A Perfect Husband (20 page)

Zane couldn’t help noticing there was no sign of Lilah’s normal low-key wardrobe as she shook out a jewel-bright array of clothes and hung them in the closet.

His gaze snagged on an outrageously sexy pair of red heels. He had never been obsessed with women’s clothing, but as he left the suite, Zane found himself wondering what Lilah would wear tonight. After the revelation of the orange bikini, he decided, he couldn’t bank on one of the modest cream cocktail dresses she had alternated wearing to a number of charity functions.

Unlocking his own suite door, he walked into his room, which, for the first time, did not feel like a refuge. Instead it felt oddly blank and solitary. He changed into evening clothes and walked downstairs in time to meet Constantine and Lucas, who had decided to stay on Medinos for the opening of the new pearl facility.

Even knowing that Lilah didn’t want Lucas, Zane would have been profoundly annoyed by his brother’s presence if he hadn’t known that Carla was supposed to be joining him.

As they walked into the smal reception room where the interview was being held, for the first time in years Zane’s mind was not on business.

He wondered how far Lilah would push him tonight.

Grimly, he decided that his biggest problem was one that had never bothered him before. Because they hadn’t established firm grounds for a relationship, he didn’t have any rights.

Until that afternoon he had not understood how important it was to make it very clear, publicly, that Lilah was his.

Sixteen

Lilah showered and spent some time smoothing an expensive body moisturizer into her skin. With her skin pampered and glowing, she wrapped herself in a robe and confronted her wardrobe.

Instead of wearing the classic cream cocktail dress she had original y planned on, she took out an uncrushable red halterneck she had bought the previous day. Not her usual color, or style, the curve-hugging dress was transforming, bringing a glow to her skin and deepening the color of her eyes.

After dressing, she careful y applied her makeup, fol owing the instructions she had been given by the beautician who had sold her the products. Instead of confining her hair in its usual coil, she brushed it out, letting it swing in loose silky waves down her back. She inserted red crystal earrings in her lobes and fastened a gold pendant around her neck. The fine gold chain was almost invisible, leaving a single red crystal suspended just above the shadowy cleavage of her breasts.

She slipped into red heels and walked over to the closet door, which had a ful -length mirror.

Her heart rate, which was already too rapid, pounded a little faster. It was going to take some time getting used to the glaringly available siren who stared back at her.

She consulted her red folder, which was open at a page she had entitled “Seduction” then quickly worked through her list. Her fingers shook slightly with nerves as she draped a red silk negligee over the bed then unpacked a box of richly scented votive candles and placed them at strategic points around the room.

They had made love enough times that she shouldn’t feel nervous about the idea, but she had never set out to deliberately seduce Zane before. She wanted to make everything, herself included, as irresistible and gorgeous as possible. The last touch was a bottle of very expensive French champagne in the smal bar fridge.

She surveyed the room with an eagle eye. The scene was set.

If Zane final y made the kind of emotional breakthrough she had been hoping for, he could even propose. The thought made her pulse race even faster.

Taking several deep breaths to calm herself down, she remembered to spritz herself with a waft of an exotic perfume she’d bought to go with the dress, picked up a matching red clutch and strol ed downstairs.

Lilah’s heart sank when the first person she saw as she entered a large, elegant reception room hung with chandeliers and festooned with white roses, was Gemma.

She was mental y braced to brazen out the evening with Zane; she didn’t know if she could cope with another feminine dueling match with Zane’s former P.A.

Before she could slide past the younger woman, Gemma waved her over to her group and insisted on introducing her.

Lilah already knew the two buyers from a high-end European chain of stores. She kept a smooth, professional smile in place while she chatted and tried to pretend that the way she looked was not wildly different to her usual low-key style.

Gemma was bubbling over with enthusiasm for the Atraeus family, who had moved her from Sydney to Medinos.

As Gemma’s enthusiasm for al things Atraeus continued unabated, including the fact that she
loved
Medinos so much she intended to settle there permanently, Lilah felt again the sense of unease that had swept through her the previous evening. It wasn’t jealousy. Although Gemma was bluntly intent on making her aware of just how much she wanted Zane. The tension that gripped her was more elusive and disturbing. She couldn’t quite put her finger on

—

The deep cool register of Zane’s voice sent a hot tingle down her spine. Bracing herself for his reaction when he saw the red dress, she turned.

The voice belonged to Lucas, not Zane. The embarrassment of the moment was limited by the fact that Lucas was talking on his cel . Judging from the blankness of his expression, he had not even recognized her.

Zane’s oldest brother, Constantine, an imposing figure, was just feet away, his arm around his new wife, Sienna Ambrosi, who was pregnant and glowing.

Out of nowhere, longing, unexpected and powerful, hit Lilah. For years the idea of a pregnancy had been something she had avoided thinking about, beyond taking extreme measures to make sure it never happened to her.

Now, in the space of a few seconds, everything had changed.

Sienna, Lilah realized, was the picture of everything she wanted: the protective husband, the wel -loved glow, the baby. Bleakly, she faced the fact that if Zane didn’t fal in love with her, it was possible that she would never achieve any of those things. If she could not imagine replacing Zane with another man, she did not see how she was ever going to progress to the point of having a baby with someone she did not love.

She refocused beyond Lucas’s shoulder. Her breath caught in her throat. Zane, looking edgily gorgeous in a tuxedo, was heading straight for her.

A prosaic little fact that had been the stumbling block of Cole women for fifty years, and which she had happily glossed over in her pursuit of Zane, was suddenly glaringly highlighted.

She could try any number of strategies and tactics, but she could not
make
Zane fal in love with her.

Zane cut through the room, his gaze caught and held by the intensity of Lilah’s.

Something had happened; something had changed.

His jaw locked as he took in the spectacular red dress that clung to every curve, the lavish, silky fal of dark hair.

The only time he had seen Lilah’s hair out of its neat coils had been when he had pul ed out pins and threaded his fingers through it. To his knowledge she had never voluntarily undone her hair for anyone, himself included.

His attention shifted to the man standing nearby.

Lucas.

The suspicion he had never entirely managed to wipe from his mind shot to the surface. If he’d had any doubts about the concept of marriage, which he had been tossing around like a hot coal for the past hour, they were gone.

His decision to examine the whole process from a business point of view had been a major turning point. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of the idea earlier. He had never had any problem negotiating complex legal agreements and, at the end of the day, the binding nature of marriage was similar to a business contract.

The emotional side was the tricky part but, since he had already decided he wanted Lilah to live with him, he figured that with her systematic, logical approach, they could negotiate their way to an understanding.

He was clear on the main point: Lilah belonged to him and before the night was out he was determined that she would have his ring on her finger.

If she would accept him as a husband.

His jaw clenched. The thought that, after years of avoiding sexual lures and marriage traps, he would literal y have to force a woman to marry him should have been amusing.

Unfortunately his sense of humor had died that afternoon on a hot beach on Ambrus.

“Zane,
babe
!”

Zane’s jaw locked as Gemma, al flowing red hair and sexy black lace, blocked his view of Lilah and Lucas.

Her arms coiled around his neck. His hands clamped her waist preventing ful body contact.

She winked and grinned good-naturedly. “I’ve been cal ing, but you haven’t answered.”

That was because he had a block on her number. “I’ve been busy.”

Calmly, he disengaged himself and declined her invitation to join her for a drink out on the terrace.

If he had known how complicated it was going to be taking Gemma along to charity functions in Sydney as his casual date, as insurance that he wouldn’t lose his head over Lilah, he never would have crossed that particular line.

Zane final y managed to disentangle himself, only to discover that Lilah had disappeared.

Lucas snapped closed the cel he had been talking into, a grin lighting his face. “Carla has just arrived at the airport.

I’m on my way to pick her up.”

Zane swal owed the blunt warning he had been about to deliver. If Lucas, who had entered the room just seconds before, had been on the phone to Carla then he would not have had time to talk with Lilah.

Zane skimmed the wel -dressed crowd, looking for a spectacular red dress and a silky fal of dark hair. “I thought Carla wasn’t wel .”

Lucas dug car keys out of his pocket. “She’s feeling better, which is good. I’ve missed her like crazy.”

For the first time Zane noticed the changes in Lucas. He looked relaxed and carefree. Even his clothing was different. The suit he was wearing was a cutting-edge departure from his usual classic style. The changes could mean only one thing. He had seen the phenomena often enough in friends. Relief loosened some of Zane’s tension.

“You love Carla.”

Lucas tossed the keys in one hand and clapped him on the arm. “I’m
in
love with her. There’s a difference.”

Zane watched his brother leave, transfixed by the thought of al the changes Lilah had recently made. He had been so concerned with his own issues, he had somehow managed to miss the fact that Lilah had literal y blossomed while they’d been together.

He wondered how he could ever have been so blind.

Lilah joined the smal knot of guests and stared blindly at an exquisite display of antique Ambrosi pearls. She should have been upset at the clinch she had just witnessed. She was
not
good with the body contact, but Gemma sidetracking Zane wasn’t what was upsetting her. The thing that had struck her most was Gemma’s single-minded pursuit of Zane. That was, she realized, the basis of the cold unease that gripped her. Gemma’s determination reminded her forcibly of herself.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to concentrate on the jewelry display. One strand of outstanding iridescent pearls, the signature product of Ambrosi, was said to be the first ever produced by the inventor of the process, Dominic Ambrosi, an alchemist who had lived in the eighteenth century.

Symbolic of the business merger, an entire section of the display was devoted to Atraeus jewels. A blank space in the display had been fil ed by a photograph and description of The Il ium Cache, the ancient set of diamond-and-emerald jewels that for some reason had not made it into the case. Frowning, Lilah bent closer to study the photograph.

She caught a flash of Zane’s reflection in the mirrored display case. Heart suddenly pounding, she straightened.

Zane’s gaze seemed riveted by the red crystal suspended in the val ey between her breasts. “I see you’ve found my ancestor’s treasure trove.”

Lilah blushed, acutely aware of the revealing neckline. It wasn’t as revealing as Gemma’s black lace dress, but it was uncomfortably close. “Unfortunately, the most important pieces are missing.”

“Ah. The fabled Il ium Cache.”

Off to one side of the room, a flash of red caught Lilah’s eye. Gemma’s hair, as bright as a flame. She paused just short of the corridor that lead to the bathrooms and the castel o’s private suites. Her gaze was fixed on Zane as if she was waiting for him to make eye contact. To Lilah’s eyes, she looked a little desperate.

The hol ow feeling she had experienced when she had seen Gemma winding herself around Zane came back to haunt her. “I just saw you with Gemma.”

Zane, who barely seemed to notice Gemma’s attempt to get his attention, looked impatient. “We need to talk, and we can’t do it here.”

Zane’s grip on her elbow distracted her from the lonely figure of Gemma, waiting for Zane to notice her, as he steered her away from the jewelry cases.

Minutes later he showed her into what looked like a study fil ed with heavy dark furniture and an oversized desk. An entire wal was lined with leather-bound volumes; the remaining wal s were decorated with oils. When she saw Zane’s laptop sitting on the desk, she realized that this was his office.

Zane perched on the edge of the desk, arms folded across his chest. “You’re in love with me.”

The soft, flat statement took her breath. She thought she had done a thorough job of covering up her feelings. Clearly she had slipped up badly. Now that Zane knew she loved him, that didn’t leave her with much leeway. “That doesn’t mean I’l agree to live with you on a temporary basis.”

“Because I’m terrible husband material?”

“I never said that.”

“Not directly, but it’s a fact that I didn’t make it on to your list. Would you stay if I offered marriage?”

Lilah’s fingers tightened on her clutch. She stared at the closest painting, one of a girl holding a bunch of bright flowers. The soft expression on the girl’s face as she looked directly at the painter radiated tender promise. She was in love.