Her Indecent Proposal (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Collection) (10 page)

Jacqueline and Patrick glanced at each other, their looks quizzical.

“Are we expecting someone?” Patrick asked.

“Not me,” Jacqueline said with a shrug then she started to rise. 
“I’ll go see-”

“No, I’ll get it.”  Patrick put up a hand, stopping her, then he got
up from around the table.  He glanced over at Sloane and Melanie.  “Excuse me a
minute.”

A few seconds later they heard the sounds of laughter and one of the
voices was a woman's. 

“Hey, look who’s here.”  Patrick came bounding into the dining room
and close behind him was a woman, tall and dark-haired and sophisticated.  “And
just in time for dinner, too.”

Sloane felt a shock run through him.  Zena.  What was she doing
here?

He kept his face passive as he stared at her even though he felt
like he’d just been kicked in the gut.  There, not six feet away, stood the
first woman he’d ever made love to.

“Zena,” he said, as he rose to his feet.  “This is a surprise.  What
brings you back to Montreal?"  He kept his tone deliberately relaxed but
inside he was anything but.  Over a decade had passed since his last contact
with Zena but he could have played back that final conversation word for word. 
“Get out of my life,” he’d told her.  “You disgust me.”

But now she was back.

“Sloane, it’s been too long,” she gushed, ignoring his outstretched
hand and stepping forward to embrace him.  Then she leaned back to gaze up at
him.  “And you don’t look a day older than the last time I saw you.  How do you
men do it?” She gave a brassy laugh then stepped away and turned to Patrick and
Jacqueline.

“For ‘Taboo’ we’re shooting a scene in Montreal.  Can you imagine
how thrilled I was when I heard we’d be in my hometown?”  Her eyes flashed as
she gave them a movie star-white smile.  “So I decided to pay a surprise visit
to my old school friends.”

“It’s a surprise, all right.”  Jacqueline’s face said she didn’t
quite know what to make of the sudden visit but then she masked it with a smile
as she got up.  “But it’s good to see you, Zena.”  She waved her hand at an
empty place at the table.  “Have a seat.  I’ll set a place for you.”

“No, no.”  The unexpected guest lifted her perfectly manicured hands
and shook her head.  “I have to get back to the set by five.  My limo’s waiting
outside.”  Then she gave a trilling laugh.  “But I’ve been away so long, I
couldn’t be back in Montreal and not drop in on you guys.  We were all best
friends, remember?  We were a team.”

“Yeah,” Patrick said, his tone nostalgic.  “Those were the days.”

“Well, guys, it was good to lay eyes on you again but I’ve got to
run.  Doctor’s visit, you know.”  Her eyes swept the table, over the children
who she didn’t acknowledge then to Melanie, where her gaze paused.  And then
she glanced away, a tight smile on her lips.  “Nice seeing you again, guys,”
she said as she turned.  “Sloane, why don’t you walk me to the door?”

Now what was Zena up to?  She hadn’t acknowledged Melanie’s presence
even though he was sure she knew who she was.  They’d parted on less than
amicable terms and now she wanted him to escort her out?  She was definitely up
to something.

He did walk her to the door, where she turned and gave him a sly
smile.  “It’s not over till it’s over,” she whispered, and then she was
sashaying down the driveway to her waiting car.

Sloane frowned.  He didn’t know what to make of that, but coming
from Zena it was definitely a threat.

He closed the door and returned to the dining room where the others
had already turned their attention back to their meal.  All except Melanie. 
She was staring at him, her eyes huge in her face, her fingers clutching the
napkin in her hand.

He could see the worry in her eyes and he knew that as soon as they
got home that night he’d have some explaining to do.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Melanie was seething.  How dare they?  If Sloane had wanted to flirt
with his ex he didn’t have to do it right in front of her face.  The cad.  And
she knew exactly who the woman was.  It was an older face, and a lot harder,
but it was the same face she’d seen in the high school cafeteria when she’d
been fourteen.  It was the girl Sloane had been with that day she saw him from
across the gym-sized room.

Obviously they’d been involved, and even more obvious, there was
still something going on between them…even though he was now married to someone
else.

With a huff, Melanie folded her arms across her chest and stared
straight ahead, refusing to respond to Sloane’s questions.  She was not going
to speak to him and he could talk till he was blue, she would not give him the
satisfaction of a response. 

For the entire journey back to the house Melanie remained silent and
when he pulled the car to a halt in front of the steps she flung the door open
and hopped out before he could come around to help her.  She didn’t want his
conversation and she definitely didn’t want his help.

“Melanie.”  He barked out her name as she flew up the steps and
headed for the front door.  “Wait.”

She whirled around to face him.  “Why should I?  So you can insult
me some more?  Throw your lover in my face?”

“You got it all wrong.”  He was climbing the steps and coming toward
her, the shadows of night hiding the expression on his face, but Melanie could
guess he was looking smug.

“I don’t want to hear it,” she grated but by this time he was
standing right in front of her and he was looking anything but smug.  On his
face was a scowl.

“Well, you’re going to hear it, whether you like it or not.”  He
reached behind her and unlocked the door then took her elbow in a grip from
which she could not wrest her arm even if she tried.  “You’re going to sit and
you’re going to listen to what I have to say.”

Realizing resistance was futile, Melanie let him lead her across the
foyer and toward the den where he deposited her on the sofa and sat down beside
her.

“Listen to me, Melanie,” he said, his face stern.  “I know what
you’re thinking but you’re wrong.  There’s absolutely nothing going on between
Zena and me.”

She glared back at him, not believing a word.  “No?  So why was she
giving you all kinds of googly eyes? And then you went to the door with her for
some sort of secret conference.”  She clenched her fists.  “I heard you guys
laughing out there.  You didn’t even care that I could hear you.”

“That was Zena you heard, not me.”

She shook her head.  “It doesn’t matter.  You were there with her so
you’re guilty by association.  And why did you ask me to marry you, anyway, if
you’re still in love with…Zena?”  As she said the woman’s name her voice
dripped with venom.  She was working herself up into a state, she knew, but she
didn’t care.  The situation called for it.

To her surprise, Sloane reached out and covered her hand with his. 
“Look, I know you’re angry and not knowing the whole story, that’s
understandable.  All I ask is that you hear me out and then you can decide
whether to be angry or not.”

Melanie bit her lip, dying to tell him to go to France – which was
her way of saying go to hell – but how could she say no?  He was calm and what
he was asking was not unreasonable.  If she refused she would simply be acting
like a fool.

She heaved a sigh.  “All right.  But this had better be good.”

He nodded.  “Zena was my first serious girlfriend back in high
school then we went to college in two different countries.  She went off to
France and I stayed in Montreal so the relationship dissolved and we moved on. 
When she came back home we sort of picked up where we left off but we had
issues.”  He shrugged.  “We had frequent arguments so our relationship was more
like ‘on again, off again’.  And then one day she said she’d had enough.  We
should either be together permanently or not at all.  I thought, what the heck,
and asked her to marry me.  At the time I thought settling down would be the
best cure for both of us.”

As she listened to his words, Melanie’s heart went still.  He’d said
‘what the heck’ and then asked Zena to marry him?  As casually as that?  Was
that how he saw marriage, as casual and insignificant?  Was that how he saw
their marriage?

He continued speaking, seeming not to notice her distress.  “She
agreed and we were engaged for about five months.  And that was when things
fell apart.”

That pulled her attention from her worries and back to his
narrative.  “You broke up again?”

“Worse than that,” he said, his tone bitter.  “I dropped by her
place and found her in bed with another man.”

Melanie gasped.  “Good grief.”

He gave a hollow laugh.  “Good grief is right.  I didn’t say a word,
just turned and marched right out of there.  She ran after me but I told her I
didn’t want her in my life.  I told her,” he said, his mouth twisting with an
ugly emotion, “that she disgusted me.”

Melanie didn’t know what to say to that so she only stared, watching
the memory of the betrayal darkening his face.

“Outside of glimpses of her in the tabloids I haven’t had any
communication with Zena since then, not until tonight.”  He shook his head. 
“After what she did to me that day, I couldn’t trust her or any woman again.” 
His eyes were bleak as he stared straight ahead as if seeing the ghost of his
past in the distance.

His words were not lost on Melanie.  Trust, probably the most
significant element in a relationship, and he couldn’t share that with any
woman.  This was important.  She decided to venture a question.  “You married
me…but you don’t trust me?”

Sloane spared her a glance.  “This is different.  I know you’re not
after love or money and the way you are, you're not going to be looking around
for other men.  You made it clear that all you want is a baby.”  He shrugged
and looked away again.

She decided to press him further.  “I can see what I get out of
this, but what about you?  What do you get?”

“Stability.  A family.  I’m almost forty, Melanie.  It’s about
time.”

“And that’s all you want?”

His gaze swung back to her.  “What else is there?”  And then his
face softened in a wry smile.  “Except for a whole lot of good sex?”

With each word, Melanie’s heart slid lower and lower.  She’d known
what she was signing up for when she agreed to be Sloane’s wife but after weeks
of living with him, stupid or not, she wanted more.

And the thing she now found she wanted most was the one thing it
seemed he did not have in him to give…his love.

***

When Melanie got up and walked away Sloane realized that had been
the dumbest thing he could have said.  What he wanted out of marriage was good
sex?  It was already understood, so what woman wanted to hear that?

He made to follow her but then decided against it.  She probably needed
some time alone and he could do with some time himself.  He’d better gather his
thoughts before he went after her and put his foot in it a second time.

The truth was, things were getting a whole lot more serious than
just sex, but how could he tell her that?  It would be more than dumb to say
anything when he wasn’t even sure where his head was.  So he’d begun to care
for her, but that was normal when you’d been living with someone for weeks. 
But did he love her?

That was the question and he wasn’t sure he had the answer so, for
now, he’d just say nothing.

With a grunt he got up and headed for the bedroom.  He had a feeling
he’d hurt Melanie with his thoughtless remark and he needed to do damage
control before he had a weeping woman on his hands.

As expected, she was sitting in the middle of the bed, her arms
wrapped around her tucked-up legs, her chin on her knees.  She looked depressed
but, thankfully, she wasn’t crying.  He could deal with pretty much anything
except tears.

Saying nothing, he went to sit on the bed beside her then pulled her
into his arms.

Immediately, she sank into him and wrapped her arms around his
waist.  She seemed drained, too exhausted to speak, and he understood. 
Sometimes emotional trauma was more draining than the physical.  Right now what
Melanie needed was comfort and reassurance.  Healing.

Sloane leaned down to kiss the top of her head and then he lifted
his hand to softly stroke her hair.  When she sighed and tucked in closer he
tilted her face toward his and gave her a kiss that was gentle but firm, his
small way of giving her the reassurance he knew she needed.

She clung to him like she would never let go.  It was the emotions –
the uncertainty, the sadness – coming to the surface.  Right then she was at
her most vulnerable.

Seeking to comfort her he leaned down, pressing her into the
pillows, deepening the kiss when she moaned. When he finally released her lips
and pulled away she reached for him, so he kissed her forehead, her eyelids,
her cheeks, her collarbone and when she shivered he smiled and went lower
still. He slid her top off and kissed her shoulders then his lips tickled her
upper arms and the soft hollow by her elbow and she shifted in the bed, seeming
anxious for his attention elsewhere.