Seducing Zeb (Tarnished Saints Series) (2 page)

“That’s nothing like me
,” snapped Zeb. “You know I like to bed the ladies, not tie a ball and chain around my ankle. I don’t even like to say the M word. My plan was always to be a bachelor my entire life.”

“And you probably will
be, brother.”

“Don’t count on that,” Zeb mumbled under his breath
, glancing back to the girl on the bed.

“Zeb,
I’m tired of being a bachelor and I want to settle down. And since Ebony wants to get married so badly, I figured this would be a perfect opportunity.”

“Not as pe
rfect as you think.”

“Come on, Zeb, lighten up.
After all, I told you I’m moving back home to Sweet Water. I decided Texas is too far away from all my brothers. And with Denise gone, there’s no reason for me to stay. So I thought I’d surprise Ebony by selling the ranch and bringing her back home to Michigan. I only wish I’d moved back home while Ma and Pa were still alive. But that’s part of the reason I sold the ranch too . . . I want the lake house and lot on Thunder Lake that was promised to me in Pa’s will. You know what I’m talking about – the will where we have to be married to get our inheritance.”

“I know exactly what you’re talking about,” growled Zeb. “The inheritance that I don’t give a rat’s ass about since
I’ve got more money than all my brothers put together.”

“Well, I
care about it, so I hope you didn’t ruin my chances for my inheritance by doing something stupid and chasing away Ebony.”

“Well, yes and no
,” he said, touching the bump on his head gingerly, feeling the leftover sting.

“What are you talking about, Zeb? So you did pose as me or not?”

“Oh, yeah.
I pretended to be you all right. Even though I don’t know why I agreed to the lame idea in the first place.”

“
Zeb, calm down. We changed places in high school all the time when I needed you to pass my calculus exam or talk to a cheerleader and get a date for me. We’re good at this game. So, do you think she believed you were me?”

Zeb held up his hand, inspecting the ring on his finger again
and just shook his head. “I guarantee she thought I was you.”

“Hey, Zeb, sorry if I put you on the
spot, bro, when I called you last night and asked you to do this for me. I know it was late and all, and I really appreciate you helping me out. But this is a chance for me to change my life. A chance to find true happiness with a beautiful woman. And even if it doesn’t work out, I’ll just stay married for a year so I can keep my inheritance the way Pa set up the will. After that, we’ll just both go our own ways.”

“
Oh yeah, that sounds just like true love, you idiot. You know you’re just rebounding from splitting up with Denise. Besides, your plan may need a little revising,” Zeb grumbled.

“Well,
I just hope you two didn’t get too comfortable. After all, I know the ability you have to seduce a woman. Even someone like Ebony, whose legs are crossed so tight that it would take a crowbar to pry them apart. And I wouldn’t want you stealing her away from me now that I’ve managed to land a woman sexier than any you’ve ever had.”

“Dammit, James, you are so naïve. I’m sure Ebony’s not even her real name.
She’s a Vegas girl. She’s a player. And if a girl wants to marry you before she’s even checked out your goods, then she’s obviously not in it for the long run. I’m sure she only wants to marry you because you’ve got something she wants. And once she’s got her hands on it, she’ll dump you just like Denise did. For God’s sake, how could you let yourself be fooled by the likes of her?”

“Maybe you’re right
, Zeb but I don’t really care. I’m not getting any younger and I want to settle down and raise a family. I’ve got a good feeling about this one, so I want to give her a chance. And Ebony’s a real looker, you have to admit.”

“Oh, she’s a looker all right
, but just don’t put too much stock in that good feeling.” He glanced over to her sprawled out on the bed. She’d kicked off the covers and her slip rode up the back of her legs and a perfectly rounded derriere sporting a thong called to him from the bed and his groin tightened. “James, you never were a good judge of women, so just admit it.”

“
Well this time will be different. You’ll see. But you know I still value your opinion about women, Zeb. So tell me. What do you think I should do? If you really think she’s no good, then do you think I should just have you dump her for me before it’s too late? Or tell her I found someone else?”

“
You never could make a decision either,” Zeb told him. “Sorry James but I’m not going to be able to do what you’re suggesting. And I don’t believe she’s the one for you, so just try to put her out of your head.”

“Hey
, I’m not going to be able to make something up and lie to her myself if that’s what you’re thinking. You know I’ve never been good at lying to a woman, but you’re great at it. You are the one who wrote the book on that one. After all, you’re a lawyer. Lying is your profession.”

“Well, hell. I w
ish you would have told me all these wonderful plans yesterday. It’s not going to be so easy to do what you’re suggesting now.”

“Why not?”

Zeb heard the bedcovers rustle and looked over his shoulder to see the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen in his life sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Her long hair covered her face and with one hand she brushed it back behind her ear.

“I
gotta go,” said Zeb. “I’ll catch you later.”

“Wait – I’m –”

Zeb clicked off the phone while James was still talking, and turned to look at his new bride. Her eyes opened wide as they settled below his waist and he realized just the sight of her sexy body had gotten him fully aroused. He grabbed the cowboy hat on the bedside table he’d worn to impersonate his rancher brother and held it in front of him to hide his strong desire for her.

“James?” she said with a laugh. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“You’re playing shy again, like when I first met you, aren’t you?”

“Me? Shy?”

“Well, after last night, not on
ly me but everyone in the nightclub knows you’re not the shy little cowboy you pretend to be.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you can’t act coy one minute and be pulling off your clothes, grinding your hips against the stripper pole with the dancers the next minute and think for one moment I’m going to buy the reserved act any more.” Then she smiled her sexy smile with those lush lips and drank him in with her bedroom eyes. “Although, I have to say the whole role-reversal thing kind of excited me.”

“
So I stripped again, did I?”

“Don’t you remember?”

“I must have had too much to drink because I don’t remember anything about last night. And what the hell is this?”

She was laughing until he held up his hand to show her the ring. Her big
mocha brown eyes opened wide and a look of disappointment washed over her face.

“We got married,
” she said, looking at him cautiously from the corner of her eye and at the same time sounding disgusted that he couldn’t remember. Just like we agreed to do last time you were at my blackjack table. Why are you acting like you’re changing your mind?”

“Believe me, sweetie, marriage is the last thing I’d ever want to do to myself.”

“Why the sudden change of heart?” she asked. Then before he could respond, she continued. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. It’s too late. We’re married and you can’t change your mind. The deed is done and we’re going to be a family now and have lots of babies and live on your ranch. And you’re going to teach our kids to be a cowboy just like you, or at least that’s what you said.”

“Really. And what are you going to teach the kids? How to bat
their eyes and sway their hips to get whatever they need by luring a man in? Look, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing but I don’t like the fact I’ve been the brunt of this cockamamie joke. And I only wish I could remember how this all happened and how I got this lump on the head.” He rubbed his fingers over his head, feeling it starting to throb more than what lie below his waist.

“I gave you that lump
when you tried to mount me in the elevator on the way up here last night.”

“That’s right,” he said, starting to remember that he was so ho
rny last night he wanted to bang her on the way up to their room somewhere between the 10
th
and 12
th
floor. “Not the proper way for a wife to respond to her husband on their honeymoon.”

“
Or the way for a new husband to treat his wife. Besides, it’s not a honeymoon,” she told him. “And if you can’t control your hands in public, then you may never bed me.”

“So y
ou mean . . . we haven’t consummated the wedding yet?”

She stared at him for a moment with her chin raised in the air. “No.” Then she slid off the side of the bed and put her bare feet on the floor. “Not yet.”

“Good,” he spat. “Then we’re not really married. It should be easy to get an annulment really quick.” He tried to pull off the wedding ring, but it was snug and wouldn’t budge from his finger. “We’ll do it as soon as possible and we’ll just keep all this nonsense to ourselves, alright?”

“No!” She jumped up and put her hands on her hips. “We have to stay married, and we have to leave for your ranch in Texas right away.”

He looked at her oddly, his lawyer instincts kicking-in that this woman seemed panicked and also desperate to be married. There was something she wasn’t telling him, and he bet she had more secrets than he had right now. But before he could ask her about it, there was a knock on the door. Zeb reached down and grabbed his pants from the floor and pulled them on quickly, not bothering with underwear. It wasn’t easy in his condition, but he managed to zip up his pants and headed over to the door and pulled it open.

“Zeb, how are ya feelin’ this mornin’ sweetcakes?” The
elderly woman at his door reached out and pinched him on the cheek.

“
Aunt Cappy?” he said, seeing his crazy Aunt Penelope standing there in the hallway, and everything started coming back to him now. He’d met his aunt in the casino last night and she told him she was passing thru on one of her crazy trips around the States.

“Move aside and let me in to congratulate the bride,” she said, pushing her way past him into the room rather than waiting to be invited in.
His aunt Penelope was his late father’s sister and only sibling. She had bright red hair dyed from a bottle and wore too much makeup and ridiculously long fake eyelashes. She was a busty woman and not much over five foot four, and wore clothes that one would expect to see only on the stages of Vegas.

“So,
do you remember what happened last night?” he asked his aunt.

She turned around and squinted at him as she spoke
, trying to focus without having to pull out her bifocals. She always thought her glasses made her look like an old lady and would rather stumble around blindly than to put them on.

“Of course, I remember
, you goon. I’m not senile no matter what you and your vagabond brothers think.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he apologized and held out his hand, showing her the ring. “What I mean is . . . do you remember
exactly how this happened? How I ended up getting married?”

“Why wouldn’t I?
” she asked. “Who do you think drove you two through the drive-thru wedding chapel in the first place? After all, neither of you were in any shape to get behind the wheel of a car after you tasted my latest batch of mountain dew.”

Zeb groaned, now realizing exactly what was in the drinks his aunt had been
bringing him last night. “If I would have known it was your two-hundred proof moonshine you were slipping into my drinks I wouldn’t have even touched them,” Zeb said in his defense, as he’d never gotten so drunk that he couldn’t remember what he’d done. “That stuff is vile. You really need to give up making that witch’s brews already.”

“
I didn’t make it. I told you I have a friend right here in Vegas that pulls out the bottle to celebrate every time I visit. And you’re just lucky I remembered how to drive after so long and was able to find that little drive-thru chapel in the dark without my glasses.”

“A drive-thru
chapel?” he asked, shaking his head, and licking his lips, sampling the aftertaste of her friend’s concoction still assaulting his taste buds. He knew they were lucky to be alive if Aunt Cappy was driving again. The whole reason she’d stopped driving years ago was because she had a habit of banging into things and it was getting too expensive hiring lawyers to get her out of the messes she’d gotten herself into.

“
Zeb, I asked you if you wanted me to take you to a drive-thru, and you agreed,” said his aunt, crossing her arms over her bosom.

“Crap,
Aunt Cappy, when you asked if I wanted to go to a drive-thru I thought you meant for a burger and maybe a side of greasy fries, nothing more.”