Dear Diary, I’d rather go shopping!
By the time he pulled up outside Maddie’s house, Zach had his emotions under control. It didn't matter what greeted him beyond Maddie’s front door, he wouldn’t let anyone see his panic. He’d keep it on the inside—he was good at that, had perfected the ability long ago. Strength was what Maddie needed.
Bruises and concussion.
He didn’t want to think about how much pain she was suffering.
When he tried the front door, it swung open with ease. He stepped inside the cool hallway and followed the voices coming from Maddie’s lounge.
“Do you want more ice, Mad?” one of the girls asked.
“No, go away,” came Maddie’s weak reply. “Let me sleep.”
“Honey, you know we can’t do that. We have to wake you often to keep your brain alert.” The maternal tone sounded like Lisa’s. As a mother, she was obviously used to dealing with obstinacy.
“Come on, Mad,” Sasha’s voice cut in. “You insisted on leaving hospital remember? The only reason your doctor agreed was that you promised to allow us to be your Brain Buddies, so co-operate.”
“Do you feel nauseated?” Cristi was obviously taking the Brain Buddy business to heart, and checking for signs of post-concussion syndrome.
“No!” Maddie puffed out the word. “Just sick of you nagging me.”
Zach smiled, turned the corner, and froze. He was unprepared for how battered Maddie looked. Fragile and a little too vulnerable, she laid on the settee in workout clothes that clung to her toned body and reminded him she was extraordinarily fit.
Three pillows propped her up against the armrest. Her head on an overstuffed throw pillow, her long lashes lowered to half-mast as Cristi leaned over her, holding an ice pack to her head. Scrapes and red marks that would turn to bruises tomorrow covered what he could see of her slender arms and shoulders.
His chest tightened.
Lisa and Sasha knelt on the floor beside the settee. Lisa smoothed back the hair that had escaped from Maddie’s ponytail while Sasha picked up a bottle of water from the crystal stone coffee table and un-capped it. No wonder Maddie was grumpy—they were crowding her.
She hated to be fussed over when she was sick. Chances were she hated it even more when she was injured. He hid a small smile. He’d learned not to fuss over Maddie the time she had flu in uni. When he’d tried to take care of her, she’d thrown her TV remote control at him. But for his quick reflexes she could have knocked him out.
“Hello, Ragdoll.” He inclined his head. The panic pummelling his gut would have to remain out of sight. No way was he going to allow Maddie to witness his fear. “Ladies.” He slipped his hands into his trouser pockets in a casual gesture that proved he was unaffected by the scene and had no intention of playing gallant knight to her wounded damsel. Maddie’d never permit it, no matter how much he craved the opportunity to ride in and save her. Besides, she had enough mother hens flapping around her already. “What have you done now?”
Her eyes flew open, and she turned her head slowly toward him, her green stare as hard as jade conveyed an offer to give him some injuries of his own. “Didn’t I tell you not to call me that?” The softly spoken question managed to communicate her annoyance.
“Hi, Zach.” The others greeted him with a bit more enthusiasm.
“Don’t mind Ms. Grumps.” Sasha gave him a wink as she handed the water and painkillers to Maddie. “The doctor warned us her head injury may make her testy.”
“I’m not ‘testy’.” She pushed the ice pack, along with Cristi’s hand, from her head to reveal a slight bruise on the side of her forehead. “I simply don’t see why all of you feel the need to crowd around and gaze at me as if I’m a novelty. Please go home.” She looked directly at Zach, took the water and pain relief from Sasha. “All of you. I’m fine and certainly do not need four nursemaids.”
Yet her breathing was shallow, the obvious pain she tried to hide etched frown lines between her brows. She paused to swallow the white tablets with a swig of water.
Lisa got off the floor and dropped onto a cream-coloured leather recliner. Her gaze flicked from Maddie to him.
“Some kids pulled a prank on the set this morning and started a fire in the barn conversion. Lucky for us, they decided to set alight the panels of cotton wool we were using for insulation. The cotton wool contained the flames, and we managed to put it out.” Her worried gaze travelled over to Maddie. “Unfortunately, as security gave chase, the kid’s motorcycle crashed into Maddie, knocking her into a stack of wood.”
A chill ran along Zach’s spine and stuck fast to his chest. What if she’d landed on something more lethal than planks of wood?
“Did anyone get close enough to the kid to describe him?” His voice came out cool, like almost losing a lover to death were an everyday occurrence, when he was roiling inside.
Cristi finger-combed her fringe back from her face. “No one spared him a second glance once he collided with Maddie. We were all too busy freaking out, thinking he’d killed her.”
“Lisa thinks it wasn’t an accident.” Sasha gave a sceptical chuckle as she took the water bottle Maddie handed over, got to her feet, and sat on the chair next to the settee.
Maddie groaned a half-laugh. “Oww.” She held her head. “Lisa sees conspiracy in everything.”
“I’m telling you, Mad. When I turned around it looked as if he was aiming for you. You didn’t notice because you were staring at the barn and by the time I saw what was happening and shouted a warning, it was too late.” Lisa pushed off the floor. “It’s the same with that lipstick in your fridge. It isn’t yours, your mum’s, mine, Cristi’s or Sasha’s. Yet it miraculously turned up inside your fridge.” Lisa planted her hands on her hips. “Maddie you need to ask yourself how it got there.”
Zach moved over to the second recliner. “What was lipstick doing in your fridge?” He dropped onto it, and popped his feet on top of the coffee table.
Maddie closed her eyes as though she needed a moment. “While I was getting some water the other day, I found a red lipstick in the fridge. It doesn’t seem to belong to anyone I know.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’ve left my phone in the freezer before. I could’ve left it there without realising.” She groaned out a breath. “It’s hardly likely someone broke in here and put it there.”
She opened her eyes, flicked a pointed glare at his shiny black size twelves.
“Have you any idea the price tag on that table?”
Even with her hair messy, and scrapes and bruises all over her, she looked so cute and sexy he couldn’t think clearly. Zach dropped his gaze to the Vogue Coffee Table. The yellow topaz crystal stone gleamed beneath his shoes in a way that told him it came with a hefty figure. He swiftly removed his feet, then lifted his gaze back to her. When he saw her adorable irritated expression, he couldn’t help the grin that pulled at his mouth.
“I’m thinking more than my life’s worth.”
Completely unmoved by his flash of charm, she narrowed her eyes at him just before her head rolled back against the pillows. Something in her gaze reminded him of the look she’d had in her eyes on Monday night. He’d seen determination then too, had known their conversation from the previous night wasn’t over, and he’d been glad for the excuse of a last minute business trip to Belgium.
Maddie rubbed both hands against her temples, closed her eyes on a low groan. “I’m going to sleep off this jackhammer in my head. Lock up when you guys leave.”
“You’re staying with her, right?” Sasha pinned him with her expectant gaze.
Where else would he be? He nodded.
“In that case, we’ll leave her to rest.” Cristi stood, and the other two followed.
Zach rose to see them out.
Maddie looked halfway to sleep when her girlfriends kissed her goodbye.
“Keep an eye out for sudden symptoms like vomiting, blurred, or double vision,” Lisa said as he walked them to the front door.
“I’ll take care of her.” He kept his voice even, tucked away his concern, and made sure none of it showed in his eyes. Maddie was going to be fine.
He’d see to it she was.
When he returned to the lounge, shallow, rhythmic breathing signalled Maddie sound sleep. Tawny tendrils, more out of her ponytail than in, rested across her face. Zach leaned down and smoothed the wisps from her cheek, followed the soft curve with the back of his fingers and, because no one was there to witness his weakness, pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.
What would he have done if he’d lost her? The thought was so devastating it made his chest hurt all the way to his throat. And to reassure himself Maddie was well, that her injuries weren’t anywhere close to what he’d envisioned, he kissed her again, lingering until she made a yielding sound in her throat and kissed him back.
She didn’t wake but he was okay with that. Just being able to feel her responsive lips under his went a long way to alleviating his anxiety. With one last stroke of his hand over her silky hair, he stood but only went as far as the comfortable creamy armchair opposite her.
He kicked off his shoes, removed his black suit jacket, and discarded his tie along with the jacket onto a nearby matching chair, then settled back to watch her sleep. All his protective instincts alerted to her slightest movement, he tapped a forefinger against his bottom lip. Something about Maddie’s accident niggled rearmost in his mind, but he couldn’t pin down the connection.
He shrugged off the nagging sensation and reached for the first of the pile of glossy magazines fanned out in a tidy arc on Maddie’s coffee table. He aimlessly flicked through, glancing over articles on how to achieve your favourite celeb’s look, one on how to know if you’re boyfriend’s a rat. Zach smiled at that one ’cause Maddie had actually taken the test.
Then he turned the page, and his gaze landed on a photo of her. She stood in a sassy pose, pink overalls opened to the waist to reveal a white vest top, pink tool belt slung low on her slim hips. Looking competent and striking she held a pink drill like a gun, the caption above her reading—MADDISON DE LA BOTELLA, LICENCE TO DRILL.
Zach chuckled and read the month old article. The smile he’d worn while reading the Getting to know Maddie part vanished when he got to the section about her show.
“If you could choose any house to work on, what would be your ideal project?” the interviewer asked.
“That’s easy. It would have to be Andalucía, a Spanish Georgian house in West Berkshire.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s my ancestral home. It had been in my family for almost a century when a poor decision resulted in it changing hands.”
Zach read Maddie’s answer a few more times before turning his attention to her on the settee across from him. She was pale, and even in sound sleep looked exhausted. His gut clenched as guilt crawled along his skin. Zach dropped the magazine back on the table and scrubbed his hands over his face.
Maddie had a personal connection to Andalucía, the house he was about to tear down in order to build a luxury spa resort.
~*~
MADDIE BLINKED slowly awake.
Someone had disconnected her head from the rest of her body. Thanks to her meds, the headache had gone but left her a little spacey.
From the lengthening shadows cased across her hardwood floor, she’d been asleep for a while. Supporting her head, she turned to see Zach across from her, his head tipped back against the overstuffed comfort of his armchair as he stared up at the ceiling with such intensity it made her solar plexus spasm.
“You look as if an eighteen-wheeler just backed over your puppy.”
Zach snapped his attention to her. “How do you feel?”
“Like I got hit by a bus, then dragged through some brambles.” Maddie tried to pull herself up to a sitting position, but her body ached so much she decided not to bother.
“Let me help you.” With an ease that surprised her, Zach manoeuvred Maddie into a more comfortable position. She grasped his arm to steady herself, and had to stifle a mewl of pleasure when his bicep bulged under her hand. He appeared oblivious to his effect on her as he fixed the pillows. “Better?”
“Thank you.” Her voice sounded scratchy, and she had to clear her throat, unsure whether it was sleep or Zach’s close proximity making her voice husk. “Can you pass me the water?” She indicated the bottle on the coffee table.
Zach’s fingers sparked against her palm as he pressed the water bottle into her hand, sending the energy charge directly to all her secret places. His blue gaze reflected purpose as he hunkered down beside her. He smiled, but it came off forced.
“Maddie, there’s something I have to tell you.” He clasped her shoulders in a gentle grasp.
Her stomach dipped at the sight of Zach’s grim expression. “What’s going on?”
He straightened, stuffed his hands into his black trouser pockets, and strolled over to the patio door. She couldn’t yank her gaze from him. He looked as though he had walked right off the pages of some sophisticated men’s magazine. Tall and tanned, his sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows, revealing silky golden hair covering defined forearms and his blue gaze so forceful she fancied they saw deep into her soul.
“When I left for America with Kimber”—He expelled a breath and yanked his hands from his pockets, ran them through his hair, muscles flexing—“I went to work for her father, Eli. He owns a huge construction company in Sacramento.” He paced back toward her.
“What has that to do with what you have to tell me?”
Zach tossed her a quick, deep-furrowed glance and kept pacing. “I’m trying to tell you what I do for a living.” He paused next to the lounge door. “Eli expected me to take over the business once he retired. I spent five years learning everything there was to know about the construction industry.” He dragged his hands through his hair again as he resumed pacing. He brought to mind an image of a caged panther. “When Kimber and I separated, I moved to Long Island and started my own company.”
Perhaps it was the result of her head injury, but Maddie couldn’t figure out the reason for this conversation. Nevertheless, the fierce frown cutting vertical lines between Zach’s brows made her uneasy.
“What on earth are you getting at?”
“Maddison, I’m trying to tell you—”
“Maddie?”
Her mother’s anxious voice resounding through the house startled her. The front door slammed shut, and hurried heels echoed on the bamboo floor.
Maddie recognised the fear in her mum’s tone, but her attempt to answer came out too low to reach Raquel in the hall, and the dull ache in her head warned against raising her voice.
“Zach, can you let Mum know we’re in here, please?”
He ran his hands back and forth through his hair in a rough gesture of annoyance as he expelled a jagged breath, leaving the copper strands standing in a ruffled mess. How was it that no matter what he did with his appearance, he still managed to look too sexy for words?
“Great! Just wonderful.” She watched the vein bulge in his neck. He clenched his jaw tight, frustration evident in his dark scowl as he elevated his voice. “We’re in the lounge.”
Why was he angry?
“Maddison.” Raquel’s footsteps bounded toward them. She burst into the room, surprisingly bedraggled. Her red blouse soaked through, hair wet and hanging in rattails, smudged mascara blackened the skin under green eyes that were wide and frantic.
At the sight of her mum’s appearance, panic gripped Maddie. She glanced toward the window; sure something dreadful must have happened to her mum to make her look so dishevelled. Rain landed against the pane in a downpour she hadn’t noticed until now.
“Mum, are you okay?”
Raquel’s breath came in heavy gasps as she crossed the room to fling her arms around Maddie’s neck.
“You almost got killed, and I have to hear about it on the news?”