The Ceo’s Accidental Bride

Six

“He’s after something,” Kaitlin said as Lindsay plunked a large take-out pizza from Agapitos on Kaitlin’s small, dining room table. “A guy doesn’t make an offer like that for no reason.”

Lindsay returned to the foyer, kicked off her shoes and dropped her purse, refastening her ponytail.

It was Sunday afternoon. The Mets game was starting on the sports channel, and both women were dressed in casual sweatpants, loose T-shirts and cozy socks.

“No argument from me,” she said as she followed Kaitlin into the compact kitchen area of the apartment. “My point is only that you should say yes.”

Kaitlin pulled open the door to her freezer and extracted a bag of ice cubes. “And play into his hands?”

Lindsay’s voice turned dreamy. “A private island? Mansions? All that delicious pirate history? I don’t care what he’s up to, we’re going to have one hell of a weekend.”

Kaitlin paused, blender lid in her hand, and stared at Lindsay. “We?”

The announcer’s voice called a long fly ball, and both women turned to watch the television in the living room. The hit was caught deep in center field, and they both groaned their disappointment before turning back to the drink making.

Lindsay hopped up on one of the two wooden stools in front of the small breakfast bar, pushed aside the weekend newspaper and leaned on her elbows. “You’re not going to Serenity Island without me.”

“I’m not going to Serenity Island at all.” Kaitlin dumped a dozen ice cubes into the blender. There was no way in the world she’d spend an entire weekend with Zach.

“It’s the chance of a lifetime,” Lindsay insisted.

“Only for those of us with a pirate fetish.” Kaitlin added mango, pineapple, iced tea, mint and vodka to the ice cubes, mixing up their secret recipe for mango madness. It was a Sunday tradition, along with the take-out pizza and a baseball game.

“It’s not a fetish,” Lindsay informed her tartly. “It’s more of an obsession.”

Kaitlin hit the button on the blender, filling the apartment with the grinding noise. “You want to sleep with a pirate,” she called above the din. “That’s a fetish. Look it up.”

Lindsay’s grin was unrepentant. “First off, I have to prove he’s a pirate.”

With the mixture blended, Kaitlin hit the off switch and poured it into two tall glasses. Lindsay shifted back to her feet, headed for a cupboard and grabbed a couple of stoneware plates and put a slice of pizza on each of them.

“Here’s something,” Kaitlin began as they made their way back to the living room. “Put on that red-and-gold dress, and the Vishashi shoes, then tell him you’ll sleep with him if he admits he’s a pirate.” She stepped to one side so that Lindsay could go around and take her usual spot on the couch beside the window.

“That’s not ethical,” said Lindsay with a note of censure.

Kaitlin scoffed out a laugh. “As opposed to arriving on his island to gather evidence against him?”

“It’s not like I’m going to break into his house,” Lindsay offered reasonably.

“You’re definitely not going to break into his house, since we’re not going.”

“Spoilsport.”

Kaitlin settled on the couch and snagged one of the plates of pizza, gaze resting on the baseball game while she took a bite of the hot pepperoni and gooey cheese. She sighed as the comfort food hit her psyche. “I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

“Going to Serenity Island?”

“Zach. The renovation. The arguments. The kisses. Everything. I’m tired. I just want to sit here, watch the game and dull my senses with fat and carbs.”

“That seems like a big waste of time.” But Lindsay took a bite of the Agapitos, extrathick, stuffed-crust pizza and stared at the action on the television screen in silence.

Though Kaitlin tried to concentrate on the players, her mind kept switching back to Zach and his possible motives for the invitation. “I wish I had your capacity for mental chess games,” she ventured out loud.

“How exactly did he ask you?” asked Lindsay, shifting at her end of the couch so she was facing Kaitlin, obviously warming up for a good discussion.

Kaitlin thought back to the moment in her office. “He was polite-excruciatingly polite-and I think a little nervous. He said he wanted me to learn about his family, get a better understanding of his grandmother.”

“Any kisses, caresses, groping…?”

Kaitlin made a gesture that threatened to toss her pizza at Lindsay. “Just words.”

“Were you disappointed?”

“No.”

“Are you lying?”

“Only a little.” Zach was one incredibly sexy man and, for better or worse, he turned Kaitlin on like there was no tomorrow. She couldn’t stop it. She could barely fight the urge to act on it. Which was why visiting Serenity Island was one very, very bad idea.

There was a full count on the batter, and they both turned to watch Campbell swing and miss.

Kaitlin took a generous gulp of the mango madness. Then she gestured with her glass. “I know he’s trying to outsmart me.”

“Good thing we’re onto him,” Lindsay said.

“He gets me alone, he’ll try seducing me. I know he thinks it’s to his advantage.” And it probably was. She couldn’t think straight when he kissed her. Heck, she couldn’t think straight when he looked at her.

“So turn the tables on him.”

“Huh?”

“Seduce him back.”

Kaitlin nearly choked on her pizza. Seduce Zach? Seduce Zach? Why not just jump off the top of his building and be done with it? “Are you kidding me?”

“Two can play at that game, baby.” Lindsay gave a sage nod. “Women have been getting their own way through sex for thousands of years.”

“You want me to sleep with him?”

Zach was every woman’s fantasy. He was rich, great-looking, smart and funny. He’d had women fawning over him since he was a teenager. He’d likely seen and done it all. It was laughable to think Kaitlin could hold her own in bed with Zach.

“He is your husband,” Lindsay pointed out.

“He’s not that kind of a husband.”

“Okay. Forget that,” said Lindsay. “But look at it this way. If we don’t go to the island, he’ll try something else. If we go, he thinks he’s winning. But we’re onto him, and we’ll be waiting for his next move.”

Kaitlin had to admit, Lindsay’s logic had some merit. Trouble was, the thought of Zach’s next move triggered a flare of desire that curled her toes.

They flew to Serenity Island in one of Dylan’s Astral Air helicopters. It was the first time Kaitlin had flown anywhere. Vacations weren’t part of her foster care upbringing, and airplane tickets were not something she considered one of the necessities of life.

Their first stop after landing on the island was Dylan’s parents’ house. It was adjacent to the private helipad. The Gilby garage was home to a small fleet of golf carts that Kaitlin and Lindsay were informed were the only motor vehicles on the island.

David and Darcie Gilby were away in Chicago on business, but their various housekeepers and caretakers were in residence, along with Dylan’s aunt Ginny, who greeted the four of them in the foyer in a bright red, 1950s swing dress with a multistrand pearl necklace and clip-on earrings.

“Young people,” she cried, taking both of Dylan’s hands in her own. “So nice of you to bring company.”

Ginny was a very attractive woman for what must have been her age. Her face was wrinkled, but her short white hair was perfectly styled with flip curls at the ends, and her makeup was flawless. Two little white puff-ball dogs trotted across the floor, nails clicking on the hardwood until they stopped beside her.

“Hello, Auntie,” said Dylan, giving the woman a kiss on her powdered cheek. “How are you?”

“And which one of these lovely young ladies is yours?” asked Ginny, sizing up both Kaitlin and Lindsay, taking in their faces, hair and clothing as if they were in a pageant and she was the judge.

“We’re just friends,” said Dylan.

One of the dogs gave a sharp bark.

“Nonsense.” Ginny winked at Kaitlin. “This young man’s a catch.” She moved closer, voice lowering as if she was confiding a secret. “He has money, you know.”

Kaitlin couldn’t help but grin.

“Now this one-” Ginny made a half turn and shook a wrinkled finger in Zach’s direction “-he’s always been a hoodlum.”

“Hello, Aunt Ginny,” said Zach, with what was obvious patience.

“Caught him in the linen closet with Patty Kostalnik.”

“Ginny,” Zach protested.

“Did you now?” Kaitlin asked the older woman, her inflection making her interest obvious.

“Or was it that Pansy girl?” Ginny screwed up her wrinkled face. “Never liked that one. She used to steal my crème de menthe. It was May, because the apple trees were blooming.”

Kaitlin slid a glance to Zach, enjoying his embarrassment.

He shook his head as if to deny the accusation.

“Kaitlin and Lindsay are staying at Zach’s for a few days,” Dylan told his aunt Ginny.

“Nonsense,” Ginny retorted. “You need a wife, young man.” She moved between Kaitlin and Lindsay and took each of them by an arm. “They need to stay here so you can woo them. Which one do you want?”

“They’re staying with Zach,” Dylan repeated.

Ginny clicked her tongue in admonishment. “You’ve got to learn to stand up for yourself. Don’t let Zachary take them both.” She looked to Kaitlin. “You want him?”

Kaitlin felt herself blush. “I’m afraid I’m already-”

She turned to Lindsay, her voice a bark of demand. “What about you?”

“Sure,” said Lindsay with a mischievous grin. “Like you say, Dylan’s a good catch.”

Ginny beamed, while Zach chuckled, and a look of horror came over Dylan’s face.

Ginny drew Lindsay off to one side. “Right this way to the kitchen, young lady. You can help me with the pie.”

Dylan watched as they left the foyer and proceeded down a long hallway.

“You’re not going with them?” asked Zach, still obviously controlling his laughter.

“She got herself into it,” said Dylan with a fatalistic shake of his head. “The woman’s on her own.”

“That Pansy girl?” Kaitlin asked Zach, not ready to let him off the hook for that one.

“I was fifteen, and she was two years older.”

“Uh-huh?” Kaitlin waited for more details.

“She taught me how to kiss,” Zach admitted.

“And…?”

“And nothing. You jealous?”

Kaitlin frowned, sensing he was about to turn the tables. “Not me.”

“Right this way,” Dylan interrupted, pointing through an archway and ushering them from the foyer farther into house.

Kaitlin was happy to leave the conversation behind, and she was more than impressed by the house.

Only a few years old, the large and luxurious Gilby home was perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean and the distant coast of Connecticut. The west wall of the great room was two stories high and made completely of glass. Hardwood floors gleamed beneath open-beam ceilings, and a sweeping staircase curled toward a second-story overtop of the kitchen area where Lindsay had disappeared.

After Kaitlin had a chance to look around, they moved out onto a huge deck dotted with tables and comfortable furniture groupings. Large potted plants were placed around the perimeter, and a retractable roof was halfway shut, providing shade on half the deck and sunshine on the other.

“You must entertain a lot,” Kaitlin said to Dylan, taking in the wet bar and two huge gas barbecues.

He nodded in answer to her question. “There’s a great big party room downstairs. Plenty of extra bedrooms. And do you see those green roofs below the ridge?”

Kaitlin moved to the rail, leaning out to gaze along the steep side of a mountain. “I see them.”

“Those are guest cottages. There’s a service road that loops around the back. My mom loves to have guests here.”

Kaitlin glanced straight down to see a kidney-shaped swimming pool with a couple of hot tubs beside it on a terra-cotta patio. The swimming area was surrounded by an emerald lawn. And, beyond the Gilbys’ place, farther toward what looked like a sandy beach, and in the opposite direction of the cottages, she spied a stone spire and a jagged roofline that stuck up above the trees.

She pointed. “What’s that down there?”

“That’s Zach’s place,” Dylan replied.

Kaitlin glanced back at Zach in surprise. “You live in a castle?”

“It’s made of stone,” he replied, walking closer to the rail to join her. “And it’s drafty and cavernous. I guess you could call it a castle. You know, if you wanted to sound pompous and have people laugh at you.”

“It’s a castle,” she cooed, delighted at the thought of exploring it. “When was it built?”

“It’s been around for a few generations,” Zach offered without elaboration.

“Early 1700s,” said Dylan. “The Harpers believe in honoring their roots.”

Kaitlin’s delight was replaced by an unexpected pang of jealousy deep in her chest. How many generations was that? Was there nothing not perfect about Zach’s charmed life?

“I can’t wait to see it,” she said in what came out as a small voice.

Zach glanced sharply at her expression.

“The Harpers restore and preserve,” Dylan explained. “The Gilbys prefer to bulldoze and start fresh.”

“Philistines,” Lindsay proclaimed as she breezed out onto the deck. In blue jeans and a green blouse, she somehow looked completely relaxed and at home.

Kaitlin, on the other hand, was now feeling awkward and jumpy. “How’s the pie coming?” she asked, turning away from Zach’s scrutiny.

Though she couldn’t control her reflexive reactions, she had long since learned not to wallow in self-pity about her upbringing. It was what it was. She couldn’t change it. She could only make the best of here and now. Well, maybe not exactly here and now. She only wanted to make it through the weekend.

“We’re all invited, or should I say ‘commanded’ to stay for dinner,” said Lindsay.

“That’s Auntie,” said Dylan, with a stern look for Lindsay. “You know she’ll be fitting you for a wedding dress over dessert.”

Lindsay fought with her unruly blond hair in the swirling wind, making a show of glancing around the deck and into the great room. “No problem,” she informed him. “I could easily live here.”

Dylan rolled his eyes at her irreverence.

“I’ve got nothing against living off the avails of pirating,” she added with a jaunty waggle of her head. Then she tugged at the gold chain around her neck and pulled a gold medallion from below her blouse, swinging it in front of Dylan.

With a start, Kaitlin recognized it as the coin her friend had purchased from the antique shop. Lindsay was wearing it around her neck?

“What’s that?” he demanded.

“Booty from your ancestor’s plundering.”

“It is not.” But Dylan took a closer look. “From the Blue Glacier,” she informed him in triumph.

“Okay. That’s it.” Dylan captured her arm and tugged her back across the deck. “Come here.”

Kaitlin watched Dylan hustle Lindsay through the open doors into the great room. “Where’s he taking her?” she asked Zach with curiosity.

“My guess is that he’s showing her the Letters of Authority.”

Kaitlin shook her head in amazement over their willingness to engage in this particular contest. “Lindsay spent two thousand dollars on that coin from the Blue Glacier,” Kaitlin told Zach. “Apparently, it was sunk by the Black Fern and Captain Caldwell Gilby.”

“I know the story,” said Zach.

“So, when do I get my ten bucks?”

He gave her a look of confusion.

“The bet at the baseball game,” she reminded him. “Lindsay has unrefutable evidence that Dylan is descended from pirates. I believe that means she’ll win the argument. And I believe that means you owe me ten dollars.”

“Signed by King George…” Dylan’s voice wafted through the open doors.

“Here we go,” Zach muttered in a dire tone.

“It’s still not legal,” Lindsay retorted.

“Maybe not today.”

Curiosity getting the better of her, Kaitlin settled to watch the debate through the open doorway.

Lindsay and Dylan were turned in profile. They were both obviously focused on something hanging on the wall.

“Forget the fact that Caldwell Gilby plundered in international waters,” said Lindsay. “Just because a corrupt regime gives you permission to commit a crime-”

“One point to me,” Kaitlin murmured to Zach.

“You’re calling the British monarchy a corrupt regime?” Dylan demanded.

“That one’s mine,” said Zach, leaning back on the deck rail and crossing one ankle over the other.

“Your great, great, great, however many grandfathers held people at gunpoint-”

“Go, Lindsay,” Kaitlin muttered, holding out her hand for the ten.

“I suspect it was swordpoint, maybe musketpoint,” said Dylan.

“Held them at gunpoint,” Lindsay stressed. “And took things that didn’t belong to him.”

Kaitlin gave Zach a smirk and tapped her index finger against her chest. Dylan didn’t know who he was up against.

But Lindsay wasn’t finished yet. “He sank their ships. He killed people. You don’t need to be a lawyer to know he was a thief and a murderer.”

“Oh, hand it over,” Kaitlin demanded.

Dylan suddenly smacked Lindsay smartly on the rear.

She jumped. “Hey!”

“You crossed the line,” he told her.

Kaitlin’s jaw dropped. She sucked in a breath, waiting for Lindsay to react.

This was going to be bad.

Oh, it was going to be very, very bad.

Dylan said something else, but Kaitlin didn’t hear the words.

In response, Lindsay leaned closer. It looked as if she was answering.

Kaitlin stayed still and waited. But the shouting didn’t start, and the insults didn’t fly.

Instead, Dylan reached out and stroked Lindsay’s cheek. Then he butted his shoulder against hers and left it resting there.

For some reason, she didn’t pull away.

Suddenly, Zach grasped Kaitlin’s arm and turned her away.

“Huh?” was all she could manage to say.

“They don’t need an audience,” said Zach.

“But…” She couldn’t help but glance once more over her shoulder. “I don’t…” She turned back to stare at Zach. “Why didn’t she kill him?”

“Because they’re flirting, not fighting.” Zach leaned on the rail, gazing into the setting sun. “Just like you and me.”

The breath whooshed out of Kaitlin’s chest. “We are not-”

“Oh, we so are.”

“So far, so good?” asked Dylan, parking himself next to Zach at the rail of the deck after dinner. Lights shone from the windows of the Gilby house. The pool was illuminated in the yard below. And the twinkle of lights from Zach’s house was visible in the distance.

“I think so.” Zach motioned to the three women inside, where Ginny was playing right into his plan. “She’s showing them photographs from when she and Sadie were girls.”

“I dropped a hint to Lindsay,” said Dylan, taking credit. “She immediately asked Ginny if there were any pictures.”

“Good thought,” Zach acknowledged. Ginny and Sadie had grown up together on Serenity Island. And though Ginny’s short-term memory was spotty, she seemed to remember plenty of stories from decades back. She was in a perfect position to give Kaitlin some insight into his grandmother. And it had the added advantage of coming from a third party. Kaitlin couldn’t accuse Zach of trying to manipulate her.

The thought that Zach could execute a master plan through the eccentric Aunt Ginny was laughable. Though, he supposed, that was exactly what they were doing.

“Lindsay’s a fairly easy mark,” Dylan added. “Mention a pirate, and off she goes like a heat-seeking missile.”

“I notice you’re protesting a bit too much about the pirates,” Zach pointed out. Sure, Dylan was sensitive about his background, but Zach had never seen him pushed to anger over it.

“It sure makes her mad,” Dylan mused.

“Our ancestors were not Boy Scouts,” Zach felt compelled to restate.

“And the British monarchy was not a corrupt regime.”

“There were a lot of beheadings.”

Dylan shrugged. “Different time, different place.”

“Yeah? Well, good luck getting Lindsay into bed with that argument.”

Dylan’s expression turned thoughtful. “Don’t you worry about me. Lindsay likes a challenge. And I’m a challenge.”

“That’s your grand scheme?”

Dylan quirked his brows in self-confidence. “That’s my grand scheme.”

Zach had to admit, it was ingenious.

“Now let’s talk about yours.”

“Zachary?” came Ginny’s imperious voice as she appeared in the doorway.

Zach glanced up.

“Over here,” she commanded.

Dylan snickered as Zach pushed back to cross the deck.

Ginny beckoned him closer with a crooked finger.

“I need your help,” she whispered, glancing into the great room.

“Sure.” He bent his head to listen.

“We’re going downstairs for some dancing.” Ginny had always been a huge music fan, particularly of the big bands. And dancing had always been an important part of social functions on the island.

“No problem.” He nodded.

“You ask the redhead, Miss Kaitlin.” She gave Zach a conspiratorial nod. “I have a good feeling about the other one and Dylan.”

“Lindsay,” Zach prompted.

“He seems to have a particular interest in her rear end.”

“Ginny.”

She gave a short cackle. “I’m not naive.”

“I never thought you were.”

“You young people didn’t invent premarital sex, you know.”

Okay, Zach wasn’t going anywhere near that conversation. “Dancing,” he responded decisively and carried on into the house.

“Kaitlin,” he called as he approached the two women huddled together on one of the sofas, their noses in one album and another dozen stacked on a table in front of them.

She glanced up.

“Downstairs,” he instructed, pointing the way. “We’re going to dance.”

She blinked back at him in incomprehension.

He grinned at her surprise and strode closer, linking her arm and swooping her to her feet.

“Ginny’s matchmaking,” he whispered as they made their way to the wide, curved staircase. “I’ve been instructed to snag you as a partner so Dylan will ask Lindsay.”

“She’s very sweet,” Kaitlin disclosed, sorting her feet out underneath herself.

“They’re a family of plotters,” said Zach.

“Yeah? Well, you’re a fine one to talk.”

Zach couldn’t disagree.

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and the huge party room widened out in front of them.

“Wow,” said Kaitlin, stepping across the polished, hardwood floor, moving between the pillars to gaze at the bank of glass doors that opened to the patio, the pool and the manicured lawn. She tipped her head back to take in the high ceiling with its twinkling star lights. She put her arms out, twirled around and grinned like a six-year-old.

Not that she looked anything remotely like a child.

She wore sexy, high-heeled sandals and a pair of snug black pants. They were topped with a metallic thread tank that shimmered under the lights. While she moved, she reached up, raking her loose hair back with her fingers. It shone, and she shone, and he couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms.

A member of the staff was working the sound system, and strains of “Stardust” came up to flow around them from a dozen speakers.

Ginny, Dylan and Lindsay arrived, laughing and joking as they spilled onto the polished floor.

“You need a partner, Auntie,” Dylan declared, snagging her hand. It was obvious to Zach that Dylan knew exactly what his aunt was up to.

“Oh, don’t you be silly,” a blushing Ginny said, then slapped his hand away. “I’m far too old to dance.”

Zach moved toward Kaitlin. She was definitely the one he’d be dancing with tonight. He took her easily into his arms, and moved them both to the music, swirling them away from the others.

“It’s been a while since we did this,” he murmured, as her body settled tentatively against his.

“And the last time didn’t end so well,” she pointed out. But she picked up the rhythm and ever so slowly relaxed into his lead as he stepped them toward the bank of windows.

“It could have ended better,” he agreed. It could have ended with her in his bed. It should have ended that way.

He pulled back and glanced down at her beautiful face. Why hadn’t it ended that way?

“Ginny said she was your grandmother’s best friend when they were girls.”

Zach nodded his concurrence. “Back then, my grandmother Sadie was the caretaker’s daughter.”

Kaitlin relaxed a little more. “Ginny said Sadie grew up here, married here and died here. All on this island.”

Zach chuckled at the misleading description of Sadie’s life. “They did let her off once in a while.”

“Those are some really deep roots.”

“I guess they are.”

“Yours are even deeper.”

“I suppose,” he told her absently, more interested in paying attention to the way she molded against him than in talking about his family history.

She’d relaxed completely now. Her head was tucked against his shoulder, one arm around his back, their hands clasped and drawn inward, while her legs brushed his with every step.

As the song moved on, she eased closer. Their thighs met snugly together, her smooth belly and soft breasts plastered against him. Her heat seeped into his body, and he could smell the subtle scent of her perfume. It had to be her regular brand, because he remembered it from Vegas, from the yacht, from his office.

The song ended, but the sound of Count Basie immediately came up. “It Could Happen to You.” Ginny obviously wasn’t giving Dylan any opportunity to escape her planned romantic web with Lindsay.

Fine with Zach. Wild horses couldn’t pull him away from Kaitlin.

“I was thinking-” he began.

“Shh,” she interrupted. “What?”

“Can you please not talk for a minute?”

“Sure?” But curiosity quickly got the better of him. “Why not?”

Her voice was low and sweet. “I’m pretending you’re someone else.”

“Ouch,” he said gently, ignoring the sting of her words. Because she had pressed even closer, closing her eyes and giving herself up to his motion.

“I’m pretending I’m someone else, too.” She sighed. “Just for a minute, Zach. Just for this song? I want to shut out the world and make believe I belong here.”

His chest tightened.

He gathered her closer still and brushed a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

You do belong here, he silently thought.