Bride by Mistake (21 page)

“Zachary?”

He recognized the voice. “Liza? Is that you in there?”

“Course it’s me.”

The words sounded garbled. Zach stared at the woman, trying to turn the personage into Liza, but he couldn’t quite manage.

“Guess I came over too early. You’ve usually finished your workout by now.”

“What workout?” she mumbled.

“I take it you overslept.”

“Um, right. Overslept.”

“May I come in?”

Liza’s eyebrows shot higher than the Empire State Building. “Now? Like this?” She tried to finger comb her hair into place without the least bit of success.

“Yes, now. Like that. I’ve got to see you.”

She opened the door just enough for him to wriggle through.

“Got to clean up. Sit down.” Liza seemed incapable of forming a complete sentence.

As she turned to head for the bathroom, Zach grabbed her hand. “Liza, I was up all night thinking about you. About us. I’m exhausted and I need to talk to you this minute.”

She shrugged, then sank obediently onto the couch.

“Did you set the timer on the coffeepot last night?” he asked.

She yawned and nodded.

“Good. I’ll bring you a cup.”

He returned moments later and handed Liza an oversize mug of strong coffee. She sipped it gratefully. When she’d finished half of it, he asked, “Are you awake enough to talk?”

“I think so.”

Zach sat beside her on the couch and took her hand. “I’ve thought a lot about what happened last night. At first, I was angry because you didn’t tell me Ian’s news. When Denise and I were married, she kept lots of things from me. Like the fact that she never loved me,” he grumbled.

Liza took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away. I should have.” She lifted her gaze to meet his, and those luscious eyes, even smeared with mascara, mesmerized him. He could drown in the wonder of Liza’s eyes.

Zach pulled out his handkerchief and wiped away the mascara streaks. “There. Now you don’t look like you’ve been in a fight.”

“I feel like it.”

Liza’s penitent gaze bored into Zach’s heart. Even in her disheveled state, the woman looked beautiful to him. She still made his heart race and his pulse pound. “Where did you get that robe?” he asked. “I’ve never seen you wear anything threadbare until today.”

She sighed. “There’s a lot about me you don’t know, Zach. But remember this. I’m loyal to a fault. When I love something, I hold on to it. Like this robe. It’s ten years old, and I love it as much as the day I bought it.” She shivered a bit and pulled it closer.

Maybe he didn’t know Liza after all. “You’ve been a surprise a minute since we got engaged.” He shook his head. “I can’t figure you out.”

“That’s because you don’t know me. You think you do, but you don’t.” She took a deep breath, and her lower lip quivered.

Zach couldn’t resist. He leaned toward Liza and stole a kiss. It was the sweetest kiss he remembered. But he couldn’t get sidetracked now. They had important matters to discuss.

“What is it you wanted to tell me?” he asked. “Do you have a prison record?”

A slight smile teased her lips. “No prison record.”

“A contagious disease I’ve probably caught?”

She shook her head. “No contagious disease.”

“Have you got a husband stashed away somewhere? And three or four kids you didn’t bother to mention?”

“No husband, no children.” Liza placed her finger on his lips to silence him. Her soft touch stirred a yearning inside Zach—a yearning that grew stronger each time he saw her. Liza’s slightest touch sent his heart soaring.

“This is even worse,” she said. “Worse than all those things put together.”

Her expression looked hopeless and she wrapped the robe even tighter around herself.

“Liza, nothing’s that bad.”

“This is.”

“Then tell me. What is this awful thing I need to know?”

She drew a shuddering breath. “I promise I’ll tell you everything, Zach—the whole truth. But first let me clean up. I want your last memory of me to be that of a fully dressed woman with combed hair.”

“My last memory of you? What are you talking about?” Zach raked a hand through his hair. “Liza, Liza. You’re driving me crazy.”

She reached for his hand and her soft touch made his heart race. “Not for much longer, Zach. I promise.”

He shrugged, not knowing what else to say. “Go take your shower. Then we’ll talk.”

“But not here. Will you take me out to breakfast?”

“Why not here?”

“I want witnesses. In case you decide to strangle me.”

He nodded. “I’ll take you to the country club for their breakfast buffet.”

“Thank you.”

Liza leaned over and kissed his cheek. Then she padded off toward the bathroom, looking like someone down on her luck. Not a bit like the top-notch attorney she really was.

As Zach waited for Liza to clean up, his thoughts spun faster than a funnel cloud. Part of him wanted Liza O’Malley more than he’d wanted any woman. Ever. And part of him didn’t quite trust her.

He’d noticed so many changes recently: Liza’s style of dress, her diet, and her driving skills. And he’d detected many small inconsistencies. Alone, they didn’t amount to much. But looked at collectively, they made him wonder.

And Liza seemed pretty mysterious these days. He wasn’t always sure she told him the whole truth. But, he supposed, that could be an occupational hazard. Attorneys were skilled at revealing only part of the story.

The radical change in their relationship baffled him most of all. Jeff had assured him that some people fall in love with their best friends. He said it wasn’t unusual.

Zach knew one thing for certain. He loved Liza. This was no longer a likelihood, but a fact. But did she really love him? Is that why she looked so troubled? Was she about to tell him—yet again—that all she wanted from him was friendship? Zach wasn’t sure he could bear hearing that again.

He heard the shower come on and tried not to picture how delectable Liza must look standing in the spray of water. He picked up a
Newsweek
magazine, trying to distract himself from thoughts of the beautiful woman who had upended his life and taught him to dream again.

Z
ACH READ AND
reread the first paragraph in an article on the state of the stock market. While he was interested in the data, he couldn’t remember anything the article said. If someone offered him a million dollars to quote the statistics, he couldn’t have done it. He sighed and tossed the magazine aside.

Liza’s phone rang, and Zach wondered if he should answer. It could be important—possibly her office needed to reach her. He walked toward the phone, but at the last minute decided to let the answering machine take the call.

The no-nonsense message he’d often heard came on. “Liza O’Malley here. Leave your name and number. I’ll call you ASAP.”

Then a female voice that sounded exactly like Liza’s said, “Meg? Meg? Are you there? Pick up, Meg, it’s me, Liza. I want you to know I’m thinking of you. Telling Zach that you and I traded places is a tough assignment, but it will all work out. I promise. Call me after you tell him. Bye.”

At first, Zach couldn’t make sense of the words. How could Liza leave a message when Liza was upstairs showering?

Then slowly, ever so slowly, the words took on meaning. Liza once told Zach that she and her identical twin had traded places in high school. Meg hadn’t wanted to attend prom with a certain
boy and Liza had filled in for her. And now and then they’d taken tests for each other.

Trading places. Trading places. The truth hit Zach with the force of a meteor shower. That wasn’t Liza showering upstairs! It was her twin sister!

Suddenly, the puzzle pieces eased into place. The romantic feelings stirring inside him weren’t for Liza at all. They were for her twin sister! Meg and Liza had concocted a scheme that made him a laughingstock. And he’d hadn’t suspected anything. Until now.

Zach shook his head. He’d have chuckled about their little stunt except for one thing: he’d lost his heart in the process. He must be the biggest sucker on the planet. Oh, their little hoax had worked, all right. The O’Malley sisters had pulled off the biggest farce of all time! Why, those two had even upstaged Shakespeare!

Zach sank into a chair and buried his face in his hands. All the attraction and feelings of love he’d experienced moments ago drained away. He’d been bamboozled, big-time. And deceived all over again. Why was it that the women he gave his heart to had trickery in mind? Was there something about him that brought out the worst in women?

A short time later, Meg O’Malley came to join him, looking clean and gorgeous. Every trace of smeared mascara was gone, and her unruly hair had been tamed. She flashed him a dazzling smile, and his traitor heart lurched.
Shape up, you idiot
, he told himself. Hadn’t he played the fool long enough?

When Meg’s gaze caught his, Zach had to look away. This woman whom he’d thought he loved had lied to him. Again and again. Denise was a novice compared with Liza’s twin sister!

Zach shook his head in disgust. “I’ve changed my mind about breakfast,” he told the lovely Benedict Arnold. “The thought of food is nauseating.”

Her look of concern seemed genuine. “I hope you aren’t catching something, Zach.”

What an actress this woman was!

“I’ve already caught something. The stupid disease.”

Those luscious lips parted slightly and her green eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”

“There’s an important message on your answering machine,” he said. “Go listen to it.”

She bit her lip and looked puzzled. “There’s no hurry. I can play it back later.”

“No. Listen to it now.” Zach’s gaze caught hers again and bored through it.

Liza’s twin blinked rapidly. Several times. “If you think it’s that important…”

“Trust me. I do.”

Meg O’Malley walked over to the answering machine and hit the
PLAY
button. The voice of her twin sister filled the room and confirmed that the jig was up.

Meg shook her head and placed her hands over her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Zach. So desperately sorry. I’ve wanted to tell you ever since the pretending began. And I tried to several times. Even last night.”

“But you never managed to pull it off, did you, Meg?” Zach heard cynicism echo in his voice.

Her sigh carried the weight of the universe. “No, I didn’t. And there’s no excuse for my behavior.”

“You’ve got that right,” Zach sneered. He shook his head again, trying to clear his jumbled thoughts. After several long moments, he said, “Let me ask you one question. Was anything you told me the truth? Anything at all?”

Tears welled in her green eyes and she tried valiantly to blink them away. “One thing was.”

“Care to share that with me?”

Meg met his gaze head-on. All blinking stopped, and she suddenly seemed in perfect control. “When I said I loved you. That was true. One hundred percent true. I do love you, Zach Addison. With all my heart.”

“Love,” he scoffed. “Neither of us has a clue as to what that word means.”

He strode to the door and turned back for one last look at the woman whom he’d fallen in love with—the woman who had trampled on his heart. Zach sighed. Meg O’Malley had made him the biggest fool in Jackson County.

“Wait a minute,” she said.

Meg slipped the diamond off her finger and handed it to him. Zach took it and shook his head. Life had seemed perfect an hour ago. But that was before he knew the truth. “Good-bye, Meg,” he said.

“Good-bye, Zach.”

As he strode out of the house, Zach vowed to put the events of the past week out of his thoughts forever. It was a disaster after all. From start to finish.

Z
ACH HEADED TO
Addison’s Fine Furniture. He strode through the lobby, and when he entered the inner sanctum of his office he took his first deep breath. Work had become his salvation when Denise had left. He’d submerged himself in all things related to his company and pushed his pain aside. Hard work got him through his last trauma; it would get him through the current one as well.