‘David and Dani are going to the cinema together this evening,’ Zack announced as he drove them to the party.
‘I know,’ she replied. ‘And until a few days ago—’ until Zack himself had come into their lives! ‘—Dani was barely aware of your nephew’s existence.’ Any more than she had been aware of Zack’s! ‘Obviously optimism runs in the family!’
Zack grinned unabashedly. ‘I told you, David is a lot like me.’
And what David hadn’t been able to achieve on his own—Dani noticing him as more than just one of the crowd!—his uncle had done for him. Dani was now intrigued by the Kingston family. David, she had informed Merry earlier, was a very intelligent young man. Dani had never been attracted to overtly good-looking young men, was more interested in the brain behind the looks. Remembering Dani’s father, and the way she herself had stupidly fallen for his golden good looks, it was a trait Merry had encouraged in her daughter. David Kingston, Dani had decided, had an ‘intelligent’ mind…
‘I know, I know,’ Zack said as he saw Merry’s expression. ‘I was mad as hell two days ago at the thought of David wanting to marry anyone. But, having now met Dani…’ He paused. ‘She’s too much like you to be pushed into anything she doesn’t want to do.’
‘Remember that,’ Merry returned quickly, trying to salvage at least some control over what was happening in her own life. This man was a bulldozer, and at the moment she didn’t seem to be holding her ground at all. As evidenced by this evening! ‘Exactly where is this party?’ She changed the subject as she straightened her colourful shawl, its long length covering the dress totally.
‘A hotel in the city,’ Zack returned economically.
There was something to be said for being driven in the luxury of the XJS, the smell of doe-leather, the warmth of the interior.
The close proximity of Zack in the confines of the sports car…
He looked, and smelt, gorgeous, the black dinner suit and snowy white shirt doing nothing to hide the power of the body beneath, his hair newly washed and gleaming golden, his aftershave elusively male. No doubt heads would turn—female, of course!—when they reached the party.
Although she was unprepared for the absolute silence that greeted their entry into the crowded private room where the party was being held, or the spontaneous applause that quickly followed that silence.
Merry turned to look behind her, expecting to see someone famous entering behind them. But only Zack and herself stood in the doorway. And as they couldn’t be clapping her…
She turned frowningly to Zack as the tiny band at the other end of the room began to play ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’. Exactly what sort of party was this? And why was Zack being welcomed in such a fashion?
An elegantly dressed woman in her fifties moved forward out of the crowd to kiss him warmly on the cheek. ‘Wonderful party, Zack,’ she congratulated throatily.
Merry knew this woman, recognised her instantly. It would be difficult not to; Diana Melbrook was the author of several number one bestselling books, her last having been turned into a television mini-series. The authoress had appeared on several chat shows in the weeks preceding its broadcast.
As Merry glanced around the room she saw several other well-known people: top authors, several actors, a number of television personalities too.
This wasn’t just any old cocktail party Zack had brought her to, this was a Thorndyke Books cocktail party—and Zack, as the owner of the publishing house, was also the host!
What did that make her…?
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘YOU’VE stopped smiling,’ Zack murmured softly against her ear as the conversation began to flow around them once again and they were no longer the centre of attention.
Stopped smiling? That was the least of her worries! She felt frozen to the spot by what she had just realised, wasn’t sure she was going to be able to move when the time came for them to mingle with the other guests.
She had imagined a large, impersonal party, a short time spent in inane conversation with complete strangers, and then the two of them could quietly leave. As the host of this party, Zack could hardly leave until the last guest had gone. Which could be in several hours’ time!
She turned to him accusingly. ‘You could have warned me!’
He spoke unconcernedly. ‘If I had, you wouldn’t have come.’
‘Of course I wouldn’t—’ She broke off, breathing deeply to steady her nerves. ‘What am I supposed to do now?’ Her glittering green gaze told him of her tension.
‘Enjoy yourself?’
Enjoy herself…? She didn’t know anyone else here, except Zack. No doubt that was what he meant!
She smiled up at him, aware that people were eyeing them curiously. ‘I intend getting out of here the first opportunity I get—’
‘Merry? Merry Baker? It is you, isn’t it?’
Merry froze once more. Not only did someone else at this party know her, and her name, but she knew them too, recognised that voice! It had been about nineteen years since she had last heard it, but it was a voice she would never forget.
‘I thought so,’ Karen Jacobs drawled derisively as Merry turned slowly to face her. ‘You haven’t changed a bit.’ Her gaze swept over Merry’s appearance. ‘Same hairstyle. Same dress,’ she added pointedly.
Karen obviously hadn’t changed, either, she had always been a first-class bitch. Albeit a beautiful one, with an eye for style—which was probably why she’d recognised the dress! It was a talent that had made her editor of one of the top fashion magazines. A tall, willowy blonde, the other woman was as slender as she had always been. Although years ago her hair had been long, now it was cut short, framing the perfect beauty of her face, her eyes deeply blue, and fringed by long, dark lashes.
Merry’s eyes turned to the man standing awkwardly at Karen’s side; he was tall and dark, almost too good-looking, and there was a weakness about his mouth and in his deep brown eyes that couldn’t quite meet Merry’s. Here was one person, at least, who would rather not have renewed the acquaintance!
Zack merely looked puzzled by the couple, frowning as he stood slightly on the outside of the group, watching them with narrowed eyes. Like a spectator at a play. Except Merry didn’t intend letting him remain that way; he was the one who had brought her here in the first place!
‘Darling.’ She curved her arm intimately through the crook of his, pulling him gently, but firmly, to her side. ‘I would like to introduce you to Karen and Roger Jacobs.’
‘Zack and I already know each other,’ Karen told her coolly.
Merry nodded. ‘But I doubt he realises that you are the younger sister of my sister-in-law,’ she said lightly, shooting Zack a warning look as he looked stunned by this information.
As well he might. Karen and Roger Jacobs were as different in lifestyle to Merry as chalk was to cheese; the other couple, with their fine clothes and rich jewellery, were obviously far wealthier than schoolmistress Merry. It hadn’t had to be that way, of course, but the price for remaining a part of her family had been far too high for her to pay.
‘How are Glenda and Stephen?’ she prompted Roger, trying to draw him into the conversation; he and Karen hadn’t been married when she’d known them all those years ago, but Merry hadn’t missed the diamond-studded wedding ring on Karen’s left hand. ‘And my mother and father, of course,’ she added tonelessly.
She couldn’t mention Glenda and Stephen without bringing her parents into the picture too. A dutiful son, Stephen, her older brother, had married the woman of their mother’s choice. Merry had no reason to doubt that Stephen had since continued to do exactly as he was told. The two of them had been close when they were children, but their differences had become glaring when they were older. ‘Dutiful’ was not a word that could ever be applied to Merry—or to anything that she did!
Roger didn’t look at all happy with this situation. ‘They are well,’ he answered abruptly, obviously uncomfortable with the whole
conversation.
Merry couldn’t claim to be exactly thrilled about it herself. As for Zack, he wasn’t saying anything, but stood taking in everything that was being discussed. And formulating some questions of his own, no doubt!
‘How is your—what did you have, by the way?’ Karen raised supercilious brows as she looked at Merry. ‘You’ll have to excuse us, Zack,’ she told him throatily, resting her hand briefly on his arm in a gesture of intimacy. ‘As a family, we’re always shamelessly lax about keeping in touch with one another.’ She gave a tinkling laugh.
Merry returned the other woman’s gaze coldly. She hadn’t considered this woman part of her family nineteen years ago, and she certainly didn’t do so now. Dani was her family now, her only family…
‘I have a daughter,’ she told the other couple flatly. ‘How about you? Do you have children?’
‘Certainly not,’ Karen dismissed disgustedly. ‘I can’t imagine anything worse than a screaming little brat hanging onto my ankles. And pregnancy seems to play havoc with a woman’s figure,’ she concluded bitchily, the fitted red dress she wore showing not an ounce of superfluous flesh on her body.
Zack moved at last, putting his arm possessively about Merry’s waist as he drew her closer to his side. ‘Let me be the first to assure you that pregnancy did absolutely nothing negative to Merry’s body,’ he stated, his own eyes challenging now as he looked at Karen. ‘She’s perfect exactly as she is.’
While she was grateful for his support, at the same time Merry really didn’t need the bitchy Karen to get any bitchier—and Zack’s remark was sure to make her so!
‘Do Glenda and Stephen have children now?’ Merry put in quickly.
‘No,’ the other woman rejoined abruptly. ‘Glenda is as averse to pregnancy as I am.’
Merry somehow doubted that; an heir for the Baker family had been paramount in her mother’s plans. But it seemed there wasn’t one…
‘What did happen to that ghastly man you were involved with?’ Karen was being deliberately provocative. ‘And his equally ghastly wife?’ she went on, before Merry could make any reply.
Merry felt herself pale. She hadn’t known Jeff was married when she’d fallen so recklessly in love with him. Not that the fact changed anything; he had been married, and it had been a marriage he’d had no intention of leaving. Certainly not for a pregnant eighteen-year-old!
She opened her mouth to reply to the insult—only to find Zack had got there first.
‘Family reminiscences can be so amusing, can’t they?’ he put in lightly, the strength of his arm about Merry not light at all! ‘We must remember to invite you all to the wedding.’
‘Wedding?’ Karen echoed sharply, eyes narrowed maliciously as she looked at the two of them suspiciously.
‘Yes—our wedding,’ Merry heard herself confirm—and then almost gasped out loud as she realised what she had said.
‘Well, well, well,’ Karen drawled speculatively. ‘Could it be that we hear the patter of tiny feet once again?’ she asked, looking Merry up and down.
Merry had moved instinctively to slap the other woman for the deliberate jibe; Karen’s implication was unmistakable: Merry would only be able to catch a husband like Zack by becoming pregnant! But again Zack was quicker than her, his hand tightly grasping her arm before it could swing upwards and her hand could make contact with the other woman’s mocking, smiling face.
The pleasant expression on Zack’s face didn’t so much as waver, although only a fool could have missed the steely glint in his eyes. ‘Funny you should mention that—’ his voice was silkily soft—though that silk barely covered the steel beneath, ‘—we were talking only yesterday about the possibility of getting ourselves a dog once we’re married! ’
Karen looked startled, momentarily disconcerted. ‘A dog?’
‘A dog,’ Merry concurred, recovering quickly from the other woman’s insults; she was no longer an immature teenager, she was a mother, with a responsible job. She had made a success of her life, she realised, despite her family. ‘Cats make Zack sneeze,’ she continued conversationally, shooting him a grateful look from beneath lowered lashes; the worst thing she could do would be to reduce herself to Karen’s level.
‘They most certainly—atishoo!’ Right on cue, Zack sneezed. ‘Please excuse me,’ he apologised blandly. ‘I—atishoo!’ He sneezed again. ‘It seems it’s not only the furry kind that have that effect on me,’ he added, his expression one of complete innocence.
Roger shot Karen an apprehensive glance as her face tightened furiously. ‘I think we should go and circulate, darling.’ He took a firm hold of his wife’s arm. ‘I’m sure we’ve monopolised enough of Zack’s attention for one evening.’
Karen visibly forced herself to relax, her mouth curving into a fixed smile, although her eyes remained glacially hard. ‘It was wonderful to see you again,’ she said insincerely. ‘Your parents will be pleased to know you’ve done so well for yourself,’ she told Merry haughtily.
Merry replied with stony silence. Her parents, her mother, at least, had shown no interest in her over the last nineteen years, and she had no reason to suppose this chance meeting tonight would change any of that. In fact, she didn’t want it to—could imagine nothing worse than having to deal with her mother once again!
‘Nice to see you again, Roger.’ She moved to kiss him lightly on the cheek, smiling at him reassuringly as he gave her an appeasing look. Roger always had been the nicer of this couple! Although weak, very weak…
‘You really are looking wonderful, Merry,’ he braved his wife’s wrath to tell her warmly.
Not so weak after all, Merry acknowledged lightly, returning his smile.
‘I always did like you in that dress,’ Karen added as her own parting comment.
Merry gave a rueful shake of her head as she watched the other couple walk away. The rich and the beautiful. How sad they really were.
‘Meow,’ Zack murmured laughingly in her ear.
Zack!
What on earth must he be thinking of her now? Not only were her family awful, but she was a single mother whose lover had been a married man!
Merry had been so young, not much older than Dani was now. Although she had always loved her father, it had been her mother who’d made the decisions, her mother who had decided on the schools her two children would attend, on the universities they eventually went to. She had even chosen Stephen’s wife for him. While Merry’s father had been a good man, a kind, loving man, he had always meekly acquiesced to his wife’s decisions, aware that she was the one who held the pursestrings.
Merry hadn’t realised it at the time—although she had had plenty of time in the years that followed!—but at eighteen she had been looking for a man who was strong and dependable, a man who knew who he was, and where he was going. Jeff had seemed all of those things to Merry’s inexperienced eye—but ultimately he had proved he was weaker than her father and brother, a man who used his marriage like a shield while he indulged in numerous affairs that could never go anywhere because he already had a wife! Merry had only learnt the full truth of that when she’d found herself pregnant with his child…
But Zack didn’t know any of that, had merely been told by the bitchy Karen that the father of her baby had been a married man. A man who obviously hadn’t stood by her when she needed him.
What must Zack be thinking?
He moved to stand in front of her, his hands moving to tenderly cup either side of her face as he tilted it up to his. ‘You do realise,’ he told her huskily, ‘that I intend keeping you to the statement?’
* * *
Which statement? There had been so many in the last ten minutes—and none of them complimentary to her!
‘The wedding,’ Zack explained teasingly as she looked blank. ‘I could sue you for breach of contract if you try to back out of marrying me now!’
He could sue her? What did she possibly possess that he could sue her for?
Nothing,
came the immediate answer. But Zack was telling her, more succinctly than ever, that what he had heard in the last ten minutes hadn’t changed how he felt about her at all…!
Merry laughed, a light, relieved laugh. Of course she had no intention of marrying him, but at the same time she didn’t want him to think badly of her either. And he didn’t…
‘That’s better.’ He spoke his satisfaction at her laugh, his hands leaving her cheeks as he reached down and placed one of her own hands firmly in his. ‘And now I believe it’s time to get ourselves a drink and circulate.’
‘Circulate’ meant accompanying Zack as he spoke briefly with every person in the room, Zack charming and assured as he did so. It quickly became obvious that not only did his guests like him, they trusted and respected him too.
Zack Kingston, Merry realised dazedly, was a strong, dependable man, a man who knew who he was and where he was going…
Oh, help!
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘I WAS eighteen when I met Jeff,’ Merry told Zack a couple of hours later, when the two of them were sitting in a quiet restaurant together enjoying a late supper. Although Merry’s appetite deserted her the moment she began to talk about that disastrous relationship nineteen years ago. A relationship that had ultimately changed the whole of her life…
She had been eighteen, the daughter of a wealthy family, beginning her art degree. The whole world had been at her feet, her future choices unlimited. Then she’d met Jeff.
‘You really don’t have to tell me any of this, you know,’ Zack assured her. ‘I think I know enough about human nature by now to realise that Karen Jacobs is not a nice woman.’ He paused. ‘That her version of events is coloured by her own unhappiness.’
Merry’s eyes widened. ‘What makes you say that?’ Karen had struck her as a woman comfortable with her own success.
Zack sipped at his wine, his first alcoholic drink of the evening. He had stuck to drinking orange juice throughout the cocktail party, explaining quietly to Merry that it was work and not pleasure. Most of the guest list had been made up of Thorndyke authors, the rest of them television, newspaper, and magazine personalities—hence Karen’s invitation at all. Despite the impression Karen had tried to give of a greater intimacy between herself and Zack, Merry knew which version she believed!
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