Past Lies Page 2

  Anna cursed under her breath and knocked back her glass of water. Tepid. She grimaced.

  A river breeze lifted her short, bobbed hair, washed some of the heat from her blood. She put her empty glass on the edge of the stone planter. Her fingertips caressed the narrow leaves, the velvet soft petals of the bush dappled with sunlight. Better to touch that, than think about running them over the thick darkness of a certain man’s hair.

  “Blushing Bride.” His voice, too close behind her.

  Anna closed her eyes and stopped herself from sighing. Couldn’t the man take a hint? “I know. Gregory has a border of them.” She didn’t look at him. “I came out here to carry on avoiding you.”

  “I could start to take this personally, Anna.” There was laughter in that smooth voice.

  He thought this was funny?

  She turned. Despite her heels adding inches to her tall height, she only found her gaze level with his mouth and met the familiar hard plane of his jaw. It would be sleek and warm to her touch. She clung to the ball of anger burning in her gut. “I wish you would.” Strong, confident. Good.

  His mouth twitched, compressed into a thin line.

  Anna was aware of every breath that expanded, contracted her lungs. And with it, she tried not to breathe in his clean, male scent, spiced with a hint of something that had her pulse throbbing. She never let herself get this close to him.

  It was a mistake.

  It was always a mistake.

  She had to escape.

  His hand closed around her upper arm.

  The jolt of his touch, even through layers of clothes, startled her. They couldn’t touch. They mustn’t.

  “Let go of me, Zach.”

  His fingers dropped away. “At the funeral. You took offence. I’m sorry…”

  Anna blinked. Zachary Quinn. Apologising? It was unheard of.

  “…but what I said was true.”

  She gripped the anger tight to her. Felt it flare and burn bright. Wanted her glare to scorch him. “You accused me of living off Gregory like a leech.”

  “Well. Haven’t you?” He caught the hand that flew to his jaw. “I had to watch a man I loved and respected make a fool of himself over your sister. Worse. Marry her,” he grated.

  She wrenched her hand free. “And whose fault was that?”

  He blinked.

  “Whose wife introduced Sofia to him?”

  “Ex-wife.” Zach’s face froze into a hard line. “We are not discussing Isabelle.”

  “When do you ever?” She let out a slow breath. “Gregory loved Sofia. And she loved Gregory.”

  “More fool him. And more fool you for thinking Sofia loves anyone but herself.”

  Nothing he said would hurt her anymore. Nothing. “You’re just worried about the business. That’s all.”

  “Yes.” His eyes drilled her. “Sofia splashes out money like water. I made sure that she wouldn’t get any more of it.”

  “What?”

  “Ah-h.” A cruel smile cut his mouth. “Now you start to worry. Gregory came to his senses before the end. He chopped Sofia out of the business. Surely, she told you what he left her in his will?”

  Anna blinked. She hadn’t asked. She had just assumed everything related to business had passed onto Sofia as Gregory’s wife. That included the massive corporation that had made Gregory and Zach so incredibly wealthy. She had no interest in it. She just wanted the land and the house that had belonged to her family.

  And the freedom it promised.

  “I didn’t ask.”

  Zach laughed. “Anna Shrewsbury not worrying when her next fat cheque would arrive? Hardly likely.”

  She would not try to justify her life to him. Let him think what he liked. He saw her as a money-grabbing harridan. Fine. She wouldn’t let something as obscuring as the truth cloud him. She never had.

  Anna looked up from the exotic palm sweeping its leaves over the edge of the terrace wall. “What upsets you most, Zach?” Fury burned in her gut. Oh, yes. She had her own arsenal. “That I happily lived off Gregory? Or that you couldn’t buy me?”

  She saw a muscle jump in his cheek.

  Good. She had broken through his icy control. See how he liked to be insulted.

  Anna stalked towards him, her gaze never leaving his, seeing the spark of his anger. The sensible part of her mind screamed at her not to bait this man. But she ignored it. Damn him. And she could damn herself right along with him.

  “Because you did think about it, Zach. Once. Six years ago.”

  “I don’t buy women.”

  His voice was strained, thick with anger. She could see his irritation in his tight jaw, the narrowing of his eyes.

  “You offered…” Anna was determined to play the vamp he thought she was. He had no idea how far that was from reality. But then, Zach didn’t care about the truth. “I was only nineteen.” She made a smile curve her mouth and she looked at him from under her lashes. “How was I to know that you were so very wealthy?”

  “Stop this, Anna.”

  “But then being in Gregory Brabant’s circle, I met so many men.”

  “I said—”

  “Ones who offered—”

  “No.”

  The word was a quiet growl. His fingers slid around her neck, her jaw, his thumb pressed against her cheek.

  Contact stopped her words.

  Hot skin touching hers, the slight rasp of calluses. Her heart skittered. They couldn’t touch. They just couldn’t.

  He stroked her, a soft caress slipping over her cheek, edging closer. It was hard to breathe. His thumb caught her lip and she gasped.

  Zach smiled and his eyes gleamed. “You melt when I touch you.”

  His voice eased over her, the deep pulse of sound finding the throb low, low in her belly. His thumb slowly traced over her burning mouth. Oh God… She should stop this. She had to stop this.

  His breath brushed her ear. “You always have.”

  “No.”

  “So you don’t want me to touch you?”

  “I—”

  “Here?”

  His mouth moved in a brief warm brush over her forehead.

  “Here?”

  Her eyelid, the spikes of her lashes fluttering against his lips.

  “Here?”

  So close to her mouth, she could almost taste him. The teasing had fire in her blood. He did this to her. Teased. Played.

  Well, no more.

  She took his mouth.

  His shock lasted a heartbeat.

  They stumbled back, Zach hitting the solid, glass wall of the terrace with a low groan. Half lying against him, her fingers tight in his hair, her other hand worming beneath his jacket, Anna nibbled, tasted, her tongue finding his.

  All thought but him had gone.

  And his hands, sliding down her body, hitching at her mercifully short skirt. Finding her.

  Anna moaned into his mouth.

  Zach had burned in her blood for six long years. Finally to have him.

  “You’re a piece of work, Anna.” The words were growled in anger against her lips.

  For a moment, she froze and something inside her cracked.

  Zach had been playing her. Again. And she’d flung herself at him with complete and idiotic abandon. Horror crawled up her spine.

  Anna scrambled out of his loose hold, desperate to straighten her skirt, blouse, jacket. She ran trembling fingers through her tangled hair, but couldn’t look him in the eye.

  Zach’s laugh was bitter. “So you find out that Sofia has lost her forty percent share in the business. Your sister won’t be able to afford her lifestyle. And yours. So what do you do?”

  Stung, Anna glared at him. “You started this.”

  He brushed the front of his expensive jacket smooth, fixed his tie. “Did I?” Zach’s attention travelled over her still rumpled suit. “Sofia put you up to it.”

  “How dare you!”

  Anna had to get away from him. Far away. Starting with t
his bloody terrace. After this meeting, if she never saw him again it would be too soon.

  Zach grabbed her arm. “Don’t play games with me, Anna.” His voice was a harsh whisper. “Because I play them well. Too well.”

  She tugged herself free. “Oh, I know that.”

  The low creak of the outer door. Anna’s attention shot to it. Damn. Carl Petersen was back. Heat still scorched her skin. Her lips were swollen and any trace of lipstick would be long gone. She refused to look at Zach to see if it was smeared over his mouth.

  “My pride and joy,” Carl Petersen declared, smiling, his arms full of papers. “Better than sitting in this stuffy office, but…” He looked at his loaded arms. “The winds would blow all this into the river. Come. Sit down.”

  He groaned and dropped his papers carefully onto the desk, arranging them neatly. “Would you like tea, coffee?”

  “I think we’d both like tea, thank you,” Zach murmured, holding out Anna’s chair for her to sit.

  She sat, fighting the need to stick her very sharp boot heel into his toe. She took an even breath. “Yes. Thank you.” She gave Carl a quick smile, watching him as he chatted on the intercom with his PA. Her fingers started to play with the hem of her skirt.

  A prickle ran over her skin and Anna could feel Zach’s gaze burning into her thigh.

  She would not look. She would not look.

  Gleaming eyes held her. An eyebrow lifted.

  “So.”

  Anna shot her attention back to the solicitor, her face red. She hated Zach.

  One of the most important days of her life, one of the most vital…and Zach had her mind in pieces.

  “You know why you’re here.” Carl slit open a large, white envelope with a slim knife. “Gregory Brabant, in his wisdom, decided that he wanted to divide his will. Sofia’s bequest was read last week, along with the minor beneficiaries. Yours…” he pulled out the document with a sigh, “…is a little more complicated.”

  Sudden tension had her neck knotted.

  Gregory had promised her. He said the land that had belonged to her family for generations, that the house her mother had restored would be hers. Sofia wanted to sell them both. A developer was offering a high price…but Gregory had been holding out. He knew, knew that it was the only thing that could connect her to her parents. Anna closed her eyes. He had promised.

  “…and now to the meat of it.”

  Damn. She had to listen.

  “These are Gregory Brabant’s own words. He stated that you must not comment, nor interrupt.” Carl looked over his glasses, his pale eyes sharp. “No matter how much you may need to.”

  Anna stopped the need to fidget. What had Gregory done?

  “‘People have often complained about my sense of humour. Tough.’” The solicitor shifted uneasily in his seat and his attention remained fixed on the documents in his hands. “‘No doubt both of you will curse me. But that’s tough too.’”

  Despite her nerves that had a run of sweat trickling down the back of her neck, Anna had to smile. Her heart tightened. She would miss Gregory.

  “Zach, you’ve been like a son to me. Your own father couldn’t have been more proud. And so to you I leave Middleton Cottage and its ten acres.’”

  Anna gasped, her hand flying to her mouth to stop herself from crying out. He had given her house, her land to Zach. What was Gregory thinking?

  “Please, Ms. Shrewsbury.” Carl kept his voice low. “Nothing until I have read it through.”

  She jerked a nod, but could feel the start of tears. The only happy times remembered in her life were in that house. And it had all ended when she was nine. Now Zach had the only thing she wanted in the world.

  Zach bristled, no doubt seething with angered questions. Anna ignored him.

  “‘Anna…’”

  Her attention shot to the will.

  “‘You listened, you laughed, you were with me. And so I leave to you my forty percent share of Quinn Brabant Technologies.’”

  “No.”

  “Anna.” Zach’s voice, calm, controlled but she could hear the throb of fury. “Let him finish.”

  “Thank you,” Carl said.

  His neck was flushed red and his nerves were also starting to mottle his jaw. Anna suddenly felt sorry for the man. The one thing that had always annoyed her about Gregory was his love of practical jokes. She’d never stood for them. Had told him that. Many times. Now her brother-in-law was having the last laugh on her.

  “‘Shame I can’t be here to see your faces, but that’s the nature of a will, isn’t it? You both want what the other has. So I have a deal for you.

  “‘One week. You last together one week. Twenty-four hours a day for seven days.

  “‘You refuse to do this? You don’t last the week? And everything goes to Sofia. Everything.

  “‘And it starts from…now.’”

  Chapter Two

  Anna couldn’t look at Zach.

  Carl Petersen put the will down, took off his glasses and scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m sorry. I tried to talk him out of this childishness. But he was adamant.”

  A knock on the door made Anna jump. Smiling, his PA brought in a tray and placed it on the desk. The woman poured tea Anna didn’t drink. She held the delicate cup and saucer out of habit.

  And she still couldn’t look at Zach.

  Gregory had always known that they hadn’t gotten on. However, he had never known the reason. A week with Zach. For years, years she had avoided him, managing only minutes in his company. Her insides tightened into an aching knot. Gregory had probably imagined rows and sulky silences, all of which would have amused him no end.

  Not…

  No her mind wasn’t going there.

  “And he was in full charge of all his capacities?”

  Zach’s unruffled voice broke into her panic. How could he be so damned calm? Millions and millions of pounds of something he thought was his had just been given to his worst nightmare. Her.

  “Yes,” Anna said, before the solicitor could. Her voice was tight. “I was with him at…at the end. He was perfectly lucid.”

  Steel blue eyes speared her. Cold. Narrowed. “Yes.” He looked back to Carl. “Was it confirmed?”

  The solicitor tapped the document on his desk. “Because of this, I made absolutely certain.” He glanced at Anna. “It’s only a week.”

  “Sofia has agreed to this?”

  Carl sat back in his chair. “Gregory discussed it with her. Apparently, he had her full support.”

  Zach muttered something Anna couldn’t catch. She stared at him, watched his hand rub over his jaw, his attention fixed on the scattered documents on the desk. They had no choice. And somewhere Gregory was laughing himself silly.

  “One week?” Zach asked.

  Anna closed her eyes. She put the cooling tea back onto the tray. Something she wouldn’t put a name to rushed through her. She didn’t need this.

  She stared at her hands, at the tight knuckles.

  Sofia had known.

  Had dressed her.

  Anna felt the blood rise under her skin again. Her sister had probably amused herself with provoking the very correct, very disapproving Zachary Quinn. Would be laughing about it with her cronies at that very minute.

  But the damn man was right about one thing. Sofia had a lifestyle to maintain. Gregory must have left her everything else. Had to. The houses, the other businesses not under Zach’s control.

  God…she was so stupid not to talk about the will with her sister.

  “So you agree?” Anna made herself say the words and found both men staring at her. “Agree to Gregory’s silly plan? This time next week, what we want is ours.”

  “No,” Zach said. He stared at Carl. “There has to be a way out of this.”

  “Are you refusing to agree to the terms?” the solicitor asked.

  “No. He isn’t.”

  Zach glared at her. “I am perfectly capable—”

  �
�Fine,” Anna said. “Argue, but refuse and everything goes to Sofia. I want my house and my land, Zach. And if that means a week with you? Then so be it.”

  He let out a slow breath. “This is insane. It isn’t legal.”

  “Gregory has set his terms. Sofia hasn’t contested. Nothing in your partnership agreement can undo it.”

  Carl pushed back his chair and stood. “I’ll leave you for a few moments to discuss it. If you agree, then I will give you the full details.” He sighed. “Not before.” His glance flicked over both of them. “Again, I’m sorry.”

  Anna’s mouth opened. Leave? He couldn’t leave her alone with Zach.

  And then the enormity of what was ahead of her crashed through. Seven days and nights, nights alone with Zach. “I can’t do this.”

  Zach stood, refastening the buttons on his jacket. “Now who’s refusing?”

  “This wasn’t my idea.” She wiped her hand over her face. “As if I wanted, needed this.”

  “Yes.” He stared out to the terrace. “It’s all very convenient for you, isn’t it?” He glared at her. “Sofia told you.”

  What? “No.”

  “You have no intention of doing this. Your sister gets everything. And you get what?” His narrowed gaze pierced her. “Yes.” The suppressed fury made her shiver. “You’re going to carve it up between you.”

  Anna pushed herself to her feet, feeling the flare of hot anger rise with her. “I knew nothing about this.” Her spine locked, hands tightening into fists at her side. Zach had his very fixed image of her. She’d deliberately helped him form it. “I wanted my house. I couldn’t care less about your bloody company.”

  A cutting smile. “Not care about the wealth that owning even a fraction of it would bring? I doubt it.” He laughed . “I know you, Anna.” His gaze dropped to her mouth and her heart clenched. She couldn’t breathe. “Intimately.”

  The dark promise in his voice turned her legs to water.

  Damn him. A look, a word and she was jelly. No. She wasn’t a young girl anymore, overawed by the presence of infamous Zachary Quinn. She wasn’t.

  Anna matched that smile. “Not as intimately as you would’ve liked.”