Star Attraction by Sorcha MacMurrough Read Free Book Online

watching her intently.
    “None, except possibly past
experience,” Zaira said, her tone bitter
    “Do you want to tell me about it?”
    She decided he deserved the
truth.   After all, Zaira was, however
much she regretted it, still married to Jonathan, and therefore unavailable;
she could not start divorce proceedings against him because she had no idea
where her ex was.   She didn’t even
know if he was still alive!
    “My life fell apart about eighteen
months ago, completely unexpectedly.   I was married, we had an advertising agency, the best of everything. I
woke up one morning to find it all gone,” she said in a low voice.
    He was silent for a moment, and
then said, “Married?   That man at
the party?”
    Zaira shook her head and said,
“No, you don’t know him.   He left
one morning, on the pretext of going to work, and never came back.   Then the police came, the fraud squad,
the debt collectors.   He owed
everyone, had taken everything, had cheated dozens of clients.   I’ve been paying it all off ever
since.   He even took my scholarship
money when he went, and cleaned me out completely.  
    "The man you met at the party
is my old tutor and boss.   Raymond
saved my life.   He’s given me a
job, a place to live, generous lecture fees, and support throughout the whole
bankruptcy and fraud case,” Zaira revealed in a shaky voice.
    “No wonder you look as though
you’ve been through a terrible shock,” Brad said sympathetically, after a long
pause.   “The man must have been an
absolute beast!”
    “Not when I first met him, at one
of those parties like the one we had last night.   Then he was charming, very much the Southern gentleman,
ambitious, admired my academic talents, and my English skills.   I helped him set up the business, and then
pursued my own academic career.  
    “It was a lovely jet-setting
lifestyle from here to London, Cambridge and back again, but that meant I
didn’t know exactly what was going on with the business until it was too
late.   By the time I paid attention
to my instincts and realized that something was wrong, he was gone.   The police searched everywhere, but he
had disappeared.   I sold everything
I owned, down to my last scrap of jewellery, my last designer dress, my last
stick of furniture.”   Zaira
fidgeted with her glass in silence for a few moments, not daring to look at
him.
    “How awful for you.   Didn’t you have any family or friends
to help?” Brad said, shaking his head.
    “My mother died of cancer when I
was sixteen.   I never knew my
father.   He died of tuberculosis
just before I was born.   It was a
pretty tough childhood, but to be honest, it helped me get through the bad
times after Jonathan left me destitute.   I was never interested in those sorts of glamorous things anyway, so it
didn’t bother me when they went.   They had caused part of the problem in the first place, with Jonathan
wanting more and more.    
    “With the money I got for our
things, I paid off as much of the debt as possible, and made sure the staff got
something.   At least they found me
innocent of any of my husband’s dishonest practices, so I didn’t end up going
to jail, though for a time it looked as though I might,” Zaira said with a
sigh.
    “So you will let me help you,
then, and accept my offer?”   Brad
urged.
    “It looks like I don’t have a choice
either way, does it?” Zaira smiled up at his concerned frown.
    “That’s right,” he said,
grinning.   “I’m not a man who takes
no for an answer.   Now, go out and
spend some of that money on yourself, get a new hairstyle or something.”
    Zaira bristled, and Brad
immediately regretted what he had said.   She remembered the remark he had made before about her being gorgeous if
only she would do something about her appearance.   But she did want him to be physically attracted to her?
    “Look, I may have agreed to be your
personal assistant, but I refuse to be done up like