Past Lies

by Kim Rees

  Her eyes shot open. “Zach.” She yanked the crumpled duvet over her nakedness, gripping it beneath her chin. Her face burned scarlet. “Get out.”

  “Carl Petersen just phoned.”

  The colour faded from her face and she picked at the ironed cover of the duvet. “What’s he said now?”

  Zach couldn’t help the hard smile. He stood. And tried not to remember the silky curve of her very bare flesh. “More dark secrets you’re hiding?”

  “Probably nowhere as many as you.”

  “Possibly.” He stared out of the wide window, following the line of oaks bordering a mud-thick lane. It was easier. He couldn’t look at her. “He just wanted to confirm that we hadn’t killed each other.”

  “There’s still time.”

  He ran his fingers through his damp hair. He’d showered and shaved. It still unnerved him that Gregory had stocked the bathroom cabinet with his brand of razors. That wasn’t the only thing he’d found.

  Had it been his old friend’s plan to try to push them together? However, he and Anna had too much history, too many sour memories. Nothing would make them work. He should accept it.

  Anna broke into his thoughts.

  “David also rang. He’s somewhere south of Canterbury. So he’s about twenty minutes away.”

  Anna shrugged into a white dressing gown and wrapped the belt tight around her waist.

  Accept it and walk away.

  But morning sunlight edged her soft features and sleep had tousled her hair. Zach wanted to stroke the blush to her cheek, trace her mouth… Yes, walking away wasn’t that easy. It never had been. He scrubbed at his face. He needed sleep. He wasn’t thinking straight.

  “He didn’t reveal more of our dirty little secrets, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Anna masked a yawn. “I need coffee.”

  She padded out of the bedroom without a backward glance.

  Zach ignored the tight fist in his chest. Damn the woman. If he was to walk away, he needed answers. He knew now he’d wanted them for six long years. “Anna.”

  “Coffee.” She waved her hand and increased her pace down the stairs.

  His solicitors were already working to overturn Gregory’s ridiculous will.

  He had only twenty minutes before his chauffeur turned up.

  She would tell him the truth.

  Anna made herself look busy. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to Zach. He was hovering in the doorway. Emotion bubbled and she focused on the kettle, willing it to boil. She would remain calm.

  “Why did you use him?”

  “Can we leave this?” She tore open a packet of coffee and dumped scoops into the French press. She was in control. He would not get to her. “I’m reconciled to losing the house.” Her smile twisted. “Stupid to hang onto the past. Even if Gregory tried his best to make this place a home again.”

  “Why did you use him?”

  Again, he asked the question in calm, measured tones.

  With too much force, Anna squashed the coffee. She took an easing breath and poured it into a mug. She drank it black and shuddered. “Asking me the same thing over and over—”

  “Why him?” He took the mug from her hand and put it back on the counter. “I deserve to know.”

  The arrogant— Anna bit down on the fury that wanted to explode against him. “I owe you nothing.”

  “What did you want to prove?” He lifted an eyebrow and there was a harsh glitter to his gaze. “That anyone was preferable to me?”

  Anna stared at the mug, itching to pick it up again. She needed to do something with her hands. “No.”

  Zach’s fingers on her jaw made her look at him. “Why?”

  “Because you used me!”

  Anna wrenched herself free. Stupid to say that. Stupid.

  “Used you?”

  She tried to retreat but Zach stalked her down the long kitchen. Today, there was nowhere for her to run. He would not get the truth out of her. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing her feelings. How he would laugh then. And she couldn’t love him. It was impossible.

  All right, turn it around. Anna grabbed at the ridiculous. “You attacked Freddie because you were jealous.”

  That stopped him. He froze and blinked. “Jealous?”

  “Yes, you couldn’t bear to see me with another man. Nobody betrays you, Zach. Isn’t that what you keep saying? To be betrayed you have to care.”

  He hadn’t looked so stunned since she’d smacked him.

  “Now what are you going to do to make it up to Freddie?”

  “I already have.” Murmured words, hardly heard.

  “You have?”

  “What?” Zach rubbed his hands over his neck. “Yes. I offered him a commission. Anna, why did you flaunt him?”

  Back to the same topic. “Why did you overreact?”

  Why had he? He knew. Now.

  Seeing her with a boy, half naked. He could still feel the surge of fury. He had to stop Freddie from making the same mistake that he had. Couldn’t he see she was poison? They were thoughts that buried the truth, because the truth hurt much more.

  Another woman he cared for had betrayed him.

  “My wife. My ex-wife.”

  Anna blinked.

  Time to tell her the truth. Then it might dull the old pain burning in his chest.

  “I never knew. I thought that we were perfect, that our life was perfect. I was rich and successful. So was she.” He paused and stared down at the floor. “But I wasn’t enough for her.”

  Anna’s heart twisted at the pain in his voice. She didn’t want to feel sorry for him. She didn’t. But her feet moved her forward until she was so close that her hand reached out and took his. The warmth of contact made Zach meet her gaze.

  “I found her. With a man who used to be my friend. Nathan Alexander. She was…” His eyes glittered and anger, bitterness burned there. “She had another man in her mouth.”

  “That’s why you didn’t—” Anna stopped more words.

  His smile was wry. “Yes, a stupid overreaction, but then that’s what I do best.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  “Anna…” He tilted her chin. “And then I saw you at that infamous Christmas party. You were so beautiful, so incredible. I thought that you… Well, it doesn’t matter. I found you with Freddie. It was over.

  “From then on, I regulated my relationships.”

  Anna’s heart was pounding. “You wanted more?”

  “Who wouldn’t want you, Anna?”

  The words caught a hitch in her chest.

  “I’m sure every man you’ve slept with did.”

  She stood back from him. “You still don’t believe me.”

  His hand slid over her jaw, her cheek, his thumb tracing over her mouth. Her skin prickled at his touch. There was a shadow to his gaze and it made Anna uneasy. He gave her a brief smile. “It doesn’t matter. I would never expect to control anything you do.”

  Had he just, very politely, thrown her out of his life?

  “Zach…”

  “Hello? Mr. Quinn? The door was open!” David ran a hand over his windswept hair and stood in the kitchen doorway. His expression was neutral, but his gaze fixed on Zach alone. The awkwardness of the situation prickled over her skin. “I parked the car around the back, sir.”

  “Thank you, David.” Zach gave him a tight smile. “Wait for us there, please.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Anna let out an unconsciously held breath as Zach’s chauffeur disappeared. “Well, we haven’t much to take with us.” She was already retreating back along the kitchen. She needed space from him. What he had said made no sense. And still he dismissed her attempts to share the truth with him.

  “Anna.”

  “Zach.” She waved back to the doorway and the stairs beyond. “I need to get dressed.” She tugged at the belt so that it dug tight into her waist. “I want to get this over with. Move on.”

  He stared
at her. “Move on?”

  The edge to his voice hitched her breath in her throat. Damn it, the man confused her. “We’re both tired. Our ride is here. We get ready. We leave.”

  “This isn’t over.”

  His voice trailed after her. Anna gripped the banister and hauled herself up the narrow stairs. “Why do I feel like this will never be over?” she muttered.

  ˜™

  “Ready?”

  Zach was waiting for her when she opened her bedroom door. There really was no escaping the man. It was a pity that Gregory, for all of his advance planning, hadn’t thought to supply her with fresh clothing. An uncomfortable thought made her blush. Perhaps he had been planning on her not needing any.

  She ran a hand over the shoulder strap of her dress. “Ready.”

  He stood back.

  Letting out a nervous breath, Anna descended the stairs, shoes in hand. There was no sense in crippling herself yet. “Are you going to try to reason with Carl?”

  Zach was a silent shadow behind her. His brooding quiet made her skin itch. Then his voice came from the darkness. “What would be the point?”

  Anna stopped herself from turning and staring at him. There had been a spark of anger in his tone. Zach wanted to rile her. She would not give him the satisfaction. She knew with certainty now where their anger ended. No, she was not thinking about that.

  Instead, she followed the labyrinth of doors to the small courtyard at the back of the house. Through the French doors, on the clean flags, sat Zach’s Bentley, the engine ticking over.

  Anna slipped on her shoes and winced against the cut of the leather into her bare feet.

  “I thought you would have been used to them.”

  Anna went on ignoring him.

  “You’re Sophia’s right hand. Attending everything that she had you organise. Or was it the fact that you weren’t on your feet that much?”

  “Have you finished?”

  The door key was on the sill. She snatched it up. The chill morning wind whipped through the thinness of her dress and she shivered. She banged the door shut and locked it.

  “No.”

  “What is your problem?”

  “You have always been my problem.”

  She gave him a sharp smile. “Again. Snap.”

  The chauffeur stood beside the car, a door open. Zach waved for her to get inside. Anna pulled the seat belt over her chest and relaxed back into the cool leather. The door clunked shut. Anna closed her eyes. This was the old Zach, the Zach she was used to. There had been a brief twenty-four hour interlude of another man. Her mouth curled. Not exactly a whole day.

  “So are you happy you won?” Zach clicked the seat belt. He stared straight ahead of him, his features a mask of stone.

  Anna couldn’t help looking at David. This was Zachary Quinn, possibly one of the most private men on the planet, and he was sniping at her in front of the staff. “Would the truth make any difference?”

  Zach snorted. “It would be…novel.”

  “Did I miss something? Has today not happened?”

  Zach ran a hand through his still damp hair. His attention had turned to the window, to the slow slide of the stone that marked the edge of the estate. “Wouldn’t that be nice.”

  Anna’s stared at the seat in front of her and ignored the pain that tightened in her chest. She didn’t know him at all. It wasn’t a lie when she said, “Yes.”

  She let her head fall back against the headrest.

  Anna had promised herself that she would not regret her time with Zach.

  Closing her eyes, the touch of his fingers, the slide of his skin over hers still prickled her body with awareness. No, she didn’t regret it. How could she? The itch had been properly scratched. She shifted in her seat and was aware of Zach’s gaze moving back to her. “What?”

  “You sighed.”

  Had she?

  “Well, I’d call it more than a sigh.”

  “Would you?”

  He wasn’t the only one who could be pigheaded.

  “Anna…”

  “What?”

  Zach scrubbed at his face. “I’m being an idiot.”

  “Really?”

  He cursed under his breath. “Fine.”

  She could feel his glare, goose bumps rising, but she would not look at him. He edged close and his breath stirred her too-sensitive skin. His voice was just above a harsh whisper, as if he suddenly remembered where he was. “I am contesting this will, Anna. Sofia will get nothing. And you?” He paused and heat melted through her at the almost touch of his lips over the shell of her ear. “You, you’ll get what you deserve.”

  There was a sudden ache in her chest as her heart missed a beat.

  She swallowed and willed herself to breathe normally.

  Zach shifted back into his seat.

  She risked a glance and found him staring out at the flash by of farmland. His face had set into the familiar hard mask.

  You’ll get what you deserve.

  Was that a threat? Or a promise?

  Chapter Twelve

  “Good. You’re here.” Carl Petersen waved them out of the lift and towards his office.

  “In one piece, you mean.” Zach stood back from her. His deliberate distance was painful. Anna had to accept that there would be nothing more between them. And she should be relieved. She just wished there wasn’t a burning hole in her chest.

  The solicitor dabbed at his reddened forehead with a handkerchief. “That too.” He stared back along the silent corridor and a pained expression crossed his face. “There are more forfeits.”

  She winced at the run of Zach’s cursing. “What now?”

  Carl handed her a letter with Gregory’s familiar scrawl. Despite the games he was playing with her life, she couldn’t stop her fingers running over her name. Her throat tightened. Anna closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath.

  “Anna?”

  The brief touch of Zach’s fingertips on her bare shoulder shot her eyes open. “It’s nothing.” Quickly, she tore open the envelope, pulled out a thick, folded piece of paper and scanned its contents. She thought about using some of Zach’s more colourful curses. “Where is she?”

  “She’s camped in my office.” Carl flushed at his choice of words. Anna felt sorry for the man, Gregory was stressing his life too.

  “Thank you.” Anna handed him the letter and straightened her spine. “I suppose it is time.”

  “What?” Zach’s hand closed around her arm. The heat of his touch prickled her skin. Anna willed herself to ignore it. “Who?”

  She pulled her arm free. “Gregory wants me to have a chat with his wife.”

  “This is beyond ridiculous.”

  “I have to follow Mr. Brabant’s wishes.” Carl winced. “As…uncomfortable…as they have become.”

  “If this is what he wants…” She lifted her shoulders and started the long walk to Carl’s office. Gregory, you are insane. You really are. She stopped before the closed door and made her hand move to the cold doorknob. It twisted.

  “This is completely stupid!” Sofia declared, waving a thick sheet of cream paper at her sister. “‘You have something to say to me?’ And that buffoon of a solicitor said Gregory was in his right mind. Right mind my—”

  “Sofia.” Anna closed the door. She willed her hand to let go of the doorknob. “Carl’s just doing his job.”

  Sofia muttered something foul and flopped into a chair. She pulled at a strand of her long, blonde hair and stared at it. “He orders me, me here at this Godforsaken hour. You’ll have to apologise to Sean. I’ll miss his appointment now. The man will dye my hair green next time he sees me.”

  Anna let out a slow breath and allowed her sister to rant. Sofia was unapproachable before noon on any day of the week. But Saturday, it wasn’t worth your eardrums tackling her before three. “Gregory left me a note too.”

  “And it said what?” Sofia launched herself out of the chair and headed for the arrangem
ent of glasses and bottles on a cabinet. She lifted a bottle and glared at the label. “You’d think he’d have something of better quality to offer his clients. He charges enough.”

  All right, she had to follow Gregory’s instructions. Time to untangle the lies.

  “I reacted on instinct.” Anna slipped her feet out of her stupid sandals and curled her toes into the deep carpet. “I thought it would stop me getting too close to him. I trusted Isabelle. I thought she was a friend. Turns out she was more your friend.”

  Sofia twisted off the bottle cap and poured the water into a tumbler. “What are you rambling about? You’re worse than Carl.”

  “She told me that Zach liked virgins.” Anna didn’t miss the smirk that briefly touched her sister’s lips. “Her idea. Or yours?”

  “His.” She sipped her water and turned to face her. “I know about his little problem with women. He prefers lack of sexual experience in a partner so they will never know—”

  “Stop.” Anger curled tight in her gut. “Stop the lies now.”

  Sofia smiled around her glass. “So touchy about him, Anna. But then you always have been.”

  “So you thought you’d give my idiocy a hand.”

  “I thought that you wanted to have some fun,” Sofia said, settling herself back into her chair. She crossed her legs and twitched her skirt over her knee. “That you’d stopped being a silly frump. You just needed a little push.”

  “A push?” Anna moved forward. Her body felt awkward, years of Sofia’s put-downs tightening every muscle. But Gregory was right. The words of his letter repeated in her head.

  You want to escape? Then stop pretending to be something you never have been. See Sofia. It seems neither of you could see sense over this.

  “Without your help, I would have seen sense earlier, stopped—”

  “And you can stop blaming me, Anna.” Her gaze flicked over her body. “You’re a grown woman. So, I had fun spreading a few rumours about you. So what? That people believed them has always amazed me.”

  Sofia was right.

  She had been too much of a coward. Afraid of pulling away, of blaming everything on her sister’s tight grip. She was right…but that didn’t mean that what Sofia had done was right. “You didn’t have fun, Sofia. It was spiteful.” She stopped in front of her and watched as Sofia ran a taloned fingertip around the rim of the glass. The action threw her mind back to the bar, to Nathan. Heat fired through her face. “You.” She swallowed the raw taste of bile. “You pushed all those odious men at me. I spend most of my time at any event fighting off your friends.”