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The other option was that she was the best actress who’d never won an Award! But last night’s pain had stripped away any defences she possessed, her total vulnerability exposed, and Zac had never felt soprotective. There was a part of him that wanted to discover a dark secret, that wanted hernotto be genuine. He’d been in her company for only a matter of hours but his gut instinct was telling him she was authentic...his gut or was that other parts of his anatomy talking?
He nodded his head in mocking gratitude. ‘A lot of water under the bridge. My mother married Kairos, who is my stepfather. They co-parented me, but he’s not my father, which is one of the world’s most shared secrets,’ he drawled.
‘Not by me.’
Some of the tension that had crept into the room, fuelled by undercurrents she was aware of but didn’t understand, faded at her retort. ‘Good to know that my secrets are safe with you.’ He hesitated a moment. ‘You said it doesn’t happen often?’
‘No, really, it won’t happen again. It’s rare I have a full-blown attack like that. I usually catch it in time. There are warnings sometimes...an aura...some visual disturbances,’ she explained, seeing his blank look.
‘But not always a warning,’ he persisted.
‘I have never missed a day’s work because of it.’
Zac fought the urge to correct her assumption that he was speaking as an employer, not someone who was concerned.
Why wasn’t he speaking as an employer?
‘I have no doubt,’ he drawled. It was easy to imagine her dragging herself into work with a broken leg. She was a stubborn little thing with a martyr complex stamped into her DNA. ‘I knew about migraine but I never knew it could be so incapacitating.’
She could hardly deny that, because shehadbeen incapacitated. After trying to hold it together she’d just let go, and he’d been there to catch her—quite literally. Her eyes slid to his big hands and her insides quivered. Conscious of the strange ache in her chest, she remembered taking comfort in his strength, but it was the gentleness that had stayed with her.
‘A lot of people have it worse.’
Remembering her lying in the foetal position, her eyes tight shut, overwhelmed with pain, Zac struggled to believe that was possible.
‘I’m not sure what the schedule for today is? But if it’s not too inconvenient, I could pick up my medication from my flat just in case... Is it on the way to the airport?’ She waited, not looking directly at him, ready for him to tell her he’d made other arrangements—someone who wasn’t likely to fall down on the job quite literally.
‘A detour is no problem. It would be a lot more inconvenient if that happened again.’ He might as well play the heartless employer if that was what she thought him... Besides, it was not so far from the truth. He was a good employer for practical reasons not sentiment. People who were happy in work were more productive, it was logical.
What was not logical was imagining even for a moment holding her while she slept...scooping her body against his, not in a sexual way, even though she lit fires inside him he hadn’t known were there. Last night he had experienced an utterly alien need to comfort her.
The recollection was one he pushed away as he reminded himself he was a man who headed for the hills at the first sniff of neediness in a woman, a woman who wanted more than he was willing or able to give.
The baby in Rose’s arms started squirming. She looked down with a smile. His eyes were screwed up and he had shoved his fist in his mouth.
‘So I still have a job?’ It was only half a joke.
‘Did you think otherwise?’
‘You offered to sack Andy... And your reputation...’ She stopped, flushing, wondering when she was going to stop putting her foot in where angels feared to tread... The mixed-up narrative in her head represented her tangled emotions.
‘Please don’t stop. You were just getting educational. I’d be fascinated to learn what reputation I have.’
‘All right then, ruthless. I didn’t say I believe them,’ she added.
‘Because you think the best of people?’ he drawled, thinking she was the living, breathing definition of a lamb to the slaughter.
‘He’s waking. I need to feed him,’ she said, dodging his eyes and the question as little Declan provided a god-sent distraction from a fresh surge in tension that seemed to spring into life at regular intervals when they were sharing a space. ‘Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you sorted,’ she crooned, beginning to jiggle him in her arms. She took a step and turned back. ‘What time are we leaving?’
‘When you’re ready.’ Zac had a new and, for someone who took for granted his ability to learn new tasks easily, very real appreciation of how a baby’s needs were time-consuming.
‘I’ll be as quick as I can,’ she promised, determined to make up for last night.
She needed to show him that she really wasn’t the weakest link. She’d been looking after herself most of her life—all of her life—but last night someone had been there for her. Zac had been there for her.
What would it be like to have someone there when you needed them, someone whowantedto be there, wanted to protect you, someone to share the good times and the bad...share a family...? Would she ever know? she wondered wistfully.
‘The kitchen, it might be...sightly messy... I was looking for...things...’
