was on the board of several charities focused on children’s issues. With her husband at her side, she attended all sorts of events. Although Zoe had seen her many times over the years, they ran in completely different circles and never crossed paths. Zoe couldn’t imagine what she could possibly say to engage such a brilliant, successful lawyer.
Whatever interests Ryan Dailey pursued in his personal life, he kept a tight lid on his activities. Zoe had found no trace of his love life in the media, but she suspected like so many wealthy and powerful men, he liked arm candy. Beautiful and sexy women that were meant to be showed off. They accentuated a man’s virility.
But Ryan Dailey didn’t need help in that department.
Zoe cursed as she noted her breathlessness. “Everyone seemed really busy yesterday,” she explained.
“I’m glad you came back.”
The fact that he sounded sincere combined with the keen interest in his gray eyes sent a shiver of awareness through her.
To Zoe’s dismay, she recognized what lay beneath the shrilling of her nerves: attraction. It sizzled through her like lightning, awakening a fever she’d never known with her husband. Their marriage hadn’t been a love match. He’d chosen her for reasons he’d made clear in the months following their wedding and in the beginning she’d been both flattered that he’d found her desirable and naïve enough to believe that feeling affection for her husband was enough for her to be happily married.
She’d never make that mistake again.
Zoe wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted out of her next long-term relationship, but she’d never be with anyone who trifled with her emotions or damaged her self-esteem in any way.
“I am, too,” Zoe said. “Tonya was just filling me in on some of the things I could do to help out.”
“So you’re going to be a regular?”
“I’d like that,” Zoe said, glancing Tonya’s way to escape his intense scrutiny.
The turmoil raging inside her from her subterfuge, her guilt and her body’s chemical reaction to Ryan was a volatile mix. Zoe set her palms together and slid her hands between her thighs to hide their shaking.
“And we’re happy to have her,” Tonya said, her attention remaining fixed on Ryan.
“Hey, Tonya, could you come here a second?” a man called from across the room.
“Excuse me,” she said, getting to her feet. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” This last part she added with a wry smile in Ryan’s direction.
With Tonya’s departure, Zoe expected Ryan to head off, as well. Instead, he dropped into the chair Tonya had vacated and glanced at the paperwork Zoe had filled out. He glanced up and noticed her watching him. His lopsided smile made her pulse skip.
“I was afraid when you left yesterday that I’d never see you again,” he said, the admission making her heart race.
“It just didn’t seem like the right time to be here,” she murmured, barely able to hear herself over the litany of alerts blaring in her mind.
“Do you want to grab a cup of coffee when you’re done here?”
Her initial unguarded reaction was jubilation and she goggled at his invitation like a smitten fool. Ryan was an incredibly sexy man and any woman would be thrilled that he wanted to spend time with her.
But did it make sense that he was interested in her? Not Zoe Crosby the wealthy socialite, but plain Zoe Alston with her spiky hair and inexpensive clothing. In her current state, she recognized she wasn’t in his league and he had to know that. So what was his angle and how did she go about finding out without tipping her hand?
Everly had warned her that Ryan was bound to be suspicious if Zoe came on too strong, so she intended to focus all her attention on getting on Susannah’s good side. She’d never imagined that Ryan might be interested in her and this odd turn left her tongue-tied while she rethought her strategy.
“Don’t look so alarmed,” he said, misreading her hesitation. “I’m harmless. Ask anyone here.”
“I’m not sure harmless is an accurate description of you,” she said.
“No? Then what would you say that I am?”
Charming. Sexy. Irresistible.
Or if Everly was right, he was predatory, manipulative and cruel.
Zoe couldn’t picture him like that.
“You seem quite nice.”
He laughed. “The way you say that it almost seems like an insult.”
“It’s not.” Her cheeks felt overly warm. “I like nice.”
His white teeth flashed in a smile that heated her blood and drew her in until she caught herself leaning into his space. Silver glinted in his gray eyes, mesmerizing her.
“Good,” he murmured. “Because I want you to like me.”
It unnerved her to discover that she craved his company and that her motivation wasn’t due to any revenge plot she’d embroiled herself in. Zoe recognized that her interest in Ryan was purely female and driven by an instinct as old as time. She fingered her short hair and struggled against the pull of his charisma.
“I’m not sure how long they need me to stick around today,” she hedged, glancing in Tonya’s direction. The woman watched Zoe and Ryan with interest.
“I’ll wait.” His gray eyes remained fixed on her and their steadiness made Zoe fidget.
“I’m sure you have much better things to do than hang around and wait for me,” she said. “Don’t you have a company to run?”
He deflected her brush-off with a lazy grin. “One perk of being the boss is that I set my own schedule.”
His utter confidence was turning her on. Zoe shifted in her chair. This would not do. There was too much at stake for her to become distracted by an attack of lust.
“Or if you’d prefer,” he continued, his deep voice turning her bones—and willpower—to mush. “We could have dinner.”
Zoe compelled her gaze to shift away from the determined glint in his eyes, but the damage was done. His unrelenting focus had struck a match to the dry tinder of loneliness she’d endured in her marriage.
“Sure.” The word came out in a breathless rush before her thoughts caught up to her emotions. “I mean—”
A broad smile bloomed on his face. “Too late,” he said, cutting her off. “Tonight at seven?”
“I’m busy tonight,” she lied, remembering that she shouldn’t appear too eager.
“Tomorrow?”
“You’re awfully determined, aren’t you?” She tried to act as if she wasn’t flattered by his persistence while a traitorous thrill pulsed deep inside her, setting her nerves to jangling and twisting her stomach into knots.
“I’m used to getting my way.”
Indeed. Which was why she’d be wise to keep her wits about her and her defenses on high alert. Her purpose in joining the campaign was to hurt him by causing his sister damage. An eye for an eye, Everly had said.
Zoe hadn’t taken into account how difficult it would be to exact revenge on someone she found herself liking. She had to remember that Ryan was a bad guy like her ex-husband. Focusing on that would make it a lot easier to take him down.
Instead she caught herself daydreaming about his handsome face and gorgeous body. But more worrisome than her double-crossing libido was the way his wry humor made her smile and his easy confidence bypassed her defenses. Add in his devotion to his sister and he appeared to be quite the catch.
The