Page 24 of Savage Romance
Her heart leapt as Ben stalked into her little office. He’d come for her. Oh, she needed his strength and his support, and now he was here. “Ben!” Happy and relieved to see him, she started to rise. Then she noticed the redness of his face and his ragged breathing. Her heart did a nosedive and plummeted. “What’s wro—”
“You’re related to Michael fucking Connolly?”
Ice slid down her spine.
She sank back onto her office chair from her half-rise and curled her hands around her opposite biceps in a self-hug that didn’t offer any comfort. The tears she’d been fighting threatened to overflow again and the back of her throat burned.
His skin mottled with red blotches, his shoulders rigid, and his hands clenched into tight fists, Ben advanced on her.
Devastated, Zoe curled in her shoulders and huddled on the chair.
“You have been lying all this time.” He jabbed his finger in her face and crowded into her personal space.
“Is your last name even Jones?” He grabbed her shoulders in a punishing grip and shook. “What more have you lied about?”
His eyes blazed with anger and the lips she loved to nibble were pressed into a tight, thin line. Up close, Zoe could see spittle building up in the corners of his mouth. “I—I,” Zoe sputtered, words failing her. All she could do was stare at him. The muscles and veins in his neck and temples corded and strained against the skin.
With another shake, he let go of her, threw up his hands in a dismissive gesture, and turned away from her. She flinched as if he’d hit her.
“Don’t bother trying to sweet-talk yourself out of this. You women are all the same. Lying, cunning, deceivin’… driving a man to drink.” He ran a hand over his face. “I can’t stand the sight of you right now.”
Zoe shuddered at his cold derisive tone.
“I’m going for a drive. Just make sure you’re gone by the time I return.” He lumbered past her desk and stalked out of the office.
Rapidly blinking, Zoe stared after him. How could I have been so stupid? Why didn’t I talk with him? Tell him about Michael?
Shivering uncontrollably, a strangled sob escaped her mouth, and she clamped her lips against the unwanted sound. Weighed down by guilt and remorse, she rose and gathered her belongings.
Ben slammed the car door closed behind him and leaned back in the driver’s seat. With one hand over the bottom of his face, he stared through the front windshield with unseeing eyes.
That fucking woman!
With an explosion of anger, he dropped his hands on the steering wheel. He gripped the leather so hard his knuckles ached. Disregarding the pain, he rocked his body and slammed the back of his skull against the headrest.
With a sigh, he let go of the wheel and leaned back in the seat. I should have known better than to trust a woman. What is it with her gender, anyway?
Controlling his temper, he started the engine of the Audi and eased out of the parking space with less speed and more care than he normally would have.
“Hey, Siri, call Byron Nolan.” As his iPhone engaged and set up the call, Ben checked for traffic and merged onto Main Street. He needed to talk with Byron and Charlotte as soon as possible.
Chapter Eighteen
Ben paced Byron and Charlotte’s living room as he explained about Zoe’s deceit. Charlotte perched on a dining table chair and listened with a cocked head and her hands clasped in her lap. She was pale and her disposition added to Ben’s guilt and anger. His mistake had been not investigating things further when Sheik Khalid bin Karim al Hania Abbas appeared. And now his friends might pay for his carelessness.
I should have looked into the man.
“Do you have the IOU?” Byron’s voice was calm and didn’t convey anything the other man was feeling.
Ben dug the folded paper from his pocket and handed it to Byron.
Too restless to wait while his friend read the document, Ben stalked across the room toward the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“It looks legit, but still. Is it all right with you if I give it to my private investigator?”
Ben turned at his friend’s level tone. “How can you be so calm about this?”
Offering a deep sigh, Byron’s expression turned thoughtful, and his eyebrows pulled down in concentration. “At least now we know we can act on it and protect ourselves from possible ramifications.”
