Framed and Hung

by Alexis Fleming

  ‘My Jake? Never!’

  If Rachel was determined to spill the beans, it was better if Zoe did it and tried to minimise any damage. She really didn’t want Jessie to think badly of her son.

  ‘Um, Jake asked me to have a shot at doing his portrait. I told him it wasn’t something I was very accomplished at, but he seemed to have faith in me.’

  She paused, but Jessie nodded at her to continue.

  ‘I…I overheard Jake at lunchtime talking to Simon. He only asked me because he wanted me to fail, then you wouldn’t want to hang his painting. So much for faith…’ She let her voice trail off, not certain why it mattered so much.

  Ah hell, who was she lying to? It mattered because for the first time since her divorce, she had started to think of new beginnings. What was worse? She had started to trust again, to open herself up to a man. And he did this to her?

  Jessie’s eyes opened wide. ‘Oooh, that crafty — no wonder you got so mad. I don’t blame you, but it might be time to paint it out now. Good thing Jake’s not due back until tomorrow. I suspect he might be the one pissed off. He’s in the public eye what with running for council, but he does like to keep his private life just that — private.’

  Before Zoe could nod her agreement, there was an indignant yell from the women in front of the billboard.

  ‘Hoy, what do you think you’re doing? Stop that.’

  Zoe spun about to see a tall woman pushing Maisie and her friends out of the way. Tall, blonde, with a sophisticated veneer evident in her stylish mini-skirted suit and perfectly applied make-up, she cast Maisie a look filled with disdain and elbowed her out of the way. Zoe wanted to slap her face for treating the old woman that way.

  ‘Oh, no,’ Jessie moaned. ‘Not Ms Murphy.’

  ‘Who is she? She looks like a bit of a bitch.’ Rachel scowled as she marched towards the newcomer, Zoe by her side.

  Jessie trotted to keep up with the girls. ‘That’s Tanya Murphy and she is a bitch. She’s also the other candidate for the one and only spot vacant on the council and you can guarantee she’ll find a way to use this.’

  Tanya cleared a space in front of the billboard and gestured behind her. A young man, camera in hand, stepped up beside her and snapped away at the caricature Zoe had painted. Tanya stood back out of his way, arms crossed under her bigger-than-average bust, glossy handbag dangling from one hand, and a satisfied smirk on her face.

  ‘Oh, no, that’s Brad Turner, the journalist from the local smut rag. God help us now. This is just the ammunition Tanya needs to try to force Jake out of the elections.’ Jessie ground to a halt, hand covering her mouth as she stared at the scene playing out in front of her.

  Oh crap, I really have screwed up. Zoe’s heart felt like a lead weight in her chest. She’d been hurt and angry, but no way would she have set out to damage Jake’s chances in the council elections.

  Tanya waved her fingers at Jessie and called out, ‘Tell Jake to check out the morning edition. I’m sure he’ll find it very illuminating.’ She turned, and ushering the journalist in front of her, started to push her way through the crowd.

  Zoe saw red. Damn it, the woman was a bitch and no way was she getting away with this.

  She plunged through the group of people, aiming for the journalist. Maybe she could grab the camera and delete the photos. It was worth a shot anyway.

  As she reached for the arm holding the camera, Tanya stepped in and tried to nudge her away. That was when Zoe realised Rachel had been with her every step of the way. She barrelled into Tanya, knocking her backwards.

  Tanya floundered, arms flailing as she struggled to catch her balance on needle-point high heels. Her handbag went flying, adding to the chaos as it hit the ground and burst open, spraying its contents in an untidy arc of makeup, keys and papers. During the resultant melee, the guy with the camera jerked away from Zoe and took off running.

  ‘Now look what you’ve done,’ Tanya screeched. ‘I’ll have you up for assault.’

  Maisie jumped in front of Rachel. ‘We didn’t see any assault, did we, girls? Rachel can’t help being clumsy and banging into you. A lawyer wouldn’t touch that with a barge pole.’

  ‘Get out of my way so I can collect my belongings,’ Tanya snarled, pushing past Maisie again.

  Feeling bad about the way things had panned out, Zoe dropped to her haunches to help Tanya. Rachel did her bit, too, going after a couple of lipsticks that had rolled away.

  The papers from Tanya’s bag — receipts, letters and what looked like glossy photos — had ended up everywhere. Zoe scrambled about collecting them. As she stacked them into a tidy pile, she happened to glance at the top one.

  Oh, my! She’d just found the perfect way to fight this nasty woman and maybe stop Jake having to deal with the fallout.

  Her back to Tanya, she shuffled through the pile of papers in her hand, extracting all the photos she could find. Then she plopped down on her rear end, the glossy prints hidden beneath her.

  ‘Give me those,’ Tanya’s strident voice snapped over her shoulder.

  Zoe was happy to oblige. She held the letters and receipts up and Tanya snatched them from her hand before turning and marching off. Zoe remained sitting in the dust.

  Now the kerfuffle was over, the crowd melted away, although a small knot of people still hovered on the footpath, laughing at the painting. Zoe wasn’t game to move until she could retrieve the photos without anyone noticing. At least, until she made certain she’d actually seen what she thought she had.

  ‘Hey, you going to sit there all day?’ Rachel bent over her, frowning.

  Zoe motioned for her friend to squat down in front of her. ‘I’ll lift up and I want you to slide your hand under my butt and grab what I’m sitting on, okay?’

  Rachel snorted. ‘Are you kidding? We have a ghost that pinches female butts and now you want me to grope yours? Girl, I think I’d better have a chat with your Jake. He must be falling down on the job.’

  ‘Get serious, Rachel. I…ah, I didn’t give Tanya back all her belongings. I think I’ve found something we can use to take Tanya out of the race.’

  Eyebrows raised, Rachel did what Zoe asked. While Zoe lurched to her knees, Rachel looked over the half dozen photos.

  Her friend let out a whistle. ‘The lady likes a bit of the rough stuff by the looks of these.’

  Zoe shook her head as she looked the photos over. Tanya was barely clothed. What looked like a tiny black leather thong covered her pubic area and left the cheeks of her ass open to view.

  The bra was a series of straps — probably leather, too — that crossed between her breasts and then snaked beneath them and over her shoulders, leaving the ample flesh swinging free. A studded metal collar hugged her throat and thigh-high black boots moulded her calves and emphasised the length of her legs.

  The outfit didn’t really shock Zoe. She didn’t mind a bit of kink now and then, with the right guy, of course, and it didn’t particularly worry her if others were into BDSM. Each to his, or her, own.

  What did shock Zoe, though, was the photo that depicted Tanya bending over an office desk, bare ass pointed towards an older man. A man dressed in scarlet boxers caught in the act of bringing a flogger down over that snow-white butt. A man Zoe was sure she recognised.

  ‘Is that who I think it is?’ she whispered.

  ‘Oh my God, that’s the mayor. She’s having an affair with the mayor of Alice Springs. Why, that sneaky — ’

  A hand suddenly reached over Zoe’s shoulder and whipped the photos out of Rachel’s hands. ‘Slut. The word you want is slut, although bitch will do just as well,’ Maisie said, hurt and bitterness colouring her words.

  Zoe jumped to her feet. ‘Oh, Maisie, I am so sorry. I didn’t want you to see them.’

  ‘That silly old fool. How could he get involved with someone like that?’ She released a shaky breath. ‘What I want to know is who the hell took these photos? There must have been a third person involved.’

&nb
sp; Zoe grimaced. ‘Not necessarily. They could have used a fixed camera with a time lapse function.’

  Tears filled Maisie’s eyes. ‘Silly old fool,’ she repeated.

  Her friends crowded around her, offering support. Jessie wrapped her arm about her friend’s waist and started leading her away, glancing back over her shoulder at Zoe and Rachel.

  ‘I’ll take Maisie home. I’ll speak to you both later. And Zoe? Don’t worry about the painting. It will all blow over soon enough.’

  Zoe watched the women walk away, her heart aching for Maisie. She couldn’t believe how this day had turned out. Angry at herself for not only damaging Jake’s reputation, but also for the hurt Maisie was feeling, she stomped over to the billboard and stared at the painting.

  She grabbed the tin of paint and pried off the lid. Then she tossed the contents at the billboard, watching the paint slowly slide down and cover up Jake and Lance.

  ‘I am such an idiot at times,’ she whispered. ‘God help me if Jake finds out about this.’

  Chapter Ten

  ‘What the hell have you done?’

  Zoe jumped, wincing as she smashed her head on the edge of the sandstone fireplace. Hand rubbing at the rapidly rising lump, she backed out of the recess where she’d been polishing the brass andiron, one of a pair of metal supports for holding logs.

  She pushed herself upright and confronted Jake, a dirty cleaning rag clutched in one hand. ‘What the heck do you think you’re doing? You scared the shit out of me. That damn well hurt.’

  All of a sudden, she realised what the time was and frowned. ‘And what are you doing here? I thought you weren’t due back until late this afternoon.’

  Jake gave her a grin. Well, if you could call it that. It was more a simple baring of teeth, feral in nature. He’d clenched his jaw hard, and the ferocious frown that marred his forehead was a clear indication of what was wrong.

  He was angry. Blazingly, white-hot angry. It didn’t take a genius to know that and she was no one’s dummy. Then she spotted the scrunched up newspaper in his fist.

  Oh, freakin’ hell.

  He backed her up against the fireplace, arms braced on the mantelpiece to create a cage. ‘You want to know why I came back early? You. You’re the reason.’

  Ah hell, someone must have contacted him and let him know what she’d done.

  ‘Look, Jake, I didn’t plan on anyone seeing it. I was just annoyed with you.’ She held out a placating hand.

  He carried on, not giving her a chance to continue. ‘Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, there’s more than just sex between us and I’m not about to walk away from it. At least, not until we find out how far it goes.’

  She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off. ‘Shut up, Zoe, and just listen for once.’

  She raised her eyebrows at his rude command but let him have his way.

  ‘I know you have a thing about remaining in control after that disaster of a marriage, but I don’t want to take that from you. Hell, you make me lose control the moment I look at you. A relationship isn’t about who’s in charge. It’s about sharing and I think we can have that…if you give it a chance.’

  ‘But what has that got to do with you coming back earlier?’ she managed to sneak in.

  He tapped the side of her head with one long finger. ‘Your brain never stops. I imagined you back here thinking of all the reasons you should cut and run. I wasn’t about to let that happen.’ Closing his eyes a moment, he sucked in an audible breath. ‘I cancelled my meeting and caught the first plane back. I wanted to reassure you that I wasn’t out to take over your life. Wanted to beg you to give me a chance. Me, the great alpha male, and I was ready to beg. And what did I find when I got off the plane?’

  Zoe cringed as Jake’s voice rose on the last words to the point he was almost yelling.

  ‘Why the hell did you do this?’ He waved the crushed newspaper in her face. ‘What was this? Get back at Jake week because he dared to make you want more than just a quick fuck?’

  ‘It wasn’t like that. I didn’t mean — ’

  ‘You wanted to make a fool of me? Well, you’ve sure done that. At a guess, I’d say you’ve ruined any chances of my being elected to council. Well done, Zoe.’ He thrust the newspaper into her hands and backed away before turning and striding out of the room.

  ‘It wasn’t like that at all,’ she whispered to his departing back.

  Her legs shook so much she collapsed onto the stone hearth and leaned back against the fireplace surrounds. Spreading the newspaper out over her bent knees, she read what Tanya and her nasty reporter friend had to say.

  IS THIS THE MAN YOU WANT REPRESENTING YOU IN COUNCIL?

  Jake Lord, fine upstanding banker that he is, may not be who you

  think he is. As attested to by this portrait of Mr Lord by renowned

  Restoration Expert and Painter, Zoe Chandler, perhaps Mr Lord

  has a secret life we know nothing about. One that involves

  maybe a touch of the pornographic. Is this the type of man

  you want representing you and your family in council?

  And there, right underneath the piece, was a photo of the painting Zoe had done in all its glory.

  Zoe covered her face with her hands. Oh God, it couldn’t be any worse. This was terrible. And the thing that rocked Zoe’s world was that Jake thought she’d done it deliberately to make a fool of him. He’d never forgive her for making him a laughing stock.

  For the first time Zoe acknowledged (to herself if not to anyone else) that she’d miss Jake if he wasn’t around. He made her laugh. Made her feel alive…more than she’d felt since her divorce. She enjoyed being with him and yes, she wanted to explore what was between them.

  Hell, she even enjoyed their arguments and his bouts of anger. But not today. Today was different. This cut at the very heart of what Zoe realised could have been the beautiful beginning of something she’d always hungered for, even before her sham of a marriage.

  She had to make Jake understand why she’d plastered him all over a billboard for everyone to see.

  She scrambled to her feet and newspaper in hand, rushed from the room only to bang right into Jessie. The old lady tottered in her shoes. Thank God Rachel stood behind her to prevent her falling.

  ‘Oh God, Jessie, I’m so sorry.’ She grimaced at the folded newspaper Jessie had clutched to her chest.

  ‘I know, I’ve seen it.’ Her eyes filled with tears, but she refused to allow them to fall. ‘Jake showed me.’

  ‘I have to make him understand why I did it. I didn’t mean for anyone else to see it. I just didn’t think.’

  ‘Maisie just rang me. There’s a special public council meeting called for tonight to discuss it. Tanya’s determined to get Jake to step down.’

  Zoe groaned. No wonder Jake was so angry. Somehow she had to fix this.

  She sidestepped the two women and headed for the motel room Jake had appropriated. In the periphery of her mind, she was aware that Rachel and Jessie followed her, but she gave it scant thought. She had to speak to Jake.

  Before she could knock, Jake wrenched the door open, briefcase in hand, clearly ready to head out.

  ‘I need to talk to you.’

  He glared at her. ‘Not right now, Zoe. We’ll talk, but when I’ve cooled down.’

  Jessie pushed forwards. ‘Son, you have to listen to her. Right now. It’s important.’

  ‘I have to go get ready for a meeting tonight. I don’t have time.’

  ‘Make time,’ Jessie snapped. ‘And we know about the council meeting, that’s why you have to listen.’

  Not giving Jake the opportunity to put up any barriers, Zoe forged ahead. ‘I didn’t do that painting to get at you. I was angry at you and this was my way of venting.’

  He frowned. ‘Angry? Because of what happened in the garden? I’m sorry, I don’t understand.’

  ‘We overheard you and Simon talking at lunch,’ Rachel cut in. ‘At the p
ub. You remember now?’

  His eyes opened wide and a flush rose along his cheekbones. ‘Aah, you heard what I said to Simon about you doing the portrait? Damn, I’m so sorry.’

  He had the good grace to look shamefaced. The flush deepened over his cheeks and spread down to his neck.

  ‘You set me up to fail,’ Zoe whispered. ‘You were convinced I’d screw it up. I was so mad when I overheard that. It was either get rid of the anger by painting it out or waltz up to you at the pub and smash the daylights out of you.’

  ‘This is my fault,’ Jessie said. ‘If only I hadn’t pushed you about that darn portrait.’

  ‘No, it’s not, Mum. This has all come about because I was so damn pigheaded.’ Jake set the briefcase down beside his feet and cupped Zoe’s cheeks in his palms. ‘I am so sorry you had to hear that. In fact, I’m sorry I ever came up with that asinine plan to get out of having my portrait gracing the walls of the inn.’ He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. ‘Will you ever forgive me? I never wanted to hurt you. I only ever wanted to love you.’

  Zoe’s eyes opened wide at his words. Was this a declaration of how he felt? Her heart double-timed in her chest as she savoured the idea and for the first time in a long while, she wasn’t panicked about sharing her life with a man.

  A single tear ran down her cheek as she smiled at Jake. ‘I’ll forgive you if you forgive me for painting that stupid picture.’

  Jake filched the newspaper his mother held and stared at the front cover. ‘Not so stupid. Hey, you made me look positively…sleazy. By the way, whose body is that? It’s certainly not mine. I know I’m big but — ’

  Zoe pulled back and slapped him on the arm. ‘Conceited much?’

  ‘Meet Lance, the latest porn star,’ Rachel chipped in. ‘Zoe found him on the internet.’

  He raised his eyebrows. ‘You spend time watching porn? Hmm, now that could be interesting in the right circumstances.’

  Zoe gurgled with laughter at his teasing. Then she sobered, thinking of tonight. ‘It was that Tanya woman. Jessie said she wants you to step down from the elections and this is her way of ensuring it happens. She turned up here with a reporter.’