Lusty Billionaires Bundle(35)

She felt him approaching before the low snarl of his engine was even audible. A cynic would say it was guesswork—after all, his plane landed at four, the timing was inevitable, perhaps her subconscious heard him without realising—but she knew as sure as her heart was beating that there was something deeper going on here, some mental telepathy that had invaded her. This very moment had sustained her through the uncertainty of the last few weeks, but now that the moment had actually arrived she was completely overcome with nerves, and the all too familiar sense of foreboding, Zavier randomly triggered, assailed her again. She was playing with fire here, and someone was bound to get burnt. Tabitha held her breath, standing just far back enough from the open window so she couldn’t be seen.

Perhaps she moved, maybe a shadow fell, but whatever the reason he lifted his head, his eyes searing into the room in which she stood. Ducking backwards, Tabitha caught her breath; she knew he hadn’t seen her, knew it was impossible, but there was no safety in logic.

Trembling, she sat on the bed, berating herself for the impossible situation she had thrust upon herself. She wasn’t just messing with her own life here; she was playing Russian roulette with every person in this house. How was she going to face him? How was she going to look at him after all these weeks and not betray what was seared in her heart?

Love wasn’t in this equation.

Yet.

‘Tabitha!’ The happy shriek from Marjory made her jump. ‘He’s here!’

Painting on a smile, she made her way out of the bedroom, reaching the top of the stairs as Marjory pulled the front door open.

Tabitha had hoped that the passage of time would somehow diminish his beauty, that the man who stepped gracefully into the entrance hall would hold only a distant charm. That she could play along with the charade and still keep a semblance of control.

She was wrong on all counts.

His beauty literally knocked the breath from her, and she stood there stunned as his eyes slowly lifted to hers, her breath coming out in short bursts, her nerves snapping to attention, deprived for so long and only now awakening as the master returned.

‘Don’t I get a welcome home kiss?’ he drawled.

Slowly she made her way down the stairs, but as she reached the last couple the violence of her desire, the magnetism that surrounded him, made her literally run into his arms. It was him she needed, his strength was all that could get her through, and she fell into his arms and he pulled her close and kissed away the salty tears that had unexpectedly sprung from her eyes.

‘Hey, I’ll have to go away more often if that’s the welcome I get.’

Embarrassed at her emotive display, she kept her head trained on the floor.

‘Don’t you dare,’ Marjory scolded. ‘You have to learn to delegate, Zavier. You’re going to have a lovely wife to come home to now; you can’t be jetting off at a moment’s notice.’

‘Someone has to work,’ Zavier quipped.

Tabitha wasn’t a big drinker, but never had she been more grateful for the gin and tonic Marjory thrust into her hand. Taking a large sip, she sought some refuge as the sharp taste hit her tongue.

‘You look stunning, Tab.’ Aiden finally acknowledged her, squeezing her hand and taking a hefty sip of his own drink as he did so.

She knew it must have been hard for him and she smiled gratefully, happy they were friends again.

‘Every bit the bride-to-be.’

She almost felt it.

This whole week had been spent in a frenzy of preparation. Her legs being waxed, eyebrows tweezed, eyelashes dyed, shopping for bathers and cocktail dresses. Zavier’s driver had indeed picked her up and taken her shopping. Had handed her a credit card with a discreet nod and a list of instructions that would have caused most women to think they’d died and gone to heaven. The driver had waited outside the most exclusive shops as Tabitha searched amongst the beige and navy suits and fitted dresses for the lilacs and pinks and moss-greens she adored, the velvets and silks that were so much her own style, so much more readily available at the craft markets she frequented. Filling smart bright bags with designer labels, exclusive one-offs, she had felt sick at what she had so effortlessly spent.#p#分页标题#e#

Good money after bad.

The weight of her deception was almost unbearable.

‘Where’s Dad?’

‘Asleep.’

‘How is he?’

Marjory flashed a perfectly lip-lined smile that everyone in the room knew was false. ‘He’s doing very nicely; he’s just tired, that’s all. He’ll join us for dinner; now let’s go and have a huge drink.’