Framed and Hung (15 page)

Zoe’s eyes opened wide at his words. Was this a declaration of how he felt? Her heart double-timed in her chest as she savoured the idea and for the first time in a long while, she wasn’t panicked about sharing her life with a man.

A single tear ran down her cheek as she smiled at Jake. ‘I’ll forgive you if you forgive me for painting that stupid picture.’

Jake filched the newspaper his mother held and stared at the front cover. ‘Not so stupid. Hey, you made me look positively…sleazy. By the way, whose body is that? It’s certainly not mine. I know I’m big but — ’

Zoe pulled back and slapped him on the arm. ‘Conceited much?’

‘Meet Lance, the latest porn star,’ Rachel chipped in. ‘Zoe found him on the internet.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘You spend time watching porn? Hmm, now that could be interesting in the right circumstances.’

Zoe gurgled with laughter at his teasing. Then she sobered, thinking of tonight. ‘It was that Tanya woman. Jessie said she wants you to step down from the elections and this is her way of ensuring it happens. She turned up here with a reporter.’

‘How did she see the painting?’

Zoe’s cheeks heated. ‘I…ah, I painted it on the billboard at the front of the inn. It drew quite a crowd before Tanya turned up.’

She waited for him to get angry all over again. It didn’t happen. Instead, he burst out laughing, resting his cheek on Zoe’s head.

When he finally controlled himself, he grinned at Zoe. ‘Talk about being immortalised in print. I take it this means I’m in for a bit of ribbing, eh? Hell, I can handle that. Now if I could only work out what I’m going to do about this meeting tonight.’

Jessie laid her hand on his arm. ‘I know it’ll be rough, son, but just tell it like it is. And I happen to know Maisie has a plan for our Ms Tanya. I suspect tonight will be her last council meeting.’

‘Mother, what have you ladies done?’

Zoe had a feeling she knew darn well what was about to happen, although she had no idea how Maisie would pull it off because there was no doubt Tanya would fight dirty.

Even so, she couldn’t help her next thought.
Tanya, I predict you’re about to get your ass kicked by a geriatric out for blood
.
Take that, you conniving bitch!

* * *

Zoe and Rachel slipped into the front seats alongside Jessie. Maisie perched right on the end chair, with Jessie beside her, patting her hand every so often. Maisie’s hurt was evident in her red-rimmed eyes and the pinched look on her mouth. Nevertheless, she kept her chin high and her jaw rigid.

Zoe wondered what she had in mind as far as Tanya went. Her own plans she’d kept to herself, not even sharing with Rachel. In all probability, she was about to put herself offside with most of the locals, but it couldn’t be helped. She needed to do what she could to salvage Jake’s reputation.

The hall was full to overflowing, with several people having to stand at the back. Snippets of conversation floated to Zoe, each new comment ripping Jake’s character apart. How dare these people judge him without knowing the whole truth? Well, damn it, she was about to make certain they did know.

‘This meeting will come to order,’ boomed a deep voice from the stage. The mayor, Gerald Stone, stood behind a podium, hand raised to bring down the gavel he held.

The buzz in the room subsided as everyone settled down to watch the show. Zoe glanced back, shaking her head at the avid expressions of those nearest to her.

‘This meeting has been called to discuss a very serious matter. The council elections are only a couple of weeks away now and we need to know we’re putting the best people forward to work for our town.’

He dragged a newspaper out from under the podium and held it up for all to see. ‘This is what concerns us. I’m sure you’ve all seen it. In fact, many of you rang me today to ask what was going on. That’s what we’re here to find out.’

Before he could say anything else, Tanya and Jake emerged from the back of the stage. Jake took a seat on one of the three chairs lined up behind the podium, but Tanya rushed up to the mayor’s side and grabbed the microphone from him.

‘Jake Lord isn’t who we thought he was. He’s into porn stuff. In fact,
I
think he makes those dirty little porn movies. Bert Anderson told me he’d seen him on some sicko sex site on the internet.’

‘And what’s Bert doing on those types of sites?’ Jessie called out. ‘Does your wife know what you do when she’s not around, Bert? Shame on you.’

Tanya yanked the gavel from the mayor and banged it on the top of the podium. ‘Don’t interfere, Jessie Lord. The chair doesn’t recognise you so just sit there and shut up.’

Jake jumped up and advanced on Tanya, teeth bared and hands curled into fists at his sides. ‘You can have a go at me all you like, but you don’t talk to my mother that way. Understood?’

Tanya waved him away as if he were an insignificant annoyance. ‘Is this the man you want representing you?’ she continued. ‘A dirty, disgusting porn star and who knows, he might even be into that kiddie porn stuff, a paedophile.’

Zoe gasped, hand up to cover her mouth.
Oh my God, she did not say that!

A slow burn started deep in her belly, building at a fantastic rate. She ground her teeth, struggling to maintain control. She had planned her move for a bit later in the proceedings, but this was moving way faster than she’d expected. Tanya had one thought in mind and that was to come out attacking.

Right! She wanted a fight? She was about to get one.

Zoe slipped from her seat, pushing in front of the other three women until she stood in the aisle. Then she stomped her way to the stage, mounted the steps and approached the podium. Taking Tanya by surprise, she ripped the microphone from her hand and stood front and centre on the stage, back straight and chin lifted.

‘For those who don’t know me, I’m Zoe Chandler, the artist who painted that caricature.’ She waved her hand at the newspaper the mayor still held.

She paused as a few people in the audience booed her. It didn’t matter a damn. This town had been talking about her business from the day she’d gotten married. She didn’t care what they thought of her if it saved Jake’s ass.

‘Hey, you can’t do this,’ Tanya said, trying to get the microphone back.

Maisie had now joined them on the stage. She turned a fierce frown on Tanya. ‘Sit down and shut up, Tanya.’

‘I painted that picture because I was angry at Jake,’ Zoe continued. ‘But I have to tell you, it’s not Jake. I downloaded a picture of a porn star off the internet and added Jake’s head. It’s not his body. He’s not into porn. And he’s certainly not into kids. And I’ll make certain Jake sues the next person who dares to say otherwise. You hear me, Tanya?’

‘Here, here,’ Maisie muttered.

Tanya jumped to her feet again. ‘How do we know she’s telling the truth? She’s probably his lover out to protect his ass.’

‘Jealous, Tanya?’ Zoe responded with a lift of her eyebrows.

A smattering of titters and a few loud chuckles rippled across the audience. Zoe waited until they died down. ‘I’m sure quite a few of you ladies out there have gotten a little revenge on your partner when they’ve pissed you off. That’s all I was doing, although I didn’t realise it would go so far. I was about to paint it out when Tanya and her tame journalist turned up and started taking photos. Jake wasn’t even supposed to know.’

‘So
is
Jake your partner?’ someone called out.

Zoe couldn’t see who it was but answered anyway. ‘I hope so…if he can ever forgive me for this painting fiasco.’

Maisie leaned close to the microphone. ‘And if anyone cares a darn, I’m here to state that I know Zoe Chandler is telling the truth. It’s Tanya who has twisted things to suit herself.’

Jake joined Zoe at the front of the stage, sliding his arm around her waist. ‘One hell of a way to tell a man you care about him,’ he quipped.

The audience lost it, laughing and calling out to Jake.

‘And as for this?’ Jake held up the newspaper, studying the photo on the front cover. ‘Hmm, I don’t know. I think she made me look sexy. That’s a pretty impressive fire hose I can see peeking over the leg. In fact, I’ve had a few interested ladies ring me today about checking it out. I thank you for the compliments, ladies, but there’s only one woman I want to impress. And that would be Ms Zoe Chandler.’

Jake grinned and played the crowd, bending Zoe back over his arm and giving her a quick kiss. As he pulled away, he whispered, ‘A taste of what’s to come.’

Before Zoe could respond to his comment, Maisie took the microphone and flicked it off. ‘My turn,’ she said before confronting her husband and Tanya, who now stood behind the podium with him.

Zoe and Jake crowded in front of the podium, ignoring the people in the hall who yelled out to be let in on the action.

Maisie pulled out a set of photos from the pocket of her skirt and laid them out across the timber surface of the podium.

‘I’m not going to ask what the hell is going on. These tell their own story.’ She tapped at the photos with one sharp nail. ‘You, Tanya, are about to withdraw from the election. And I mean right now, tonight, and you will announce it in that dirty little rag you used to try to defame Jake.’

Tanya opened her mouth to speak, but Maisie cut her off. ‘Because if you don’t, everyone in this room will know what a slut you are. And I won’t just publish these photos in all the newspapers, I’ll plaster blow-ups of each one on every billboard across town that I can find.’

If looks could kill, Maisie and everyone else on the stage would be dead at Tanya’s feet. As it was, all she could do was take the microphone and face the audience.

‘I am sorry to inform you that I will be withdrawing from the council election race, effective immediately,’ she spat out. Then she threw the microphone on the podium and left the stage, her high heels stamping out a loud tattoo.

Maisie reached across and made certain the microphone was turned off before she faced her husband. ‘Gerald, you have some explaining to do. If you wanted to get into that kinky stuff all you had to do was come to me. I’m not too old I can’t swing a whip with the best of them.’

Zoe covered her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh. She didn’t want to offend Maisie. She angled a slight grin at Jake and shook her head. These old ladies never ceased to amaze her. Zoe held her tongue as Maisie continued to berate Gerald.

‘I don’t plan on divorcing you, Gerald. Hell, no, I plan on staying around and torturing you for the rest of your life. But there are a few things I need answers to right now. Is Tanya the first woman you’ve screwed around with? Or is she just one of a long list?’

Gerald shook his head. ‘No, no, my dear. There was never anyone else. Tanya was just — ’

‘Yeah, yeah, I know, Tanya was excitement. Well, you’ll be getting all the excitement you can handle once I get you home. I’ve even bought my own whip.
You
can wear the leathers. I don’t plan on letting
my
ass hang out in one of those silly thongs.’

Jake nudged Zoe and it was all she could do not to laugh. Talk about too much information.

‘Now, my next question. Who took the photos? Is there someone else involved here? Someone else I need to terrorise?’

Gerald shook his head again, his face now pasty white. ‘No, dear, it was one of those timer things on Tanya’s digital camera. And it’s called a flogger, not a whip.’

‘Don’t you contradict me, Gerald, and don’t you dare call me dear. You have to earn that right back again. And I don’t ever want to hear that slut’s name again, you understand?’ Maisie stopped and dragged in a deep breath. ‘The final thing…’ She grabbed the microphone and flicked it on before facing the crowd. ‘Sorry to shut you all out, but Gerald and I had a few things to discuss. And the outcome is this… Starting forthwith, Gerald is resigning as mayor of Alice Springs. It’s past time he devoted a little more effort to pleasing his wife. That throws the elections wide open and I hope you all remember what a fine, upstanding boy young Jake Lord is. That’s all. You can go home now. The show’s over.’

She turned the microphone off and shoved it at Jake. Then she fronted her husband. ‘Gerald, you want to lead with your dick? Well, let me help you.’

She grabbed him between the legs, fisting her hand about his penis, trousers and all. Gerald yelped but didn’t dare pull away. ‘Come on, Gerald. Let’s go home.’

Leading him by his penis, she marched him across the stage. Gerald had to trot, keeping close to his wife, or he risked damage to his crown jewels. The crowd burst out laughing, obviously wondering what was going on.

Zoe wasn’t about to tell them. Let them wonder. She turned to Jake, tears of laughter swimming in her eyes as she held out her hand to him. ‘Wanna go home? I think we have some talking to do.’

Jake grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him, sliding his arm about her waist. He waggled his eyebrows at her, then gave her a hard but short kiss. ‘I had something else in mind. In fact, I can think of a far better use for your mouth…and mine. You game?’

A blast of heat slid through Zoe’s blood, warming every area of her body. Her breasts swelled and her clit throbbed in response. She wanted nothing more than to throw him down onto the stage and screw the daylights out of him.

No, not screw. This had become so much more than enjoying a mind-numbing fuck, an interlude to while away time as she completed the job on the inn. This was now about her and Jake and what may well be a future for them.

Taking a deep breath, she reached into her pocket and grabbed her car keys. ‘We’ve both got our cars. You ready to follow me home?’

‘Lady, I’ll follow you anywhere, as long as you don’t lead me by my cock.’

Chapter Eleven

Zoe laughed all the way to Jake’s room. ‘I can’t believe what Maisie did. That lady is incredible. I would have kicked him out on his ass.’

‘Nah, people that age who’ve been married as long as Maisie and Gerald don’t split up easily. I would imagine Maisie is about to start a program that will keep Gerald on his toes for a long time to come. He won’t know what has hit him. Literally…’