“Sit up, and I’ll give it to you.”
She opened her eyes but didn’t sit up. “I don’t want a present.”
“All women want presents.” He sounded scandalized, and his hand flew to his heart in a totally over-the-top gesture of shock, but his eyes twinkled with amusement.
Ignoring the butterflies in her stomach, she heaved an exaggerated sigh and pushed herself up, brushing the grass from her shorts and T-shirt. “I don’t want you buying me things.”
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing compromising. No jewelry or sexy underwear. In fact, I didn’t even have to pay for it.”
Dani couldn’t quite prevent her eyes from straying to the package he carried. No one had ever brought her a present before.
“Here, take it. It’s not going to bite, and I don’t expect any favors in return.”
Dani took it gingerly and turned it over in her hands. It was a small box, maybe six inches square, and had been sent from England. She glanced up to find Zach hovering above her, his hands shoved into his pockets, a faintly expectant gleam in his eyes.
She ripped off the wrapping and inside was an iPod. She picked it up and looked at it curiously, wondering why he would have bought her music.
“Switch it on,” he said.
She did and found that it wasn’t loaded with music but with audio books. She looked down the list and found they were all copies of Zach’s novels, read by Zach himself.
“I had my publisher load them and send them over.”
Dani blinked back a tear; the thoughtfulness behind the gift touched her. She stared at the ground for a long moment. She badly wanted to be alone, but he was still hovering.
“Hey, don’t go all mushy on me,” he said. “Anyway, you’ll probably hate them and they’ll justify your entire opinion of me.”
“Probably.”
“Actually, I’ve got something else for you.”
“You do?” She knew she sounded suspicious, but he definitely looked shifty.
“Hmm, it’s in the car. I thought I’d better wait and see what sort of mood you were in.” He gave her a wink. “Wait here, and don’t move.”
Dani watched him as he hurried across the grass toward his parked car. She looked down at the iPod and clicked one of the books. It came up with a picture of Zach looking much more presentable than he did at the moment, his blond hair immaculately styled but that same smile on his lips, the one that caused her chest to ache. She ran a finger over the screen.
When Zach returned, he was carrying something in his arms, something that wriggled, something he was not entirely happy to be carrying if his body language was anything to go by.
As he got closer, she saw that it was a small dog—white and ginger, about the same size as a toy poodle, but with absolutely no other resemblance to a pampered pooch. Skinny, its hair a mess of tangles, a lost, panicked look in its slightly protuberant brown eyes. Dani had to resist the urge to grab it from him and cuddle the little thing against her. “Don’t tell me you sent for this as well.”
“Nope, found it out on the road by that big skip. I nearly ran it over, but I stopped in time.” He put the animal on the ground at her feet, appearing very pleased to be free of his burden. “It sort of reminded me of you.”
“In what way?”
“Small, red hair, snappy. Tries to pretend it doesn’t like me.”
She looked at the little animal again. “I can’t keep him. I can’t have a pet dog. It wouldn’t fit in with my lifestyle, and where would it live when I go back into the army?”
“Well, I can always put it back outside, or maybe take it down to the local vet and get it put out of its misery. I figure it’s been abandoned. Looks like it hasn’t had a good meal in a long time.” He hunkered down next to her, reaching out a finger to stroke it but withdrawing rapidly as the dog bared its teeth. “Oh well, if no one wants it…”
But Dani was reaching for the dog as he spoke. She was well aware that he was winding her up, shamelessly manipulating her, but it didn’t matter.
“I can’t keep him,” she said again. “It’s not possible. But I can give him some food and a bath and…” She stared at the dog for a minute. “I think I’ll call him Skip, after where you found him.”
She scrambled to her feet, picked up her iPod with one hand, and gathered up the dog with the other. She waited for it to bare its teeth, but it didn’t, just snuggled its little body against her and looked at Zach suspiciously.
“Thanks for the presents.”
“I thought we could…”
But Dani was already hurrying across the lawn.
Chapter Eight
Zach glanced up as she came through the glass doors from the terrace. He was obviously concentrating on the file in his hands, but he smiled and put it down when he saw her.
“Danielle?”
She didn’t bother to correct him.
“I just finished listening to your books and I—” She was interrupted by the door opening to reveal a stunning blonde in a pink bikini.
“Sorry, darling. Am I interrupting?”
Darling? Dani almost felt herself shrink. Blond? Voluptuous? If she wasn’t mistaken, this was Zach’s accountant, last seen floating naked in the pool groping his equally naked ass. The blonde he had told Dani she wouldn’t be bumping into anytime soon. What was she doing here? Stupid question.
“Lauren, come in and meet Dani.”
“Dani?”
“Hmm, she’s one of my bodyguards.”
Lauren strolled across the room, coming to a halt beside Zach and resting a hand on his arm. Dani stared at the point of contact and held herself very still.
“Really?” Lauren said, and the word contained so much disbelief that Dani would have actually smiled, except she had never felt less like smiling in her life.
“So, what did you want, Dani?” Zach asked.
“Nothing, it can wait.” She shook her head and turned to go.
“Dani?”
She paused but didn’t look back. “Yes.”
“You’re coming to dinner tonight.”
“I am?”
“You all are. We’ll see you at seven.”
“We’ll see you at seven,” Dani muttered under her breath as she left. “We” presumably meaning him and Lauren.
She’d been so buoyed up, and now she felt totally deflated. She picked up Skip from where he was sleeping curled up on a chair on the terrace, and set off for a long walk in the hills behind the villa. She walked until her leg ached, following the steep tracks made over hundreds of years by mules and goats. Then she perched on a rock high above the villa and looked down.