He’d once told her he’d been wild as a teenager, but Iona couldn’t imagine him being violent. It simply didn’t jibe with the man she had come to know—because beneath Zane’s lazy, devilishly sexy charm was a man who always strived to keep his emotions on lockdown. It was what made seducing him such a delicious challenge. But now she was beginning to wonder if his control wasn’t a symptom of something painful and much more deep-seated than simply a desire to be in charge in bed.
‘Do you think Zane might have been in shock?’ Iona asked. ‘And that’s why he lashed out?’
‘No, it’s more complicated than that.’ Tess shook her head. ‘Nate’s convinced he already knew who his father was. Which is why Nate refuses to mention it to Zane again. Zane rejected their connection once, in the most graphic way possible—so Nate reverted to the Guy Code to salvage their friendship.’
‘The Guy Code?’
‘Avoidance as the better part of valour.’ Tess got up from the stool to bounce Brandon on her hip, who had become a little fussy now his second cookie had been demolished. ‘They pretend it never happened.’ Tess scoffed. ‘Which is patently counterproductive, but Nate refuses to budge.’ She pulled a multicoloured rattle out of her purse, and waved it in front of Brandon—who grabbed it and wedged it into his mouth.
‘So you thought you might be able to persuade Zane to talk about it instead?’ Iona said as realisation dawned. ‘By making sure he comes to the christening?’
‘Yes, Brandon’s even named after him—Zane’s his middle name—so I thought if he came he might…’ Tess plopped back on her stool, her son now drooling contentedly over the chew-toy. ‘It’s a stupid idea, isn’t it?’ she said, resigned. ‘Zane makes Nate look like an amateur when it comes to avoidance.’ She pushed out a breath. ‘But seriously, I’m desperate. I feel like there’s this big elephant in the room every time we see him, and, while the two of them are busy avoiding it, I keep tripping over it. I want to know why they can’t be brothers as well as friends. And I think Nate does too, although of course he won’t say so. But it’s worse than that. A week ago Nate asked Zane to be Bran’s godfather and he point-blank refused—I think they had a bit of a row about it, in fact, but of course Nate won’t talk about that either now.’
‘When is the christening?’ Iona asked, knowing she shouldn’t be interfering, but not quite able to stop herself.
She liked Tess. Had warmed to her instantly, in fact, even when she had believed she might be the mother of Zane’s son. And could totally sympathise with Tess’s frustration—because she’d been on the receiving end of Zane’s stone-walling too.
But more importantly than that, her heart ached for Zane. Why was he so determined to isolate himself, not just from Nate and his nephew, but also from his mother’s family too?
Hearing Tess talk about his reaction to Nate’s news had reminded her of the tense, distant way he had handled Maria’s family at the quinceañera. The more people reached out to him, it seemed, the more he tried to pull away. What was it that made it so hard for him to let people get close?
Iona didn’t think for a second that she had any special insight into the answer. But she knew it wasn’t a good thing. Zane needed that in his life, she knew he did, because during their lovemaking, on those rare occasions when Zane’s guard was down, she got a tiny glimpse of all those needs that he was busy pretending didn’t exist.
Maybe it was foolish of her, but she wanted to help him in whatever small way she could. Surely that was the least she could do, after the many ways in which he had helped her?
‘The christening’s next Thursday, the twenty-fifth,’ Tess said.
‘Right,’ Iona replied, trying to think of how she could bring it up with Zane.
‘Do you think you could get him to come?’ Tess asked, her eyes lighting with enthusiasm. ‘I know it’s a big ask—and I shouldn’t really involve you in all this—but I’m all out of ideas.’
‘I’ll give him the invite.’ She picked the envelope up. ‘And make sure he reads it. I’m afraid that’s all I can promise.’ She didn’t hold out much hope of persuading Zane to do anything, especially as she was only a casual fling. But surely it couldn’t hurt to at least try.
‘That’s brilliant, Iona, and so sweet of you.’
‘Do you want to give me your phone number, and I’ll let you know if I have any luck?’
‘Yes, of course.’ Tess whipped out her mobile phone and they exchanged numbers. ‘So now you need to tell me more about you and Zane.’
‘Oh, there’s really nothing much to tell. We’re just a casual thing…’ she said, the words oddly leaden on her tongue all of a sudden…‘It’s no serious. Which is why I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high about me being able to persuade Zane to come to the christening.’
She tried to shrug off the melancholy thought. She needed to keep a good firm grip on the fact that, however much she might want to help Tess, Zane’s family wasn’t her family.
‘But that’s…’ Tess’s mouth pursed into a thin line. ‘That’s silly. How can you possibly be a casual thing when you’re living in his house?’
‘It’s not really significant,’ Iona said, prevaricating deliberately. Even though she knew Zane and her weren’t serious, had never been serious, she didn’t want to tell Tess exactly how not serious they were.
‘But you’re sleeping together? Aren’t you?’
‘Aye, but only because…’ God, why did their arrangement suddenly sound a little sordid? ‘Well, it’s fun and convenient.’ And casual…Remember casual.
Tess blinked. ‘Iona, now this is just me being nosey, and obviously I’ve only just met you. But did Zane ever mention his Golden Rules to you?’
‘Golden Rules? No.’
Tess let Brandon wriggle down off her lap, and watched him crawl over to C.D., before turning her attention back to Iona. ‘Okay, this is second-hand, because Zane told these to Nate and then I managed to shoehorn them out of Nate when I said how odd I thought it was that Zane had never been snared by some lucky woman. You know, because he’s so available and so confident with women and so handsome and so ridiculously sexy—I mean, the man’s practically got a sign on him that says “I can make you come till you pass out.”’
Iona laughed, while at the same time feeling her cheeks heat.