“Mrs. Montrose, I know what Derek did was wrong, but you have to give him another chance.”
When Arielle Garnier looked up from her computer screen at the sound of the male voice, her heart came to a screeching halt. The man who just stopped inside her office doorway was the last person she ever expected to see again. And if the look on his handsome face was any indication, he was just as surprised to be coming face-to-face with her, as well.
His vivid green eyes pinned her to the chair. He stared at her for several uncomfortable seconds before he finally spoke again. “I need to talk to the preschool’s administrator, Mrs. Montrose, about an incident involving Derek Forsythe. Could you please tell me where I could find her?”
“Helen Montrose is no longer in charge here. She sold the school and retired a couple of weeks ago.” Arielle tried desperately to keep her voice even in spite of her jangled nerves. “I’m the new owner and administrator of Premier Academy for Preschoolers.”
She took a deep breath and reminded herself to remain outwardly calm, even if his reappearance in her life did shake her all the way to the core. This was her territory and he was the one intruding. Besides, she’d rather walk barefoot across hot coals than allow him to think he still had any effect on her.
When he continued to stare at her, she forced herself to ask, “Was there something you needed?”
He finally shook his head. “I don’t have time to play games, Arielle. I need to speak with Helen Montrose as soon as possible.”
The shock of seeing him again quickly gave way to anger that he didn’t believe she was the new owner. “I told you, Mrs. Montrose retired. And if you have business here at the school, you will have to deal with me.”
He didn’t look at all pleased with the situation, but that was just too bad. She certainly wasn’t excited to be seated before the man who, three and a half months earlier, had spent a week loving her like she was the most desirable woman alive, then disappeared without so much as a backward glance. He hadn’t even had the decency to call or leave her a note.
“All right,” he eventually said. She could tell he wasn’t happy, but instead of pressing the issue any further, he took a deep breath. “I suppose this would be a good time to reintroduce myself. My real name is Zach Forsythe.”
Arielle’s heart felt as if it had fallen to her feet. Among his other transgressions, he’d lied to her about his name? He was really Zachary Forsythe, owner of the Forsythe resort and hotel empire? And if he was here to discuss Derek Forsythe, did that mean he was the little boy’s father? Was he married?
Bile rose in her throat and she desperately tried to think if she’d heard or read anything about him recently. But all she could remember for certain was that Zach Forsythe was reputed to prefer a quiet lifestyle out of the spotlight and guarded his privacy as if it were the gold in Fort Knox. Unfortunately, she didn’t know anything at all about his marital status.
But the very thought that she might have spent a week in the arms of a married man sent a cold chill slithering down her spine. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but a few months ago I distinctly knew you by the name of Tom Zacharias.”
He ran an impatient hand through his thick dark brown hair. “About that—”
“Save it,” she interrupted, holding up her hand. “I don’t particularly care to hear whatever explanation you’re about to fabricate. I believe you wanted to talk about Derek Forsythe?” When he nodded, she went on. “And I assume you wish to discuss his pending suspension for biting another little boy?”
His mouth thinned into a grim line before he gave her a short nod. “Yes. You have to give him one more chance.”
“I haven’t been here long enough to be familiar with his past behavioral patterns, but your son’s teacher said he’s—”
“Nephew.” Frowning, he then flashed her the same smile that he’d used to seduce her almost four months earlier. “Derek is my sister’s little boy,” he corrected. “I’m not now, nor have I ever been, married, Arielle.”
She was relieved to hear that she hadn’t done the unthinkable. But his devastating smile and the intimate tone he used to say her name made it hard to think.
“You don’t have to be married to have a child,” she countered, doing her best to regain a bit of her equilibrium.
“I suppose it’s a personal choice,” he observed, shrugging. “But I, for one, won’t have a child outside of marriage.”
“Whether you do or not isn’t the issue here, Mr. Forsythe.”
“Call me Zach.”
“I don’t think…”
Before she could go on, he took a step closer. “And marriage may not be the issue, but I can’t have you thinking—”
“What I think is irrelevant.” Desperate to change the subject, she tried to concentrate on the matter at hand. “Derek’s teacher said this is the third time he’s bitten another child in the past week.” She glanced at the teacher’s recommendation for suspension on top of a stack of papers on her desk. “And the school has a strict three-strikes policy when it comes to this kind of behavior.”
“I understand that. But he’s only four and a half years old. Can’t you make an exception this one time?” he asked, turning up the wattage on his cajoling smile. “If you haven’t been told about my sister’s accident by some of the other teachers, I won’t bore you with the details, but Derek’s experienced quite an upset in his life in the past few months and I’m sure that’s the reason he’s been acting out. Things are getting back to normal now and I’m sure he’ll settle down. Believe me, he really is a good kid.”
Zach or Tom or whatever he was calling himself these days was putting her in a very awkward position. On one hand, rules were rules and had been put into place to discourage students’ undesirable behavior. If she made an exception for one child, she’d have to make it for all of the children. But on the other hand, if she didn’t give the little boy another chance, it might appear that she was punishing him for the actions of his nefarious uncle.
“Would it help sway you if I promise to have a long talk with Derek and make him understand that it’s unacceptable to bite other children?” he asked. Apparently sensing her indecision, he walked to her desk and, propping his fists on the edge, leaned forward until their faces were only inches apart. “Come on, darlin’. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
After the way he’d lied to her about his name, then disappeared without a word of explanation, she would debate that issue. But his close proximity and hearing him call her “darlin’” with his rich Texas drawl caused her to shiver.
“A-all right,” she finally replied, forcing herself not to lean away from him, even though it made her extremely nervous being so near.
She was willing to say just about anything to get him to turn off the charm and get out of her office so that she could draw a decent breath. Besides, the longer he stayed the greater the possibility he’d find out why she’d spent several weeks desperately trying to reach him. And at the moment, that was something she just wasn’t ready to address, nor was her office the place to do it.
“If you’ll explain to Derek that it’s wrong to behave that way toward other children, I’ll let him off with a warning this time,” she decided firmly. “But if it happens again, he will have to serve the suspension.”
“Fair enough.” He straightened to his full height, then, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his suit pants, rocked back on his heels. “Now that we have that settled, I’ll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing.” Walking toward the door, he stopped and turned to give her another one of his charming smiles. “By the way, it was a very pleasant surprise running into you again, Arielle.”
And jackasses have sprouted wings and learned to fly, she thought, barely resisting the urge to convey her sarcasm aloud. But before she could comment on his obvious lie, he exited her office as quickly as he’d barged in.
Sinking back into the plush leather of her desk chair, Arielle tried to think. What on earth was she going to do now?
She’d given up all attempts to find him months ago when every one of her efforts met with a dead end. Of course, now she knew why. The man she’d been looking for didn’t even exist. It had been Zachary Forsythe, hotel and resort magnate, who had held her, made love to her and…lied to her. And here he was living in the city she’d recently moved to, with a nephew in her preschool.
“How did my life get so out of control?”
Burying her head in her shaking hands, she did her best to organize her scattered thoughts. She had no idea what to do, if she should do anything. Clearly he’d never expected to see her again, and wasn’t overjoyed that he had. And she certainly wasn’t thrilled with the situation, either.
Her stomach did a fluttery lurch and, placing a calming hand over it, she tightly closed her eyes as she fought to keep her emotions in check. First and foremost, she’d made a huge mistake falling for his charismatic charm. And second, she’d wasted countless hours trying to find a man who’d just proved he wasn’t worth finding.
But she’d foolishly held out hope that he’d have a plausible explanation for leaving her to wake up alone all those months ago. Deep down she’d known she was deluding herself, but it was easier than acknowledging how gullible and utterly foolish she’d been. Now there was no denying that he was every bit the jerk she’d feared him to be.
She swallowed hard and, opening her eyes, reached for a tissue to dab at the moisture threatening to spill down her cheeks. Her move to Dallas was supposed to be a good thing—a symbolic gesture of leaving the past behind and making a fresh start. But he’d just ruined that. There was no way she could forget about him and move on with her life if he showed up at the school from time to time.
Sniffling, she reached for another tissue. She hated being so darned weepy all of the time, but then, that was his fault, too.
Her stomach clenched again and she automatically opened her desk drawer, reaching for the bag of crackers she kept for just such occasions. Yes, Zachary Forsythe was to blame for her hormones making her emotional, as well as her other current problems. And the most pressing problem of all was figuring out how and when to tell the biggest jerk in the entire state of Texas that even though he wasn’t married as he said he would be, in about five and a half months, he was indeed going to have a child of his own.
Zach entered his executive office at the Forsythe Hotel and Resort Group corporate headquarters still thinking about his unexpected run-in with Arielle Garnier. He’d thought about her a lot since their time together in Aspen, but he’d never expected to see her again. And certainly not at the same preschool where his nephew was enrolled. But thanks to the little boy’s latest antics, Zach had been put in the awkward position of pleading Derek’s case to the woman he’d, for lack of a better word, dumped a few months ago.
Walking over to his desk, Zach sank into the high-backed chair. Swiveling around, he gazed blindly at the framed aerial photograph of his luxury resort in Aspen. He distinctly recalled Arielle telling him that she was a teacher at some nursery school in San Francisco. So why had she relocated to Texas? And where had she come up with the money to buy the most prestigious preschool in the Dallas area?
He supposed that her older twin brothers might have had something to do with that. If he remembered correctly, she’d told him that one was a highly successful divorce attorney in Los Angeles and the other owned the largest construction and development company in the south. They certainly could have afforded to front her the money to buy the school. In fact, they’d been the ones who’d given her the week’s ski trip, complete with deluxe accommodations at the Aspen Forsythe Resort and Spa for her twenty-sixth birthday.
Focusing his attention on the photograph of the luxury mountain resort, Zach couldn’t help but grin when he thought about the first time he’d met Arielle. It had been her engaging smile and flawless beauty that had first attracted him. Her silky, dark auburn hair had complimented her porcelain skin to perfection and she had the prettiest hazel eyes he’d ever seen. But as the evening wore on, it had been her sense of humor and obvious intelligence that had him thoroughly captivated. By the following morning, they had become lovers.
As he sat there thinking about what had been the most exciting, memorable week of his life, his office door opened. His sister slowly walked across the room to lower herself into the chair in front of his desk.
“Did you speak with Mrs. Montrose about Derek?” she asked, propping her cane against the edge of his desk. “She’s always been extremely fair and since the accident, she’s been very understanding about his uncharacteristic behavior.”
Zach shook his head. “Helen Montrose is no longer in charge at Premier Academy, Lana.”
“She’s not?” There was a hint of panic in his sister’s voice. “Who’s taken over for her? Is he going to have to serve the suspension? Did you explain to whomever’s in charge now that Derek’s normally a very well-behaved little boy?”
“Arielle Garnier is the new owner and administrator,” he answered, searching his younger sister’s pretty face. To the outward eye Lana looked the picture of health. But she still had days when the fatigue of recovering from her horrific accident was overwhelming. “I don’t want you to worry about it. I’ve taken care of everything and promised to have a talk with Derek about what’s acceptable and what isn’t. He won’t have to serve the suspension, unless he bites the other children.”
“That’s a relief,” Lana replied, finally smiling as she sat back in the chair. “He’s settled down quite a bit now that I’ve had the casts taken off and we’ve moved back into the condo. And as our lives get back to normal, I’m sure his behavior will continue to improve.”
With Lana having two badly broken legs, internal injuries and a couple cracked ribs, Zach had insisted that his sister and nephew move into his place during her recovery. And it was a damned good thing that he had. After her release from the hospital, Lana couldn’t take care of herself, let alone see to the needs of an extremely active four-and-a-half-year-old boy.
“How did your physical therapy session go?” Zach inquired, noticing Lana wince as she shifted to a more comfortable position. “You seem to be having a little trouble.”
“I’m ahead of where the therapist expected at this stage, but it’s not the exercises I’m doing that’s causing my soreness today.” She pointed to the floor-to-ceiling glass behind him. “It’s this dumb weather. Since the accident I’m better at predicting a rainstorm than a barometer.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the bright sunlight and brilliant blue sky just beyond the window. “It looks fine out there to me.”
“I don’t care,” she objected, shaking her head. “My knees are telling me it’s going to rain buckets sometime today, so grab an umbrella when you go out.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” When he watched her shift again, he offered, “If you’d like to go home and get some rest, I can have Mike pick up Derek from school in the limo.”
Lana nodded as she levered herself out of the chair, waving Zach back down in his seat, and reached for her cane. “That might not be a bad idea. I promised him I’d bake some chocolate chip cookies for his afternoon snack. And a nap before I get started would be nice.”
“Just don’t overdo things.”
She laughed as she made her way to the door. “No danger in that.”
“By the way, I’m heading up to the ranch this weekend. Would you and Derek like to go along?” he asked, thinking they might like to get out of town for a while. Located just north of the city, the ranch where he and Lana had grown up had become a peaceful weekend getaway.
Turning, she shook her head. “Thanks, but now that I’m doing better, I think Derek needs some uninterrupted mommy time. Besides, you know how it floods up there when it rains. I don’t want to be stranded for the next few days while we wait for the water to recede. But please, give Mattie my love and tell her that Derek and I will be up to visit in the next couple of weeks.”
“I’ll drive myself and leave Mike here to take you wherever you need to go. If you change your mind, have him drive the two of you up to the ranch.”
“I will, but don’t count on us,” she suggested, smiling.
After his sister left, Zach returned to work. But soon his thoughts were straying to Arielle Garnier and how absolutely amazing she’d appeared that morning. There had been a glow about her that he found completely fascinating.
He frowned. As unbelievable as it seemed, she was even prettier now than she had been when they’d first met.
But he wondered what brought her to Dallas. When they first met, she’d told him that she’d been born and raised in San Francisco and how much she loved it there. Had something happened to change her feelings? And why hadn’t she moved to Los Angeles or Nashville to be closer to one of her brothers?
By the time he left the office for the day, Zach was filled with far more questions than he had answers. Something just didn’t add up. And even though where Arielle lived or what she did was none of his concern, he decided to stop by the school on his way out of town. He had every intention of finding out why a woman who had been perfectly content with her life a few months ago would make such a drastic change.
“Thank God it’s Friday,” Arielle muttered as she pulled her raincoat close and splashed through the ankle-deep water covering the school’s parking lot on her way to her red Mustang. “The whole day has been one big royal pain in the neck.”
The gentle spring rain that had started shortly before lunch had quickly turned into a torrential downpour and had continued throughout the afternoon, causing the pre-K field trip to the petting zoo to be canceled. Then, if thirty extremely disappointed four-year-olds hadn’t been enough to contend with, one of the little girls in the three-year-olds’ class stuffed a bean up her nose during craft time and had to be taken to the urgent care facility around the corner to have it removed.
Opening the car door, she quickly closed her umbrella, threw it into the backseat and slid in behind the steering wheel. She couldn’t wait to get home to her new apartment, slip into a baggy pair of sweats and forget the entire day ever happened. Since becoming pregnant, she’d started taking a nap when the children took theirs. Having missed hers this afternoon, she was not only tired, she was cranky, as well.
But her well-laid-out plan to spend a quiet weekend at her new home came to a swift end when she backed the low-slung car from her reserved space, drove halfway across the parking lot and listened to the motor sputter twice, then die. When all of her attempts to get the car going again failed, she closed her eyes and barely resisted the urge to scream. She should have known when Zach Forsythe showed up first thing this morning that it was going to be one of those days.
She sighed heavily and, reaching for her cell phone, quickly dialed the number for roadside assistance to send a tow truck. But her already low spirits took a nosedive when, after holding for ten minutes, a representative came on the line to inform her that due to the high number of calls from motorists with stalled-out cars, it would be several hours before one of their drivers could come to her aid.
As she ended the call, she glanced at the water covering the parking lot, then at the school’s front entrance. She couldn’t just sit in the car until they arrived and trudging back into the school through inches of water wasn’t appealing, either.
But her mood lightened considerably when the reflection of car lights in her rearview mirror drew her attention. A Lincoln Navigator pulled to a stop beside her. She briefly wondered if she should err on the side of caution and refuse any offer of help from a stranger. But she instantly dismissed the thought. They were in an exclusive, very affluent area of the city, it was still daylight and how many criminals drove luxury SUVs?
But when the driver got out, opened the passenger door of her car and Zach Forsythe got in, Arielle’s gratitude died in her throat. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
His knowing grin caused her heart to flutter like a trapped butterfly. “It would appear that I’m going to be rescuing you.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t need help.” Especially from you, she added silently.
“Then why are you sitting here in your car in the middle of a flooded parking lot?”
“Maybe I just want to.”
“Start the car, Arielle.”
“No.” Why couldn’t he just go away and leave her alone?
His grin widened. “Is it because you don’t want to or that you can’t start the car?”
She glared at him before she finally conceded, “I can’t.”
He nodded. “That’s what I thought. It’s stalled out, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that tells me you are in need of my help.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m sure you’ll understand why I have to decline,” she said stubbornly. If he was her only alternative, she’d just as soon fend for herself.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Arielle.”
“I’m not. I’ve already called my auto service.”
“Really?” He didn’t look at all convinced. “And just when is it supposed to arrive?”
“I’m sure it will be here any minute,” she lied, staring at the street. Maybe if she wished long and hard enough, a tow truck would miraculously appear and Zach would disappear.
“Nice try, darlin’. But I’m not buying it.” He leaned close as if he was about to share a secret. “Remember, I’m from Dallas. I know how it is around here in the spring and how long the auto club will take to get to you at this time of day. I also know that calling a cab would take just as long.”
“I don’t mind waiting,” she repeated.
Why did he have to be so darned good-looking?
“In case you haven’t noticed, it’s pouring and doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon. You’ll be lucky if anyone can get here until this time tomorrow.”
“Surely it won’t take that long.”
“Trust me, it could be even longer. And there’s no way in hell I’m going to leave you sitting here in your car all night.”
“I’ll just go back inside the school until they get here,” she decided, thinking quickly. Sleeping on the narrow couch in her office held very little appeal, but it would be a lot better than accepting aid from a lying snake like Zach Forsythe.
After a long staring match, he finally insisted, “Let me make this clear for you, darlin’. Either you get in my SUV and let me take you home or I’m going to stay right here with you for as long as it takes to get your car towed.”
“You can’t do that.”
He folded his arms across his broad chest and settled back in the bucket seat. “Watch me.”
His overly confident smile and arrogant manner grated on her nerves. “I’m sure you have more interesting things to do with your time than sit here with me all evening, so I suggest you go do them.”
“Actually, I don’t.”
“Then why don’t you go hunt for something to do and leave me alone?”
A tiny ache began to settle in her stomach and she wished he’d leave so she could go inside and find something to eat in the cafeteria before she got sick. Her morning sickness had mostly disappeared a few weeks ago, but she still became queasy if she let her stomach get empty.
Besides, the longer she was around Zach, the greater the chance he would discover that she was pregnant. And although she would tell him that he was going to be a father, she wasn’t prepared to do so at this moment. She was still coming to terms with the shock of running into him again.
Shrugging, he shook his head. “I’m not leaving until I’m certain you’re okay.”
“Why not? If you’ll recall, you didn’t seem to have that problem almost four months ago,” she retorted before she could stop herself.
His smile fading, he uncrossed his arms and reached out to lightly trace his index finger along her jaw. “The circumstances are entirely different than they were then. Now, if you don’t get out of this car and into mine voluntarily, I swear I’ll pick you up and put you there myself.”
A shivering thrill raced up her spine at his touch. “Is that a threat, Mr. Forsythe?”
“No, darlin’. That’s a promise.”