Almost Home (23 page)
"Well, now, who's this? Your girlfriend?"
Veronica asked.
"This is Katherine Whitfield."
Veronica pursed her lips. "Now, where have I
heard that name before?"
"Probably from my father," Zach said. "He
seems to think he's Katherine's long-lost daddy."
The confusion on Veronica's face cleared almost
immediately. "Oh, that's right, the lonely little rich girl."
Katherine didn't like the description or the pitying
tone in Veronica's voice. "Do you happen to know if Mr. Tyler ever had a
vasectomy?"
Veronica sent her a sultry grin. "Why don't you
just ask him, honey?" she said, nodding to Zach.
"I don't mean
that
Mr. Tyler,"
Katherine said hurriedly, trying to ignore Zach's amused expression. "I'm
not interested in his…"
Lord, she was getting herself in deeper by the minute.
"How could you not be interested?" Veronica
asked. "Why, this is one choice hunk of a man."
Katherine swallowed and shifted her feet. "I'm
talking about Jackson Tyler, his father. Zach thought you might know if
vasectomy."
"Now, why would I know that? Do I look like the
kind of woman who asks a man such private questions?"
"Well…"
Again, Katherine
had no idea what to say.
Zach finally helped her out. He reached into his
pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and stuck it in Veronica's cleavage.
"To apologize for my friend's poor choice of words," he said. Then he
pulled out another hundred. "Now, I'm guessing a lady such as yourself
would probably have heard a few things over the years."
"A few," Veronica admitted, clearly
appeased. "But sometimes it's difficult to remember."
Zach pulled out another hundred. "Will this help?"
She tucked the money down her shirt. "Now, you
know your daddy never liked any loose ends, Zach. He made sure of that early
on."
"That's what I thought."
"So he had a vasectomy?" Katherine asked.
Zach sighed. "Katherine."
"I'm sorry. I didn't get the same script you and
Veronica did."
"I like her," Veronica said unexpectedly. "I'm
glad she's not your sister." Veronica walked over to the candy display and
picked up a package of condoms. "Do you need a room to go with these?"
"He most definitely does not need a room," Katherine
said, outraged by the proposition. She stalked to the front door.
"I guess not," Zach said with a dry smile.
Veronica took the money out of her cleavage and handed it back to Zach. "You
know you don't have to pay me for
information, honey. I was just having fun with you."
"I know. But keep it
anyway."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
Veronica pressed the
package into his hand. "I have a feeling you might need these later,"
she said, eyeing Katherine.
Zach kissed her on the
cheek. "Thanks. Take care of yourself."
"You, too, Zachary."
Katherine slammed the door
as they left the hotel.
"What's got you so
steamed?" Zach asked.
"Do you seriously
think I'm going to help you use glow-in-the-dark condoms any time soon?"
Zach started laughing as he
looked down at the package in his hand. "Mm-mm, might be interesting."
"That woman is
outrageous. And you, you practically buried yourself in her breasts."
"Jealous, Kat?"
"Don't be ridiculous.
I don't care what you do."
"Well, at least you're
not my sister."
"Thank God."
"Of course, that opens
the door to other possibilities," he said with a laugh.
"In your dreams."
She climbed into his truck and slammed the door.
Zach got in more slowly and
set the condoms on the seat between them.
"You can throw those away," Katherine said.
"I don't think so."
"We're not—"
"Who said anything about you and me?"
She sat back in her seat, feeling as if there were
smoke coming out of her ears. She was angry, annoyed, jealous. The thought took
her by surprise. She was not jealous. She didn't care what Zach did. His
personal life was his personal business.
After a moment, she picked up the package of condoms
and placed them in her purse.
Zach sent her a curious look. "What are you going
to do with those?"
"Throw them away."
"In your purse?"
"They're disgusting."
"What's really bothering you?"
"Nothing is bothering
me."
"Really? You look
pretty hot and bothered to me." Zach leaned over in his seat. "What
are you thinking about?"
She was thinking about him
and a very vital piece of his anatomy encased in a bright green
glow-in-the-dark beanie. She started to smile, then to laugh, breaking the
tension between them.
Zach grinned back at her. "I
don't want to know."
"Do men actually like
those?"
"Beats me. They're not
my usual brand."
Her laughter stopped
abruptly at the gleam in his eye. "Don't get any ideas. Just because we
now have condoms doesn't mean anything."
"The condoms didn't
give me any ideas. You did."
"Me?"
"Yes, you, innocent
little seductive you."
Katherine felt her heart begin to pound against her
chest. "Zach, maybe we should go home."
"My thoughts exactly."
"I mean you to your home and me to the hotel."
"That doesn't sound like fun."
"It sounds safe to me."
"And that's important?"
She thought about his question. "I think so."
"You don't sound sure," he said, but he
started the truck and shifted into drive.
"I'm not sure about anything anymore," she
replied as they headed down the street. She'd come to
to be finding a lot more than that.
Chapter
12
K
atherine felt too unsettled
to say anything more,
and Zach remained quiet,
concentrating on weaving his way through the city traffic. She'd grown up in
and traveled through cities far bigger than
in
now too rushed, too crowded, too noisy. She was ready to go home—to the valley
that had stolen her heart. Or was it to the man who had stolen her heart?
She cast a quick glance at Zach, wondering why she was
so attracted to him, not just physically but emotionally. He wasn't the kind of
man she usually went out with it. Most of her dates had been easygoing, no mood
swings, no grumbling, no big obsessions. They'd been average, run-of-the-mill,
boring men.
But not Zach. No, he wasn't dull. He had an exciting
body, a sharp mind, a dry sense of humor, and a passion that drove him. She
liked that about him. Winning the
matter. But he wouldn't quit. He wouldn't let the bad odds or the naysayers
change his game plan, shift his dream.
With the exception of her search for her father, she
couldn't remember going after anything so determinedly. She'd changed her plans
for college when Mitchell asked her to go to his alma mater. Her plans to
become a florist had transformed into a job at her stepfather's firm. Even her
condo had been chosen by her stepmother, and wanting to please, Katherine had
gone along with the purchase. How had she ever let all her dreams die so
easily?
She wouldn't give up her dream of finding her father.
She'd see this one to the end, no matter what she discovered. This time she
would go for broke. At least then maybe she could look at herself in the mirror
with some sense of pride.
A commercial blared on the radio, and she and Zach
both reached for the knob at the same time, their fingers colliding, the brief
touch setting off another heat wave in the truck.
"I'll get it," Zach said.
Katherine put her hand back in her lap, feeling like
she'd gotten her fingers burned. Zach was like a bright burning flame that
attracted her and scared her at the same time. Talk about giving up part of
yourself to please someone else. She had a feeling Zach would take everything
from a woman, and she couldn't let herself get involved with a man like that. Somehow,
someway, she had to be independent, to be free, to think for herself and act on
her own and pursue a dream that captured her imagination and fired her soul.
She wanted to have something to invest herself in, the way Zach had done with
Rogue.
Zach fiddled with several stations before shutting off
the radio completely, the quiet in the truck enshrouding them in a cloak of
intimacy. Katherine felt unnerved by the simple silence and rolled down the
window, letting a cool breeze blow through the cab of the truck.
"Warm?" Zach asked.
"A bit." She crossed her legs, then
uncrossed them, shifted her body, and stretched her arms out in front of
herself.
"What's wrong? You're fidgeting more than Rogue."
She couldn't begin to answer that question. Her
insides were a tumbling mass of emotions. She settled for something fairly easy
and basic. "Do you think your father will back off?"
"He won't have a choice." Zach didn't sound
completely confident, and she wasn't reassured when she saw his hands clenching
the steering wheel.
"Are you going to tell him we saw Veronica?"
"He'll figure it out. She's probably already told
him by now."
The man certainly seemed to have quite a
communications network. "Well, at least I can cross him off the list. That
leaves me with Justin, J.T., Jimmy Callaway
…
so far."
"For your sake, I hope it's not J.T."
"What's between the two of you anyway?"
"Stanton Farms has been beating J.T.'s stud farm
in just about every area of competition."
"So it's a business thing?"
"Not totally."
"Are you going to make me beg for more
information?"
He tossed her an irritated look. "You're
annoyingly persistent."
"Just answer the question. What's between you and
J.T.?"
"
It wasn't the answer she'd been expecting, nor was it
a topic she thought they'd be discussing. Now that the name had been tossed
into the ring, she wasn't quite sure how to proceed, and judging by the scowl
on Zach's face, he wasn't happy he'd answered her question.
"
"Yes."
He didn't say anything more, and Katherine sighed. "Are
you going to explain?"
"
father, William Macintyre, and J.T. were in business together for many years.
Once Crystal and I began seeing each other, she convinced her father to
disassociate himself with J.T. and board his horses with me. It wasn't just a
financial blow. It was a personal one as well. J.T. saw it as a betrayal. I
would say that my wedding day was probably the happiest day of J.T.'s life."
"Why did
He checked his rearview mirror, then changed lanes.
"If it's too private, you don't have to tell me,"
she said.
He sent her a small smile. "As if that would make
you drop it."
"I could always speculate on my own."