A Facade to Shatter(24)
CHAPTER SIX
ZACH LIVED IN a sprawling house in Virginia. It was gated, with manicured green lawns and a view of the Potomac River. Here, the Potomac was still close to the source and was wilder and freer than it had been in Washington. It tumbled over huge boulders, rushing and gurgling toward the city where it would become wide, placid and subject to Chesapeake tides.
Lia stood in a room that overlooked the backyard and the cliffs of the Potomac. Glass doors opened onto a wide stone balcony that ran the length of the house. Immediately outside was a small seating area, with a chair and a table. Perfect for reading.
The gardens weren’t overly ornate, but there were a lot of gorgeous flowering plants in manicured beds. Roses bloomed in profusion along two stone walls, red and pink and white. Fat flowering hydrangeas, blue and pink, sat in the shade beneath tall trees, and a host of bright annuals bloomed in beds that ran down toward the river.
Lia’s fingers itched. She wanted to lose herself in the garden, to go dig into the dirt and forget all about Zach Scott and the Correttis for a while.
But that was impossible right now.
She hadn’t seen Zach since she’d arrived. A chauffeur had come to get her at the hotel earlier, after a terse call from Zach informing her to be ready. Once she’d arrived, a uniformed maid had showed her to this room and offered to put her things away. Lia only had one suitcase and a carry-on, so she didn’t really have much with her. She’d declined and hung everything herself.
Now she felt like she was in stasis. Just waiting for something to happen. The garden called to her, but she resisted. What would Zach think if he came looking for her and she was on her knees in the dirt?
As the minutes dragged by, she resolved to go out on the balcony and run her fingers through the potted geraniums and lavender, just for something to do, but a knock at her door stopped her. “Yes?” she called.
The door opened and Zach stood there, tall, handsome and brooding as ever. Lia folded her arms over her chest and waited.
“If you’ve no objection, I’ve brought a doctor who is going to take a blood sample.”
“Why?”
Zach came into the room, his hands shoved into the pockets of his faded jeans. Dio, he was sexy. Lia shook herself and tried not to think about him that way. She failed, naturally. Her heart thumped and pumped and her bones loosened in the shell of her skin.
“There is a paternity test that will isolate the baby’s DNA from your blood. Just to be certain, you realize.”
Lia lifted her chin. “I have nothing to hide.”
It hurt, of course, that he didn’t believe her. But if a test would erase all doubt, she was for it. Not only that, but she also looked forward to the apology he would have to make when the test proved he was this baby’s father.
“I’ll bring her up, then.”
“Yes, do.”
He left and then returned a few minutes later with a smiling woman who took Lia’s blood and asked her questions about how she was feeling. Once it was over, and the woman was gone, Lia was left with Zach.
“I have an important dinner to attend tonight,” he told her. “You will accompany me.”
Lia swallowed. She wasn’t accustomed to large gatherings. Aside from the wedding-that-wasn’t, and a few family things that happened once a year, she spent most of her time alone or with her grandmother.
“I don’t have anything to wear,” she said. She didn’t even know what kind of dinner it was, but if it was anything like that gathering she’d crashed last night, she knew she didn’t have anything appropriate. She’d put on the nicest thing she had for that event.
Zach didn’t look perturbed. “There is time. I’ll send you to my mother’s personal shopper.”
“That is not necessary,” she said, though in truth she wouldn’t begin to know where to start in this city.
“I think it is, Lia. It’ll go much faster if you simply let her help you pick out what you need. For tonight, you’ll need formal wear. But select a range of clothing appropriate for various events.”
“And do you attend many events?” she asked, her heartbeat spiking at the thought of being out among so many people so frequently.
Plants she understood. People not so much.
His eyes were flat. “I am a Scott. And a returning war hero. My presence is in demand quite often, I’m afraid.”
She didn’t miss the way his voice slid over the words war hero. It was like they were oily, evil words for some reason. As if he hated them.