Olivia felt herself being lowered to her feet. She did the best she could to land steadily and not make a further fool of herself by toppling over in front of his family.
She shook Jake’s hand as firmly as she could. “How do you do, Jake.” She hoped somebody would introduce her to the rest of the family before Zack rushed her off to get their business done.
“This is Marc, the baby.” Zack indicated another man, lounging against the marble hearth. The pretty blond woman moved to his side and he draped an arm about her.
“The baby?” Marc made a disgruntled face. “Remember, Zack, I’m not above contaminating your orange juice with a flu virus.” He grinned at Olivia. “Besides enjoying the questionable honor of being the baby of the family, I’m the resident doctor and this is Mimi, my wife.”
“It’s wonderful to meet you, Olivia,” Mimi said with a smile. “I guess your leg isn’t too badly hurt?”
Olivia was confused at first, then realized what Mimi meant. She shook her head, embarrassed. “There’s nothing wrong. I just—” She felt ridiculous. “High heels and lawns don’t mix well.”
“I see.” Mimi’s smile widened and she eyed Zack. “How gallant! We seem to have a regular Sir Walter Ralegh in the family.”
Olivia noted Zack’s tan deepen in a flush of unease. With a grunt of what had to be displeasure, he thrust an arm toward the redheaded woman who’d seated herself on the sofa next to the dozing toddler. “This is Susan, Jake’s wife.”
The redhead nodded and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you in person, Olivia. Mimi and I went into Portland the week before last and saw the movie.” She cast Zack a sly look. “That’s a taboo subject around here, but we loved it. Don’t you think Angela Cassio was perfect as you?”
Olivia was embarrassed to be repeatedly compared with Hollywood’s latest hot property. “I haven’t seen the movie. It’s somewhat of a—” she bit her lip, trying to come up with phrasing less harsh than her father’s “—a sore point at our house. Daddy was going to sue until he found out Aaron Scott was playing him, and Shellie Shipley was to be my mother—Daddy’s loved Ms. Shipley ever since she played that spunky, blue-collar worker in that factory strike movie. He’d never been a fan of Aaron Scott’s TV cop show—too wild and disrespectful but Mr. Scott is handsome so daddy decided to defer to the movie with benevolent tolerance…” She realized her anxiety was making her babble and she cut herself off, murmuring, “Anyway, I haven’t seen it.” Desperately wanting to change the subject, she faced the gray-haired man. “And this is your father, Zachary?”
The older man had gone back to rattling the toy over the infant’s head. At Olivia’s remark, he looked up, his silver eyebrows knitting.
A backdrop of discordant jazz seemed strangely apropos in the conversational rift. Finally, Zack spoke. “Olivia Nordstrom, meet George Merit, our father.”
George nodded at her but said nothing, so Olivia merely smiled and nodded back, wondering at the antagonism she sensed between George Merit and his middle son—and evidently anybody he carried into a room. The elder Merit seemed annoyed at her. Of course, he might simply have strong political views that didn’t agree with the senator’s. She’d run up against that mind-set often enough that it didn’t bother her any longer.
“The baby is Benjamin,” Zack went on. “Ben’s the newest Merit, compliments of Susan and Jake.”
“And the sweetheart sleeping on the sofa?” Olivia asked, kneeling to caress Ben’s downy head.
“Kyle is our big boy.” Susan smoothed the child’s hair and glanced at Jake with what Olivia could only describe as adoration. Jake winked at his wife, and even Olivia felt the sensual promise in the act. She swallowed hard and stood, swaying slightly.
She felt light-headed, which wasn’t surprising since she hadn’t had time to eat all day. Readjusting her handbag strap she returned to Zack’s side, certain he wanted to get the press release written. She gave him an “I’m ready whenever you are” look. “We probably should get to work, don’t you think?”
“Right.” He glanced around at those gathered. “If you’ll excuse us, Liv and I have a press release to compose.”
“Really?” Mimi asked. “About what?”
“About our amicable breakup,” Zack said without smiling.
“Oh?” Susan asked. “That’s too bad. I’m sorry to hear you’re not going to try to work things out.”
Zack stared at Susan, his expression so shocked she might as well have announced that Olivia was pregnant with his child.
After a second, Susan burst out laughing. “Lighten up. I was kidding.”
His eyebrows furrowed for an instant before his features returned to some semblance of normal. Even so, Olivia could see irritation in the set of his jaw and the flare of his nostrils.
All of a sudden, he had two noses. How bizarre! She blinked to clear her vision, but it didn’t help. Now he had two mouths and two sets of narrowed eyes. She shook her head and tried to refocus, but it only got worse. This time both of Zack’s heads spun and the motion made her sick to her stomach.
She felt hot all over—no, cold—no, clammy. Raising ponderously heavy hands to her temples, she rubbed. Her fingers were icy. “Zack…” she whispered, “I don’t…”
The world went black.
CHAPTER THREE
“YOU did what?” Zack couldn’t believe Marc was serious.
“I called Olivia’s father and told him she would be here for at least a week.”
Stunned, Zack stared at his younger brother. “Why in hell would you do that?”
“She fainted, Zack.” Marc clasped his brother on the shoulder. “Being a big celebrity, you may think seeing women faint at your feet is an everyday event, but it’s not.” He removed his hand, his grin rueful. “I’m a doctor. I went to school to know these things. That woman has worked herself nearly to death. She needs rest and nourishment. I suspect she’s anemic. In a week or two I can get her back to normal.”
“Can’t she get rest and nourishment in California?”
“Apparently she can’t, and I don’t intend to send her back to the people who ran her down.” Marc eyed his brother. “What’s your problem with having her here, anyway?”
Zack wasn’t sure what his problem was, but he sure had one. “I don’t know, she’s…” He frowned, shaking his head. “She’s…” He had no idea why he didn’t want her there. It just seemed like every time she fell into his life, trouble tumbled in with her.
“She’s what—beautiful and intelligent?” Marc chuckled. “Yeah, I can see where that might get on a man’s nerves.”
Unamused, Zack stared at his brother. “That doesn’t bother me,” he said, knowing that wasn’t totally true. He had no problem with her good looks, or her brains, for that matter. So what if she was a magna cum whatever from Yale? Who cared if, according to something he’d read, she was a financial wizard—with soul-stirring eyes and kiss-me lips? Big deal if he was a hotheaded dare-devil with only one real talent—the ability to drive anything, from a speedboat to an airplane.
He experienced a stab of distress. Who was he kidding? Maybe his talent had garnered him a degree of fame and money over the years, but she