One Night With the Billionaire (Men of the Zodiac) (13 page)

Chapter Seventeen

A
n hour before the gala began and Ryder was nowhere in sight. Zoe had wanted to apologize, or at the very least find out if she was due to meet with Chloe, but he remained elusive. What was worse, her father hadn’t responded to her text that she’d provide her flight information as soon as she had a connection to the mainland. She didn’t doubt he would have run a check on Ryder, which meant he might not be so willing to keep his end of the bargain.

All things considered, she was on the verge of ditching her sparkly gown and the painstaking updo she’d endured from a celebrity stylist in favor of some of the Cajun fried chicken in her fridge, but she’d barely managed to untangle her ankles from the strappy heels when a knock sounded at the door.

Aggie stood on the other side, frowning.

“Ryder isn’t here,” Zoe said.

“A’course he isn’t, honey. He’s in the ballroom pretending he’s not fit to be tied.”

At the mention of
tied
, Zoe’s wrists tingled. So did the rest of her. She’d have been content to stay right there and enjoy all those tingles if she could manage to detach them from Ryder and his Italian silk restraints, but those memories were with her, as hard and fast as the man himself.

“Well?”

Zoe blinked Aggie back into focus. “Well what?”

“Get your shoes on and come on.”

“To the gala?” Zoe whimpered.

Aggie parked her hands on her hips. “Do you have a better idea?”

“I have some fried chicken,” Zoe said mildly.

Aggie glanced toward the refrigerator with a touch of longing, then shook her head. “Nope. Let’s get moving.”

Zoe hesitated. “I’m…I’m not sure I should go.”

“It’s nothing, honey. All you gotta do is stand there and try not to plant your knee in his crotch over whatever’s got you all out of sorts. Don’t leave the man hanging with all those high falutin’ types.”

“Fine.” Zoe sighed and reached for her shoes, then dropped on the sofa to begin the arduous task of reattaching them to her feet. When she looked up a moment later, Aggie was holding a piece of fried chicken.

“What?” The older woman shrugged.

“There’s no food at the gala?”

“Honey, there’s enough food to sink the island, but I didn’t see the first piece of fried chicken.”

Zoe laughed, but the lighthearted moment passed quickly. Stepping outside the cabana filled her with dread that was only surpassed by the moment the ballroom came into view. Light filtered through solid walls of windows, and music spilled through a number of French doors left open to the outside. Though the gala hadn’t officially begun, guests had been checking into the island all day and they were already swarming the ballroom. Seeing the crowds for the first time since she’d fled DC made Zoe’s gut clench.

“Is there media here?” she whispered to Aggie.

“One reporter, but she’s married to some hotshot Senator friend of Mr. Nash. He speaks highly of them both. She won’t put you in the gossip columns, if that’s what you’re worried about, but you have to know you’ll get there anyway. You can’t work the room on the arm of a single, young billionaire and expect anything else. Especially not one as hot as that one.”

Zoe’s eyes widened and Aggie laughed. “I may be old, honey, but I’m not dead. I’d give him a run for his money, but he’s too much like a son to me. Besides, I suspect I’d have to get through you first.”

With that, Aggie walked off, leaving Zoe standing there in bewilderment. What had Ryder said to make Aggie think such a thing?

And then Ryder walked up and stole Zoe’s breath, but not just hers. Every eye in the room seemed to follow him, many of the women with open lust, while the men tended more toward admiration. Either way, he was the center of the room, no matter where he went. Zoe couldn’t blame them for staring, nor could she control the desire that spiked through her core, decimating her ability to think straight. He had an easy way of moving, like he knew he was on display, yet made no pretensions from it. He was comfortable in his own skin, and he owned the room. He also looked unbelievably good in a tux that had to have been custom stitched for him, but that wasn’t what caught her attention. “You cut your hair.”

“Just a trim.” He offered an easy grin. Her heart wanted to melt, but cynicism reigned. He was probably being polite because this was the worst possible time for confrontation. She’d given him a hard time about his hair, but now that it was cut boardroom short, she could think of nothing but holding those longish strands for dear life while he took her body.

“You look amazing,” she said.

“I’m pretty sure that’s my line.” He took her hand and twirled her, then brought her close. When she failed to smile, he frowned. “Zoe, that’s not the happy face I anticipated.”

“Sorry. I’m just a little nervous.”

He squeezed her hand and smiled, like the whole room didn’t hang on his every move. “You are used to the DC scene. Trust me, this will be nothing.”

Only it’s everything
. “It’s important to you,” she said, “and that’s enough.”

His eyes flashed something she couldn’t quite read, after which he tugged on her hand and led her through the nearest doorway. They ended up in one of the resort’s wide halls, lights twinkling from the barrel ceiling to create a breathtaking moonlit effect. She was surprised to find they were alone with the resort being booked to capacity, but then she remembered the number translated to only seventy or so guests. Staff nearly doubled it, but since guests had begun to arrive, they’d become remarkably discreet.

“I owe you an apology,” he said quietly.

“We can talk about it later.” Because right now she was pretty sure somewhere, from some angle, someone watched them. And her most stressful courtroom experience to date had nothing on the stage on which she’d found herself tonight.

He shook his head, pairing the gesture with a gentle smile. “No, we can’t. I know you left DC to get away from everything, and I seem to have brought it all here to you.”

“I’m here on my terms,” she said. “Which is really what I wanted all along, and more than I’d ever get back home.” She hesitated, tempted to continue, to tell him what she’d demanded of her father. But this was Ryder’s night, and she didn’t want to take anything from it. He might be richer than all of his guests put together and more or less untouchable, but he took pride in what he’d accomplished.

Pity there was no one there to be proud of him.

No one but her.

“You’ve given me far more than you’ve taken,” she said softly. “And I want you to know you amaze me. You’ve taken control of your life, and you’ve gone as far as any man could go under the best of circumstances. To fight what you fought and win…you should be really proud, but you’re not that kind of man. So I’ll be proud for you.”

He swallowed. A moment passed before he spoke. “It was all because of you,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t have you, but I always wanted to be good enough to think I had a chance.”

You had a chance
. But she didn’t get the chance to say it. They had company.

Ryder turned around at the sound of the approaching couple and smiled broadly as he extended his hand. “Knox Hamilton, how did you end up here? Make a raft out of sticks and rope?”

“That’s
Senator
Knox Hamilton to you, and if I’m not mistaken, it was via a beat-up old airbus.”

“Not on your life.”

Zoe stood watched the exchange, surprised at how unnerved she was. She
knew
Knox. His father, who had preceded him in the Senate, had been friends with her father for years—not so much since the elder Hamilton had been forced to give up his seat due to scandal, but enough so that she worried. To her knowledge, Knox hadn’t had anything to do with Edgar Davenport, but it didn’t matter. DC was small when it came to secrets. And he wasn’t looking at her like she was some kind of pathetic jilted woman. At least not yet.

Knox pulled his wife, Chloe, in closer and turned his attention toward Zoe. When his gaze fixed on her, his eyes widened, but his expression quickly melted into a warm smile. Though full of the legendary Hamilton charm, his smile didn’t do for her what Ryder’s did. Nevertheless, she was grateful for the kindness.

“Oh, hell,” Ryder said. “Knox, Chloe, this is—”

“Zoe Davenport.” She didn’t want Ryder to lie. Especially considering Knox and his wife knew all too well who she was. “Knox and my…ex serve in the same Senate.” Zoe said by way of explanation.

Chloe, who Zoe had met at a handful of events in DC, smiled and punched Knox in the arm. “I told you she’d dumped him. And rightfully so,” she added, shooting Zoe a sympathetic look.

“Tell that to my father,” Zoe said. “He hit the roof, and best I can tell has probably become a permanent fixture there. Frankly, I hope the pigeons have found him.”

Knox and Chloe laughed.

Chloe touched her arm and leaned close. “If you want to talk it out, maybe get your story out there, I’d be honored to help you. You’d have approval on every word.”

“Thank you,” Zoe said. “I’d like that. As soon as I figure out which end is up.”

Ryder looked at her in surprise.

Chloe glanced between Ryder and Zoe. “Time for a drink. Knox?”

Knox threw a hapless look over his shoulder as his wife not-so-subtly dragged him off.

When they were gone, Ryder turned to Zoe. She spoke before he could. “I didn’t want to mention it and ruin your night, but I think I was looking at it all wrong. I think…this is good news.”

Someone passed by and clapped Ryder on the shoulder but he didn’t look up. “What is it?”

“That day on the beach when you overhead me talking to my father, he agreed not to go after your money.”

His eyes searched hers. “Under what circumstances?”

She shook her head. “I’m going back to DC. Tomorrow.”

He looked at her for a long moment. “I know you said…I thought you wanted to wait for the gossip to die down.”

She shook her head. “I’m not the person I was when I left. I’m not going to hide, and I’m not going to read a script for the media. If they want to ask me questions, let them. My father and Senator Selfie are going to have to deal with the truth, no matter how ugly, and after what I’ve been through I have the right to tell it.”

He frowned. “So you’re just going to go back?”

“I think I should.”

“But not until tomorrow?”

“Not until then.”

They still had one night.

And if she had a chance in hell of getting over him, she’d have to spend it alone.

R
yder couldn’t take his eyes off Zoe. It wasn’t just the dress that hugged and clung to her in a way that made him jealous, but that he couldn’t look at it without seeing Saint Lucia. Or what happened that got them there. He’d been a fool thinking that getting her away from Latitude 13 would change anything. If anything, he’d fallen harder.

Too hard.

Even from across the room, she enchanted him, but the feeling wasn’t mutual.

She wanted to leave.

He figured didn’t know what a broken heart was—either that, or his had always been broken—but with her words something fractured deep inside him. If she left, he’d be less than half a man. He’d be
pieces
of less than half a man. All those years, he’d endured the emptiness he carried, always his own rotten childhood had stolen his chance to feel. When he was older, he thought sex could fill that void, but all he did was close his eyes and try
not
to feel. He didn’t want any of them. He’d only wanted Zoe.

And she wanted to go.

He’d gone from thinking she’d betrayed him to realizing he was an ass for believing for a moment she’d have done such a thing. Maybe this was his punishment for doubting, for thinking what they had had been a lie. He wanted to take her aside and try to make her understand that those feelings were as much about him as they were her. That he’d never been worthy of love before. That he might not deserve a second chance, but he loved her. He loved her and…that was it. That was all that mattered.

He loved her, and nothing could possibly matter more.

He looked around at the resort he’d built. Without her, it was sticks and mud and a bunch of imported shit that meant nothing, but without her it would be all he had.

If that much.

He fiddled with his pocket and felt the beginnings of a cold sweat.

He had nothing to lose.

Only
everything
.

He looked up and locked eyes with a very pissed off Edgar Davenport.

The one man who could take it all.

Chapter Eighteen

A
s many different capacities—and stages of undress—Zoe had seen Ryder in the time she’d been on the island, he still managed to take her breath. The inner bad boy with which she had so intimately become familiar didn’t stray too far below the surface, but the man he’d become shone through. When he stood in front of the crowd—small by any definition of a grand scale, but a powerhouse mixture of politicians and celebrities—he owned the room. He was magnetism defined, and he didn’t need a damn thing from anyone, which made being around him so much more than it could have been. Every person in that room was there because Ryder wanted them there, and it was as if they knew it.

But this time something about him was different. He appeared to be searching for something or someone, but not her. His eyes briefly met hers, and he looked away so quickly, she had the feeling he’d rather not have seen her at all. He fiddled with one hand his pocket and tugged at his collar with the other. He was all so un-Ryder-like that she worried he was sick—that might explain the paleness—but before she tripped over the thousand possibilities she was sure she could imagine, her own gaze landed on…her ex.

Upon locking eyes with her, he quickly cut through the crowd. Ryder hadn’t been kidding that his guests wouldn’t worry themselves with scandal, because Todd Randall—Senator Selfie himself—only earned the barest of second glances. It was a pity one of them had to be hers.

“What do you want?” she asked, hoping her tone would cut him off before he put his hands on her.

Her plan must have worked, because he came to an abrupt stop and looked to either side, busying his hands with adjusting his tie. “Zoe, my dear, how have you enjoyed your vacation?”

She almost cringed at the sound of his voice. What had she been thinking? There had to have been a sign that this guy was scum, but she’d probably been too busy trying to please her father to see it. But no more. “I trust my father informed you of the dissolution of our arrangement?”

He cocked a brow, as if she’d puzzled him. “Our…arrangement?”

She waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t insult me, Todd. You’re making a fool out of yourself. I’m guessing half the people in this room have seen your penis trolling the Twitterverse, and between you and me—and a great number of media outlets—the withered half-mast thing isn’t appealing.”

To his credit, he looked absolutely appalled. Zoe kept her voice down out of respect for Ryder, but she had a feeling, with the slow death of nearby conversation, that word would get out.

Todd cleared his throat. “What happened was a misunderstanding.”

She shook her head and tried not to smile. Or
laugh
. She should have confronted him before she left DC. Doing so was oddly exhilarating. “I don’t think so,” she said. “Cheating, lying, and penis flashing? I’m worth more than that. You may be a little late on the uptake, but I’d say I figured it out just in time. We’re done.” He opened his mouth, but she held up a hand. “Don’t bother, unless you’d like to add harassment charges to your growing list.”

He gave an indifferent, solemn nod, the condescending jerk. “Perhaps when you calm down.”

“I’m perfectly calm,” she said sweetly. Calm, and
so
done. “How did you get here, anyway?”

“I came as a guest of your father.”

Her
father
?
Oh, dear God.
She sidestepped Todd, leaving him standing there with his hands in his pockets—how fitting—and scoured the room for her dad. How had he found her? Had Ryder seen him? Should she intercept and risk a scene or stay back and hope…hope what? That he wouldn’t take out his wrath on Ryder?

Yeah, take it out on him. The understatement of the century. She’d stood up to her father, a man who wasn’t accustomed to being questioned. And then she’d defied him. She’d temporarily walked away from the law firm he’d referred to as her legacy for as long as she could remember. And no doubt he blamed the man he’d paid to stay away from her. Money wasted, at that.

She stood, frozen. Should she warn Ryder? Ask her father if they could talk somewhere else? Anything, she prayed. Anything but a confrontation here of all places.

Her father had his back to Ryder, at least. He was talking to Knox, and he didn’t look unhappy. Was it possible he was there for the elbow rubs and had no idea Ryder was the owner? It would be one heck of a coincidence, but no less odd than Zoe having landed there herself. Perhaps her father wouldn’t notice. Maybe if she just found a plant to duck behind… She took a step back and felt someone touch her arm.

Her mother.

Zoe swallowed hard and didn’t dispel the lump in her throat. In lieu of a greeting, she asked one question. “Does he know?”

Her mother nodded.

Zoe’s heart hit the floor at the same instant Ryder took a mic and started talking. “It’s been my great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you to Latitude 13…”

Everyone? Even her father? Invitations were exclusive, the event sold out. How had her parents even gotten there? She shot her mother a sideways glance, but it revealed nothing.
Her father knew
? Where was a fire alarm to pull when she needed one?

“Tonight represents a new beginning,” Ryder said. “Not just here at the resort, but in my personal life. Ten years ago, I was a kid with a bad attitude and a loud car. You all know how that story ends, and it’s probably exactly what would have happened to me if my neighbor hadn’t taken a good look at me and decided I wasn’t good enough for his daughter.”

Ryder’s gaze skated the room, but settled on her father a bit longer than anyone else. He did not, however, name names.

“I don’t need to tell you,” he continued, “that the last thing I needed in my life was someone else telling me I wasn’t good enough, but that’s what happens to kids like me. You’re born into a life you didn’t choose, and you’re choked by walls you can’t see beyond because no one has ever told you there’s anything else out there. You don’t realize there’s hope. You don’t dream, not because you don’t want more for yourself, but because you don’t know more exists.

“But it turns out I did have one dream. One thing I never had, even when I thought I had it all. I didn’t realize until the past few weeks what I had been missing.” He turned to look her squarely in the eye. “I missed love. I put up walls—those old, faded, familiar ones I knew as a kid—and built them higher and higher and never felt like I was gaining anything. Not until this woman came in and knocked down all those walls and left me standing in a pile of rubble did I realize just how rich I was…but not with everything you see around you. I was rich because of her.”

Zoe wasn’t a crier, but the tears in her eyes said otherwise. There wasn’t a soul in the room who knew what he was risking. And despite the fact her father stood several feet away, she couldn’t tear her eyes from Ryder. She’d told him she was leaving, and he wasn’t just saying he loved her, he was proving it.

He was giving up everything for her. There’d be no going back from this.

“Before I say any more, I’d like to thank the
Washington Tribune’s
Chloe Lochlan for being here tonight to cover this moment. Most of you have heard of her, and for good reason. She’s got a reputation for being honest, so I know we can trust her to share my news this evening.”

Zoe’s father paled visibly.

“Mr. Davenport.”

Zoe blinked. Had Ryder just spoken to her father?

Ryder held up an envelope. “I understand helping troubled kids is a particular, if not well-known, passion of yours, so I’ve taken the liberty of writing a one-million-dollar donation in your name to the Youth First Fund, which operates in your region.”

He waited for the gasps and clapping to die before he continued.

Zoe couldn’t get over the look on her father’s face. She wanted to laugh, but with everyone else staring in awe, she could only clamp her mouth shut.

“I know you and I haven’t always seen eye to eye,” Ryder told her father, “but I hope that will change when you examine the contents of this envelope. I also hope tonight marks a new beginning. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for your daughter, and if I had to give up everything I have to make her mine, I’d do it. But that’s not your choice, and it’s not mine. It’s hers.”

Zoe almost burst out laughing. Her father would look like a complete ass if he went after Ryder now, and the blanching of his face suggested he knew it.

“Zoe Michelle.”

A beat passed before she realized Ryder had spoken her name. She looked in surprise.

He held out his hand and waited for her to approach. She didn’t look at her father as she passed, though as she walked away, she turned and caught a glimpse of her mother’s face. It was tracked with tears. Zoe was as unsteady as she’d ever been, and the pin-drop quiet of the room did little to help her forget the fact that every eye in the place was now on her.

When Ryder took her hand he was warm. Strong. All the uncertainty she’d detected earlier was gone, and he was solid.

And she was terrified.

“You have changed me. You’ve changed my life, and I hope you’ll let me change yours.”

She stared, unblinking, as the weight of his words sank in.

He pulled a ring from his pocket and dropped to one knee. “Zoe, will you marry me?”

“Are you…are you sure?” she whispered.

He stood to a round of applause, everyone likely convinced she’d said yes. He handed off the microphone and dropped his forehead to hers, then spoke quietly. “There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that I want more than to have you in my life. Anywhere you want to go, whatever you want to be. Even DC. All I ask is that you allow me to be a part of it.”

“You’re not worried about your reputation?” she whispered. “You’re the one who told me my clients would bolt.”

He grinned and touched a kiss to her ear so he could speak. “Then they’re idiots. And considering your clientele, probably hypocrites. I want you with me, and I don’t care what anyone thinks.”

“But what about—”

“Zoe, this is you and me. Nothing else matters. If you believe that—if you believe in me—that’s all I need.”

“Actually, that’s not true.”

Zoe locked eyes with Ryder, then eased her attention to the source of the interruption…her father. “Dad.”

“Whatever happened to asking a woman’s father for her hand in marriage? Or perhaps that of her current fiancé?”

Zoe stood nervously. Felt faint. Her father had to be joking, but he didn’t joke. About
anything
.

Ryder faced him without a hint of the nervousness that had plagued him earlier. And she realized that had been for
her
. “I don’t care what Senator Randall thinks. I certainly hope he enjoys his stay, though I can’t say he appeared too happy when he left just now.”

Zoe swallowed a grin. Todd had stomped off in the middle of Ryder’s proposal, and she hoped it would be the last she saw of him. With any luck, he was sitting on the runway or summoning a helicopter or a yacht or even Air Force One, since he thought himself so connected.

Her father straightened, but he still seemed small next to Ryder. Small and angry. “And what about me?” he asked.

“With all due respect, I could not ask for your blessing,” Ryder said. Simply, and without a trace of hesitation.

“Why the hell not?” her father barked.

“Because if you said no, I would have proposed to her anyway. Asking you for her hand would have been an empty gesture, if not a futile one. No one can be honored by insincerity.”

“You think I would refuse you.” It wasn’t a question. They all knew exactly why he’d say no. What Zoe couldn’t figure out was why no one was saying it. Or how her parents had found her there.

“Mom, Dad. What are you doing here?” she asked.

Her mother’s expression hinted at a smile. “Maybe you should ask your…is he your fiancé now?”

“I’ve been wondering that myself,” Ryder said with bemusement.

“Please excuse us,” she said to her parents, then dragged Ryder from the room to the terrace outside. When she was satisfied they were alone, she spun to face him. “Are you crazy?”

He grinned. “Yes.”

She could only stare. “But my father—”

“His hands are tied. Even more so when he opens that envelope.”

Zoe glanced toward her parents, surprised to find they appeared to be lost in conversation rather than watching her. “Why? What’s inside?”

“A check for the amount he gave me ten years ago. Plus interest.”

“And you think that will mollify him?”

He smiled. Melted her. “If it doesn’t, we’ll handle it. Together. If, of course, you’ll accept my proposal.”

Her gaze tracked from Ryder to her father and back again. “Did you fly him in?”

“Yes, although I didn’t expect him to bring Senator Randall, but if he wants to share his suite, I guess I can be accommodating.” He took her hand. “I don’t halfway do anything, Zoe, and I wasn’t going to leave you to fight this alone. One way or another, it was going to be over before you went back to DC. I admit I want his approval for your sake, but my love for you transcends that. If he refused me, there’s no way I’d stand down. I love harder than that. So the question remains, princess. If you still want to go home, I understand, but I hope like hell you’ll stay and marry me.”

Despite the fact that she had melted into a puddle of goo, she managed to find her voice. “How could I say no to a man with a horse’s ass tattooed on his arm? Of course I’ll marry you.”

He slid the ring on her finger and shook his head, a slight grin shaping his lips. “If that was all it was going to take, I could have used that information a long time ago. But now that you mention it…”

“I’m not going to get a matching horse’s ass.”

“We’ll see. I could always tie you down—”

The sound of a throat clearing put a quick end to his words.

Her father stood a few feet away. “Well?”

Zoe’s mother rushed out after him. “Have you no concept of boundaries?”

“This involves me.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Zoe said.

Edgar ignored her, speaking instead to Ryder. “I didn’t approve of the kid you were then, but any man who can take what little you had and make something of it deserves respect—not for the fortune you’ve earned, but for the integrity you’ve shown in earning it. I won’t apologize for what I thought then, but today I give you more than my approval…I give you my daughter.”