Bride by Mistake (14 page)

Ian took one arm and Zach the other and they assisted Gram to her chair. When she was comfortably settled, she said, “You run along, Zachary. Don’t keep your lovely young lady waiting.”

“Are you sure you’re all right? We can stay awhile if you like.”

“I’m perfectly fine. Ian will bring me some tea before I go up to bed.”

Zach kissed Gram’s scented cheek. “That’s for my favorite girl.”

“You mean your second-favorite girl. You know, Zach, I really like your Liza. She’s sweet and beautiful and kind. She’d make a wonderful wife for you.”

“Do you think so?”

“I’m certain of it.”

“Hmm. Guess I’ll give that some thought.”

She nodded. “See that you do. Now good night, dear.”

“Good night, Gram.”

Ian walked out with Zach. “What are Gram’s symptoms?” Zach asked, hoping to better understand her condition.

“Mostly tiredness. And she looks pale. You know how robustly healthy she’s always been.”

“Maybe we should call in specialists. I don’t want to miss anything.”

“Everything’s being done, sir. I assure you of that. And if there’s a change or cause for alarm, I’ll telephone you immediately.”

“Thank you, Ian. I’m glad you’re looking after her.”

“It’s my privilege, sir.”

Zach rejoined Liza in the car and drove to her condo. As soon as he shut off the engine, she opened the door and hopped out.

“Thanks for a wonderful evening, Zach. You don’t need to walk me to the door.”

“Hold it right there,” he said. “I never dump a lady on her doorstep. It’s against my code of ethics.” He joined Liza and escorted her up the walk.

“Is there a code of ethics for people pretending to be engaged?” she asked.

“The way we danced tonight, I forgot we were pretending.”

When they reached the front door, Liza turned to Zach, and her eyes met his. All the wonder and desire he’d felt on the dance floor flooded back like water rushing over a dam.

They stood gazing into each other’s eyes. And Zach felt he was seeing Liza for the very first time. If he didn’t leave this minute, he’d pull her close and kiss her again. This time he had no excuse. Gram wasn’t watching.

It took all the discipline Zach could muster to pull away, but he finally managed. “Thanks for tonight.”

“You’re welcome.” She turned and unlocked the door. But before she could slip inside, Zach reached for her hand. As their hands connected, hope lit Liza’s face. Did she
want
him to kiss her? he wondered.

“I know it’s been hard for you to switch gears in our relationship. And since you turned down my offer of compensation…”

“Don’t go there.”

“I won’t. I appreciate all you’re doing in spite of our confused feelings.”

“I said I’d help, Zach, and I meant it. I really care about Eloise.”

There it was again. Liza’s devotion to Eloise. Deep in his heart Zach wanted the devotion directed toward him.

“If you’re free tomorrow evening, I have one more favor,”he said.

“And what’s that?”

“Could we spend the evening doing our stuff?”

“What do you mean, our stuff?”

“You know, have dinner out and watch a video at my place.”

Liza looked less than excited. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh, but it is. It will help us remember who we really are,” Zach argued. “We’ll go back to the status quo. Just hang out and have fun like we used to do.”

Liza nodded. “I’d vote for that.”

“Then it’s a date.” Zach grinned. “Oops, sorry. Bad choice of words.”

Liza kept her face turned to his—the face Zach now dreamed of at night. Every night. The soft light of the streetlamp made her auburn hair glisten. She looked lovelier than ever.

Why had he never noticed how beautiful Liza was? How could he have entertained sisterly feelings for her all these years? Those feelings had vanished like yesterday’s sunset.

With every fiber of his being, Zach wanted to kiss Liza good night. For real this time. Not pretend. But he resisted the temptation. “Will you be home by six? I know you often work later than that.”

“I’m coming home early. You can pick me up here.”

“You aren’t working from home again, are you? Did you get fired and you’re afraid to tell me?” he teased.

“No way,” she said, but she didn’t meet his gaze. And she rarely teased back these days. Figuring out the new Liza was like working your way through a complicated maze—and hitting one dead end after another.

“See you tomorrow,” Zach said as he fought off an overpowering urge to kiss her. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

Zach turned and strode away from Liza—away from temptation—as fast as he could. How could he keep promising they’d return to their old way of relating? It seemed as distant as his teenage years.

Zach heard Liza close the door, and a sense of emptiness welled up inside him. Should he have abandoned caution and kissed her? he wondered. It took all the discipline he possessed to walk away.

You made the right choice
, he told himself. How could he even think about dating again? Or falling in love again? He remembered
how difficult life had become when Denise had divorced him. And she had destroyed part of his heart in the process, the part that trusted others wholeheartedly. Zach battled trust issues to this day.

While Liza might not purposely deceive him, she’d always been on the career track. She hoped to become the youngest partner ever at Burns, Logan, and Grant. And she’d always said marriage was for other people. Not for her.

Even if Zach overcame his own personal demons, Liza wasn’t the woman for him. So he’d made the right choice by not kissing her good night. By resisting temptation.

To his surprise, the feeling of emptiness lingered the rest of the evening.

So Zach wants to return to our just-friends relationship
, Meg thought as she dressed for dinner the next evening. But how could they recapture something that had never existed? Besides, the feelings she harbored for Zach went far beyond friendship. And always had.

She heard a car pull up and hurried outside to meet Zach. But he wasn’t driving his car. He sat perched in a candy-apple-red Cadillac looking so amazingly handsome Meg could scarcely breathe. Apparently his Lexus was in the shop.

“Wow, that’s really something. Rental cars are getting better all the time,” she said.

“It’s not a rental. This is the Cadillac CTS sport sedan I ordered six months ago. I told you I was getting it, remember?”

“That’s right, you did. You waited a long time.”

“Sure did. This baby drives like a dream. And the supercharged V-six engine can take on the best of them. I thought we’d give it a test drive on the way to Mario’s Italian Kitchen.”

“Sounds great.”

Before Meg could open the door, Zach said, “Hop in the driver’s seat, Liza. I’m sure you’re dying to drive it. Besides, I need to make a business call.”

“Um, sure.”

Zach got out and headed for the passenger side while Meg took the driver’s seat. Uh-oh. Manual transmission! While in high school, she’d driven a friend’s stick shift now and then, but unlike Liza, had never mastered the art. Meg’s stomach knotted into a ball—the kind with spokes sticking out of it.

Even though she’d grown up in the area, she’d never heard of Mario’s Italian Kitchen.
Probably a new restaurant
, Meg thought. She wondered what part of town it was in.

“Hungry?” Zach asked.

“Starving.”

“Good,” he said. “I’ve felt guilty about all I’ve put you through the last few days—so guilty that I rented some chick flicks. I hope you’ll like the ones I picked. You can choose your favorite and we’ll watch it after dinner.”

“That’s nice, Zach. We’ll talk about it later.”

Meg didn’t tell Zach that she couldn’t think about something as trivial as selecting a movie. Not when she had to figure out how to drive a standard-transmission automobile to a restaurant she’d never visited. Without asking stupid questions along the way.

She smiled brightly. “Here goes nothing.”

Meg turned the key and the engine sprang to life. After several attempts, she managed to shift in reverse, and inch by bitter inch, she jerked her way out of Liza’s driveway.

Without hitting the oak tree. No small feat.

Zach quirked an eyebrow. “Are you okay with driving?”

“Sure. But it’s been a while since I drove a stick shift.”

Meg decided to head for the part of town with the newer restaurants. And since Zach didn’t object, she figured she was on course.

After lurching her way through the first few blocks, memory kicked in, and the car moved more smoothly. Of course, she still had no clue where she was going.

Zach grabbed his cell phone and punched in a number. “Mr. Bergman? Zach Addison here. My secretary said you called.”

As Meg headed south, she read every sign in sight. She hoped Mario’s Italian Kitchen believed in advertising. Maybe if she could reach the general vicinity they’d have a sign posted out front. A large neon sign!

All went smoothly until she started to drive through one busy intersection. Zach waved his arm frantically.

“What?”

He pointed to the right and mouthed the words, “Turn here.”

Great. The restaurant wasn’t in the part of town she’d hoped.

Meg swerved to the right, missing a Ford SUV by inches. She glanced up and saw fear in the eyes of the driver. Rightly so. With her behind the wheel, the man had every right to worry.

It took several blocks to calm Meg’s jangled nerves. On the bright side, she’d executed the turn and hadn’t injured anyone. Not yet.

Throughout her driving experiment and near collision, Zach continued talking to his client in a professional tone. And Meg continued driving a car she couldn’t drive to an unknown location.

Suddenly the annoyances of pretending didn’t seem so troubling. Getting them to the restaurant alive was her only goal. Maybe if an incredibly handsome man she adored wasn’t also riding shotgun, she could drive this car without difficulty!

On the drive to Mario’s Italian Kitchen, Zach did all he could to keep things casual with Liza. He made a business call, which distracted him a little.

But Liza’s driving distracted him a lot. The woman acted like she’d never driven a stick shift. By the time they had gone a few blocks, his stomach was lurching like a rowboat in a hurricane. That had helped curb any feelings of lust that might otherwise arise.

And when she had nearly missed the turn onto Walnut and darn near creamed that SUV, panic had upstaged his nausea. Liza had almost totaled the Cadillac on its maiden voyage!

But now, looking at Liza in the candlelight, her perfume mingling with the gardenias on the table, Zach forgot about their wild ride. Romantic images of recent days returned to haunt him.

He stood, in part to escape those images. “Excuse me while I wash my hands. Order our usual, will you?”

Her eyes widened as they met his above the menu.

“Our usual?”

“Yeah. If that’s okay with you.”

He strode off to the men’s room to try and realign his hormones. But they only wanted one thing: to indulge in romantic fantasies about Liza.

After pacing awhile, which proved difficult in the small space, Zach splashed cool water on his face. Then he munched a few Rolaids to calm his stomach after the jerky ride. If he planned to eat eggplant parmesan, he’d need Rolaids to lay the groundwork.

When he returned to the table, he found two salads waiting—one in front of Liza, one in front of him. While they never ordered salads, he dutifully ate his.

“That was a nice change,” he admitted as they finished up.

“What was?”

“The salad.”

A flush crept into Liza’s cheeks. “We can’t get in a rut. That’s why I ordered something different tonight.”

“Fine. Let’s live dangerously.”

When the waiter brought out two plates of eggplant parmesan, he said, “I thought you ordered something different.”

The flush in Liza’s cheeks deepened. The woman looked gorgeous enough when slightly pale. But with rosy cheeks, she was a vision.

“Actually, I planned to order something different, but I changed my mind at the last minute.”