The Mistresses Collection. Оливия Гейтс

screwdriver from the floor, he began working to take off the top shelf.

      “No word from the boyfriend?” he asked.

      “He wants nothing to do with either of them.” She looked at him pointedly. “He has his own life.”

      Zack didn’t seem to hear her sarcastic note.

      She collected a stack of books and fit them in an empty box then pushed to her feet. She’d wanted the chance to show him how she hadn’t needed anyone’s support, including his. But this was just too awkward. Too painful.

      “I really do have a lot to get through.”

      “I’m helping.”

      “You’re slowing me down.”

      He set down the screwdriver and stood, too. She’d forgotten how tall he was. He seemed to tower over her. But she wouldn’t be intimated. Wouldn’t be seduced, either.

      He rubbed the back of his neck and admitted, “I behaved badly the other night. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

      “And yet Maggie doesn’t have a bad word to say about you. Maybe because she accepts being fobbed off by men.” Her father. Her ex. It was a familiar story.

      “Or maybe,” Zack said, “even in her youth Maggie understood that I needed time.”

      When he stepped forward, Trinity put up her hands and stepped back. “Maybe I should be as accepting as Maggie but I’m a little touchy right now.”

      He had the nerve to look contrite and sexy at the same time. “It was a huge thing to get my head around.”

      “Sometimes a person simply needs to step up and act.”

      “That’s why I’m here.”

      She made a point of turning her back to reach and remove a painting from the wall. “You’ll have to speak to Maggie about any charity you want to offer her.”

      “I’m not talking about financial support. Well, not exclusively.” A heartbeat later she felt his heat close to her back. Heard his deep voice close to her ear. “I’m here to ask you something.”

      Gathering herself, willing the sudden giddiness away, she purposefully wound around him, painting in hand. “Ask me what?”

      “If Bel still needs a father—” he shrugged “—I’m here.”

      Those words struck her heart as surely as an arrow. He couldn’t mean it. He was playing with her emotions. Being cruel.

      She growled, “Don’t tease, Zack.”

      “I’m more serious than I’ve ever been in my life.”

      She shook her head, certain. “You said you’d never give up who you were.” She had a thought. “Unless you’re talking about some arrangement…”

      He stepped closer. “It’s called marriage.”

       “Marriage?”

      “On paper only.”

      Trinity’s heart dropped to her knees. For a moment, she’d held her breath, not daring to believe. For a moment, she’d actually thought…

      “You want to help Bel,” he said. “So do I. This way we can give her a normal life with a mother and father and all the financial support she needs.”

      “And you still get to keep your career. Your life.”

      “It’s a win-win.”

      Her chest began to ache. “And would this marriage include conjugal rights?”

      “I was hoping you’d bring that up.” His strong arms gathered her near. “I understand about your need to have a family and you understand about my position in the company.”

      “You mean where your priorities lie.”

      His brow pinched but then his chin went up. “Precisely.” His palms ran down her arms. “What do you say?”

      She kept her expression schooled. She would never let him know how much he’d hurt her without even trying. He wanted to marry her. Out of convenience.

      She sucked down a breath. “I’m afraid I can’t accept.”

      His dark eyes widened but then he laughed. “Of course you can. This is what you wanted.”

      Emotion choking her throat, she wound away from him. “It wouldn’t do any good to explain.”

      “Try.” He spun her back. “Is it expenses you want to work out? Accommodation? I’ll still be working out of New York so you won’t have to put up with me all the time.”

      “And Bel? What kind of a father do you want her to have?”

      A frown darkened his eyes. “One who gives a damn.”

      “You’re kidding yourself if you think this can work. How long will it take before you hook up with another starlet or model and find your face splashed over the tabloids again? You were right. You are what you are. And Bel deserves better… .” She lifted her chin. “I do, too.”

      He thought he’d offered a solution but he’d only insulted her. She and Bel were worthy of respect. Of love and real commitment. But he obviously didn’t see that.

      Tears filling her eyes, she crossed to the door and opened it wide.

      “You need to go, Zack, and, please, do us all a favor and never come back.”

       Fifteen

      “I was surprised to hear you weren’t in the office today. Anything wrong?”

      Zack had opened his door to find his father waiting. Without his usual untroubled smile, he stepped aside. “Just wasn’t feeling so hot.”

      “You haven’t taken a day off in the whole time you’ve worked at the company.” His father stepped inside. “Maybe I should call a doctor.”

      “I just needed some time…to think.”

      Zack moved across the lounge room, out onto the balcony, his father right behind.

      “Does this have anything to do with that young lady you were besotted with at your sister’s engagement party?”

      Zack sat down at the outdoor setting. “I looked besotted?”

      “At one stage, I wondered whether I was going to have to announce a second Harrison betrothal that night.”

      Since seeing Trinity again, Zack thought he’d done a great job keeping his frustration, hurt, guilt, need, under control. He’d had so many short-term affairs, frankly, he’d lost count. Parting was never the highlight of any relationship, but he couldn’t recall ever having been involved long enough or deeply enough to suffer untowardly when the curtain had dropped.

      Trinity was right. He was stubborn. And selfish. Intimate companionships without the demands and responsibilities had suited him down to the ground. But she was a hundred times different. A thousand. If she wasn’t he wouldn’t have asked her to marry him. He wanted to support them both, Trinity and the baby. And she’d told him to leave and never come back. God help him, she’d meant it, too.

      He’d lost the only woman he’d ever really cared about and the finality in that truth was nearly driving him mad.

      “I can’t see her again,” Zack growled as his father pulled up a chair, too.

      “Although it’s evident you want to very much.”

      Zack declined to answer. Rather, he simply gazed out over the view, imagining families enjoying Central Park on a perfect spring day, and then he wondered where Trinity