An Eye for an Eye: Zach and Katie's Story (Redwood Falls) (19 page)

He ran a hand through his hair and tried to get back on track. "You're right. Katie doesn't have anything to do with this. We need to focus on the problem at hand." Zach tried to let this go but he couldn't. He knew Katie, and what kind of a person she was. He didn't know Josh and wasn't prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt yet. "I still think he's taking advantage of you. Didn't it ever cross your mind that our family is wealthy and his . . . isn't?"

She puffed out a laugh. "No, it never crossed my mind and it wouldn't have. Josh loves me. I know that. Josh hates to even talk about the inheritance because it upsets him so much."

A momentary feeling of disbelief heightened the stark contours of Zach's face. "Why would the prospect of three million upset him?" he asked, referring to Hannah's trust fund, which she would receive on her twenty-fifth birthday.

"You have to know how he thinks. You think Chris Turner screwed you over? You had it easy compared to Josh. Josh has scars, Zach. I mean physical as well as emotional ones. All his life, he's had to live under the bad shadow of his father. He's had to overcome his father's horrible reputation. He has it in his head that he wants to make it on his own. Be his own man. That sort of ridiculous, masculine stuff that I don't always get, but nevertheless try to understand."

Zach didn't know if he liked the sound of that. "So, you're compensating for him already."

His sister gave him a glaring look. "Don't get on your sanctimonious high-horse, big brother. You and mom and dad can keep the damn money. It's only going to make Josh unhappy, and that will make me unhappy." She hit out again, obviously trying to get back at him and it worked. "It's always been about money with you. This is about something much more important. The only thing that matters to me. Love."

"Yeah? Well, you're forgetting something. You need money to finish school."

Hannah smiled a small, satisfied grin that he couldn't fail to recognize. "I graduated this week--"

"Graduated already?" Zach broke out into a grin, the magnitude of her accomplishment making him proud, momentarily distracting him from his rant.

"Yeah, in three years."

"Congratulations. Why the hell didn't you invite me?"

"It was no big deal. Mom and dad and Josh were there. I haven't even told Katie."

In that moment, Zach realized how much his sister had grown up. "Well, I can't say I'm not disappointed. I would have loved to have been there."

"It's no big deal, I didn't even want to go to a big four-year college. Josh made me."

Astonishment hit him and he knew it was reflected on his features. "Josh made you?"

"Yeah, I was ready to get married at eighteen after I graduated from high school."

"Shit, Hannah! What were you thinking?"

"Don't bitch at me! I still think it was pointless. To me, it was three years that I wasn't with him. And all because he wanted me to have a degree first. I could have easily finished college after the wedding. And I would have."

For the first time in years, Zachary felt something like indebtedness to a Turner. He owed Josh Turner for the fact that his sister had pursued a college degree. It hardly seemed real; it was far more than Zach could take in at the moment.

"All that aside, I don't think you need to be rushing into anything. Wait awhile, let me meet him--"

Hannah cut him off in obvious surprise. "You're willing to meet him?"

"What do you expect me to do? Ignore this?"

"No. I'm happy you're willing to meet him. I knew you'd be okay with this eventually, I just didn't think it would be this quickly. But I'm not waiting. I don't care anything about a big wedding, or a white dress and flowers. All I want is Josh, I've waited for what feels like my whole life, and I'm not waiting one second longer. He wants to marry me now, I'm twenty-one and have satisfied everyone with my college degree. Now I get what I want.
This weekend
."

Zach looked at his sister. "How do mom and dad feel about all of this?"

"They like Josh, a lot. But they don't know we're getting married yet and I'm not going to tell them until it's over. They can throw me a reception or something later on if it will make mom feel better."

Zach threw out a smile. "Is there anything I can do to slow this down or make you change your mind?"

For the first time since she had walked into his office, Hannah seemed to relax back in her chair and smile at him with easy warmth. "I love you, Zach, but there's not a damn thing you can do. I want Josh Turner and nothing and no one can stop me from having him."

Chapter Eleven

South Padre Island, Texas

Katie spent the day going over and over that kiss in her head. She absolutely couldn't start feeling things for Zachary McIntyre. She was his captive; that was all. She began to rationalize everything inside her head. That's what it was, then, a simple case of Stockholm syndrome.
If Stockholm syndrome could ever be called simple.
She tried to convince herself of that for about an hour before her conscience began arguing with her intellect.

It wasn't Stockholm syndrome. She wasn't locked-in, she wasn't behind bars. She could leave anytime she wanted to, and she had basically come here of her own free will.

It was that word,
basically
, that got to her every time.

She needed to be here
totally
of her own free will. Could they get to that point? Would he give her enough time, let her learn to trust him and want to be with him enough that he wouldn't think she'd leave the first chance she got?

As she showered after her day in the salt and sand, she realized on an exhalation that she'd already had a chance. She could have run this morning when he left town.

But she hadn't. She'd stayed. Of her own free will.

Well, mostly her own free will. He still had that damn loan hanging over her head.

****

Zach tapped his jaw with his fingers as he sat in first class and absently looked out the window at the bank of clouds. His mind was elsewhere.

His mind was on Katie.

He wanted to give her time, but he didn't know how much longer he could wait. And more troubling than the heated lust he was feeling was the overriding need to get back to her.
Just to hold her.

The acknowledgment slammed through his brain and he closed his eyes in despair.

Fuck.

****

After a stilted dinner that night, Zach was still trying to understand the volley of emotions running through his system. He stood and watched Katie as she hunkered down in an armchair that sat at a ninety-degree angle to the couch. He moved toward the sofa, intending to sit, but then changed direction and made a beeline for her chair. Standing directly in front of her, he lowered his hand in an invitation for her to reach out and take it.

Her eyes slowly lifted to his. She stared at him for a count of four beats while he continued to stand there, hand out. Slowly, she put her palm in his.

He pulled her to her feet, and moved toward the sofa.

She sank down in the corner and he sat beside her. He didn't really know where to start, so he just began. "Hannah came to see me at the office this morning." Zach could see that Katie seemed taken aback by that statement, and he continued. "Did you know she was graduating this semester?"

Katie's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No, I didn't. She finished already? She graduated?"

He couldn't keep a half-smile from forming on his lips. "Yeah, she did. And this morning was the first I heard of it, too."

"Wow. She's always been smart. Just like J--" Her words dwindled off and Zach picked up a piece of her hair and twirled in around his finger.

She visibly swallowed and he questioned quietly, "Just like Josh?"

She inhaled deeply and on a ragged breath, she answered, "Yeah, like Josh."

He studied her a moment, watching him so intently. "So many years and I had no clue," he said, almost introspectively. "So I guess my entire family, and yours . . . shit, the whole town, they must think I'm, what . . . fragile? Does everyone question my stability?"

Her eyes became wounded, wounded for him, and she said softly, "No, that's not it . . .nobody thinks you're fragile . . . she told you?"

"About Josh? Yeah."

She reached up and slid her fingers over his where he held her lock of hair. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for keeping it from me?"

"No--yes. No." One side of her lips lifted in a sad smile, a smile that held commiseration. "I'm sorry for all the pain you've endured. I'm sorry for what happened, and now I'm sorry that knowing Josh and Hannah are together is probably very painful for you as well."

He silently digested the apology that she offered so sincerely, and her inherent sweetness that allowed her to offer it to him, when she was in no way to blame for anything that had ever happened. An arrow of guilt slid down and burned into his guts. "It's not your fault."

She nodded her head softly, still holding his eyes as something passed between them. "And yet here I am," she said, almost in a questioning tone.

His hand tightened in her hair. "No one said that I'm not an ass," he said in a low tone, tongue-in-cheek.

"True," she agreed softly, with a tiny glimmer of a smile that somehow seemed to calm him.

"Did you know they're getting married?"

Zach could tell she took his question the wrong way when she shrugged her shoulders as if it were inevitable. "I imagine they will. They've been together forever. Josh won't ever let her go and Hannah is just as crazy about him. Truly, Zach . . . you don't have anything to worry about. He loves her so much."

Zach knew in that moment that Katie hadn't known about the other couple's immediate plans and he rubbed his thumb over her cheekbone. "No, I mean they're getting married now. This weekend."

"What? No way!! Why?"

"Evidently he wants to and so does she and she says she doesn't care about a big wedding so they're doing it."

"Vegas?"

Zach thought about it for a moment and tried to remember the conversation. "I'm assuming, we didn't discuss that aspect. If they planned ahead, I guess they might do it at the courthouse, but I assumed she meant an elopement and that means Las Vegas."

"Oh my God. My mom will flip a switch when she finds out. She'll murder Josh for this."

"Your mom? What do you think my parents will do? I don't think Hannah's mom will ever forgive her for this."

"Are you being serious? She'll forgive her."

"Yeah, I know she will, but she's going to be disappointed."

"Well, I guess we all are. But it's their wedding, after all."

"Yeah," he agreed, watching Katie intently. "I wish you hadn't been scared to tell me about them."

"No one thinks you're fragile, Zach," she reiterated. "But we knew you wouldn't be happy and it wasn't my secret to tell."

"Okay, I get that. But I don't want you scared to tell me anything, okay?" At her nod, he continued, "You can trust me, Katie. You don't have to be afraid to tell me anything or to speak your mind."

She looked at him with what could only be called suspicion in her eyes and the easy atmosphere between them seemed to dissolve in the blink of an eye. "How can I trust you? You've done nothing but try to hurt me, from the moment I became friends with Hannah." Her voice became sharper as the words tumbled from her mouth. "You've called me names, insulted me, hurt my feelings, forced me into a relationship with you. I can go on--"

He cut her off. "No.
Don't go on
. I get it."

"Zach, this situation is impossible. You've been saying you won't force me, and
God help me
, I'm beginning to believe you. But why? Why are we doing this? Why am I here with you? You hate me--"

"
Goddamnit
, Katie! I don't hate you. Quit saying that. I don't hate you . . . I--don't know what I feel for you, but it's not hate." His tirade slowly ended and his tone evened out again. "I assure you, it's not hate. It's not even at the same end of the spectrum as hate; it's not remotely close."

They glared at each other, hostility and confusion evident on both their faces.

Katie exhaled a pent up breath. "You can let me go. You can let me out of the contract." She warmed to the subject. "It's simple. You can give my parents more time to come up with the money. I can go back to work and help them with the payments. We don't have to stay in this situation. You can let me go."

Zach raked his fingers through his hair and watched her picking nervously at a loose string on her shirt. Frustration screamed through his veins. He spoke softly. "I'm not letting you go, Katie. Forget it. It's not going to happen."

"But--"

"
No
." His voice was adamant. "Quit thinking about it. Call me what you want. I don't give a shit. I'm not letting you out of the contract. You have two truths here, sweetheart. I'm not going to force you, and I'm not letting you go. Bank on it."