Читать книгу The Reunion Lie - Lucy King - Страница 11

THREE

Absolutely no way was the answer that was hovering on the tip of Dan’s tongue as he looked down at Zoe and steeled himself to ignore the shimmering hope in her eyes. She might not be the kiss-and-tell girl he’d initially suspected her of being—and the story she’d subsequently spun him was too convoluted to be anything but the truth—but going along with her ridiculous proposition was still out of the question.

Even if he had possessed a chivalrous streak—which he most certainly didn’t—ever since he’d shot to the top of that bloody eligible bachelor list five years ago he’d had the press nosing around his private life, commenting on his relationships and speculating about whether he had any intention of settling down. And following the hideously detailed story Jasmine had sold six months ago, he now hit the headlines pretty much every time he even spoke to a woman, and he had no desire to fan the embers with yet more fodder for gossip.

God only knew how far this particular little farce had gone, but should it get out that he was romantically involved—falsely or not—there’d be repercussions he could barely bear thinking about.

And not just from the press.

Ever since he’d turned thirty his mother had never passed up an opportunity to mention how she wasn’t getting any younger and how she’d like to be able to enjoy her grandchildren while she still could, and, although he hadn’t reached his breaking point yet, the memories she stirred up every time she mentioned it were getting harder and harder to suppress and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand it.

If she got to hear of a relationship then his life would become truly intolerable, so if he had any sense whatsoever he’d be saying goodbye and good luck and sticking to his original plan of buying a pint and taking himself off to a relatively quiet corner of the pub. Even more wisely he’d be heading out of the pub altogether, finding a venue that didn’t contain lunatic women with hyperactive imaginations and texting Pete to inform him of the change of plan.

But Zoe had clearly stolen every drop of sense he possessed because she was blinking up at him with those pleading brown eyes fringed with the thickest darkest eyelashes he’d ever seen, and all he could think about was how she’d felt plastered up against him, how warm and soft she’d been and how desperate she was looking now.

He didn’t think he’d ever seen quite such raw panic or such heartfelt pleading before, and it was making his resolve not to get involved waver. It was giving rise to a weird protective streak that he hadn’t known he’d had and an oddly difficult to ignore sense of empathy.

Even though he’d always considered himself to be way too canny and too cynical to be suckered by a damsel in distress, he did know what it was like to be bombarded with the whole marriage and children thing so relentlessly that you could be driven to recklessness. He did know what it was like to go off the rails and make rash decisions that with hindsight were just plain madness.

So if he could figure out something that wouldn’t require much input from him but would have the maximum impact for her, if it was only for a moment and strictly on his terms, then maybe, just maybe, he could help her out.

Zoe bit her lip nervously, as if trying to stop herself from telling him to hurry up, and as his gaze dipped to her mouth the solution came to him in a flash.

‘All right,’ he said, dismissing the voice in his head demanding to know whether he truly had gone insane, because, really, what harm could come of it? ‘You can have a kiss.’

* * *

Oh, thank God for that, thought Zoe letting out the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding.

For one horrible moment she’d thought Dan was going to say ‘no’ to her frankly preposterous proposal, declare she was mad and march off. Like any normal person—as unlike her he seemed to be—would. But he hadn’t. Her decision to enhance her appeal to his better nature with a whole load of very uncharacteristic eyelash batting had worked and he’d capitulated.

Well, sort of, she amended. A kiss wasn’t exactly what she’d been hoping him to offer, but it was a start.

‘Haven’t I already had one of those?’ she asked.

His eyes glittered as he considered. ‘I’ll make it a proper one. In full view of everyone. To make up for any doubts that might have been generated by my pushing you away the last time.’

‘I see,’ she said, having to concede that this was a good idea. ‘And then what?’

‘I’ll be leaving.’

‘Oh.’ Zoe felt her face begin to fall and pulled herself together. What had she been expecting? That he’d want to stick around and get even more involved in the craziness she’d created? Why on earth would he—or anyone for that matter—want to do that? She ought to be grateful that he’d offered a kiss, not left her to face the repercussions of her little white lies.

‘Think of it like this,’ said Dan. ‘I popped in to say hello on my way to somewhere else, and once we’ve had the kiss I’ll be popping out again. You can do what you like.’

Logically Zoe knew that that was fair enough, but the thought of all those women eagerly waiting to meet him and the giddy rapture that would ensue when they did was still battering away in her head and scrambling her powers of reason. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like to stay?’

‘I don’t think that’s a very good idea, do you?’

Well, yes, actually she did, because if she was being brutally honest she didn’t want to say goodbye to him just yet. She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted more of him. ‘Why not?’

He frowned. ‘How deep are you in with the details, Zoe?’

She sighed. ‘Pretty deep, I guess.’ Not quite in over her head, but nearly. ‘I think I might have implied that you’re on the point of proposing.’

She thought she saw him shudder, which kind of told her what he thought of that particular idea.

‘Then you should be counting yourself lucky you’ve got away with it this far,’ he said. ‘If you add me into the mix any further when I don’t have any idea of the lies you’ve been drumming up things could get really complicated, don’t you think?’

Hmm, he did have a point. ‘Probably,’ she muttered.

‘Definitely,’ he said, his dark eyes glittering in the soft light of the pub. ‘So that’s the deal, Zoe. One kiss. Take it or leave it.’

Well, what option did she have under the circumstances but to agree? she thought, caving into the common sense she usually valued so highly but seemed to have abandoned tonight.

Dan was absolutely right, of course. There was no probably about it. She’d pushed her luck way beyond its limit this evening and sailed so close to the wind with the story she’d concocted, and what with the emotional turbulence, the stress of having to think on her feet and the horrible sensation that her control was history she didn’t think her nervous system could take any more.

To carry on with the charade would be beyond reckless. She could see that now. She’d achieved what she’d set out to do and she’d got at least some sort of closure to her school days, so there was no need to continue with it any longer.

Therefore Dan wouldn’t be the only one leaving once this kiss was over and done with. She’d be right with him. Hanging off his arm, flinging a wave in the direction of her former classmates and sailing out. Quitting while she was still ahead. Leaving with her head held high and her self-esteem not quite as close to rock bottom as it had been before. And then she’d be heading for home, putting the whole crazy night behind her and moving on.

It had better be one hell of a kiss, though. Her commitment to the idea was irrefutable. Just the thought of having his mouth on hers, properly this time, was making her heart thump and her knees wobble. His, on the other hand...Who knew how he was intending to approach it?

‘OK, well, fine,’ she said, feeling all hot and tingly again at the prospect of the two of them kissing, ‘but could you at least try and make it look convincing?’

Taking her hand and tugging her towards a gap in the crowds from where they’d have maximum exposure, Dan shot her a quick smouldering smile. ‘I’ll do my best.’

* * *

In the event, Dan didn’t have to try all that hard to do his best. Zoe’s instant, scorchingly hot response to him—the way she melted into him with a soft sigh, the tightening of her arms around his neck and the pressure of her pelvis tilting up against his, and then the little moans she started making at the back of her throat—was as mind-blowing as his was to her, and within seconds the kiss had taken on a life of its own.

Kissing a woman certainly wasn’t something he’d never done before. On the contrary it was an activity he’d engaged in a lot during his thirty-three years, generally with great success, but he’d never had a kiss quite like this one. He’d never had his mind go quite so blank quite so fast. He’d never had the feeling that the world around him was disintegrating. And he’d never experienced such a swift rush of desire, such instant heat nor such a reckless longing to toss aside his control and give in to such clamouring raw need.

Who knew where the intensity of it, the insanely desperate urge to flatten Zoe against the nearest suitable surface and get her naked, came from? It could have simply been down to intense and sizzling chemistry that now surged between them. It could have merely been that emotions seemed to be running fever high this evening. Or it could have been the fact that the three-date-only rule he’d instigated following Jasmine’s blabbing to the press usually precluded sex by its very nature, and he was missing it. Whatever it was, and, really, his brain was in no state to try and work it out, Dan didn’t want the kiss to end.

And it might not have done had a distant wolf whistle followed by a cut-glass-accented suggestion they get a room not sliced through the fog in his head and brought him thumping down to earth.

Reluctantly drawing back, he stared down at the woman in his arms. Her eyes were glazed, her cheeks were pink and her lips were rosy from the pressure of the kiss, and her breathing was all ragged and shallow. She looked as shaken as he felt and at the realisation that she’d been as affected as he had his self-control rocked for a second. He could still feel every inch of her pressed up against him, was achingly aware of her breasts crushed to his chest and all he could think about was doing it again.

But he couldn’t do it again, could he, because one kiss had been the deal and that had been accomplished. More thoroughly and disturbingly than he could ever have imagined.

‘Thanks,’ said Zoe huskily, unwinding her arms from around his neck and placing her hands on his chest instead.

‘You’re welcome.’

She tilted her head and a slow sexy smile curved her mouth. ‘That should have done it, don’t you think?’

‘Done what?’ he muttered, too dazzled by the smile and too preoccupied and baffled by the way his skin was burning beneath her palms and his blood was still burning through his veins to have a clue what she was talking about.

‘Convinced them.’

For a moment he was about to ask ‘They who?’ but he managed to pull himself up just in time as his brain cleared enough for reason to put in an appearance. Right. Her ex-classmates. The bullies. The reason for the kiss. ‘If it didn’t I can’t imagine what would,’ he muttered.

Her gaze dropped to his mouth and her eyes darkened, and the expression on her face suggested she was tempted to suggest another one. But she didn’t, thank God, or heaven only knew what he would have done.

‘So now I suppose you’ll be off,’ she murmured, lifting her eyes to meet his once again.

He nodded. ‘I will.’

She tilted her head. ‘Pity. In a way.’

Yes, it was, he thought, momentarily distracted by the intensely fiery look of desire in her eyes and the reciprocal surge that shot through him. And didn’t that pull him up short, because his agreement to help Zoe out had been conditional on his participation being brief and on his terms, and the thought that he could so easily be persuaded into something more was deeply unsettling. ‘But necessary. In another.’

‘Then you’d better let me go.’

‘Right.’ He had. So why were his arms tightening around her instead of loosening? Why wasn’t he turning on his heel and getting out of there just as fast as was humanly possible?

Oh God, he thought, his heart thudding with alarm and his entire body going still. What the hell was going on? Surely he wasn’t thinking of staying, was he? He couldn’t. He’d be nuts to even consider it.

So why was he now wondering if he could do more to help Zoe, the way he should have helped Celia? Why was a flicker of the guilt that he thought he’d dealt with years ago now leaping around in his stomach and battling with desire?

He couldn’t stay, he reminded himself firmly, setting his jaw and ruthlessly stamping out the guilt. He didn’t need to. Celia was fine. She hadn’t needed him. The two cases bore no resemblance whatsoever. Besides, the potential fallout from being some kind of white knight here was huge, and why he kept forgetting that he had no idea.

Or was it as big a deal as he was making out?

Zoe hadn’t recognised him, he realised, his head suddenly pounding with possibilities. No one else here seemed to. Had he really become so paranoid that he thought everyone everywhere was out to get him? Was he really so vain that he thought everyone knew who he was? And how long was he going to let what Jasmine had done influence his decisions?

‘Dan?’

The sharpness of Zoe’s voice jerked him out of the tangled confusion of ideas and thoughts churning around his head. ‘What?’

She pushed at his chest. ‘Let me go.’

‘In a minute.’

‘What?’ Her eyes widened and filled with alarm that mirrored his own. ‘No. Now.’

‘Why?’

‘Why? Because it’s what we agreed, and if you don’t release me right now it’ll be too late.’

It already was. At least for him. Because now all he could think was that he could help her. That he had to help her. ‘What if I’ve changed my mind?’

She looked aghast. ‘You can’t.’

‘Why not? I got the impression you wanted more from me than just a kiss.’

‘Maybe, but that was before.’

‘Before what?’

‘Before I changed my mind too. You were absolutely right. I’m in way too deep for this kind of thing. I’ve had enough and I really don’t think I can take any more.’ She flicked a quick glance to her right. ‘Oh, God, they’re on their way over, and believe me you do not want “us” to be subjected to the horror that is Samantha Newark.’

Dan felt a shudder rip through her and any lingering doubt that he was doing the right thing instantly vanished. ‘Is she the one who gave you the bruises?’

She looked back at him as confusion flickered across her face. ‘What? Oh. Well, yes, but who cares about that now? If we don’t leave right this minute, as you so cleverly pointed out things will get really complicated.’

He set his jaw. ‘Complication is my middle name.’

‘What?’ she asked with something akin to panic. ‘No. This is insane.’

‘You started it,’ he felt obliged to point out.

‘And I want to finish it.’

‘So let’s finish it. Properly.’

‘I’m trying to,’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘Where’s your spirit of adventure?’

‘I don’t have one.’

‘I find that hard to believe. Haven’t you just produced a boyfriend out of thin air?’

‘Would you mind keeping your voice down?’ she said in a furious low voice.

‘And that kiss was something else.’

‘Forget the kiss,’ she practically hissed.

‘I don’t think that’s going to be possible.’

‘It has to be.’

He pulled her close and looked deep into her eyes. ‘You know, we should do this. You should do this.’

‘In the name of all that’s holy, why?’

‘My sister was bullied and it was only when she stood up to them that she got over it. You need to deal with it so you can move on.’

‘I have, thank you very much, Mr Amateur Psychologist, and I am.’

He arched a sceptical eyebrow. ‘Really?’

‘OK, so I’m a work in progress.’

‘I can help.’

‘They’d see through us in a second.’

‘No, they wouldn’t. I’m in advertising.’

For a second she just stared at him in uncomprehending disbelief. ‘What on earth does that have to do with anything?’

‘It involves manipulating perception and getting people to believe what they’re told regardless of whether it’s the truth or not, and I’m an expert.’

‘Your cynicism runs deep.’

‘Luckily so does my creativity.’

‘Believe me, it’s not a patch on mine,’ said Zoe darkly. ‘You do not want to hear the stuff I’ve made up.’

‘Don’t I? I’m rather keen to find out the exceptional talents you’ve given me.’

She clutched at his shirt and stared at him wildly. ‘Why are you being so persistent about this?’

‘I don’t think I want to let you go just yet.’ Of everything that had been running through his brain that was the one thing of which he was certain. He wanted some more of those kisses. He wanted more of her.

‘So let’s talk on the pavement outside. Let’s go to a different bar, a restaurant, anywhere away from here.’

‘I also don’t like bullies.’

‘Neither do I, but they’re mine to deal with, and—’

‘Zoe!’

‘Oh, God,’ she muttered, her voice shaking as the strident female tone came from right behind them. ‘I told you it would be too late.’ She dropped her head onto his chest. ‘This is going to be a disaster,’ she said, her words muffled against his shirt. ‘A total unmitigated disaster.’

* * *

Despite Zoe’s misgivings, her frustration that her escape plan had been thwarted and her deeply felt conviction that Dan had ruined everything, things weren’t turning out to be as bad as she’d anticipated.

With her contemporaries flocking around them she really had feared the worst, but by that stage she’d had no choice but to extricate herself from Dan’s arms to face Samantha and her little bunch of cohorts and imminent disaster.

Lacking his confidence, she’d made the introductions with apprehension and nerves twisting her stomach into knots, absolutely certain that the women, Samantha especially, would immediately see straight through her, Dan and their pseudo romance. She’d been waiting on tenterhooks for the fragile house of cards she’d built to collapse, and preparing herself to run and hide and never show her face in public again.

But in fact things couldn’t be going better, and she was beginning to think she actually ought to be thanking him for making her follow through with this.

Once the introductions were out of the way and drinks had been bought Dan had slid into the role of her boyfriend with surprising ease, swapping small talk with aplomb while displaying such an impressively wide knowledge of everything from London’s social calendar to Tuscan hot spots that she didn’t think he was even having to fake it.

He certainly couldn’t be faking the charm with which he had people eating out of his hand. It was totally natural, dazzling and hypnotic, and she could only envy the way he was entertaining everyone so effortlessly and so compellingly that they were buzzing round him like social climbers in the vicinity of a member of royalty.

OK, so it probably didn’t hurt that he was so gorgeous to look at, she had to admit, casting a surreptitious glance up at him over the rim of her glass. She felt the oddly drugging heat that had filled her when they’d kissed properly begin to spread through her again, but it was more than that. It was something within him, something powerful, magnetic and totally mesmerising, and it made the Dan she’d first met seem nothing more than a brief aberration.

If she weren’t so distracted by the aftermath of that kiss and the weird swimming sensation going on in her head she’d be watching and learning, because while she sucked at interpersonal relationships she had the impression that Dan Forrester excelled at them.

‘So, Dan,’ she heard Harriet née Williams now Denham-Davis and one of Samantha’s more docile cronies say. ‘Zoe tells us you’re hugely successful.’

Tuning back into the conversation she should never really have left, Zoe fought the urge to roll her eyes and gazed up at him with what she hoped was adoration instead.

‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ he said, smiling down at her so warmly that her insides went all fluttery. ‘She over-exaggerates, don’t you, darling?’

‘I couldn’t possibly, Honeybun,’ she said, flashing him a dazzling smile in return and marvelling at the way he didn’t even bat an eyelid at the cringe-worthy term of endearment she’d given the girls when she’d been asked what her fictitious boyfriend was called and had been unable to drum up a suitable name fast enough.

‘What field are you in?’ asked Harriet.

‘Advertising.’

‘Ooh, how dashingly creative,’ she said. ‘Which firm?’

‘DBF Associates.’

Crikey, thought Zoe with a bit of a start. Even she’d heard of that one. It was one of the most successful advertising agencies in London. She’d read somewhere that it was cutting-edge and award-winning and employed only the best.

‘And what do you do there?’ asked Harriet.

‘I own it.’

Zoe just about managed to keep her jaw from hitting the floor, because for one thing what Dan did for a living—and she couldn’t see why he’d be making this up when he hadn’t had to make anything up so far—was surely something his adoring girlfriend would know, and for another what was so surprising about the fact that he ran his own successful business? After all, she did, didn’t she, and she was a lot less sorted than he seemed to be.

Still, she couldn’t help being impressed—although perhaps not in the same way as Harriet and Samantha, who were letting out little sighs of approval while the pound signs, she fancied, lit up their eyes and the sounds of ker-ching rattled through their brains.

‘And would you be one of the Ashwicke Forresters?’ said Harriet, having established Dan’s professional and, by extension, financial status and clearly deciding to move on to the social.

‘I am,’ he said.

Who or what the Ashwicke Forresters were remained a mystery to Zoe, but Harriet was practically quivering with delight—even the navy velvet Alice band that Zoe suspected was the same one she’d worn at school trembled—and her eyes were sparkling. ‘Oh, how thrilling. I met your parents once years ago. At the Queen Mary’s Ball, I think it was. Absolutely delightful. How are they?’

‘Divorced,’ he said flatly.

‘Oh,’ said Harriet, her eyes widening and losing some of that sparkle as the air thickened with awkwardness. ‘Well. I’m sorry to hear that.’

‘Are you?’ Dan said archly, and as Zoe caught a trace of steel beneath the charming exterior she felt her heartstrings twang. Clearly the subject of his parents’ divorce was a touchy one. As was marriage perhaps, she thought, because gorgeous successful single men over the age of thirty who didn’t have a problem with commitment or excess emotional baggage were rare. So should the conversation ever get round to the imminent proposal she’d hinted at—and in all honesty she didn’t hold out much hope that it wouldn’t—maybe she could do him a favour and release him from that particular obligation.

His abrupt tone might have tugged at Zoe’s heartstrings, but it had taken the other two very aback if the lull in conversation was anything to go by. However, St Catherine’s girls never let conversation stagnate for long, and Zoe wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Samantha recover first.

‘Oh, I recognise you now,’ she said with a gleam in her eye and a faintly triumphant smile on her lips, neither of which Zoe liked the look of at all. ‘You’re that Dan Forrester, aren’t you?’