheeks.

  Regan stood out of manners, unsure how she was supposed to react to him. She was still angry with him. The anger, though she’d been laughing, swelled when she realized Simone Pierpont had to have been part of the story Audrey had just shared. Just the sight of him standing there so casually with a glass of wine in his hands, as though he hadn’t kissed her and then gone straight to his mistress, made her want to run.

  Audrey sat back down on her lounge chair. “I told you to bring Regan to lunch. Not have her meet you here.”

  “I wasn’t sure I’d be back from my trip on time.” He shifted his eyes to Regan. “But Regan is very good with her scheduling.” He smiled at her. He looked so full of himself, so powerful. “How are you?”

  “Fine, thank you.” She was cordial, but her muscles had gone tense, and a headache formed at the base of her neck.

  “Well, let me go check on lunch. The two of you relax.” Audrey stood and passed by Zach as Regan dropped to the lounge, kicked up her feet, and drank down her wine quickly without looking at him.

  “You’re going to pass out drinking that fast,” he warned as he lifted the bottle from the small table and topped off her glass.

  “Good.”

  “You’re still mad at me.” He sipped his wine
, looking out over the pool.

  “Ya think?”

  Zach turned to her and smiled. “You know, your forehead wrinkles up when you’re angry.” She rubbed her fingers over her forehead to smooth it out. “No use.” He laughed. “I can read you.”

  “Who do you think you are?” She stood and kept her eyes narrow. “You kiss me, after I tell you I’m not going to see you socially.”

  “You kissed me back, Regan.”

  She huffed. “Then you run though a list of things to do and run out of town, after having some intimate breakfast with some French floozy?”

  “Now, she’s not a floozy.”

  His face had actually softened. There was something deeper with Simone Pierpont than just casual sex, or whatever it might be. It twisted her gut. “You’re impossible.”

  “Yes, I’ve been told that.” He smiled and eased back on the lounge.

  “Why did you even tell me to be here? Did you just want to humiliate me in front of your mother?” Her hand had begun to shake. She set her glass of wine on the table between the lounges.

  “I don’t think I could do that. She likes you too much.”

  “She was expecting you to walk through the door with me,” she whispered through gritted teeth. “Why would she want you to be with me? What did you tell her?”

  “I didn’t tell her anything.”

  “I don’t believe you.” He was just another man who thought he could control everyone, including her and his mother. Regan crossed her arms over her chest.

  He shrugged. “Well then, I guess you’ll have to think I’m lying.”

  She blew out a breath. “I think we need to talk about it.” She looked out over the pool. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with her employer. She’d been very specific about her feelings, so why had he pushed it? Why had he kissed her?

  “Okay, talk.”

  She spun her head his direction to give him an earful, but Audrey appeared. “Lunch is ready.”

  Regan sat next to Zach, with his parents across from them. Doing her best to take an interest in what was said at the table, she focused on Audrey’s gossip about the country club and even managed to force a smile when she casually spoke of Simone Pierpont. But the fight to stifle the physical desire that burned inside of her, with Zach sitting so close to her, was killing her. She just wanted lunch to be over so she could go home and leave the day behind her. She wasn’t happy with herself for getting so worked up over the kiss, her departure from his office, or the fact that Zach had had breakfast with that Frenchwoman whom his mother spoke of so easily. However, the heat from his body and his lingering stare made it difficult to breathe or concentrate on anything beyond getting through the meal.

  When lunch was finished, Zach brought out another bottle of wine. Once the bottle was empty, Regan was sure she’d be free to go. She enjoyed the company of Zach’s parents, but walking away, giving Zach the cold shoulder, would be even better than the taste of the expensive wine he’d served.

  Audrey let out a loud sigh and patted her cheeks. “I think I’ve had too much wine and too much sun today. Tyler, would you walk me upstairs. I think I’d like to lie down.”

  He stood as though it were part of the protocol.

  Regan also stood. “Thank you so much for having me.”

  “Oh, you’re staying.” Audrey smiled and Regan took a breath to speak. “I’ve bought a beautiful pie. You told me you loved pie.” She winked and Regan closed her open mouth. “I won’t be too long. Zachary, you show her around. Take her through the gardens and out to the stables. Run along.”

  Zach stood and kissed his mother’s cheek before his father led her away.

  Regan watched him with his mother. He was a different in her presence than he was in the office. He was gentle and loving when he was caring for someone. The executive was about the contract, the timeline, and the money. Only someone with a genuine heart cared for his mother in a way that was obvious to an onlooker, but then again she’d seen it before. The powerful man who could be vicious on the business end and on the home front act as though he were a decent and loving man.

  But there was something in Zach Benson’s eyes that hadn’t been in Alexander Hamilton’s. A compassion she wanted to believe was genuine.

  “C’mon,” he said, taking hold of her hand.

  “I will not.” She took her hand back and looked at him. Even if she believed he was capable of separating the power of the businessman from the sincerity of a lover, she had to be true to herself.

  She needed to leave, quickly. She’d wanted to leave him alone, ready to console himself with his French mistress, but a little part of her wanted him to long for her after she left. “She wants me to show you around, let’s go.” He gave a nod toward the door, and she could see that his executive attitude could cross the threshold of the home.

  “Fine.” She folded her arms to keep them closed around her. “I’ll let you show me around, but you keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Regan.” He stepped closer to her, raising his hand to her hair. “Are you sure that’s what you want me to do?” He slid his fingers to her cheek.

  A shudder of anticipation ran through her. No, she didn’t want him to keep his hands to himself. She wanted them to roam all over her. She squeezed her eyes shut. It had to go away. Her longing for him had to go away.

  “Regan.” She opened her eyes and looked at him. He offered her his arm. “Let’s take a walk.”

  They started in Audrey’s rose garden, and despite Regan’s best efforts to retain an icy demeanor, Zach’s undemanding conversation melted her defenses.

  “This is lovely.” She could smell the fragrance of the roses all around her. It would be a wonderful place to spend all of her days. There was every color rose imaginable. “How does she take care of all this?”

  “She sits in that lounge chair and watches someone do it for her,” he whispered.

  “Oh.” She nodded with a smile. “So this is where you grew up?”

  “When I wasn’t at boarding school.”

  “That’s right. That’s why you don’t have an accent?”

  “What?” He looked down at her as they walked.

  “I assume the schools weren’t around here? You don’t have a southern sound.” She turned up her own accent.

  “No, mademoiselle, my accent is French.”

  She swallowed back the vile reminder of Simone’s voice on the phone. His accent was perfect, just like hers. The thought was unsettling.

  “Tell me something in French,” she said, in an attempt to rid herself of unwanted jealousy.

  He spun her around to face him. He stroked her hair. “J'aime vos cheveux quand le soleil les caresse.”

  “Wow.” She sighed.

  “I’m full of surprises.”

  She was sure he was. “What did you say?”

  “I like your hair when the sun caresses it.”

  She sucked in a breath and let the beauty of his sentiment ease her into being with him.

  With a wink, he interlaced their fingers and continued toward the stables.

  Regan looked back at the house as they walked further from it. “Remember when you asked me where I’d like to live?” He nodded. “I think this is heaven.”

  “I could make arrangements for you to live in the house They have a room for rent,” he joked as they entered the stable.

  The horse on the far end of the stables pranced around in its stall as they walked closer, then moved to the gate, shaking its golden mane in a hello.

  “You’d think it’s been years since you saw me.” He patted the nose of the horse.

  “This one is yours, I take it?”

  “Yes. Isn’t she beautiful?” He ran his hand down her neck, giving her a hearty pat on the side.

  “I don’t know much about horses.”

  “Oh, well she’s a palomino quarter horse.”

  Regan nodded with a laugh. “Got it.”

  “She was mine f
rom the moment she took her first step.” His eyes settled on the horse as she’d seen Carlos’s when he’d watch his children do something new. “Would you like to go for a ride?” He looked down at her.

  The thought of sitting so high on the large animal with Zach pressed up close to her made her entire body quiver. That was too intimate. “No.” Her voice was unsteady. “Not today. I’d like to keep walking if that’s okay.”

  “Sure. We haven’t even made it to the creek yet.”

  She longed to see the creek that wandered through the land. The sound of it was bold, rolling along, not held back, but she’d yet to actually see it through the trees.

  Behind the stable was path that wound its way through the tall grasses that lay before them. He looked down at her shoes. “We could go back and get the cart my dad drives out this way. Your sandals might not survive the dirt and rocks.”

  She had to laugh at his concern for her footwear. She reached down, holding to his arm for balance, and pulled the shoes from her feet. “Then you won’t mind if I take them off. They’re horribly uncomfortable.”

  “Now we can’t race.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” she said, then took off as quickly as she could.

  He followed her, running in his dress shoes until he caught her and scooped her off her feet.

  She let out a squeal and then laughed until he set her on her feet just as they cleared the trees that gave way to the creek.

  Once she caught her breath, she took in the tranquility of the quaint spot. The large sycamore trees, with their full branches of thick green leaves, by the water’s edge created a cool green hideaway, and an enormous boulder sat in the middle of the water.

  He pulled of his shoes and socks then rolled up his pant legs. “C’mon, we’re going in.”

  “No I’m not.”

  “I’m your boss. Do it.”

  She gave him a narrow-eyed look, irritated that after he’d held her hand, and carried her through the grass, he’d even say that. But she gathered her skirt in her hand and followed him to the bank of the creek.

  Zach took her hand again, gently, and pulled her near him as they started toward the creek. “There are stones here in the shallow part to help you get to the boulder.”