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More than one head turned in her direction. She was as beautiful as the woman whom she claimed was her mother. Her black hair gleamed, as it brushed against the bare skin of her back. Her dress, white and shimmery, fell off one shoulder, draped across her breasts, nipped in at her waist and flared again over her hips to sweep the floor.
“What’re you doing here?” he demanded when they were out of earshot of most of the guests.
“If you would have called me back I would have explained.”
“Sure.” He didn’t believe her.
“I belong here.”
“Like hell!”
She smiled tightly. “Why’d you come to my rescue?”
“I didn’t.”
“Sure you did. Otherwise old Richard would have tossed me out on my ear.” A waiter stopped to offer them each a drink and Adria took a fluted glass from the silver tray. Zach shook his head and the waiter disappeared through the crowd. “Face it, Zach, you saved me.”
“I just avoided a scene.”
Her smile was bewitching. “That’s what you thought I’d do—create a scene?”
“I know it.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“Except that you’re a gold-digging fraud.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“Sure I do.”
“Then why not let me make my ‘scene’ and let me hang myself.” She sipped from her drink, somehow managing a smile for the eyes of the curious.
“Bad publicity.”
“Since when do you care?”
“This family has had enough scandals,” he said.
“And I thought you didn’t care about the family name.” Her eyebrows arched in a sensual manner that caused a tightening in his groin.
“I don’t.” He watched her closely. She wasn’t as confident as she pretended to be. There were questions in her eyes, but also a challenging light that dared him to defy her. As beautiful as Kat, with full lips and high cheekbones and eyebrows that arched over those mysterious blue eyes, she was sensual and earthy. Yet there was an innocence about her that had never been a part of Katherine LaRouche Danvers. Even at her most vulnerable, Kat had seemed to play a part, and that role was always sexy and manipulative.
“You can prove you’re London?” he asked, deciding to get to the point.
“Can and will.”
“Impossible.”
She lifted a bare shoulder and sipped slowly from her glass as the pianist found the notes of an old Beatles tune and managed to strip the melody of any hint of nostalgia. Laughter drifted to the ceiling where the chandeliers sparkled with a million tiny lights—just as they had nearly twenty years before.
Zach ignored the sense of déjà vu that threatened to swallow him whole.
“I think you should introduce me to the rest of the family.”
“Is that why you came here tonight?”
She smiled slowly and Zach’s heart nearly stopped. “I came back to see you, Zach.”
