Almost Home (43 page)

Then Katherine looked at Zach. He answered her plea.
He took the cuff link out of his father's hand. "That's enough," Zach
said. "You've had your fun. It's over."

"Not quite,"
Jackson
said. "There's still Mrs.
Stanton's wedding ring to discuss." He directed his gaze toward Claire. "Zachary
took it, you know. Sold you out. Amusing, isn't it? He's spent so much time
pretending he isn't exactly like me."

Katherine drew in a sharp breath, hoping that neither
Claire nor Harry would turn on Zach now, not here, not in front of everyone.
She turned to see Harry tighten his hold on Claire, but her grandmother
appeared to be quite calm.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr.
Tyler," Claire said. "I have my wedding ring." She held up her
hand.

And the crowd turned back to
Jackson
.

He shrugged. "A copy, I'm sure."

"No. Now that you've had your say, I'd ask you to
leave, sir," Claire said with dignity.

"This time you're really through," Zach said
forcefully. "You're a liar and a thief and no one here will believe a word
you say, so you might as well go." Zach grabbed his arm. "Now, do you
want me to drag you out of here or will you come without a struggle?"

Jackson
looked at Zach in complete astonishment. "You're
my son."

"Yes, I'm your son, God help me."

Katherine watched Zach glance around at the people he'd
always wanted to impress, and wondered how he'd had the guts to say it so
loudly, so proudly.

"It's too bad none of us get to choose our
parents, isn't it?" Zach turned back to
Jackson
. "I may have to live down your
reputation every day of my life, but I certainly don't have to do it in your
presence. You're leaving now."

Jackson
didn't move, and father and son stood silently
glaring at each other. Then Sam Jamison came forward to stand at Zach's side,
followed by Justin, and another man and another, until half the valley was
standing on Zach's side.

Thank God, the people of
Paradise
had finally realized that Zach Tyler was not their enemy. He was their friend.
Katherine felt the tears well in her eyes.

"You're done here,
Tyler
," someone in the crowd said.

"Go away, you bastard," someone else called
out, until chants of anger rang through the foyer.

Jackson
pulled his arm out from Zach's grip. He straightened
his suit coat and smiled as if he'd just been elected president instead of
declared a public nuisance. "You're no longer my son," he said to
Zach.

"Thank you," Zach said with a smile. "That's
the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Just for that, I won't tell you who Katherine's
father is." His words quieted the crowd once again. "But I know. And
someday everyone will know. So just wait and wonder, my friends, and know that
at any moment Jackson Tyler can take you down."
Jackson
pushed his way through the crowd to
the front door, tipping his head as he left the house.

After a moment of tense silence, Harry cleared his
throat. "We have drinks and food. Please help yourselves."

As if released from a gate, the people broke in two
directions, toward the living room and the dining room where buffet tables and
waiters serving champagne awaited.

Claire turned to Katherine with a compassionate look
in her eyes. "I'm sorry about that."

"It wasn't your fault." She smiled at
Claire. "Did you see what Zach did? Wasn't he amazing?"

"Amazing. He loves you, Katherine."

"It wasn't about me. It was about him finding
peace with himself."

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit.
Why don't you talk to him? I think he's waiting for you."

Katherine turned her head to see Zach at the bottom of
the stairs, a few feet from her. She walked down to him, studying every
lonesome, handsome line in his face, soaking up the memory to take with her.
She didn't want to forget him, not ever.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"You're welcome." He gazed down at her with the
same yearning intensity that burned through her body, as if he wanted her but
he was afraid to touch her.

"I'm leaving Paradise," she said abruptly.

He drew in a sharp breath. "When?"

"Tomorrow."

"Why so soon?"

She licked her lips. "I don't belong here. You
were right that very first day. I'm already bored. And I don't care all that
much for Claire and Harry. I mean, it's fine they're my grandparents and all, but
they're not my kind of people."

"You're such a liar," he said softly.

She tried to act nonchalant. "I'm telling the
truth. I don't fit in here. So I'm leaving. I told Claire that I absolutely
will not have anything to do with this farm, so Harry better leave it to
someone who cares about it. Someone like you."

"You don't have to do this for me."

"Why would I?"

He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "Because
you love me."

Her heart stopped. "I—I do," she said in a
shaky voice, wishing she could have said
I do not.
But he wouldn't have
believed her. "That doesn't matter. The two of us don't fit together
either, remember?"

"I thought you were going to fight for me."

She hesitated. "I don't know how. You haven't
returned my calls. And even now, you seem too far away."

"Then come with me."

"What?" Goose bumps ran down her arms at the
look in his eyes.

He took her by the hand and led her through the entry,
out of the house, and onto the back porch where the shadowy darkness enveloped
them like a warm, cozy quilt. Katherine drew in a deep breath and smelled the
lavender. Suddenly she had the crazy feeling everything was going to be all
right.

She looked over at Zach. "Do you smell it?"

"The lavender? I can't get it out of my head.
Every time I go to sleep, I feel like I'm lying down in a bed of flowers. And
you're always with me, Kat. I can't get rid of you either. And I've tried.
Believe me, I've tried. The last few days have been one long agonizing pain in
the—"

"Shh." She put a finger against his mouth. "If
you call me a pain in the butt, you're going to break the mood here."

He smiled down at her. "I wasn't going to come
tonight. I didn't think I could see you and not want you." He paused,
placing his hands on her shoulders. "I was right. You look beautiful. Even
if the
Stantons
hadn't announced you were their granddaughter, every eye in the place would
have been on you."

"Not me, you. What you did tonight. It made me
proud."

"Me, too," he replied with a self-mocking
smile. "You were the one who wanted to walk the high wire, but I guess it
took losing my own safety net—the Stantons—to realize that I didn't need one
anymore."

"You never did, Zach."

"I did a long time ago when I was sixteen years
old." He paused. "I told Harry about the ring. I guess he didn't have
a chance to tell Claire. Otherwise, I don't know what she would have said."

"Exactly what she did. She knew. She told me she'd
always known. But she loved you like a son."

Zach's eyes glittered with emotion. "She's
something else, you know."

"I do know. And so are you. You're bigger than
your father in every way imaginable. I think that's why he tried to hurt you
tonight. You went up against him, and he thought he could teach you a lesson,
take you down to his level, only you wouldn't go."

"I would have died before I let him hurt you."
He touched her cheek with one finger. "You are so soft, so vulnerable,
Kat. You make me want to protect you."

"I feel the same way about you, even though you
don't need my protection. The people of this valley stood next to you tonight,
Zach."

"And it didn't really matter to me, because you
weren't standing by my side," Zach replied. "I've spent the last few
days at the track watching Rogue run, trying to concentrate on my dream, trying
to imagine not just the next couple of weeks but the next couple of years, and
I couldn't do it, not without you in the picture." He grinned at her. "You're
not going back to
California
,
Kat. You have too much unfinished business here."

"Like what?"

"I still owe you a riding lesson."

"That's right, you do."

"Then you'll have to start learning about the
horse business from the ground up. And then there's the racing world, a wild
garden to tame, and grandparents to get to know…"

She felt her heart begin to sing. "Do you mean
that, Zach? Do you want to do it together?"

"Well, I figure if I let you go back to
California
, I'll
probably get the farm back. If I encourage you to stay in
Kentucky
, I'll get both you and the farm. I
might be bullheaded, but I'm not stupid."

She grinned up at him. "And what do I get if I
stay here?"

"
Paradise
?"
he suggested wickedly.

"And what else?"

"Me."

"And what else?"

He paused. "The best sex you've ever had?"

"And what else?"

"A couple of kids," he said with a sigh.

"Don't sound so happy. What else?"

"Good grief. What else could you possibly want?"

"Your soul."

Zach stared down at her. She'd always wondered what it
would be like to have Zach's energy and intensity focused only on her. Now she
knew. It was heartbreakingly wonderful, and she didn't want it to end. But she
couldn't have a part of him. She had to have all of him. She'd settled for less
so many times before with people who liked her but didn't love her. She wouldn't
do it again.

"You already have my soul, Kat," he
murmured. "But I guess you need to hear the words."

"I do."

"Then here they are—I love you."

Her mouth trembled, her legs shook with the force of
her emotions, and she had to hang on to his waist so she wouldn't fall to the
ground. "I didn't think you could ever say that to me."

"I could have said it days ago. I thought it; I
just couldn't get the words out. I was a gutless coward."

"I love you, too, Zach."

"If Rogue loses, I could be a poor man," he warned
her. "I've invested everything I have in that horse."

"We'll never be poor. We have each other. And if
you don't want to get married, I understand."

He shook his head. "Oh, I'm definitely marrying
you. I want you tied to me for all time."

"You'd take that chance? That empty aisle, all
those people watching?"

"For you, yes. Will you marry me, Kat?"

"I certainly will." She smiled into his
eyes. "Now, are you ever going to kiss me?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

He sealed his promise to love her with a spellbinding
kiss that made her wish for a very short party. "I wanted you to come
tonight. And now I just want us to leave," she confessed with a smile. "How
long do we have to stay here?"

"I think the
Stantons
want to show you off. You've brought
a new light into Claire's eyes. Even Harry seems softer."

"I'm starting to love Claire. Harry will take a little
more time. Do you mind sharing them with me, Zach?"

"Sam told me once I needed a pack of my own to
run with. I think with you, Harry, Claire, we have the beginnings of a pretty
nice family."

"We certainly do."

"You want to go back inside?"

She sighed. "Actually, I'm not sure I'm all that
welcome inside. Did you feel the tension in that room when your father held up
the cuff link? I have the distinct feeling that someone at the party is my
father."

"I know you care who he is, Kat, but I don't. It
won't matter to me if it's J.T. Baker or Jimmy Callaway or someone else we don't
even know. It won't change the way I feel about you. After all, you're getting
Jackson Tyler as a father-in-law. Whoever I get in return has got to be better
than that."

She stood on tiptoe and kissed him again. "I have
so many more people in my life now. Maybe it doesn't really matter if I find my
father."

"Oh, it matters. You came halfway across the
world to find him. You can't give up now."

"No, you can't," a husky voice said from the
dark shadows behind them. "I've been wanting to talk to you for a while.
But I couldn't find the words to tell you the truth."