From Mistresses To Wives?: Mistress to a Bachelor / His Mistress by Marriage / Accidental Mistress. Susan Napier
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he invited.
‘The seafood platter, please,’ she said. ‘And a Perrier.’
Zac took his time perusing the menu. Crisply styled, the thick dark hair had a healthy shine in the sunlight. From the depth of his tan it seemed evident that he spent a good deal of his time in sunny climates.
Wearing light cotton jeans and a white T-shirt today, he had no less of an impact on her senses; the short sleeves emphasised the muscular structure of his upper arms in a way that made her quiver deep down inside. Last night those arms had enclosed her, those long-fingered hands caressed her. She quivered again at the memory.
She was glad of the dark glasses covering her eyes when he looked her way again as the waiter departed with their orders. Feeling the way he made her feel was one thing, revealing it quite another.
‘Do you spend much time here?’ she asked.
‘On and off,’ he acknowledged. ‘Your first visit, is it?’
Jessica nodded. ‘It’s very different from what I expected.’
‘You thought it would be wall-to-wall tourists?’
‘More or less.’
‘You’d find plenty down around Magaluf, and up the east coast, but this side is too rugged for majority tastes.’
Jessica cast a glance out over the spreading scene. ‘It’s beautiful! I can understand now why Leonie chose to buy a place here. Not that she gets to use it as often as she’d like these days.’
‘The price of success,’ Zac observed. ‘How long are you here for?’
‘A week,’ she said. ‘With two days to go.’
‘You think it’s going to be long enough to sort yourself out?’
She looked at him sharply, meeting eyes too perceptive by half. ‘Sort myself out from what?’
‘Whatever it is you’re running away from. Could it be the man you mistook me for last night?’
Jessica made every effort to stay cool and collected, if only on the surface. ‘Would it really be any of your business?’
‘No,’ he returned imperturbably, ‘but I seem to have struck a chord. Turn out to be a bad lot, did he?’
‘Is there any other kind?’
Broad shoulders lifted. ‘Don’t judge the whole barrel by one rotten apple. Try another.’
‘Anyone in mind?’ she asked sweetly, and saw his mouth slowly widen.
‘I wouldn’t say no.’
The sudden flaring temptation was undeniable. Jessica took a forcible hold on herself. Even if the man wasn’t her cousin’s lover, indulging a purely sexual need was certainly no way to go.
‘How long have you known Leonie?’ she asked with deliberation.
The question in no way threw him. ‘It’s a couple of years since we first met, though we only see one another on rare occasions, and never by arrangement. I took the long way up from Palma last night on the off-chance. I planned on surprising her.’
Jessica kept her tone level. ‘Sorry to disappoint you.’
‘Not so much a disappointment as a deprivation,’ he said. ‘You were so—’
‘I don’t want to know!’ she cut in hurriedly. ‘Just forget about it!’
Zac gave a mock sigh. ‘Difficult, but I’ll do my best.’
The arrival of the food curtailed conversation for a few minutes. Jessica found the seafood selection delicious—but then for the prices she had seen displayed on the menu, it darn well should be! she reflected. A definite one-off treat.
‘So what do you do for a living?’ she asked lightly.
‘I’m with the company contemplating adding this place to their Balearic brochure,’ he said.
‘The decision dependent on your appraisal?’
‘It’s certainly a factor.’
Jessica glanced around the wide, tree-shaded terrace. ‘It’s a lovely place in a wonderful location, though I’d have thought it a bit up-market for the general package deal.’
‘It is.’ Zac regarded her with new interest. ‘Have you worked in the business?’
‘Not in the same sense. My parents used to run a hotel in the Cotswolds.’
‘Used to?’
‘They divorced three years ago.’
‘And you joined cousin Leonie in the big city?’
‘Not then. I only moved there after…’ She caught herself up, aware of having said a great deal more than she had intended. ‘Are you considering a recommendation?’
‘Maybe.’ There was a pause, a change of tone. ‘At the risk of being told to mind my own business again, do you still have a job at present?’
Jessica eyed him curiously. ‘Why would you want to know?’
‘I might be able to put you in the way of something.’
‘Are you in the habit of offering jobs to people you only just met?’ she asked after a moment.
‘No,’ he acknowledged.
‘Then why me?’
‘You’re Leonie’s cousin, which vouches for your background, and I’m in urgent need of someone available at short notice.’ He glanced at his watch again, and pulled a face. ‘I’m afraid I have to go. We’ll discuss the detail over dinner tonight.’
Pushing back his chair, he stood up, six feet of virile manhood calculated to stir any woman’s blood. ‘I’ll pick you up at eight.’
He strode away before Jessica could draw breath to respond. Not that she was at all sure what she would have said. The offer had come right out of the blue.
An intriguing one, she had to admit. What would prompt a man of his kind to offer any kind of job to someone on the strength of what appeared to be a fairly casual relationship at best?
Listening to what he had to say over dinner in no way committed her, she reasoned. At the very least, she would be spared another long evening on her own. She turned a deaf ear to the voice cautioning against any further as sociation at all with a man who not only sent her pulse rate into overdrive, but made it quite obvious that he found her something of a draw too.
The waiter shook his head when she asked for the bill. Señor Prescott, he said, had already attended to the matter. Jessica wondered if the man knew why Zac was here.
She spent the rest of the afternoon following the lesser frequented route back to her starting point, gaining a glimpse of the real Majorca, almost totally untouched by the tourist trade.
Back at the apartment by five, she made herself coffee, and spent the next hour or so vacillating over whether to ring Leonie or not. The latter was still at the office when she finally made the call.
‘You only just caught me,’ declared her cousin. ‘Another five minutes and I’d have been on my way out for the evening. So, how’s it going?’
‘Fine,’ Jessica assured her. ‘I really like the island. What I’ve seen of it so far, at any rate. I’ve met a friend of yours,’ she went on. ‘Name of Zac Prescott?’
There was a pause before Leonie responded. ‘Met where exactly?’
Not for anything, Jessica had already decided, was she going to let on about last night, although she doubted if Leonie would find it anything but amusing. ‘Valldemosa. The Mirador Hotel. Apparently he works for the company proposing to use the place.’