A Facade to Shatter (11 page)

Because she was certain, as certain as she was breathing, that she had no claim on his heart or his emotions. It was physical, this need, nothing more.

For him anyway.

And that was a kind of servitude she did not need.
She knew what it was like to be unnecessary—and she could not bear to be so in his life.

He let her go, his hands dropping to his sides. He looked angry, desperate—and then he looked cool, unperturbed. He wiped a thumb across his mouth, across that gorgeous mouth that had been pressed so hotly to hers only moments ago. Then he straightened his shirt, and she was mortified to see that she’d pushed it askew in her desire to touch him.

“Forgive me,” he said coolly. “I forgot myself.”

Her heart beat hard and swift, and nausea danced in her stomach. She took a step back, collided with the hedge. Tears filled her eyes, threatening to spill free. What was wrong with her? Why was she so emotional?

“I want to go home,” she said.

His head came up, his eyes glittering hard as diamonds. “Home?”

She was confused at his reaction, at the tightness in his voice. “Yes, back to my room. I have a headache, and I want to sleep… .”

She wasn’t quite certain, but she thought his stance softened, as if a current of tension had drained away. He seemed remote, a gorgeous automaton of a man who stared back at her with cool eyes. He stepped to the side and swept a hand toward the entrance to the maze, indicating that she should precede him.

“Then we’ll go,” he told her.

They returned to the house in silence. Once there, they played the game again. Lia smiled, though it shook at the corners, as they moved through the gathering. Their leave taking was tedious, but then they were outside and the valet was bringing the car around. There were people clustered together on the mansion’s grand portico, waiting for their cars or simply finding another place to take the party.

The lawn was wide, sweeping and, though the property was gated, the gates were opened to the street as cars came and went. A valet pulled up in Zach’s BMW while another opened the passenger door for Lia with a flourish. Zach stood by her side. Ordinarily, he would hand her into the car, but this time he didn’t touch her. She reckoned he was angry with her.

She took a step toward the car when something bright flashed in her face. It took her a moment to realize they’d been photographed. At first she thought it was simply someone taking a picture they’d ended up in by accident, but when she glanced at Zach, his taut expression told her it was more than that.

He stood there a moment, fists clenched at his side, but then he started around the car when nothing else happened.

The moment he was gone, the photographer took the opportunity to approach again, this time focusing
in on Lia. Zach was halfway around the car when he turned to swing back toward the photographer, his face twisted in rage. The valet tried to put himself between Lia and the other man, but the man bumped against him and the car door swung into Lia, knocking her off balance. Before she could save herself, she landed on her hands and knees on the pavement.

Zach was at her side in a second, helping her up, his face tight with fury as he pulled her into the protective embrace of his body. He held her as if he were shielding her from another onslaught. She clung to him, breathed him in, though she told herself she should push away and tell him she was perfectly fine. Her body was still so attuned to his touch that her nerve endings tingled and sparked like fireworks on a summer night.

“Madame, I am so sorry,” the valet said. “I tried to stop him—”

“It’s not your fault,” Zach said, cutting him off abruptly.

“Is the photographer still there?” Lia asked.

“He’s gone.” Zach pushed her back. “Are you okay?”

Lia nodded. “I think so. My palms hurt, but… .”

Zach took her hands and turned them over, revealing scrapes on the heels of her palms. His expression grew thunderous.

“If I ever get ahold of that bastard—”

“I’m fine,” Lia said quickly. “It was an accident.”

“Your knees,” Zach growled, and Lia glanced down. Her knees were scraped and bloody. A trickle of bright red blood ran down the front of her leg.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “But I need to wash up.”

Zach didn’t look convinced. “Maybe we should have a doctor look at you. What if something happened to the baby?”

Lia smiled to reassure him. The scrapes stung, but they weren’t life-threatening. She’d had worse the time she got stung by a nest of bees while working in the garden. That could have been life threatening, had she not ran and dived into the pool. “Zach, honestly. I fell on my hands and knees. If babies were hurt by such minor accidents, no one would ever be born.”

He frowned, but he ushered her back inside. Their host and hostess were mortified, of course, and they were shown to a private sitting room with an attached bath where Lia could clean up before they went home.

The photographer had disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived. No one could seem to find him. Zach paced and growled like a wounded lion while she sat in the bathroom with a warm wet towel and cleaned the bloody scrapes. He would have done it for her, but she’d pushed him out of the room and told him she could take care of herself.

Once she cleaned the scrapes and stopped the bleeding
on her knees, she reemerged to find Zach prowling, his phone stuck to his ear. He stopped when he saw her. He ended the call and pocketed the phone before coming over to her. He looked angry and worried at once.

“I think we should get you to a doctor to be sure,” he said.

“Zach, I fell on my hands and knees. I didn’t fall off a roof.”

He looked doubtful. “I think I’d feel better if someone examined you.”

Lia sighed. “Then make an appointment for tomorrow. Tonight, I want to soak in a hot bath and go to bed.”

He raked a hand through his hair. “Fine,” he said, blowing out a frustrated breath.

This time when they went out to the car, there was no photographer lurking nearby. The gates to the property were closed, opening only when Zach rolled to a stop before them and waited for them to swing open.

It was still light out, because it was summer, but the sun threw long shadows across the road. Zach didn’t say anything as they drove, and Lia turned to look at the trees and rocks as they glided down a wide parkway that could have been in the middle of nowhere rather than in a major city.

“We’re leaving,” Zach said into the silence, and Lia swung to look at him.

“I beg your pardon?”

He glanced at her. “We’re not staying here and enduring a media frenzy. I won’t have you hurt or scared.”

Lia frowned. “Zach, I’m not six years old. I’m not scared, and the hurt is minor. It’s annoying, and I’m angry, but I won’t break.”

“I should have realized this would happen. I should have taken you somewhere else and married you first, then brought you back once they’d had time to get used to it.”

Lia didn’t know how that would help, considering he was still a Scott and still a media target no matter where he went. “It was an accident. Celebrities get photographed every day, and rarely do any of them fall down when it happens.”

Not that she was a celebrity. In fact, that was the problem. She wasn’t accustomed to the attention and she hadn’t reacted quicker. She’d been surprised, and she’d let her surprise catch her off guard when the valet had tried to help.

“Vegas,” Zach said, ignoring her completely. “We’ll marry in Vegas, and then we’ll go to my house on Maui. They won’t be able to get close to us there.”

Z
ACH DIDN
’
T KNOW
what he was doing. It was a difficult thought to grow accustomed to. He was always sure of his choices, always in charge of his actions. Even when he didn’t want to do a thing, like stand in front of a crowd and make a patriotic speech about his time in the service, he did it. And he did it because he’d made a choice. There was an end goal.

Always.

What was his end goal now?

He ran a hand over his face and tried to focus on the computer in front of him. Less than twenty-four hours ago, he’d been at the Lattimores’ cocktail party, mingling and schmoozing the guests for contributions to his causes.

Now he was on a jet to Hawaii, having taken a side trip to Las Vegas where he’d stood in a seedy little
chapel and pledged to love, honor and cherish Lia Corretti until death do them part.

Which, of course, was a lie.

They would not be together until death.

There was a purpose for this match, a reason they had to join forces. He was protecting her from her family’s wrath, first of all. Second, he was avoiding a media scandal that would be troublesome and inconvenient were it to erupt.

Except those reasons no longer felt like the whole truth.

Zach closed the computer with a snap. He couldn’t concentrate on business right now. All he could think about was Lia, asleep in the bedroom, her body curled sweetly beneath the sheets, her hair spread out in an auburn curtain he wanted to slide his fingers into.

This need for her was like a quiet, swelling tide. The more he denied it, the stronger and more insistent it grew.

And now he was taking her to a remote location, where the distractions would be minimal. How would he keep his hands off her?

Did he even need to? She’d certainly kissed him back yesterday in the garden. Until that moment when she’d pushed him away, she’d been as into the kiss as he had. He’d forgotten where they were, why he couldn’t have her the way he wanted then and there.
He’d been ready to lift her skirt and push her back on the grass if it gave him the release he needed.

But she’d been the one to say no. The one to remind him this wasn’t normal between them.

Zach snorted. Hell, what was normal anymore? He’d left normal in the rearview the moment his plane disintegrated beneath him and he’d hit the eject button. Nothing since had been the same.

But, for a few minutes yesterday, he’d felt like it had. And, he had to admit, for those blissful few hours in Palermo, too. When he’d been with Lia, he hadn’t forgotten—but he’d felt as if he could accept what had happened, what his life had become, and move on.

Why did she do that to him? Why did she make him hope for more?

Lia Corretti—Lia Scott—was a dangerous woman. Dangerous for him. It had taken time, but he’d learned how to live with himself in the aftermath of his rescue.

She threatened to explode it all in his face. To force him to face the things he kept buried. If he told her, would she understand? Or would she recoil in horror?

He got to his feet and paced the length of the main cabin. A flight attendant appeared as if by magic.

“Did you need anything, sir?”

“Thanks, but no,” he said, waving her off again. She disappeared into the galley and he was alone once more.

He was restless, prowling, his mind racing through
the facts, through the possibilities. Since he’d met Lia, nothing had been the same. And now they were married, and he was feeling shell-shocked—and hungry.

Hungry for her. He’d thought he could keep it at bay, that this arrangement between them would be tidy. But he’d been wrong. So very wrong.

Soon, he had to do something about this hunger—or go mad denying it.

Maui was bright and beautiful, with a rolling blue surf—which changed from deep sapphire to the purest lapis, depending on the depth—impossibly blue sky and green palm trees that stood in tall clusters, their lush foliage fanning out from the top like a funky hairdo.

Except there were other kinds of palm trees, too, Lia noticed, palms that were short and looked like giant pineapples jutting out of the ground. The tropical flowers were colorful, exotic and so sweetly scented that she fell in love with the island’s perfumed air immediately.

A car was waiting at the airport when their private jet landed, and a dark-haired woman in a brightly patterned dress greeted them with leis. Lia’s was made of fragrant tuberose and plumeria, while Zach’s was open on the end and made from kukui nuts and green ti leaves and tiny puka shells.

They got into the back of a Hummer limo and drove across an island that was flat in the middle and ringed by mountains. On one side was Haleakala, the tall volcanic mountain that could boast more than one climate. At the bottom, the weather was warm and tropical, but at the top, Zach informed her, it was often windy, rainy and cloudy. It was also bare and cratered, like the surface of the moon. But, before you got that high, there was an Alpine region, with chalets and misty cool air.

It was the oddest thought when all she could see were tall jagged peaks, fields of sugarcane and ocean.

Soon, however, they were on the coast again and driving up a road that led to a stretch of beach dotted with sprawling homes. Eventually, they arrived at one and were met by a man who came and got their bags and took them into the house. Zach lead her into the house and over to the stunning floor-to-ceiling windows that were actually sliding-glass doors. Once the doors were completely open, the house gave way to a sweeping lanai, which was tiered so that part of it sat in the infinity pool. Beyond was the beach, so white and sugary and inviting.

Lia could only stare at how beautiful it was. She came from an island, but one that was completely different from this island. They were both stunning, but Maui was a new experience.

“It’s gorgeous,” she said when Zach came up beside her again and stood there in silence.

She glanced up at him, and her heart flipped. They were married.
Dio
, she had a husband. She could hardly credit it. Even though he’d told her only a few days ago they would marry, she’d never quite gotten accustomed to the idea it would really happen. She’d been waiting, she could admit now, for that moment when he would decide he didn’t want her, after all. When he would send her back to Sicily and the wrath of the Correttis.

Her family might be angry with her when they learned the truth, but at least they would be satisfied she’d gotten married and wouldn’t be bringing scandalous shame onto the family by having a baby without a husband.

She wondered if Alessandro knew about the marriage by now. She’d sent a quick email to Rosa when they’d left Las Vegas, and then she’d sent another one to her grandmother. Nonna wasn’t online for endless hours, like so many people, but she was technologically proficient and would get the missive soon enough. And she would surely tell the head of the family the news.

Lia decided not to worry about it. What was done was done.

“We won’t be bothered here,” Zach said. “It’s too
far out of the way for your typical paparazzi. They’ll find easier quarry to harass.” He stood with his hands in his pockets—he was wearing khakis and a muted aloha shirt—and looked gravely down at her. “How are you feeling? Do you need to rest?”

He was still hung up on the fact the doctor had said she needed more rest and less stress in her life. Everything had been fine with the baby, as she’d predicted. But the doctor had given him something new to worry about.

“I slept on the plane. I’m fine.”

“Then you should eat,” he said. “I’ll go see what we have.” He started to turn away, but she put a hand on his arm to stop him. Sparks sizzled into her nerve endings, as always, when she touched him.

She wanted to melt into him, like butter in a hot pan. He looked down at where her hand rested on his arm, and she remembered that she’d meant to say something. That it was odd and awkward if she did not.

“You work so hard to avoid me,” she said. “It’s not necessary.”

That wasn’t what she’d intended to say, but it was too late to take the words back. They hung in the air between them, hovering like candle smoke.

His eyes were dark, fathomless, as he looked at her. Studied her like something he’d never encountered
before. Her pulse skittered along merrily, and she forced herself to drop her hand away from the bare skin of his arm.

“You noticed,” he said softly. “And here I thought I was so subtle.”

Her head snapped up as pain sliced into her. Yes, she’d known he was avoiding her—but to hear him admit it dragged on the same nerve that had made her question her worth since she was a little girl. It should not hurt so much, but it always did.

She knew her worth was not determined by others, and yet she could never quite appease that lonely little girl inside who was still looking for acceptance.

“I noticed.” She dropped her gaze, swallowing against the ridiculous lump in her throat, and his fingers came up to slide along her cheek. His touch made heat leap and tangle in her veins. If this heat were a light inside her, it would glow wherever he touched her.

“You pushed me away,
cara.
I was respecting your wish.”

“I—I don’t know what my wish is,” she said truthfully. “I just know that you confuse me.”

His gaze sharpened. “Why are you confused, Lia? I think you know what I want.”

It took her a minute to answer. “I do,” she finally said. “But I don’t know why.”

He blinked. And then he laughed. The sound burst from him, loud and rich and unexpected. Lia stared at him, her cheeks heating. A tiny thread of irritation began to dance through her. She crossed her arms and stared him down.

He stopped laughing at her, but he was still smiling. “Damn, I needed that.” He put his hands on her upper arms. He didn’t pull her in close like she thought he might. Like she hoped he might.

Yesterday, she’d pushed him away. Today, she wanted to pull him to her. Maybe it made no sense, but now that they were married, she felt more … secure. And her need for him had amplified since the moment he’d pushed a diamond—a large, family heirloom, it turned out—on her finger and said, “I do.”

His fingers dug into her arms. Not painfully, but possessively. “Hell, Lia, you really don’t know why I want you? Are you that blind?”

“I am not blind,” she said defensively.

“You must be if you can’t figure out what’s going on here. You’re beautiful, lush and perfect, and I ache with the need to touch you the way I did in Palermo.”

His words made her soften, melt. Want. She wanted what they’d had in Palermo—except for the part where she woke up and he was gone.

“I …” She swallowed as her heart beat a tattoo against her rib cage. Her throat was as dry as baked
sand. It was a frightening thing to say what she wanted. But he was looking at her as if he was dying to touch her, and so she took a chance. “I think I want that, too.”

He made a noise of relief. Then he slid his hands down her arms and around her back, cupping her buttocks as he pulled her fully into his embrace.

“Grazie a Dio,”
he said then in a throaty purr, and a liquid shiver danced down her spine. Her hands went up to clutch his shirt as his head descended.

Their mouths touched and a shudder went through Lia. All those feelings she’d felt in the maze yesterday came rushing to the fore. They were almost too much, too overwhelming.

But she wouldn’t push him away again. She couldn’t.

He was big and hard and strong, and she pressed herself against him, her hands running over the hard muscles of his chest and shoulders. Her body was on fire as liquid heat gathered in her core. She could feel the dampness in her panties, the instant response that she couldn’t have prevented even if she’d wanted to.

This thing between them was hot and bright and uncontrollable. It was a need that had to be assuaged, or she would be as restless as a spirit condemned to roam the earth for all eternity.

“Wait,” he said, pushing her back, breaking that delicious contact.

Lia’s stomach fell. If he was rejecting her now …

“Not yet,” he said, his voice sounding tortured enough that she relaxed infinitesimally. “We just arrived, and you need to rest first.”

“I told you I slept on the plane… .”

He slid a hand into her hair, cupped her head while he traced a path over her collarbone with the fingers of his other hand. “I know, but it was a long trip and the doctor said—”

Lia cursed. “I wish you would allow me to make my own decisions without all this argument! We’re going to get off to a very bad start, Zachariah Scott, if you constantly tell me what I should be doing.”

He looked at her for a long minute. One corner of his mouth turned up in a grin.

“What’s so funny?” she asked crossly.

“You. Such a temper from a little thing.”

Heat suffused her. “I am not a little thing and you know it. I’m too tall and I’m only going to get fatter—”

He put a finger over her lips, silencing her. “You are not fat, Lia. You’re lush and gorgeous and you make me hard.”

The tops of her ears were on fire. She didn’t consider herself to be a prude by any stretch—she’d read plenty of books where people had sex, sometimes even raunchy sex—but the idea she affected him that way,
and that he had no problem saying it, both embarrassed and thrilled her.

“Allora,”
she said, resisting the urge to fan herself with both hands. “The things you say.”

“Makes you hot, doesn’t it?”

Lia put a hand over her eyes.
“Dio,”
she said.

Zach laughed and drew her hand away from her face. Then he took both her hands in his and held them in front of his body. “I like that you’re still so innocent,” he told her. “I like the idea of corrupting you.”

A shiver washed over her as she imagined all the ways in which he might corrupt her. She’d had a taste of it, certainly, for two blissful days—but she knew there was more, knew they hadn’t even scratched the surface of their need for each other.

“There’s no time like the present,” she replied, and then felt herself blushing harder than before if that were possible.