Almost Home Part 20

"I could always speculate on my own."

"You'll make it far worse than it was."

"So tell me."

Zach drove another mile down the highway. The traffic began to thin as they got farther away from Louisville.

"Even though Crystal's father respected my business dealings, her mother was not quite as enamored with me," Zach said. "She had another man in mind for her baby girl. So she had me investigated. Crystal had already heard most of the gossip about Jackson, but she'd never been completely confronted with the rest of the brutal facts."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that my mother was a prost.i.tute," he said without a trace of emotion in his voice. "Jackson being a charming con artist was one thing. My mother servicing men for money was another. She also became a drug addict in her later years, with tracks running up and down her arms. Crystal's mother had photos."

Katherine hated the bitter pain in his voice. He'd certainly gotten the short end of the straw when it came to parents. "That must have been awful. You didn't know what had become of your mother?"

"She left when I was seven. I didn't even know why. When she never came back, I thought she was dead."

"What do you remember about her before she left?"

"She was barely around."

"You must remember something," she said quietly.

"She was pretty," he said after a moment. "She had red hair and dark brown eyes and she always smelled nice. She liked rocky road ice cream and watching soap operas. I remember sitting on the floor with her, watching television. She'd laugh sometimes and sigh and say things like someday we're going to live like that." He shook his head. "Then my father would show up and they'd drink and fight and I'd hide under my bed."

"Oh, Zach." Katherine put her hand on his arm. "How awful."

"And what's funny is that both of my parents wanted to live the high life, only they had no idea how to get there."

"And you never wanted that," she said, reading between the lines. "Just like with Rogue. It's not about money or having a big house or an expensive suit, it's about finding a place for yourself. I can understand that, Zach. It's what I want, too. Just in a different way."

"We're not the same," he said, flinging her a sharp glance. "Don't start thinking we have anything in common. We don't. You like the sun. I like the shadows. You want a family and I just want to be left alone."

"If you wanted to be left alone so bad, why did you ever ask Crystal to marry you?"

"Temporary insanity. Thank G.o.d, she didn't show up."

"If she really loved you, she wouldn't have done that to you."

"Oh, I think it's pretty clear she didn't love me," he said with a harsh laugh. "I was a fool to mistake a good lay for a good future. I won't do that again."

"Not every woman is like Crystal. I'm not."

"I don't know about that. You're a lot like her. You're just pa.s.sing through, feeling like everything is fresh and new, because you've seen it all for the first time. But in a few weeks, a few months, it won't seem that exciting anymore."

Katherine put her hand on his leg, pleased by the sudden flinch. "If I were looking for excitement, Zach, I think I could find it."

"Not the kind of excitement you want."

"Are you sure about that?" She trailed her fingers up his thigh.

He slammed on the brakes, throwing her forward in the truck. She lost her breath for a second as the truck came to an abrupt stop on the side of the road. Thank goodness there wasn't any traffic. He released his seat belt and turned to her with an expression of pure sin in his eyes.

Katherine caught her breath. "What are you doing?"

"Seeing if we can find a little excitement together. Isn't that what you suggested?"

"Uh, well."

He put his right hand around the back of her neck and pulled her forward, until her face was just inches away from his. "Show me some bright lights, city girl."

He put his mouth on hers in a hard, demanding kiss. At first she resisted the onslaught, but his lips turned persuasive, lingering, caressing, and she couldn't help opening her mouth to him, letting his tongue dance with hers in pure erotic pleasure.

His fingers trailed through her hair, touching and tugging and tangling, so she was captive to his mouth, which came back again and again, until she felt her entire body begin to respond. Every nerve ending tingled. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s ached where they brushed the front of his chest. Her thighs trembled when his hand dropped down to her waist, sliding up and down the material of her shirt, as if he were searching for a way in.

And she wanted him in, all the way in.

Katherine pulled away, her breathing ragged. "I think we better slow down."

"That wasn't what I was thinking."

"We're in your truck, Zach."

"I'd forgotten where we were. For a moment, I thought you had, too. My mistake." He sat back in his seat, resting his hands on the steering wheel.

She hated the way his voice turned hard and his eyes grew cold.

"It's not your truck I mind. It's the location. We're in the middle of the highway. And yes, I forgot for a moment, too. But I guess I'm not as uninhibited as you are."

"You're not anything like I am." Zach hit the steering wheel in frustration. "I don't want to play around with you. Go home, Kat. Find some city guy to marry. Have a couple kids. Forget about Kentucky."

"Forget about you?"

"Yes." His eyes burned into hers.

"I don't think I can," she whispered.

"I told you who I am, where I come from. My mother was a prost.i.tute. My father was and is a thief. You're a fool if you can't see the truth."

"So I have to be a fool to care about you?"

"Yes. Don't care about me. I can give you s.e.x, maybe the best you've ever had, but that's it. All of it."

She smiled at that. "I'm glad you think there is one thing we could do well together, even though I think there's a lot more than s.e.x between us."

"I don't have anything else to give you. What you need, you can't get from me."

"You don't have the first clue what I need."

"You were made for marriage, and I'll never take that walk again."

"Don't you want to get married, Zach, have a family? Don't you ever dream about that?"

"The only thing I dream about is Rogue winning the Derby." Zach turned the key in the ignition. "I'll take you back to the hotel now. And if you have any sense, you'll start packing."

"Why does it have to be about what you can give me?" Katherine asked. "What about what I can give you?"

"You can't give me a Kentucky Derby winner, and that's all I want."

"I can give you someone to trust-me."

He looked deep into her eyes and let out a breath. "Don't tempt me."

"I'm scared, too. I don't want you to hurt me. I don't want you to take me now and send me away later. But when I'm with you I feel so incredible. I've never been able to talk to anyone the way I can talk to you. And when you kiss me, the world literally starts spinning."

"I'm not happily ever after, Kat. I'm not. I don't know how to be a family man. And I don't want to be. Don't try to make me into the man you want."

"Then stop trying to turn me into a Crystal look-alike." She could see the pulse ticking in the side of his neck, but his profile was pure granite. "As far as I'm concerned, she was an idiot. I would never leave a man waiting at the altar. I would never lie to someone about love. Never."

His mouth curved up with a smile. "I like you, Kat. Too much, I think."

Silence fell between them as he drove down the highway. It wasn't angry, it wasn't comfortable; it was tense. Nothing was resolved between them. And yet there seemed to be little else to say.

"What are you going to do now?" Zach asked as they reached the turnoff for Paradise.

"I'm going to take a nap," she said. "I'm tired. I feel like I've been up since yesterday."

"I'll drop you off at the hotel then."

A few minutes later he pulled up in front of the Paradise Inn. He didn't even turn off the motor or set the parking brake, just waited for her to get out.

"Thanks," she said as she opened the door.

"Katherine-you're right about one thing. You're not anything like Crystal." He drummed his hands on the steering wheel. "I'm so used to people judging me, I guess I've started doing the same thing."

It sounded like an apology, or as close to one as she was going to get. "Thank you." She hesitated. "Justin told me I could look through some photos in his office tomorrow. I know you're busy, but is there any chance you could help me? You'd probably recognize some of the people and could tell me their names."

"I don't know. I have a lot to do right now."

"Just for an hour or two, around noon, after you do all your early morning horse stuff."

He grinned at her. "It's more than stuff."

She smiled back at him. "If you don't want to look through the photos, you could always give me that riding lesson."

"I'll meet you at Golden's tomorrow."

"Thank you."

"I'll see you."

"Yeah." She took a deep breath and let it out. "Oh, G.o.d, Zach. I can't do this."

"Do what?" he asked warily.

She climbed back into the truck, leaned across the seat, and kissed him on the mouth. It was like setting a match to a pile of gas-soaked paper. He put a hand around the back of her neck and dragged her half onto his lap, thrusting his tongue into her mouth with a groan of need and satisfaction. He tasted her again and again, all the tension between them combusting in one hot, out-of-control fire.

Zach's hands crept under her sweater, molding her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with his fingers, pressing her back against the steering wheel until a sharp piercing horn shocked them back to reality.

"Well, I never," a woman said in a shrill voice. Katherine looked over at the sidewalk where two older women were staring at them in horror.

"Zach Tyler, you're as bad as your papa," the other woman said, shaking a finger at them. "Don't bring your hussies into our town."

Katherine looked at him in amazement. "She called me a hussy. I didn't think people used that word anymore."

"You are a hussy, attacking me like that in broad daylight. Whatever were you thinking, Miss Whitfield?"

"I was thinking you looked good enough to eat," she admitted. "And that's when I stopped thinking." She slid off of his lap and adjusted her clothing. "I better go before we get arrested."

"It might be worth it," Zach called after her as she got out of the truck.

"Oh, it would definitely be worth it," she replied with a saucy smile.

"You know, you continually surprise me."

"Lately I surprise myself," Katherine admitted as she slammed the door on any more reckless actions. She was flirting with disaster, giving in to impulse instead of thinking logically, rationally. She'd have to make a list, she told herself as she walked into the hotel. All the reasons why she should not make love with Zach Tyler. And she'd have to stick to it.

Mary Jo Baker tapped her fingernails restlessly on the top of the table, wondering again why Leeanne had suggested they meet at the Paradise Inn. The hotel had a nice restaurant, but Leeanne usually preferred something more stylish, such as The Tea Room.

Mary Jo looked up as Leeanne breezed through the front doors of the hotel, wearing a pale peach linen suit with a matching hat and a dazzling silk scarf. She looked sophisticated, s.e.xy, and as usual, Mary Jo felt like a frump in her plain gray slacks and black blazer.

"You're late," she said when Leeanne reached the table.

"Five minutes."

"More like fifteen. That's a terrific hat."

Leeanne sat down with a wide, wicked smile. "Don't you love it? Wait until you see the one I got for the Derby. It is fabulous."

"I'll bet. So tell me something, why are we meeting here?"

"It's quiet. We can talk without being disturbed, without anyone overhearing what we're saying."

Mary Jo sent Leeanne a suspicious look. "What are we going to be talking about that's so private?"

Leeanne gave a false, guilty little laugh. "Whatever strikes us. I don't know."