Page 1 of Zane

Chapter 1

It was a pretty night. A damn pretty night, he mused. From where he was lounging, he could see the pretty oleander bushes and the wisteria climbing the dazzling white of the gazebo latticed walls. Birds chirped along with the trickle of water from the nearby stream. Tipping his head up to guzzle ice-cold beer, he admired the midnight blue sky with the covering of what seemed to be a million stars. A half-moon gilded the trees shrouding the clearing.

Yeah, a pretty night indeed and not too hot. The breeze was already stirring the leaves and cooling his skin. He had gone for a run earlier, and the sweat was already drying up. His peace was suddenly shattered as twin headlights pierced the encroaching darkness.

His breath hissed out in an impatient sigh, and he watched with narrowed eyes as the car slid to a stop and his sister alighted.

She was picture perfect in her chic, expensive suit, her raven dark hair, the exact shade as his, pulled back into an elegant chignon at the nape of her long, graceful neck. Picking her way carefully along the cobbled pathway, Zoe Stanhope walked toward him.

"You're taking the fact that I'm not going to send you packing for granted," he said. "What do you want?"

Unperturbed by his grouchiness, she leaned down to kiss him on the lips before snagging his beer and pulling up a chair. "Hello to you too."

"Zoe-" Grabbing his beer, he slurped. "What the hell are you doing here, invading my privacy?"

"I stopped by to see you."

"You saw me yesterday," he pointed out.

"You're my brother and I happen to love you."

"Love you back. Now stop the bullshit and tell me why you're really here. If it has anything to do with the argument between our parents-"

"They're upset." She turned pleading tawny eyes toward him, the twin of his. "All they're asking is that you show up for the occasional board meetings. You're the heir, darling. Doesn't that make a difference to you?"

"None whatsoever." His peace shattered, he surged to his feet and started pacing. "I just want to be left alone, for Christ's sake! Is that too much to ask?"

Zoe had known she was wandering into the lion's den when she decided to come and try to reason with him. But she hated that he and their parents were constantly at odds.

"The occasional board meetings, Zane, that's all they're asking. I don't think that it's an unreasonable request. You don't practice law with the company, you live out here in a trailer park, you hardly ever make it to family dinners, and you hang out with roughnecks. You're Zane Stanhope-"

"Let me stop you right there." He sat back down and took another swallow of his beer. "The name has nothing to do with who I choose to be. The 'roughnecks' you refer to are people I happen to respect and like. They might not be up to your standards, but that doesn't concern me. I go to them and in respect to the family, I don't invite them for afternoon tea at the manor. I'm living my life, my way, and I don't appreciate my own sister trying to change the way I am."

Huffing out a breath, Zoe stretched her spectacular legs out and crossed them at the ankles.

"The occasional board meetings, Zane."

He glared at her, but she withstood the blast from his tawny eyes and held her ground.

"You're a royal pain in the ass," he grunted.

Sensing victory, she leaned over and tipped her head to his shoulder. He smelled like sweat and his own exclusive cologne, something masculine and elusive. His hair was too long, but he refused to have it trimmed, and she suspected he had recently come back from a run. The thick raven curls were tied back with a thong at the nape of his neck. When worn loose, they tumbled in an untidy heap past his shoulders.

"It's so serene."

"Kinda why I like it," he murmured. Sighing softly, he put an arm around her shoulders. He could not stay mad at her. She was his Zo-Zo, the little brat of a sister who had followed him around when they were little. He had been an only child for two years, and from the moment he saw her, her reddened face scrunched up in anger, he had melted. She had been his to protect and cherish from that point forward, and he had never shirked his responsibilities where she was concerned.

"I'm surprised there're no visitors."

He grinned at the diplomatic way she termed it.

"I felt like being alone. And there have not been any 'visitors' in several months." When she lifted her head to stare at him, he lifted thick dark brows. "What?"

Shaking her head, she poked a finger at the dip in his chin. "Just surprised, that's all."

"You think I'm incapable of being by myself?"

"Women chase after you," she pointed out. "I suppose it's that bad boy, devil-may-care look. Oh, and these awful tattoos." She stroked a finger over the one at his neck, a lightning bolt in blue and red colored ink. He had several others that she knew of, one on the flat plane of his stomach and another on his upper left arm. It had been a source of contention to his very staid and proper family, not to mention the tiny hoop in his pierced left lobe.