Secrets In The Boardroom. Fiona Brand
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business that Howard had contacted her through her online dating service. His application was very recent. It had appeared in her in-box just before she had gone to Medinos. She had felt raw enough on her return that she had agreed to her first actual date.
“I don’t like him, and you’re not leaving with him.” There was a vibrating pause. “He’s old enough to be your father.”
There was an oddly accusing note to Zane’s voice. Lilah stared hard at a tortured arrangement of pipes at the center of the small courtyard, a piece of art that, according to a plaque, had something to do with the inner-city “vibe.” “He is older than I thought.”
She rubbed her bare arms against the coolness of the night, suddenly desperate to change the subject. “Where’s Gemma?”
“Gemma won’t miss me for a few minutes. Is that why you dated Lucas, because he was older?”
Her gaze connected with Zane’s. She didn’t know why he was so stuck on the issue of age. “I don’t see what this has to do with anything.”
“I’ve read your personnel file. I know how old you are, I also know that you seem to date older men. Is that a requirement for your future husband?”
Despite the chilly air it was suddenly way too hot. She tried to whip up some outrage that Zane had accessed her personal information, but the implications of his prying were riveting. She couldn’t think of any reason for Zane to focus on the age of her dates unless it affected him personally. The thought that Zane was comparing himself with her dates and that he was actually worried that he was too young, was dizzying. “No.”
Something like relief flickered in his gaze. “Good.”
His fingers linked with hers, drew her close.
Lilah swallowed against the sudden dryness in her mouth. After the disaster on Medinos followed by the deadening effect of Howard’s company, Zane’s interest in her was fatally seductive. “This is a bad idea. You’re with someone else.”
In theory so was she, but Howard, with his sneaky lies and deceptions, had ceased to count.
“Gemma works for The Atraeus Group. She just helps me out on occasion.”
Zane’s head dipped, his breath wafted over her cheek, and suddenly, irresistibly, they were back where they’d been less than two hours ago—on the verge of … something.
His lips touched hers. Heat shivered through her, she lifted up on her toes. Her palms automatically slid over his shoulders, fingers digging into pliant muscle. His hands closed on her waist.
The sound of the auctioneer taking bids flowed out into the night, but even that faded as she stepped closer, angled her chin and leaned into the kiss.
Something shifted in the shadows, flashed. Zane’s head jerked up.
A second shadow flickered. A night security officer with a flashlight in one hand nodded as he walked past.
Confused, Lilah stepped back from Zane. For a moment she was certain someone had used a camera flash. She couldn’t stop the gossip and the sensationalized stories, but that didn’t mean she had to like the sneakiness of the reporters. “I’d better go back inside. Howard will be missing me.”
Zane was still watching the shadowy figure of the security officer as he stepped into a concealed side entrance. “Are you serious about him?”
“Not anymore.” Feeling a wrenching regret at leaving the courtyard, Lilah made her way back into the crowded room.
Howard was still engrossed in conversation with a knot of older men. He didn’t bother to look her way. Lilah decided that Zane was right; he looked depressingly paternal.
Zane fell into step beside her. His fingers closed on hers.
Pleasure and guilty heat shooting through her, Lilah jerked her fingers free. Zane’s teasing grin made her heart pound. She resisted the almost overpowering urge to smile back. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The wicked grin faded. “Something I should have done before, checking out your date. I want to make sure Howard doesn’t have an agenda.”
“He does. I realized tonight that he’s married.”
Zane’s expression went from irritated to remote as he slid his cell out of his pocket and spoke briefly into it.
He snapped the phone closed. “Go to the car with Gemma and Elena. Spiros has just pulled up to the curb outside. I’ll deal with Howard. Your boyfriend was also out in the courtyard with a phone camera.”
Lilah stared at Howard who she noticed, was now knocking back something that looked extremely alcoholic. She remembered the shuffling sound, the extra flash.
Zane inserted himself into the jovial male group with the confidence and ease that came from being a supreme predator in the business world. She saw the moment Howard realized he had been made, the automatic reach for his pocket as if he wanted to shield his cell phone.
Howard’s wild gaze connected briefly with hers. With calm deliberation, Lilah turned her back on Howard and walked through to the museum lobby. She noted that she didn’t feel in the least shocked or depressed by the betrayal. On the contrary, there had been something highly satisfying in watching Zane go into battle for her. Unfortunately, along with her new ruthless streak, she seemed to have also gotten used to leading a life of notoriety.
Gemma and Elena strolled out directly behind her. Spiros held the door for them while they climbed into the limousine. Elena chatted with Spiros in Medinian, leaving Lilah with a clearly unhappy Gemma.
Seconds later Zane joined them. Gemma beamed and patted the vacant space beside her. Instead of climbing in, Zane glanced across at a group of boys Lilah had noticed loitering a small distance away from the limo.
He glanced at Lilah. “I won’t be long.”
Gemma, looking distinctly irritable as Zane walked over to the boys, extracted a cell from her clutch and within seconds was deep in conversation about her new job and a move overseas. Elena retrieved a romance novel from her clutch, attached an efficient looking little LED light to the back pages, and was promptly engrossed.
Lilah decided she clearly hadn’t lived, because she hadn’t thought to bring an activity with her that was suitable for downtime in a limousine. Absently, she noted Howard slinking off to his car, which turned out to be a sleek little hatchback with a personalized licence plate that read “HERS.”
Zane terminated a cell phone conversation as he walked back to the car. “I can’t come back to the hotel with you right now. I have to take care of these kids. They saw the posters for the charity auction—that’s why they came.”
Lilah stared across at the lean wraiths clustered around a park bench as if that small landmark was all they had. “What can you do?”
“Get them in a house for the night with state foster care. That doesn’t guarantee they’ll stay, but at least it’s a start. I’ll see you later.”
Lilah watched as Zane walked back to the kids, seeing the instant brightening of their faces. She hadn’t realized how personally involved he was, or how much kids liked him.
She felt like she was seeing him for the first time, not the quintessential bad boy or the exciting, elusive lover the media liked to publicize, but a committed, protective man who would make an excellent father.
With the rest of the night in Zane’s hotel suite looming, it was not a good time to discover that Zane had somehow managed to transcend the list of attributes she was searching for in a husband and had made her requirements seem petty and flawed.
Lilah’s cell phone rang as she stepped in the door of the suite. It