Claimed For The Billionaire's Convenience

‘I saw a photo of Zack recently in a gossip magazine,’ Sabrina said. ‘What’s he like in person? He looks gorgeous. Is he even better-looking in the flesh?’

Holly could feel her cheeks betraying her. Darn it. She couldn’t even hear his name without blushing. And the less she thought about his flesh the better. ‘He was exactly as I expected him to be. Full of charm and full of ego.’

Sabrina’s expression was so full of intrigue she could have moonlighted as a gossip hound. ‘And?’

‘And...I’m going out to dinner with him this evening.’

‘You’re what?’ Sabrina’s eyes went as round as the cake plate. ‘But I thought you said you never wanted to—’

‘It’s just dinner.’ Holly picked a crumb of carrot cake off the plate. Crumbs were another one of her weaknesses. ‘I’m only going so I can teach him a lesson. He thinks he can wine and dine me and then I’ll automatically fall into his bed. I’m going to show him there is one woman left on the planet who is immune to him.’

‘I don’t know, Holly. You might be taking on more than you can handle with someone like him.’

‘I’ll be fine.’ Holly licked some cream cheese icing off her fingers. ‘I know what I’m doing. Besides, it will be good for my reputation to be seen out and about with a man. Jane thinks I’m to blame for the cancellations for venting my spleen about men on social media.’

‘You have been rather negative. That can really damage your brand.’ Sabrina chewed her lower lip. ‘Our brand.’

Something in Holly’s stomach fell off a shelf. ‘Have you had cancellations for wedding dresses?’

‘Only one.’

‘Only one?’ Holly leaned forward. ‘When did they cancel? Did they give a reason? Who was it?’

‘The Mackie wedding.’

Holly was horrified that anything she had done or said was affecting her best friend’s business. Maybe Jane was right. She needed an image makeover. She needed a man. ‘I’m so sorry. I had no idea my venting would hurt you.’

‘It might not have anything to do with you.’

‘But what if it does?’ Holly asked. ‘I need to get into damage control. As soon as possible.’ She wiped her sticky fingers on a napkin and then picked up her phone to check the time. She saw that while it had been on Silent a call had come in. She didn’t recognise the number but the caller had left a message on her voicemail.

‘Excuse me for a sec,’ Holly said. The message was brief and from Zack. She was so busy listening to the deep and sexy timbre of his voice that it took her a moment to realise he was cancelling their dinner date. Disappointment trickled through her like iced water. Why had he cancelled? Had he got a better offer? Someone far more enthusiastic about going on a date with him? Someone more beautiful? More glamorous and sophisticated?

Someone who would put out?

Holly clicked the off button and tossed the phone back in her bag.

Sabrina leaned closer. ‘Why are you frowning like that?’

‘Apparently Zack has overlooked a prior engagement.’

‘He cancelled?’

Holly sighed and picked up the carrot cake. ‘I’ve been stood up. Story of my life.’ She glanced at Sabrina mid-mouthful of cake. ‘What are you doing tonight? Do you fancy dinner and a movie?’

‘I’ve got an even better idea.’ Sabrina leaned down and dug out a West End flyer from her tote bag. ‘One of my clients has a sister who is an actor in a musical in the West End. I’ll call her and see if I can get a couple of last-minute tickets. We can dress up and have a girls’ night out. Sound good?’

‘Sounds perfect.’

Zack rarely enjoyed a night out with his father. He felt more like a guardian than a son. Not that his dad couldn’t be good company at times, but this day in April was never a good day on the William Knight calendar. After a ridiculously expensive dinner where his dad talked at length about how lonely he was, Zack was ready to turn to drink himself. He’d managed to get some good seats for a West End show. He’d figured a movie, especially the sad one his dad had mentioned in passing, was not going to do anything to improve his dad’s mood. The musical wasn’t to Zack’s taste but he was prepared to get his dad through the evening no matter what.

But, upbeat musical or not, as the evening went on his dad became more and more maudlin. He sank lower and lower into his seat and, even though the music was loud, Zack could still hear his father sigh with depressing regularity.

Zack tried not to think of the night he could have been having with Holly. During the interval, he did his best to listen while his dad went through every reason why his life sucked since his divorce twenty-four years ago.

The musical finished close to eleven p.m. Zack waited in the theatre foyer while his dad went to use the bathroom. He scrolled through his messages and found a curt text from Holly. He’d offered her a rain check and she’d texted back.

No, thanks.

Zack was surprised at how disappointed he was. Surprised and galvanised. He would have to work harder to win her over. He smiled to himself and put his phone back in his pocket. But then he saw Holly not more than a metre or two away, coming out of the other side of the theatre with a young woman. The dark-haired woman was attractive, but he only had eyes for Holly. Her emerald-green dress was sweater girl snug against her breasts and clung to her shapely hips and thighs as if spray-painted to her body. Her black high heels had little straps that wrapped around her dainty dancer ankles. Ankles he wanted wrapped around his waist. With her curly copper-coloured hair in a sophisticated up-do and cover-girl make-up, she was sweet girl next door meets sexy supermodel. She laughed at something her friend said and something in his chest gathered together like the final stitch in a wound. The tension trickled down to his groin, hot, tight, tempting. He was vaguely conscious of his breath stopping and starting like the stutter of an old engine.

Rein it in, buddy. But right then his brain wasn’t listening to his body.

Holly suddenly turned her head and registered him standing there and her gaze narrowed and heated to a fulminating glare. Her fingers tightened on her clutch purse and then she came striding towards him, weaving through the knot of theatregoers.

‘Enjoying your prior engagement, Mr Knight?’ Her words cut through the air like shards of ice and she looked to either side of him, presumably to locate his date.

Under normal circumstances, Zack would never have explained he was on a night out with his father. But he felt Holly deserved some explanation. A city this size and they happened to choose the same West End show? Give me a break. ‘I’m sorry about cancelling tonight. I forgot I promised my father we’d spend the evening together.’

Her expression faltered for a moment. ‘Your...father?’

‘Yes. He’s just gone back to use the bathroom.’ Zack nodded towards the direction of the theatre toilets. ‘He’ll be out soon.’

‘How soon?’ A note of cynicism sharpened her tone another notch.

Zack glanced at Holly’s friend, who was watching them from a distance, her expression reminding him of a spectator at a boxing match. So far he was losing. Big time. He turned his attention back to Holly. ‘There must be a long queue or something.’

‘Actually, that would be the female toilets with the long queue.’ Holly’s eyes flashed. ‘I don’t suppose your...erm...father is using one of those?’

His father was taking so long to come out Zack was starting to worry. Surely it didn’t take this long to take a leak? Could his father have taken a back exit? Was he even now downing a few drinks at a nearby pub? Drowning his sorrows in a glass of whisky? Multiple glasses of whisky? His mouth clamped to a barrel of the stuff? ‘Holly, I can explain—’

‘Please don’t waste your breath or my time.’ Holly’s chin came up and a bomb went off behind her eyes. Shrapnel and scorn rained down on him.

Should he tell her about his concerns about his dad? He had told no one. It was too private. Too personal. Too painful.

Zack’s guts churned at the thought of having to search every pub in the neighbourhood. Of finding his dad sitting in a dark corner, quietly sobbing into his scotch, like so many times before. So far he’d kept the press away from his private life, but since his dad had moved back to London from the West Country a couple of months ago after this recent break-up, he wondered, how soon before someone connected him with the sad drunk who couldn’t get his life back on track? Not that Zack was ashamed of his father—he felt sorry for him more than anything. Sorry for him and frustrated with him at the same time. But he knew if the press brought attention to his father, it would only push his dad further into a pit of despair, perhaps even push him over the edge...

Zack released a slow breath, hoping it would calm his racing pulse and spiralling panic about his father’s whereabouts. ‘My father is going through a rough time just now and I—’

‘My heart bleeds.’ The sarcasm in her tone stung like a slap. She walked back to her friend, and a section of Holly’s up-do fell from its position and swung from side to side as if it too were giving him the flick.

Zack was torn between wanting to go after her and the need to find his father. He couldn’t risk it. Not today of all days. This time his father had won.

But didn’t he always?

‘That was Zack Knight, wasn’t it?’ Sabrina asked. ‘What did you say to him? You looked like you were going to hit him.’

‘Drat that odious man.’ Holly grabbed Sabrina’s arm and led her out to the street. ‘This is exactly why I’ve stopped dating. He said he was here with his father. His father! Who takes their father to a musical? Excuse me while I throw up. Does he think I’m that naïve?’

‘Not all men are two-timing jerks. Maybe he really was here with his father. Or his mother.’

Holly gave her the side-eye. ‘Or his sister? His second cousin twice removed who happens to be his personal trainer?’

Sabrina grimaced. ‘Point taken.’

Holly glanced back to see if Zack’s ‘father’ had joined him but there was no sign of either Zack or whoever was supposedly with him. She’d been a fool to think she could outsmart him. Damn him for turning the tables on her. He was probably on his way back to his palatial penthouse by now with his ‘date’. Grr. She wished now she’d acted a little more blasé about him cancelling their date. Why should she care if he decided to take someone else out? She hadn’t wanted to go out with him in the first place. Of course she hadn’t. Well...maybe just a wee bit.

‘He’s amazingly handsome, isn’t he?’ Sabrina’s voice had a note of star-struck fan about it. ‘Like one of those European aftershave models, all brooding and sexy. No wonder you’re feeling a little disappointed.’

‘I’m not disappointed. I was only going to go out with him to mess with his head. And to improve my reputation. But I’ll think of some other way to do that. I will not be jerked around by a man who’s a player.’ Holly blew out a breath like she was blowing out the last candle on her self-esteem. ‘Damn. I wish I’d seen who he was with. I wonder where he was sitting. I’d like to know who my competition is.’

‘I’m not sure who could compete with you wearing that dress,’ Sabrina said. ‘You look amazing.’

Holly tucked her escaping section of hair back into position. ‘Humph. I didn’t think it was possible to dislike a man so much.’ And still be attracted to him.

Holly got back to her flat a short time later to find a package had been left on the table outside her door. Mrs Fry always left any post or parcels that came for Holly if she didn’t come home straight from work. She picked up the gift-wrapped box with a small card attached and took it inside her flat. She took the card out of its envelope and read the message.

Sorry to cancel at short notice.

Hope these make amends.

Zack Knight

Holly studied the bold strokes of his handwriting for a long moment. She put the card down and unwrapped the package to find a box of handmade chocolates from a high-street chocolatier. How had he known one of her weaknesses was chocolate?

Holly began to take one out of the box but then snatched her hand away. No. She was not going to be tempted. He could send her boxes and boxes of chocolates, truckloads of them, but she was not going to let one past her lips.

Not a single one.

Zack searched four pubs before he found his father. He was sitting at a booth at the back of the pub with a drink clasped between his hands that thankfully looked like it hadn’t been touched.

His dad looked up as Zack slid into the booth opposite. ‘I know what you’re going to say, so don’t start. You don’t understand. You’ve never been with someone longer than a week or two.’

‘Dad...’ Zack moved the whisky out of his father’s reach. ‘I know it’s hard. It’s always been hard for you, but you have to accept that some relationships end and you have to move on.’

‘Move on?’ His dad leaned his elbows on the table and dropped his head into his hands. ‘How can I move on? Every relationship I have ends up failing. It’s because I can’t love anyone else like I loved your mother. I keep trying but it never works.’

Zack wondered if his dad really did still love his mother or was longing for the life they’d once had. Theirs had been a whirlwind courtship ending in marriage, hastened by his mum becoming pregnant with him. And while the marriage had been mostly happy for the first few years—or maybe he’d been too young to know any better—it hadn’t taken long for his mother to look elsewhere for entertainment. Zack’s dad had forgiven her for an affair with the gardener, and another with the pool man, but the following year she’d left him for the local vicar, creating an enormous scandal that people in the village still talked about to this day.

Zack put his hand on his father’s shoulder. ‘It’s been twenty-four years, Dad. Surely that’s enough time to—’

His dad raised his head to look at him. ‘You’re as stuck as I am. That’s why you don’t date anyone long-term. I blame myself for your lack of commitment.’

‘I’m happy the way I am. I don’t need someone permanent in my life.’

‘I tried my best to be a good father but I failed you.’

‘You’re a great father. Stop being so down on yourself.’

‘But you’re a playboy.’ His dad’s tone couldn’t have sounded more disappointed if he’d said Zack was dealing cocaine.

Zack laughed but somehow it didn’t sound too convincing. ‘Hey, I thought you admired my lifestyle.’

‘Do you know how it makes me feel? Like a failure. A dismal, pathetic failure. I can’t have a successful relationship and neither can you. I’ve cursed you with my own inadequacies.’

Zack was shocked to find his father blamed himself for his lifestyle. So what if he shied away from commitment? That wasn’t an inadequacy—it was his choice. It had nothing to do with his childhood. Well, not much. ‘That’s crazy, Dad. I don’t consider it a failure to be single.’

‘You don’t understand.’ His dad looked at him with a watery gaze. ‘Your mother and I had ten years together. Ten years where everything was fine. You haven’t been in love. You don’t know how wonderful it is to be that close to someone. You haven’t met The One.’

I hope to God I don’t. He didn’t want to end up like his father, emotionally shattered by every relationship that came to an end. He didn’t want the responsibility of someone else’s emotional upkeep. It was hard enough supporting his father for all these years. But he had to do something to ease his father’s guilt. He had to show his father he wasn’t the man whore he thought he was. And he knew exactly how to do it. He just had to convince Holly to go out with him.

‘Dad, actually there is this girl I’ve met. She’s pretty special. I think you’d approve.’

His dad grabbed Zack’s wrist. ‘Really? How special?’

‘It’s early days, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone else.’ It wasn’t a lie. Zack had never felt so drawn to a woman before. He only had to picture Holly’s flashing gaze and plump mouth and he got hard. Rock-hard.

His father’s expression brightened like someone had turned up a dimmer switch. ‘It would make me so happy to see you settled with a nice girl. Maybe give me a couple of grandkids—’

‘Hey, hold on.’ Zack laughed and got to his feet. ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.’ He picked up his dad’s coat off the booth seat and handed it to him. ‘Come on. Let’s get you home.’

CHAPTER THREE

HOLLY HAD TO get up early the next morning in order to get to the New Covent Garden Flower Market, which opened at four a.m. She could have flowers delivered, and often did so when pressed for time, but at least twice a week she liked to select her own, especially when she had a run of weddings. Not that she had any weddings on the horizon, but still. She could dream, couldn’t she? The bright array of colours never failed to lift her spirits. Roses in every colour imaginable, pink and white and blue hydrangeas, gorgeous pink and white peonies the size of teacups, sweet william, tall, stately irises in cobalt blue or egg yolk yellow, fragrant lilies and colourful tulips and baby’s breath as white as a summer cloud.

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