Double Dare (33 page)

She put her face in her hands. After what he'd been through before, it was no wonder he was wary. She remembered him saying he wondered what she was going to say next, when she'd gone to the venue that Sunday afternoon. He'd probably had notification through from Tom that she was taking over the account. She would have been fresh in his memory when she turned up at the club. He would have questioned her motives, of course he would.

"Oh fuck." He'd been the one at the end of the mail. That's why he knew when she would call and why he was always ready to meet when she was.

Just when she thought she was sorting her life out, now this. Chaos. What on earth was she going to do? She had a sudden desire to flee the building and hide herself somewhere. Keep
your head
. She sat down and tried to rationalize her feelings.

Seconds ticked by. She stared at her computer screen, letting the familiar sight of the Robertson logo scrolling on the screensaver ground her.

That's when curiosity bit her. She moved her hand to the mouse and shifted it. She took a deep breath. Pulling up Google, she typed in Zac's name. First up was a link to a press release for the current art exhibition at The Hub, but it was the second link that leapt out at her, sending her into a frenzy of embarrassment.

Ashburn heir heads up new arts venture. Zachary Bordino trades in his playboy lifestyle for the art world.

Abby shut her eyes, slumped in her chair and massaged her temples. "How the hell has this happened to me? Why didn't I know?"

She'd been blind to the truth. She'd managed to fall in love with a man without knowing the first thing about him.
That's not true. No, it wasn't
. The voice of reason just about saved her from cracking up. She knew enough to fall, just not the key link between them.
But why hadn't he told her
?

There was a solid knock at the door. Her head snapped up and she stared at it.
Zac
?

"Come in." She said it as loud as she could, quickly grabbing the mouse to close down the web page on her screen.

The door opened but it wasn't Zac, it was Caroline that came in.

Abby breathed again.

Seeing her hunched over the desk, Caroline came over and stood beside her. "I heard about Penny," she said. "That dirty underhanded bitch! I knew she was up to no good, but I never thought she'd stoop so low as to seduce Ed when he was still trying for you."

Caroline looked so disgusted on her behalf that Abby gave a slightly hysterical laugh. Her day was getting more surreal by the moment.

"I just knew there was something funny going on between them." She hitched her skirt up to her knee and sat on the corner of the desk, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on Abby's arm, as if she was standing by her in the face of treachery. "I did try to warn you about her. She was always jealous of you." She rolled her eyes. "Ed should have known better. Men!" She ducked down and peered at Abby closely. "You need to cheek your mascara, sweetie, it's smudged."

"Oh, thanks." Abby snatched a pocket mirror from her top drawer and rubbed away the smudges.

"Now, are you going to be okay with them being there during this meeting?"

Abby put down the mirror and gave her a dazed smile. "Thanks, Caroline. I think I'll cope with Penny and Ed." It was then that she realized they were all going to be in this meeting together. Penny, the underhanded bitch, Ed, who wanted her to be heartbroken, Tom, the leering boss, and Zac. Zac, the man she'd been working for all this time—unknowingly, while falling desperately in love with him. What a bizarre collection of personnel it would be.

She felt light-headed, slightly drunk at the prospect of standing in front of them all, speaking about the serious business of investment and return, to a bunch of onlookers with personal investments of a different kind. The financial stakes weren't the only ones to be concerned about.

"Listen," Caroline said, "I could sit in on the meeting. Tom hasn't asked me to do so specifically, but I could be there for you, for moral support."

Why not
? She could certainly do with an ally. "That would be great. Thanks Caroline, I'd appreciate it."

"Good girl, I'll be right there for you." She squared her shoulders as she stood up.

"Could you tell them I need another couple of minutes? I just need to clear my head."

Caroline nodded. "You take all the time you need, honey. Make them wait, the backstabbing bastards." And with that tender sentiment, she headed for the door.

When she reached it, she turned back. "You'll be fine, and just wait until you get a look at the client. He'll take your mind off it." She winked. "This guy is totally gorgeous." She waved her hand in front of her face to indicate his heat level.

Abby gave a weak smile and continued to stare at the door after Caroline had gone, trying to imagine herself walking out through it herself, with true confidence. As she did so, the door sprang open again and Suzanne ran into the office, hair awry, bag clutched in her hand, her jacket done up all wrong.

"Blimey. It's like Piccadilly Circus in here," Abby mumbled to herself in disbelief.

"Abby, oh Abby, I'm so sorry." Her eyes were puffy and red. She looked as if she'd been crying. She slammed the door shut behind her.

Abby stood up, clutching at her desk for support. "What is it?"

"Nathan, he told me everything, he confessed that he only came here and met me because he wanted to find out about you, for Zac."

Abby's eyebrows shot up. "Nathan? The guy you've been seeing is Nathan?" She stared at Suzanne, incredulous.

"Yes." Her cheeks flamed. She looked mortified. "He came here with papers for you last week. I asked him out for a drink and, well...things went from there. But he's just told me this morning that he works for the other guy, Zac." She pointed at the closed door behind her, as if they were all standing right outside it. "And he said that Zac was worried about you lying to him, or something." She frowned, clearly confused.

"Go on," Abby urged, swallowing down her rising urge to run away. She was not only freaked out by what Suzanne was saying, but more than a little unnerved by the way she kept pointing at the closed door.

"He said it didn't mean anything bad." She ruffled her hands through her hair, her eyes squeezed shut. "Damn, I wish I'd listened properly when he was trying to explain." She looked at Abby. "I walked out on him."

Behind her, the door crashed open. Abby clutched the desk and watched in disbelief as yet another person charged in. Incredibly, Nathan himself stood in the middle of her office.

"Jesus," he declared. "This place is a maze. I thought I'd never find you." He ran at Suzanne, who immediately folded her arms across her chest defensively and turned away, lips pursed.

Abby dropped into her chair. If one more person walked into the room, she was definitely out of here. Not one hour ago she thought her life was sorted. Now it was in total chaos.

"Baby please," Nathan pleaded with Suzanne. "Listen to me. I'll leave the job, even though Zac's been my best friend." His voice went low then wavered high. "He saved my life for god sakes!"

"I didn't know that," Suzanne murmured, glancing back at him.

Neither did I
. Abby's curiosity was up and racing too, but this wasn't the time to hear the story.

Seeing that he'd caught her attention, Nathan reached out for Suzanne. "I'll do anything you want." He touched her shoulder.

Suzanne shrugged him off, but still cocked her head to listen.

"Please understand that I care about you, I didn't mean to do any harm. I was just supposed to find out if..." He glanced at Abby, as if he'd noticed her presence for the first time. "Abby." He turned to her, cleared his throat, attempted to smooth his hair down and stepped forward.

For one dreadful moment she thought he was going to ask her for Suzanne's hand in marriage.

"Abby, please forgive me, and Zac, he was confused by your motives and he..." He glanced at Suzanne as if he thought she was about to make a run for it and he'd have to chase after her again. "He just wanted to know...dammit, he wanted to know what the hell you were up to!" He looked at her, a man driven by his emotions, eyebrows raised, wild-eyed, hair standing up at cross purposes.

Abby sat back in her chair and put her face in her hands. It started small then got bigger, until her whole body shuddered with laughter, release hitting her hard. Tears ran from her eyes and she wiped them away, mindful of her mascara. When she finally got a grip, the pair of them were staring at her in concern, clearly not sure if she was laughing or crying.

"Right, I feel a whole heap better for that."

Nathan glanced at Suzanne, who shrugged.

Abby stood up. "Sorry about that, this is all a bit surreal. And I'm sorry you two have been caught up in it. Please, Suzanne, don't blame Nathan. Nathan, please don't leave your job. This confusion was mostly my fault for lying about my job. I'm not happy with how Zac has handled this, not at all, but I'll deal with him. Now, if you don't mind, I have a meeting to attend." She gathered the documents that she'd not yet looked over and staggered to the door.

"Oh Nathan, I can't believe you came after me," she heard Suzanne whisper as she passed the pair of them.

"Just as well I recognized the boardroom from the other night, I nearly ended up in there," came his reply, with laughter.

Abby didn't even want to think about what that meant. She shut the door behind her, leaving them to each other. The corridor was mercifully silent. She took several long slow and deep breaths. There was only one thing to do—there was only ever one thing for a woman like her to do—and that was to go ahead with the meeting as planned and face any unexpected problems as they came up, which she was sure they would.

"Be professional," she whispered to herself. Breathing evenly, she walked along the corridor. She wanted to show them that she could do this. She wanted to show the lot of them. No matter how many damn obstacles they cared to throw in her path.

When she reached the door she paused again, but she knew what she needed to do to get through it. This mattered. This was her telling moment.

I dare you, Abby. I double dare you
.

Chapter Fifteen

Abby turned the door handle and entered the room, adopting as calm an expression as she could muster.

Everyone was present and already seated, except for Zac, who was standing by the window, looking down at the street with a frown. He turned her way as if he had sensed her enter, his attention immediately focused on her.

Outwardly, he assumed a relaxed pose, one hand in the pocket of his trousers, the other holding a copy of the agenda and accompanying documents that she had prepared for the meeting. His face, however, told a different story. He was watching her as if he could read her every thought. She had never seen him so focused, so razor sharp.

She became aware of a voice speaking. Tom was doing a lead in for her. Zac put his papers down on the table, walked over to her and pulled out her chair.

"Allow me, Ms. Douglas."

"Thank you." She gave him a wry smile, taking the seat.

Zac sat down opposite her. She tried to control her erratic breathing while Tom completed his standard introductory speech.

Zac listened, but his gaze sidled over to her. His hooded lids gave him the perfect cover for subtle spying. A smile crept up on her as the thought occurred, a smile which he caught and returned. His face was so familiar. She saw him smiling at her that way in Paris, and remembered the concern in his eyes when he'd asked her to trust him, minutes ago. A shard of hurtful pain lodged in her chest. Confusion hit her hard. Her heartbeat grew erratic.

But Tom was done.

She sat upright in her seat and went into autopilot. She could hear the tremor in her own voice. She cleared her throat and began again, focusing entirely on the paperwork in front of her, in order to avoid the unsettling man who watched her so closely.
Her secret lover
.

Concentrate
.

Going through her summary, she covered the work done to date—intended as a hook to bait the signature for the ongoing management of the account. She'd planned to open up a discussion about continued growth with suggestions on where to go from here, to involve the client. Could she really do that now, though? She felt the need to glance up, but tried to avoid Zac at first. Instead she looked towards Ed, who'd been the team leader on this work to begin with, but he was staring sheepishly at the table. When she looked at Tom he gave her a look of encouragement, but it had an unwanted intimacy that made her look away. Caroline gave her a warm, supportive smile, which was some help. She was aware of Abby's discomfort, although not the true cause.