‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like to join us for dinner before you go out?’ Merry pressed. ‘We—I’ve cooked plenty,’ she amended, annoyed with herself for even verbally coupling herself with Zack Kingston. For goodness’ sake, he had been fantasising about her naked!
Dani looked puzzled. ‘I thought I explained; we’re all having pizza.’ She gave a hurried glance at her watch. ‘I really do have to go now, or I’ll be late.’
‘Dani?’ Zack called to her as she was leaving the room. ‘Have you ever been a bridesmaid?’ She turned back to him questioningly.
‘A bridesmaid?’ she repeated. ‘No, I—’ Her eyes widened as she looked at the two of them, Zack so quietly self-assured, her mother now ashen-faced.
Merry had eyes for no one but Zack, her whole body tense with fury. ‘You are taking this joke too damned far!’ she bit out forcefully, hands clenched tightly at her sides.
Ordinarily a woman who abhorred violence, she was in danger of hitting him! He had walked into their lives—invaded them!—but he certainly wasn’t staying!
‘Go ahead and enjoy your evening, Dani.’ She spoke as calmly as she could to her daughter, even managing to smile a little. ‘Mr Kingston’s idea of a joke seems to be vastly different from ours,’ she added scornfully.
Dani glanced at him, and then she turned back to Merry—as if she very much doubted he would joke about something like that. ‘Sure, Mum,’ she said, taking her leave this time without any hindrance.
The silence she left behind her was so heavy with tension it could have been cut with a knife…!
CHAPTER FIVE
‘YOU may have helped me prepare the dinner, Zack,’ Merry told him flatly. ‘But this last fifteen minutes in your company has completely robbed me of any desire to eat!’ She turned off the oven—having decided to roast the chicken pieces, after all!
‘Love,’ he informed her unconcernedly. ‘They tell me it does that to you,’ he explained at her enquiring look.
Her brow cleared, her exasperation rising. ‘Zack, I am not in love. With you or anyone else!’ she pronounced firmly. ‘I don’t even know you. And what I do know I don’t particularly like!’
‘You’ve already said that,’ he replied. ‘For “arrogance” I think you should read self-assurance. For “opinionated” probably straightforward.’ He began to tick off the list of her earlier accusations concerning his nature. ‘“Judgemental”? No—I don’t think so. As for the being tall part, I could just as easily make the observation you’re a little on the short side.’ He looked at her, a smile playing around his lips.
As well it might. There was certainly nothing wrong with his memory! Even down to that last babbling comment she had made about his height…! Except that it had been complete babbling; his height, that air of self-assurance, all combined to make her feel small and feminine. She had battled so hard for years not to feel that way, not to need anyone, to rise and fall on her own merits. And, even if she said so herself, she hadn’t done too bad a job of it.
But Zack Kingston, with his smooth self-confidence, made her feel vulnerable, while at the same time his admiration of her independent nature gave her a confidence in that vulnerability. Dangerous territory, indeed…
She couldn’t actually be feeling attracted to this man! Could she…?
She glanced across at him, only to find he was staring right back at her. As he saw the confusion in her expression he stood up, moving slowly across the kitchen towards her.
He was going to kiss her, she decided in the split second before he gathered her into his arms and did exactly that!
Insane or not, Zack certainly knew how to kiss, his mouth insistent, and yet at the same time infinitely tender. And then his kiss deepened, passion flaring between them as Zack’s arms tightened and his lips became more demanding on hers.
She responded. She would have been lying if she’d tried to claim that she didn’t. Her arms up about his neck as she stood on tiptoe to meet him, the curves of her body somehow seeming to fit perfectly into his. Which was odd, given the difference in their heights…
‘Mum, could I—? Oops!’ gasped a surprised Dani.
Merry broke quickly away from the strength of Zack’s arms, though he was reluctant to release her. She moved several feet away from him, turning to look at Dani as she stood wide-eyed in the doorway. Which wasn’t surprising; Merry couldn’t remember the last date she had been on, let alone when she had last been kissed. And her daughter certainly hadn’t been a witness to it!
Merry took a deep breath, her cheeks fiery red. ‘Yes, Dani?’ Her voice sounded slightly huskier than usual, but at least she had managed to speak!
Flustered as she felt, she hadn’t been sure she would be able to speak at all. She still trembled from the intensity of the passion that had risen so quickly between Zack and herself.
Dani looked slightly embarrassed at having interrupted so intimate a situation. ‘I forgot earlier. We thought we might all go back to Jane’s after our pizza and listen to music. I wondered if I could borrow some of your CDs?’ She grimaced her regret at having burst in on them.
‘Er—yes, of course you can.’ Merry still felt flustered, while Zack, damn him, appeared completely unruffled. Appeared… Because a closer look showed her that his hands, which he was thrusting into his trouser pockets, were shaking a little. Not so unconcerned, after all. ‘They’re in the lounge,’ she told Dani. ‘Help yourself.’
‘Thanks.’ Dani looked relieved at being allowed a quick getaway. Although she paused at the door. ‘I promise I won’t be back again for hours,’ she said mischievously.
‘Tactful young lady,’ Zack murmured once he and Merry were alone again, the front door closing firmly behind Dani as she left—‘for hours’! ‘So you like music, too?’ he continued, before Merry could make the sharp reply she wanted to. ‘David plays music all the time when he’s at home,’ he explained at her questioning look. ‘Consequently I find that my music tastes don’t match those of my peers’. He shrugged. ‘I suppose that’s what happens when you have a teenager constantly about the house.’ He certainly wasn’t complaining about it, merely making an observation.
Merry hadn’t quite looked at it in this way before, but, even though their circumstances were vastly different, Zack was, in effect, a single parent too…
‘Not so different, after all, are we?’ Zack drawled as he watched the candid emotions flickering across her face.
Her defences were certainly slipping where he was concerned—and it simply wouldn’t do!
‘Oh, but we are,’ she dismissed scathingly. ‘No doubt you were able to hire a nanny for David when he was younger—’ She broke off as Zack shook his head.
‘I felt David had already suffered enough heartache losing his parents at such a young age, and it didn’t seem fair that I farmed the responsibility of him out to someone else. So during school terms I fitted my work in around his hours, and during the holidays I worked mainly from home.’
‘The benefit of being your own boss?’ Merry derided, not letting him off that easily.
‘Possibly, Merry,’ he accepted harshly. ‘Although ten years ago Thorndyke Brooks was a struggling publishing house, and a lot of work was involved in making it viable again.’
Her eyes widened. ‘It’s Thorndyke Books that you own?’
Now one of the top publishing houses, ten years ago it had been on the brink of bankruptcy. Zack Kingston was the entrepreneur who had stepped in and turned the company around? Very successfully, if she remembered correctly. They had a dozen international top authors working for them now, and their non-fiction books were of a very high standard indeed—several Thorndyke textbooks were used at the school where Merry worked.
‘You’re that Kingston?’ His business successes had been reported in the newspapers for years, but somehow she had always imagined—if she had thought of it at all!—that he would be older. Much older…
‘It is. And I am,’ Zack confirmed. ‘And you�
��re changing the subject, Merry,’ he added with gentle reproof. ‘I was endeavouring to point out the things we do have in common, not the things we don’t.’
She knew what he had been doing—which was precisely the reason she had tried—and apparently not succeeded!—in putting him on the defensive for a change. She didn’t want to have things in common with Zack; it was so much easier to believe their lives—and consequently the two of them!—were completely incompatible.
‘You can’t do that, Zack,’ she denied, smiling wryly. ‘The one doesn’t outweigh the other.’
‘It would be extremely boring if we were exactly the same, Merry,’ he returned dryly. ‘It’s the differences that add the spark. For instance, I like not knowing what you are going to do or say next.’
She pulled a face. ‘I’m going to say something I’ve already said several times this evening—dinner is off!’
His blue eyes glittered teasingly. ‘It’s a terrible waste of food, and you don’t strike me as a woman who approves of waste,’ he responded softly. ‘Besides, it’s my cook’s night off, so you’ll be condemning me to a takeaway if you make me leave now.’
‘You could always join Dani and David for a pizza,’ Merry suggested mockingly.
Zack grimaced. ‘The pizza would be fine; it’s all those over-intense students I’d find hard to stomach. I can’t believe we were ever like that, can you?’
He was doing it again, and it wasn’t going to work this time. ‘I’m not sure I like being a stand-in for your cook!’ She took the plates out of the warmer and began to dish up the food that was rapidly spoiling.
‘If you could see Mrs Jenkins you would realise exactly how untrue that remark is!’ He grinned, straining water from the peas without being asked. ‘I’m quite self-sufficient, Merry,’ he stated as she watched his efficient movements. ‘I only employed a cook once David came to live with me. Bachelor fare isn’t suitable for a growing child.’
She laughed, able to imagine what sort of food he had eaten when he was on his own. ‘I’m sure David wouldn’t have minded!’
‘Maybe not,’ Zack accepted. ‘But I take my duties as his guardian rather seriously.’
Merry gave him a humorous glance. ‘So I noticed yesterday,’ she came back.
He grinned again that boyish, heart-stopping grin that was so hard to resist. ‘I don’t regret yesterday. Oh, I wish I hadn’t walked in here with all guns firing and made such an idiot of myself,’ he admitted. ‘But at the same time, if I hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have met you.’
There was no answer to that, so Merry didn’t make one. ‘Would you like to eat here or in the dining room?’ The food was served onto the plates now, and needed to be eaten before it got cold.
‘Here will be just fine,’ he assured her. ‘I have a bottle of wine for us in the car. I’ll just go and get it.’
A bottle of—? He had intended having dinner with her this evening no matter what!
‘Close your mouth, Merry.’ He bent and kissed her. ‘Find me a corkscrew to open it with, would you?’ he instructed, before striding outside to his car.
He couldn’t just walk in here and take over! He couldn’t—He already had…! She wasn’t used to this, had been on her own too long to meekly accept—
Her outraged thoughts came to an abrupt halt as Zack returned to the kitchen and she saw the bottle of wine in his hand. It was exactly the same vintage and from the same region as the one she had given him last night—her favourite wine, a small luxury she allowed herself from time to time. She didn’t believe for a moment that it was a coincidence—or indeed a shared taste—that had prompted Zack to choose it; he had clearly made a mental note of it the evening before, and deliberately brought a bottle for them to drink together this evening…
‘It’s quite chilled from being outside in the car,’ Zack told her as he took the corkscrew from her unresisting fingers.
Merry was glad of his concentration on removing the cork from the bottle so that she had time to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall. It had been so long since anyone had cared enough to have noticed such a small detail as the wine she liked to drink. If anyone ever had! Oh, Dani was wonderful, and took a lot of care over birthday and Christmas presents, but Merry doubted that even her daughter had taken the trouble to note what wine she favoured.
But Zack had. And he had noticed her individual style of dressing too…
He was far too observant for comfort. Too much time spent in the company of someone so attentive and she might even start to—No! She was not going to fall in love with Zack Kingston. He wasn’t right for her at all. He wasn’t just attentive, he took over! He—
‘To us.’ Zack held out one of the glasses of wine to her, challenge in every muscle of his body as he waited for her to return the toast.
‘To Christmas,’ she returned dryly, refusing to return such an intimate toast. There wasn’t an ‘us’, and there never would be!
‘Just as good,’ he nodded his satisfaction. ‘Excuse the pun,’ he went on, ‘but I have the feeling it’s going to be a very Merry Christmas now that I’ve met you!’
Merry was quite happy to excuse his pun, it was the quiet determination in his voice that bothered her!
CHAPTER SIX
‘TALKING of Christmas—’
‘You were; I wasn’t,’ Merry quipped. The two of them, having enjoyed their meal—and the wine!—were now seated in the sitting room in front of the roaring fire Zack had insisted he build for them in the grate. Merry’s reluctance to have him light the fire hadn’t stemmed from a need to be independent, but from the fact that she knew it was all too cosy and comfortable with the flames glowing!
Zack looked unconcerned by her interruption. ‘I have a pre-Christmas cocktail party I have to attend tomorrow evening. I wondered if you would like to come with me?’
Merry just stared back at him. A cocktail party. Did she look like the type who went to cocktail parties?—where dozens of bored people, who usually didn’t know each other very well, stood around with drinks in their hands, nibbling away at unrecognisable canapé that did absolutely nothing to satisfy one’s hunger. She might have a tiny build, but she had a healthy appetite—as this evening’s meal should have told him!—and the thought of spending hours at this man’s side, trying to look decorous, did not appeal to her one little bit. Besides—
‘I’ll take your silence as acceptance—’
‘I shouldn’t if I were you,’ Merry calmly stopped him. ‘Cocktail parties aren’t my scene.’
‘If you’re worried about being fed, I promise I’ll take you out to dinner later in the evening,’ Zack assured her dryly.
She gave him a glare, more because he had realised she appreciated her food than anything else. ‘You’re jumping two steps ahead, Zack, when I’ve already turned down the original request!’
‘Oh, come on,’ he cajoled. ‘What harm can it do you to come along with me? You’ll stop me being bored out of my mind!’
It couldn’t do her any harm; she was more than capable of looking after herself! That wasn’t the point of her refusal at all. She was an adult, and for the most part she could pick and choose what she did. Accompanying this man to a cocktail party was not high on her list of priorities.
But, a little voice inside her head reasoned, Zack had helped her unpack her shopping earlier, had helped her to cook dinner, and he’d produced a bottle of her favourite wine for them to drink with it. He—
None of those things changed the fact that he had also announced his intention of marrying her!’
In that case, she asked herself almost a day later, as she studied her reflection in the mirror, what on earth was she doing all dressed up as she waited for Zack to arrive before driving them both to the cocktail party?
Merry shook her head dazedly; the man was like a steamroller, knocking down any obstacles—including the word ‘no’!—that got in his way.
She looked at her appearance critically. Not b
ad, she decided. Not bad at all. The black fitted knee-length pencil-slim dress was almost twenty years old, but it was back in fashion, and considering the amount of times she had found to wear it during those years—nil!—it was in pristine condition. Her figure had returned to its natural slenderness after she had given birth to Dani. Her hair she had left loose in dark curls down her spine, adding a little make-up to her normally peachy complexion and a peach gloss to her lips. Yes, she didn’t look bad at all for a thirty-seven-year-old mother…!
She gave a rueful smile as she turned away from the mirror. She didn’t look bad, but a thirty-seven-year-old woman, with an eighteen-year-old daughter, was exactly what she was—and the sooner Zack realised it the better!
But Dani’s comment, when Merry walked down the stairs a few minutes later, did nothing to reassure her she would convince him of that this evening.
‘You look gorgeous, Mum!’ Dani announced admiringly. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen you in that dress before.’
Merry smiled. ‘If you had, no doubt you would have borrowed it before now!’ Dani was a lot taller than her, but both of them had size ten figures.
Dani touched the silkily soft material. ‘It’s beautiful, Mom. It must have cost—’ She broke off as the doorbell rang.
‘That will be Zack,’ Merry said gratefully—she had never thought she would be relieved at his arrival, but on this occasion she most certainly was.
She did not want to get into a discussion with Dani about her dress… Maybe she shouldn’t have worn it, but quite honestly she just didn’t have anything else suitable to wear. Cinderella in reverse. She did have something to wear to the ball—but that something had already provoked her daughter’s curiosity…
Other than telling her she looked beautiful, Zack made no comment on the dress. But Merry somehow doubted its designer-label style had missed his eagle-eyed attention.
She shouldn’t have worn it, did not want to pique Zack’s interest in her any more than it already was piqued. But the temptation not to look like the poor relation had been too much for her. Vanity. Ridiculous, in the circumstances…
The Man She'll Marry (Presents Plus) Page 4