Zane

by Brenda Jackson

  She was saved from any further conversation between them when Tasha returned to take their dinner order.

  * * *

  Zane took his time eating; he was in no hurry to broach the subject he had brought Channing here to discuss. At the moment, he was satisfied just indulging in small talk. He’d told her how the family was gearing up for his cousin Riley’s wedding in September and how the horse breeding and training business was going. He talked about Bailey and how annoying his kid sister could still be at times, and he brought her up to date on Bane and how proud they were that his cousin was officially a navy SEAL.

  Every so often he couldn’t help but stare at her. She was so incredibly beautiful. How could any man not appreciate the woman she was? Now, two years too late, he himself could admit he had not appreciated her. He had enjoyed her, admired her and lusted after her. But he hadn’t appreciated her. He would have been happy for their relationship to remain the same—without considering her wants and needs. Without considering what she deserved.

  She deserved a man who appreciated her. He hadn’t done so, and it looked as though her fiancé wasn’t, either.

  “I understand from Megan there might be some more Westmorelands out there somewhere,” Channing said, breaking into his thoughts.

  He looked at her, and another dose of desire tightened his groin. Her hair was pulled back and pinned on top of her head in a knot. A few tendrils had escaped confinement and brushed against her cheek. She was wearing a skirt and blouse; the color of both brought out the hazel of her eyes. There had always been a powerful attraction between them. He would have thought it had eroded by now. It hadn’t.

  She had to be aware of how charged the air was. She was trying to downplay it, but he felt that tug each and every time their gazes met. To know the attraction was still strong engulfed him in one hell of a delicious feeling. She might be engaged to marry another man, but there was no doubt in his mind she was still drawn to him. How was he supposed to concentrate on his meal with that kind of knowledge nudging up his testosterone?

  “Yes,” he said, taking a sip of wine. “During Megan and Rico’s trip to Texas, they found evidence of a child my great-grandfather Raphel never knew he had. That child was given up to a woman right before the mother died in a train wreck. There was little for Rico to go on since few records were kept during that time. We’re talking about more than seventy years ago. But Rico was able to get a listing of every passenger on the train—those who survived and those who didn’t. He’s still weeding through all of that information now. I’m told it was an extensive passenger list.”

  Channing nodded. “All of you must be pleased with how the investigation is going, though.”

  “Yes, we are. I’m confident Rico will eventually find our relatives. He’s good at what he does, but it will take time. And there’s still another woman who was assumed to be Raphel’s fourth wife, Isabelle Connors. Rico is investigating any clues associated with her, as well.”

  As they continued their meal, he brought her up to date on all the babies who had been born to his cousins, the Atlanta Westmorelands. She had met most of them when they’d come to town for his sister Gemma’s wedding.

  “How’s your folks?” he asked her.

  He’d never met her parents or any of her family members since the Hastings lived in New Hampshire, but she would speak of them often and fondly. “They’re fine. My brother’s employer moved him to San Diego last year, and he loves it there.”

  Channing finished her meal and paused before asking, “So what did you want to talk to me about?”

  She felt the intensity of his gaze once again.

  “It’s about the mistake you’re making.”

  She lifted a brow. “What mistake?”

  Zane took another sip of his wine. For some reason, she was willing to accept Mack Hammond and all his flaws, but Zane refused to let her be that generous. He placed his glass down on the table. “Marrying a man you don’t love,” he said calmly.

  Fire flashed in her eyes. “And what makes you think I don’t love Mack?”

  A smile touched his lips as he leaned in closer. “Because I know you, Channing. If you loved him, you would not be sitting over there getting as aroused as I am.”

  Four

  Channing gaped. “Aroused?”

  “Yes.”

  She frowned. “I’m not aroused.” The sudden rush of heat between her legs made a liar out of her, but she would never admit it.

  “Yes, you are,” Zane said with certainty. “Do you want me to prove it?”

  “No, because you can’t.”

  “You think not?” he asked, sliding his chair back and standing up.

  Channing recognized that look in his eyes and drew in a sharp breath. “What is wrong with you, Zane?” She held up her ringed finger, slowly waving it for him to see. “Doesn’t this mean anything to you?”

  “Not a damn thing.”

  He reached behind him to lock the door before moving around the table. She quickly stood and backed up. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I refuse to put up with this foolishness. I’m leaving.”

  When she moved toward the door, he grabbed her hand. The moment he touched her, she froze, then a flood of desire rampaged through her bloodstream, making mush of her already stretched-to-the-limit senses.

  “You think you’re not aroused, Channing,” he drawled, leaning in close. His tongue teased her lips, and she knew she had to stop things from going any further.

  “I’m an engaged woman,” she tried saying in outrage.

  “You’re an engaged woman who wants me,” he countered. “Admit it.”

  “I won’t admit a thing.”

  He shrugged. “Then feel,” he whispered as his fingers traced up her arm.

  Channing fought back a lustful moan as pleasure swept across the skin he touched. “I don’t want to feel.”

  “Your body is saying otherwise. Why is that, Channing?”

  She shook her head, fighting off the way his eyes were mesmerizing her. “You’re wrong.”

  “No, sweetheart, I’m right, and I intend to show you just how right I am.” He pulled her close, leaned in and swooped down on her mouth.

  * * *

  Push him away, damn it, Channing’s mind screamed.

  But at the first taste of his tongue her mind changed course and began chanting, Devour him like he’s devouring you, and don’t let go.

  So she didn’t.

  Moments later, she wasn’t exactly sure whose tongue was dominating or at what point they had begun pulling off each other’s clothes. What was happening here? Invading another man’s territory was not Zane’s style.

  Before she could question his actions any further, air hit her skin, and she realized she was halfway naked and so was he. She pulled her mouth from his. “Zane, you’re not thinking straight. We need to—”

  Whatever she was about to say vanished from her lips when he dropped to his knees and latched his hot mouth on her. Before Zane, oral sex had been something she read about in romance novels, but Zane had brought it to life for her. The man had a skillful mouth.

  She clasped her hands on his shoulders, intending to shove him back, but at the feel of his hungry tongue, she let out a lusty moan. She instinctively arched her back and pushed herself into his mouth.

  He knew all the erogenous spots to claim, conquer and satisfy.

  “Zane!”

  As sensations zapped her, he stroked his tongue across her, slanting his mouth at different angles. Each stroke had her moaning deep in her throat and whispering his name through her lips. And then it happened—an avalanche of the kind of pleasure she found only with him ripped through her. Instead of letting her go, he grabbed tightly to her thighs and held on as a cavalcade of spasms over
took her.

  The next thing she knew, he was lifting her and placing her on one of the vacant tables and spreading her out. When she watched him rip open a condom packet with his teeth, she knew what he intended to do. Instead of stopping him, she reached down and grabbed his throbbing erection. It was just as she remembered—large, thick and nesting in a thatch of dark, curly hair. An urgency she hadn’t felt in two years came over her, and she whispered in a heated breath, “I need you inside me. Now!”

  He quickly slid on the condom and then, while staring into her eyes, he thrust inside of her, quickly setting a rhythm with deep, powerful strokes. He went deep, then deeper and took her to the hilt.

  She moaned as her body became carnally reacquainted with his. Zane was a master at giving pleasure, and he was bequeathing a generous dose on her. She felt his swollen shaft each time he moved. She felt it all: how her feminine muscles clamped tightly on every inch of him, trying to drain him of everything he had.

  Then, suddenly, an explosion of pleasure hit her. She would have let out a wail if he hadn’t firmly locked his mouth on hers. Her response triggered him, and he pounded into her harder and deeper as her powerful orgasm ripped into her, nearly jerking her body off the table.

  How could something so wrong feel so right? She pushed the question from her mind as his climax began and she was given yet another orgasm.

  He snatched his mouth from hers and threw his head back, growling hoarsely, a sound she would admit she’d missed. She curved her arms around his neck to bring his mouth back down to hers. And then she kissed him—the way a woman was supposed to kiss a man who meant the world to her.

  When she released him, he stared down at her, smiled and whispered, “Damn, I missed this. I missed you.”

  She didn’t say anything but instead closed her eyes. Her common sense came reeling back with a vengeance as he eased himself out of her and then gently helped her off the table. They’d had spontaneous sex before but never in a public place. They were in a restaurant in downtown Denver, for heaven’s sake! She didn’t want to think about how many times Tasha might have tried to open the locked door. Had anyone heard them?

  “Do you need help getting back into your clothes?”

  She jerked her gaze over to where Zane stood. He had his clothes back on like he had never taken them off. “No, I can handle it,” she said softly, picking up her panties from the floor.

  When she began sliding the undergarment up her legs, his next words stopped her. “How soon will you be breaking your engagement to Hammond?”

  There was something about the way he’d asked, something about the tone of his voice that made her gut twist in a knot. He spoke as if her engagement had been a problem he’d solved. Had he? Dread consumed her.

  “What makes you think I’m ending my engagement?” she asked, deciding to play her hunch and hope like hell that she was wrong. Surely he hadn’t seduced her just to force her to break her engagement?

  “Of course you’re going to break it. You’re not the type of woman who would be engaged to one man and mess around with another.”

  No, she wasn’t. “And you’re not the type of man to mess around with a woman who’s not yours. A woman who belongs to another man. I guess we’ve both acted out of character today.”

  She watched his face take on a formidable look when he said, “I didn’t act out of character, sweetheart. I was merely proving a point.”

  She had finished dressing now, and his words gave her pause. “Just what point were you trying to prove?”

  He slowly crossed the room and pinned her against the table by bracing his arms on either side of her. He leaned in to get eye level with her. “The point I proved is that you’re mine. There’s no other man for you but me, and I don’t intend to give you up.”

  Channing forced her heart to not leap with joy. Did that mean he loved her after all? He had yet to say the words. She decided to ask him straight-out. “Does that mean you realized you love me?”

  He actually seemed shocked at her assumption. He straightened. “No. It means I care for you, and I don’t want to see you get hurt. Hammond would have hurt you.”

  Pain ripped through Channing, and her heart twisted. Did he not realize he was hurting her? “Let me get this straight,” she said, fighting anger. “You don’t love me but you brought me here to seduce me just to prove a point?”

  Zane frowned. “I brought you here to talk some sense into you, but I ended up seducing some sense into you instead. Doing so brought back some damn pleasant memories, don’t you think?”

  She swallowed, suddenly feeling like the biggest fool on the planet. “So you only had sex with me because you figured I would have no choice but to break off my engagement?” she asked softly.

  He shook his head. “No, I made love to you because I wanted you, and it was obvious you wanted me, as well. That made me realize you couldn’t possibly love Hammond if you desired me. I was right. Your body wants me, so the way I see it, you belong to me.”

  She closed her eyes as blood rushed to her head. “Now that I belong to you, Zane, what do you plan to do with me? You just admitted once again that you don’t love me, which means you don’t intend to marry me. So what are you going to do with me, Zane?”

  When he didn’t say anything, when he just stood there staring at her with a deep scowl on his face, her anger exploded. “You selfish jerk! You don’t want to give me all the things I want—love, marriage and a family—yet you don’t want any other man to give me those things, either!”

  “Damn it, Channing! Hammond is fooling around on you. I didn’t want him to hurt you. You don’t need to marry a man like that.”

  “You’re the only who has ever hurt me, Zane,” she said as pain etched itself all through her body. “You don’t love me, but you don’t want any other man to love me.”

  Zane gritted his teeth. “Didn’t you hear what I said? Hammond is being unfaithful to you.”

  “No, he isn’t,” she said sharply. “I was never engaged to Mack. I only pretended to be. Mack is a good friend and nothing more. But you didn’t know that. For all you knew, he could have been my happiness, but you still went so far as to try to destroy that.”

  Shock shone on Zane’s face. “What do you mean you were never engaged to him?”

  Instead of answering, Channing moved toward the door. Fighting back tears, she unlocked it, snatched it open and quickly walked out.

  Five

  Later that night, Zane flung his front door open to find an angry Megan on his doorstep. “It’s too late for visitors, Megan, and I’m not in the mood,” he said in a low growl.

  His sister pushed her way past him, strode to the middle of his living room and angrily whirled to face him. “If you weren’t my brother, and if I had a gun, I would shoot you in the balls right here and now.”

  He felt the pain of her words and his balls ached in response. “Go ahead and say what you have to say so I can get some sleep.”

  “Sleep! How can you sleep after what you did to Channing?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “She had no reason to call you. She lied about her engagement. She was never going to marry that guy with the roving eyes, but you knew that all along, didn’t you? You not only invited her to the wedding when I pleaded with you not to but you let her make a fool of me.”

  Megan rounded on him, and he had the good sense to back up. An angry, out-of-control Gemma or Bailey he could deal with but an angry Megan he could not. Everyone knew about her penchant for self-control. On those rare times when she lost it, she was a force to reckon with.

  “First of all, Channing didn’t call me. Louise Mitchell did,” Megan snapped.

  “Louise Mitchell?”

  “Yes, as well as Emma Falk and Mavis Upshaw. They were all dining at McKays when Channing practicall
y ran out of the private room in tears. I immediately went to see Channing when I got off work tonight. Thanks to you, she was completely devastated. She told me everything, Zane. Everything. And if you weren’t my brother, I would shoot you.”

  “Not if I shot him first.”

  Zane looked toward his front door where an angry Bailey had let herself in. The hellion! That was all he needed. “You are supposed to knock, Bailey.”

  “Kiss it, Zane.” She glanced over at Megan. “I heard. Wanda Grunthall’s parents were dining at McKays.”

  Zane rolled his eyes. Was there anyone who hadn’t been dining at McKays tonight? “If the two of you want to discuss my business among yourselves then go ahead. I’m going to bed.”

  “The hell you will,” Bailey said, moving toward him. “You’re going to sit and listen to what we have to say. And don’t be surprised if Gemma calls you from Australia. Wanda Grunthall is a good friend of hers, as well.”

  Seeing that he would never get to bed until he heard what his sisters had to say, he dropped down on the sofa. “Okay, I’m giving you both five minutes. Say what you have to say and leave.”

  Megan went first. “Have you even taken the time to consider why someone like Channing would fake an engagement?”

  “I don’t have to wonder why. She did it to piss me off.”

  “It’s not all about you!” Bailey shouted.

  Zane flinched. He was sick and tired of being yelled at. “If you use that tone of voice again in my presence, Bailey, I’m going to snatch up your little butt, take you to the bathroom and wash your mouth out with soap like I used to do.”

  Bailey glared at him. “Go to—”

  “Bailey!” Megan interrupted. “Please let me finish. Then you can go for blood if you want.”

  Bailey nodded. “Sorry. Please continue, Megan.”

  Megan smiled at her sister. “Thanks.” She then narrowed her gaze at Zane. “No, Zane, that’s not the reason. Channing did it to keep her dignity and pride in check when she came to town for my wedding. Two years ago, when you were dating, people talked, made bets, laughed at her behind her back and figured you would eventually kick her to the curb like you did all the others.”