A Perfect Husband by Fiona Brand

hiding out from the press.
    His frustration level increasing when there was stil no response, he cut through the adjacent property, another shabby warehouse, and pushed through the broken fence into Lilah’s backyard.
    He examined the bifold doors and windows, which were locked and blanked out by thick drapes. He rapped on the door and tried cal ing. When there was no answer he walked back around to the front door and pressed buzzers until he got an answer from one of the other apartments.
    A voice like a rusty nail being slowly extracted from a sheet of iron informed him that Lilah had left the country.
    Her apartment was now empty, if he wanted to rent it.
    Zane terminated the conversation and strode back to the Corvette. A quick cal to Lucas answered the question that was threatening to aggravate his newly discovered anger problem.
    “Lilah has flown to Medinos. She’s agreed to head up the new Ambrosi Pearls facility.”
    Zane’s fingers tightened on his cel . “Who made the arrangement?”
    “I did. I’l be flying out to Medinos in the next few days to check that she’s settling in.”
    A snapping sound informed Zane that he had just broken one of the hinges that attached the LCD screen to the body of his phone. “Carla won’t be happy.”
    That was an understatement. Carla Ambrosi was known for her passionate outbursts. But whatever Carla might feel about Lucas’s continuing involvement with Lilah didn’t come close to Zane’s level of unhappiness.
    “After the crazy stuff the tabloids have been printing,”
    Lucas said grimly, “the less Carla knows about Lilah the better. I’m organizing for her to spend some time with her mother here when I fly out to Medinos.”
    Zane’s stomach tightened. Which meant Carla would be conveniently out of the way for Lucas’s meeting with Lilah.
    “When did Lilah leave?”
    “Today.”
    Zane terminated the conversation and placed a cal to Elena. Within seconds she had located the information he wanted. The only flight out of Sydney to Medinos that day had already departed.
    Tossing the phone on the passenger seat, Zane slid behind the wheel and accelerated away from the curb. Lilah had left that morning, but her flight was long, with a three-hour stopover in Singapore and another shorter stop in Dubai. Using the Atraeus private jet, he would easily reach Medinos before her.
    Whatever ideas his brother might have of conducting a clandestine affair with Lilah, Zane was certain of one fact.
    Lilah hadn’t chosen to give herself to Lucas; she had given herself to him.
    He, also, had made a choice when he had made love with Lilah. He wanted her, and after two years, one night had not been enough. One thing was certain: he was not about to let Lucas entice Lilah away.
    Satisfaction curled in his stomach as the decision settled in. If he’d had any reservations, in that moment they were gone.
    The complication of Lilah’s virginity and marriage plan aside, he was final y going to live up to the reputation of his marauding ancestor.

    Lilah was his, and he was taking her.

    * * *
Lilah stepped into the air-conditioned terminal on Medinos.
    Almost immediately she was accosted by a uniformed security guard, a holstered gun on one thigh.
    Exhausted from the long nerve-racking flight, during which she had only been able to sleep in snatches, she accompanied the officer to a smal , sterile interview room.
    Several fruitless questions later, because the guard’s English was limited and her Medinian was close to nonexistent, she resigned herself to wait. The one piece of information she had gleaned was that, apparently, they were waiting for a member of the Atraeus family.
    Minutes later, her frustration levels rising, her luggage, along with a foam cup of coffee, was delivered to the interview room and an airport official showed up to personal y process her arrival papers. As the official handed her stamped passport back, the door opened.
    Zane, dressed in dark jeans and a