Zac turned and his insides plummeted as he spotted Isabelle walking through the open orangery doors and onto the patio.
‘Antony told me you were here.’ Her eyes narrowed as she glanced at Kat. ‘He also told me you’d brought a date.’
‘Not a dried, wrinkled one, I hope.’ Kat, clearly deciding to ignore the tension so obviously snapping between him and Isabelle, reached out her hand. ‘Hi, I’m Kat.’
‘How do you do? I’m Isabelle.’ She shook the proffered hand and glanced between the pair of them. ‘Well, this is truly fascinating. I don’t believe I’ve ever met one of Zac’s dates before.’
‘Not even the infamous Chloe?’
Zac knew Kat was trying to help, but he didn’t need it. What he needed was to get away from Isabelle and her taunting look, Antony and his sneering comments, and all reminders of the half-truths, the lies he was peddling, even to Kat.
‘Nope, I wasn’t allowed to meet Chloe. Mum and Dad had dinner with her I believe, but Antony and I weren’t invited.’ Isabelle’s lip curled up at one side. ‘I think Zac was afraid we’d scare her off.’
‘I don’t scare so easily,’ Kat asserted.
‘I’m sure Zac will be pleased to hear that.’ Isabelle swung her laser-bright focus back to him. ‘Won’t you, dear brother.’
The poached salmon he’d eaten felt too heavy in his stomach, the champagne too fizzy. ‘I believe the music is about to start. We should head back in.’
‘Oh, I think Mum will forgive us for not being the first on the dance floor. We’re having such a lovely time catching up, after all.’ Isabelle took a sip out of the champagne flute she was carrying. ‘How long has it been since we last saw each other? Five years?’
He wanted to say Not long enough, but that wasn’t how Isabelle or Antony played these little games. They liked to pretend to be nice, to be civil, while slowly plunging in the knife. ‘Six.’
‘Doesn’t time fly.’ The expression on her face as she studied him was coolly condescending. ‘I hear you’ve been busy making films, which must be the perfect career choice for you. You always did enjoy being someone you weren’t.’
He flinched, and her lip curled even further. Damn it, he was thirty now, not thirteen. Her catty remarks shouldn’t have the power to hurt him anymore. ‘And you always enjoyed being a bitch. Goodbye, Isabelle. It’s been fun catching up.’ He was so wound up now, his muscles were making knots on top of knots. Clasping tight to Kat’s hand, he marched them back inside, through the orangery and into the adjoining ballroom where a small band had started to play.
‘If we bump into her again,’ Kat muttered, ‘I’m warning you now, she’s going to end up flat on her back with my knee on her neck.’
‘If we bump into her again, we’re going home.’
‘That works for me, too. At least then I can get out of this dress and maybe, you know, start to breathe again. Once you relax that death grip you’ve got going on.’
Slowly Zac ground to a halt. ‘Sorry.’ Reluctantly he let go of her hand. ‘I’m so angry right now, I want to scream.’ His eyes travelled across her face, noting the fire still in her eyes. ‘Yet one look at you and suddenly I have this mad urge to smile. Why is that?’
‘Duh, that’s obvious. Because I’m funny.’
‘Funny, I concur.’ He slid a hand across her cheek and gazed into those deep-brown pools. ‘Yet also utterly enchanting.’
He watched as her eyes fluttered closed. When they opened again, they pleaded with him not to say anything more. Reining in his frustration, he held out his hand. ‘Come and dance with me.’
‘Me? Dance?’ She gave him an incredulous look before glancing down at her feet. ‘In these toe crushers?’
Ignoring her protest, he led her towards the floor where a dozen or so couples moved to a variety of techniques, from the awkward sway to the full-blown waltz. ‘You don’t need to dance. Just …’ He placed her hand on his chest, over his heart, which still hadn’t fully calmed since the spat with Isabelle. ‘Just let me hold you for a while. Please.’
Her eyes searched his, and he guessed she must have read the same desperation for human contact, for comfort, that he felt in his gut because she nodded her head.
Moments later, they were face to face, chest to chest, hip to hip. As he eased his arms around her waist, drawing her closer, he felt some of the tension slide away. When her hands moved from clasping his biceps, to wrapping around his neck, he inhaled a deep breath and began to relax for the first time that evening.
His pleasure was cut short when the music ended and Samuel appeared.
‘Sorry to disturb you. I thought you should know, we had an uninvited guest.’
Kat stiffened, moving away from him and following Samuel off the dance floor. ‘Did you get a name? A description?’
Samuel shook his head. ‘No name. We approached the car, as we were suspicious, because it was so late arriving. The lady – that’s about all I can tell you for sure, it was a female with long hair – immediately turned the car round and disappeared down the drive. It was so dark we didn’t even get a number plate. Sorry.’
Kat cursed under her breath. ‘Not your fault. Thanks for letting me know.’
‘Probably just someone who got lost,’ Zac murmured as Samuel drifted off. ‘I’d make a joke about women and navigation, but I fear I might find a knee in my groin.’
‘Usually you’d be right, unless you’re making the joke to hide the fact you’re worried.’
‘I’m not worried,’ he said softly. ‘I’ve got you.’
‘No.’ Kat jerked her head away from his gaze. ‘You should be worried. It makes you more vigilant. We both need to be on our toes.’ She cursed again. ‘I should have been out there, keeping watch.’
‘But nothing happened.’ Why wouldn’t she look at him? ‘Kat?’
Finally, her eyes met his. ‘Don’t you see? I was distracted tonight. I was dining with you, dancing with you, but I’m not your flaming date, Zac. I’m your bodyguard.’
Guilt from the lies he’d been telling, anger from the meeting with Isabelle and Antony, frustration at the situation with Kat. It all mixed into a heady, emotional cocktail. ‘Then swap with Mark,’ he demanded, taking hold of her shoulders. ‘Get someone else to be my bodyguard so you can be my date.’
It was the wrong thing to say. She shook his arms off and glared up at him. ‘You assume I want that.’
Ouch. Now he could add hurt to his simmering emotions. ‘I apologise,’ he bit out. ‘I didn’t realise the idea was so abhorrent.’
‘It isn’t.’ She released a long, exasperated breath. ‘But this is my job, Zac, and it’s important to me. This assignment is important to me.’
‘I see.’ He jammed his hands into his pockets. ‘I’m more important to you as a client, than as me.’ And why not? he thought bitterly. It’s not like it was the first time he was wanted because of what he was, not who he was.
‘God, Zac, that’s not what I’m saying here. Why are you being so bloody infuriating?’