Sweet Home Carolina (34 page)

Amy laughed. She had a feeling he was talking about himself,
and as much as she’d liked to envision him permanently in her garden, she
wasn’t foolish enough to believe it was going to happen. “How do you know he
doesn’t thrive on fluorescent?”

“Because I know. He will be much happier in your garden in
your good care.” He took the gift bag and her arm and steered her toward the
exit. “I hope you have brought a fancy frock, as I told you. This will be the
only night this week that we will share alone, you are forewarned. All is
business once we reach High Point.”

She had to be mad to have agreed to this. A romantic night
of dinner and dancing and lovemaking with this sexy, fascinating man who made
her feel like a woman again…. But she was determined to be strong, to show him
she could be a woman of the world. Still, she had to admit her frailties. “I
feel guilty leaving the kids to come here early.”

“You have a life of your own,” he said firmly. “You must
live it while you can. The little ones are quite happy with their cousins.” He
helped her into the Bentley, then leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Are you
regretting me, perhaps, hmm?” He raised a wicked eyebrow.

Oh, Lord, she had it so bad that his playful leer made her
want to forget his promise of dinner in favor of the big bed he meant for them
to share.

She wanted so much and could have so little….

“Do I regret Dopey?” She produced the gnome and studied him.
“Nope. He looks quite happy to be with me.”

“Oh, he is. You may take my word for that.” Whistling, Zack
closed the door and returned to the driver’s seat.

Amy traced the gnome’s lips and glanced surreptitiously at
Zack. He ran his tongue over his lips and made a smacking sound.

She burst out laughing and resolved to shut all misgivings
in a closet for the evening. If she didn’t know better than to lose her heart
to a man who could be gone tomorrow, she might as well enjoy what they had
together while it lasted.

* * *

“You are so
amazingly
brilliant.” Amy laughed in delight as she stepped from the bedroom of their
suite to the sound of a waltz flowing from hidden speakers and a handful of
white-jacketed waiters setting an elegant table on the balcony.

“I thought you might prefer a place without crowds for this
evening,” Zack murmured, sweeping her into his arms and twirling her around the
living room as if this were a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film. While she’d
showered and changed, he’d donned a trendy long black dinner jacket over a
stiff, pleated white shirt with a mandarin collar. Gold cufflinks glittered at
his wrists and a small diamond served as collar button. He looked exactly as
she imagined a European movie star would look gambling at the tables in Monaco.
Her very own James Bond.

They waltzed as if they’d danced together forever. Feeling
light-headed, she stroked the hair brushing his collar. He tugged her closer to
nibble at her ear. The layers of green silk and chiffon that Jo had helped her
pick out swung around Amy’s legs, making her feel as graceful as the dancers on
a movie screen. She had dreaded dancing in some loud nightclub or on a fancy
dance floor where she would feel out of place. And Zack had
understood
, without asking.

“Thank you,” she murmured. “This is so perfect I think I
must be dreaming.”

“You deserve to live your dreams, but I want to be the man
who takes you there,” he murmured back.

She laughed at the notion, but she floated across the carpet
as if it were a magic cloud. Her, practical Amy, living a dream with a man who
could make the stars fall with a snap of his finger! For one moonstruck night,
she could believe it.

When the waltz ended, Zack bowed elegantly, placed her hand
on his arm, and led her outside to the balcony overlooking a stunning view of
the tree-studded mountains, with the reds and golds and bronzes of the autumn
foliage highlighted by the setting sun.

Amy gasped at the beauty of the idyllic scenery while
waiters finished setting out china and silver on a linen-covered table. One
popped the cork on a bottle of Cristal champagne and poured it into delicate
flutes. Another pulled out a chair for Amy. After uncovering a deliciously
browned roast duck, the waiters miraculously disappeared at a nod from Zack.

“It is a different view of your home, is it not?” He moved
his chair closer to hers and tipped his glass to hers. “To the wonders of home,
be it ever so glorious.”

She sipped and let the delicious bubbles tickle her tongue.
How could she even begin to think in a setting like this, with a man like Zack
beside her? She was aware of the closeness of his masculine thigh, the pressure
of his foot against her sandal heels, the brush of his hand as he made the toast.
This was the Zack she had imagined in his natural setting, the one who wined,
dined, and danced with beautiful models in exotic surroundings.

And he was here, with her, making her humble home seem as
wonderful and mysterious as his was to her.

Amy lost her last measure of self-consciousness and
surrendered utterly to Zack’s play. Wantonly, she sipped her champagne, nibbled
the duck, and slipped off her sandal to run her toes along his foot. Zack
laughed and shifted so she could stroke his leg, and she nearly ended up in his
lap. He fed her oysters and apricot tarts while his eyes smoked with a desire
she could feel deep inside her.

They talked about everything from favorite movies to space
travel. Zack lowered his perpetual charm to argue vociferously in favor of
exploring Mars until he realized she was simply baiting him by presenting the
opposing argument. He leaned over and sipped champagne off her tongue,
deepening their kiss until they had to either make love on the table or abandon
it.

“Not yet, my Amy,” he said, his voice a throaty purr as he
pushed back from the table. “I want to dance with you and hold you close and
make your dreams sweeter.”

He swept her onto their own private dance floor again, and
in Zack’s arms, Amy finally fell madly, unalterably in love.

She hoped it was just the champagne and the giddiness of
desire and the quiver of anticipation inspired by the heated look in Zack’s
dark eyes, but she wasn’t examining or analyzing anything tonight. Tonight was
for feeling, and she felt marvelous.

“I am brilliant, am I not?” he asked, raising a mocking
eyebrow before pulling her closer.

The thin cloth of his slacks clung almost indecently to his
narrow hips as he whirled her around the suite. Without giving it a second
thought, Amy unfastened his tie and collar to uncover soft curls against
bronzed skin. He held her close enough that she could watch the fine hairs curl
when she puffed on them.

“Ummm, enjoying this, are we?” he asked, returning the favor
by blowing on her earrings.

He’d bought her delightful silver feather earrings that
caught the slightest breeze and sparkled in the light. She’d spent way too much
time admiring them in the mirror before she’d been brave enough to emerge from
the bedroom. And from the heat of his gaze, she gathered Zack was enjoying them
equally well.

But it was the sheer muscle of the man beneath the thin
fabrics, the responsiveness of his body to her slightest touch, and the furnace
blast of desire engulfing them as they moved as one around the room that she
was enjoying most. Zack didn’t push and pull and drag her across the floor but
anticipated the music and the way they swayed together without need of any more
than a gentle touch on her back or hip.

They were making love with clothing on.

The waiters returned to clear the room. The moment they
closed the door after them, Zack smoothed his long-fingered hand down Amy’s
back, and her zipper whispered open. The strapless bodice fell with it.

She slid her fingers into the placket of his shirt and
popped the studs, one by one.

He shrugged off his jacket and threw it across a sofa. She
let her gown fall to her feet and stepped out of it as he swirled her in
circles. His hand scorched her bare flesh when he pulled her back into his arms
and danced her across the room again.

He lowered her into a dip and caressed the silk barely
covering her hips. “Garters — for me?” he purred with delight.

She’d been unsure about wearing anything so blatantly sexy,
but his pleasure in the discovery was worth hours of uncertainty. And this
moment made them the perfect choice. She could never have imagined how
effective they would be — as Zack’s hungry gaze focused downward, caressing her
breasts in the demi bra, fastening on the silky stockings and saucy green
garters.

“I’ll let you wear them, if you like,” she teased, enjoying
his pleasure by daringly pushing his shirt from his shoulders and planting a
kiss at the base of his throat.

He chuckled and released her wired bra. Amy closed her eyes
and breathed a deep sigh of relief and desire as his hands took hers and slid
them around his neck, then cupped her unfettered breasts. His arousal pressed against
her belly, and the dance slowly swayed to a halt in front of the fireplace,
where a fire crackled.

Zack lowered his head to claim her mouth. Amy lifted hers to
meet him.

“Tonight, you are mine,” he whispered.

She didn’t argue because he was right. They were no longer
inexperienced in the way each other’s bodies worked. She had learned he was
sensitive to touch, and that she need only run her palms over his skin to feel
his erection lengthen. He knew she responded to soft music and sweet tastes.
She’d been seduced before he even laid her across the pillows on the floor.

“Stay with me, Amy,” he murmured as the last of their
clothing slipped away. “Let me show you the world.”

And because he was showing her a world she’d never known,
she let the words become part of the dream they were creating in the warmth of
the flames, a dream she could never hope to attain, but one that opened her
arms and heart and let her take him in.

For now. For the moment.

“Where are the brochures? They were supposed to be here by
now.” Amy asked, dumping a cardboard box of supplies in the company’s High
Point booth. It was noon already, after their heart-stoppingly blissful evening
— and a fevered encore before breakfast.

Her insides were mush from Zack’s fervent kisses but, as
he’d warned, he was all business today. And she needed to be, too. The town and
Zack and the mill all depended on them. Amy could feel a full scale panic attack
impending.

Their booth was on an upper floor of the multilevel
furniture mart at the High Point furniture showcase. The aisles bustled with
transport men in coveralls, business people in corporate attire, and a host of
others in every state of dress imaginable, creating a state of organized
anarchy.

That Zack and Emily and several of their other employees
were standing there, waiting for her to pull the booth together, did not soothe
her clamoring nerves.

“I need to find the receiving department. Where is
receiving?” Trying not to dig her hands into the professional cut and style
she’d had done yesterday so she wouldn’t look like a heathen, she abandoned her
search and shoved stacks of paper aside looking for the directory.

Zack caught her wrists and forced her to stand still. His
strength was normally reassuring, his touch was always thrilling, but right
now, she didn’t have time for anything except a nervous breakdown.

“Emily will find the brochures,” he said firmly. “That is
her job. My job was to create these designs and now, to sell them. Yours is to
display them. Now put your magic to work. Where do you wish the table to go?”

He made it sound so easy. “The table? The table.” She
glanced around frantically, measuring with her eyes the size of the space
they’d rented. “It will never fit. How did I ever think we would make this
work?”

“The same way it will work in your cottage,” Zack said
patiently. “Think of this as your dining room. We have only one solid wall, so
that is where the draperies go, correct?”

Drawing on his limitless patience, Amy took a deep breath.
Zack had confidence in her. He wouldn’t pitch a fit if she did this wrong. She
knew how to decorate. One thing at a time.

She gazed at the blank white divider. “Yes, if this is the
dining room tableau, we’ll need the floral print and the wrought-iron rod
across the back wall.”

She turned to look for the drapery hanger, but Zack
continued holding her while gesturing at one of the men he’d hired to move the
furniture and samples in here.

“Management, remember,” he murmured. “You do not have to do
it all yourself.”

Yes, she did. She’d always done it all herself. Chosen the
fabrics, sewed the hems, hung the draperies.…

Deep breath. She nodded, and after brushing a kiss against
her cheek, Zack reluctantly released her.

“Now, I must make the contacts. That is what I do. You will
be all right here with Emily and Luigi,” he stated, as if there was no
question.

Amazingly, his trust bred confidence that she could do this.

They would be spending the entire week together, a stressful
week on which their entire futures relied, in more ways than one. In these next
days, she had to learn to stand on her own. She didn’t know how Zack was
feeling about his level of commitment, but she had to brace herself for whatever
came when the trade show ended. He’d already exceeded his stay by far longer
than even he expected.

“Yes, yes, I’ll be fine,” she said slowly. “If you do the
talking and just leave me to do the decorating, this will be great.”

Amy watched Zack stride off with the confidence of a man who
knew his place in this chaotic crowd. He looked wealthy and aristocratic in one
of his European designer suits tailored to his wide shoulders and lean hips.
But he wore his high-collared silk shirt open with no tie, unlike most of the
American businessmen around them, so even though he’d had his hair trimmed and
removed his ear stud to look more professional, Zack stood out in the crowd.