by Tina Leonard
Ignoring the anticipation racing through her, Annie walked on to the porch and rang the bell. To her surprise, Zach himself came to the door.
He didn’t seem especially shocked to see her, nor particularly enthusiastic. At least a day’s growth of beard darkened his chin. Annie had never seen Zach without the utmost attention paid to his grooming. Somehow the unkempt hair and shirt hanging out of his jeans was troubling. Still, he didn’t look as ill as his father had represented.
“Hello, Zach,” she replied.
“Hi, Annie.”
Not nice to see you or what a surprise. “Did you know I was coming?”
He shrugged. “No, I didn’t. But that’s all right.” Motioning her inside, Zach said, “Have a seat.”
She walked to where he pointed, asking, “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
She hadn’t expected open arms or Zach doing rebel yells at the sight of her, but she certainly hadn’t expected this laconic person. Perching on the sofa set at an angle to the seat he was taking, Annie told herself it was all right to try to move the mountain with a little more directness. “How have you been, Zach, really?”
Zach nodded. “Fine. Quiet, actually.”
But he didn’t look at her. Annie noticed Zach kept his eyes trained on the teak coffee table, every once in a while his gaze darting to the hallway. Annie’s heart began slowly sinking in her chest. If he wasn’t glad to see her—and if this monosyllabic conversation was an indication of how her visit was going to go—Annie knew she shouldn’t have come.
He didn’t want to see her.
Worse, she wasn’t sure she knew him anymore.
“Mary’s enjoying the carousel,” she said tentatively.
Interest flickered briefly in Zach’s eyes. “I’m glad.”
Annie pursed her lips. Obviously, she was going to have to use less finesse to get some real answers. “I missed hearing from you. We all did. Papa wondered if you’d gotten lost.”
His gaze stayed with her. “Somewhat,” he said mysteriously. “A lot’s happened since I saw you last.”
Annie nodded. “I thought it might have. It’s been crazy lately, hasn’t it?”
Zach appeared hesitant. “I know I’m ready for a change.”
“How much of a change?” Annie asked softly. “What’s happened, Zach? Your father said you were ill, but you don’t seem sick, maybe just unhappy or something. Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
Is it me? she wanted to ask.
“I was going to call you. Sometime.” He paused. “I don’t know when. But I would have, Annie. Between canceling a wedding and—”
He sat quietly for a few minutes before getting up. Annie watched him disappear down a hallway, then return with a paper in his hand, which he gave to her. “Don’t suppose you got this edition of the newspaper.”
“Paper boy would have to have a pretty strong arm to throw the paper all the way to Desperado from Austin.” Annie scanned the article in shock. Looking up, she met Zach’s eyes. “This is only fit for the bottom of a birdcage.”
Zach nodded. “Yeah. But I sure didn’t see it coming.”
“This is Carter’s work?”
“I’ve got some calls in to find out, but I’m pretty certain he’s the highly placed official they’re quoting. Only, he’s not part of the company anymore because I fired him, but obviously, that fact didn’t get checked. Or wasn’t significant enough to include.”
“This is because I wouldn’t sell my land to that miserable monster.”
Zach shook his head. “This is happening because Carter’s a greedy bastard. Everything was fine as long as I fit into the pattern. The instant he realized I really was going to leave the company, I became useless to him. By then, he’d gotten it into his head to cheat you out of the supposed oil, and thought I was just the person to strike the deal. It’s been a one-upmanship game with Carter all along, only I didn’t realize I was playing.”
Zach shot her a smile that seemed threatening and determined at once. “But I do now.”
“What a terrible price for you to have to pay,” Annie murmured.
“What a terrible price for you to have to pay,” Zach returned, with more hard-edged spirit creeping into his voice. “I can’t stop thinking about everything you’ve lost because of me.”
Annie lowered her eyes. “I have gained because of you, Zach.”
He snorted. “If I’d never shown up at your door, your father would never have had that heart attack.”
“That’s not—”
“And that’s just the beginning. As long as I live, I’ll never forget the sight of that cornfield blazing, Annie. It’s painted in a fiery yellow-orange picture in my mind. I caused you to lose your livelihood, your security.”
Zach’s voice was anguished. She sensed that nothing she could say could erase what he thought he’d done to her. So she shrugged. “You paid my taxes. Wasn’t that enough to make up for everything?”
“Maybe in part.” Zach sounded uncertain. “I could help, and I wanted to. But, yeah, it was the least I could do.”
Annie sat stiffly, not wanting to hear her own assumptions confirmed. She’d known Zach had probably felt obligated. Still, it hurt. And that taunting voice inside her screeched mockingly, Not because he’s in love with you!
“The thought was kind, but unnecessary. You shouldn’t feel any responsibility for me. I’ve always managed, even before I met you.” It was true, but injured pride made Annie say the words more spitefully than she’d intended. But she wished the differences between them weren’t so obvious. She didn’t want to seem so helpless to a man like Zach Rayez.
“Oh, I know that,” Zach said, swiftly. “It was just that—”
The doorbell rang, cutting off his words. “Excuse me,” Zach’s tone was brief. He got up and opened the door. Annie had leaned back into the sofa, trying to pull in a deep breath that might relax her, when shrill words reached her.
“Mr. Rayez,” the woman said, “My bridge circle is due to start arriving any moment. Do you think your maid could park that…her car in back of your house?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
There was a pause. Annie’s mouth dropped open in astonishment.
“Annie, love,” Zach called, “my neighbor has something she’d like to ask you.”
Without hesitating, Annie rose and went to stand beside Zach. The plump old woman lowered her eyes briefly before trying to steady her gaze on Annie. Even wearing little-old-lady heels, the woman didn’t reach Annie’s shoulders. Annie stared down at the triple strand of pearls adorning the woman’s fat throat and the sheen of her silk dress as the sun danced on the fabric.
“I’m not a maid,” she said quietly. “If your guests can’t park their cars near mine, then I guess they’ll have to jog up from the end of the street.”
“Well, I never!” the woman sputtered.
Annie sized up the woman calmly. “No, it doesn’t appear that you do get much exercise,” she said, not releasing the woman’s stunned gaze as she stepped back.
Zach closed the door. A grin hit his face; then he laughed. “Oh, Annie. I’ve missed you so much. You’re so different from anything I ever thought I wanted, and yet…you’re exactly what I need.” He pulled Annie into his arms. “Where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?”
“Not here,” Annie said angrily, trying to pull away, but Zach’s grip was a gentle vise.
“Ah, yes. You were telling me how you could fight your own battles, weren’t you? Man your own cannon? Go toe-to-toe with snobby people?”
“That’s not funny, Zach,” Annie shot back.
“No, it’s not,” he said, smoothing a kiss along her shoulder. “It’s also not funny that you seem to think I paid for the privilege of holding your body, of loving you. I can’t help feeling some responsibility for your troubles, Annie, any more than you can help feeling some self-righteous anger that I do.”
Annie slowly ceased her strug
gles as Zach’s ministrations started weaving their effect on her. A warmth she remembered well began creeping through her body, a warmth that only Zach could create.
“You don’t want me—” she began.
He interrupted her with a mind-sizzling kiss. “I do want you. You’ve just come at a time when my life has completely turned upside down. I don’t know where the past has ended or the future is going. But, oh, Annie, if you think I don’t want you, you’re badly mistaken.”
His hands searched her back, smoothly undoing the buttons of her cotton blouse before finding the metal clasps that released her bra. Immediately, impatiently, he slipped underneath to encircle her breasts with his palms. Gently, he squeezed her nipples, which brought them to instant tautness. A moan escaped Annie. “I want you, too,” she whispered. “I just want it to be on my terms.”
Zach lifted her, carrying her down the hall to his bedroom. Laying her on top of the bed, he said, “I know. So do I.”
At first she thought he was agreeing with her, and then Annie realized Zach was talking about his own terms. But he was doing wonderful things to her, and she was returning every emotion she was experiencing to him, and somewhere along the way it wasn’t worth saying that they wouldn’t be making love in his big bed if they weren’t caught in a game where everyone wanted everything on their own terms.
Zach knew his life had been splintered, broken into jagged pieces until Annie had come to him. He looked at the sleeping woman beside him, tremulous lips full with sleep, ebony hair undone now and tangled over her pillow and his, and thanked his lucky stars she’d come to show him what he’d been in danger of forgetting. He’d needed to be touched by reality again, and Annie was that. Annie’s honesty and basic goodness had steered the desperation he’d been struggling with right out of his mind She didn’t allow herself to be ruled by money or status or any other thing—all factors that he’d nearly let suck him under.
Annie was real. And her strength brought him strength… And conviction. Lightly, he kissed those slightly open lips and was rewarded by the fluttering of her eyes.
“Hello, again,” he murmured with a grin.
“Hello, yourself.” Annie pouted teasingly. “You woke me up from the most wonderful dream.”
“Did I have a starring role in it?”
“No.” At his purposefully sad frown, Annie laughed. “But I give you top billing in bed.”
“Only in bed?” Zach raised his brows.
“For now.” She slanted him a provocative look. “But you’ve always been a hard worker. You’ll probably move up if you try enough.”
He gave her the gentlest slap on the rump before pulling her over and up on top of him. “I’d rather let you have top billing for now.” Lightly, he reached up to tease her nipples. Annie’s eyes glowed at his touch and, as she settled herself against him, every cell in Zach’s body came tantalizingly alive. Just once more, he promised himself, before I let her go.
It was the sound of paper being pushed under the bedroom door that brought Zach unwillingly out of his sex-induced slumber. With one eye, he peered toward the stack of notes, realizing with regret that his wonderful escape into Annie’s arms was coming to an end.
“Okay, Pop,” he muttered to himself. “I get the message.”
Annie opened her eyes. “What did you say?”
He bent over to give her a quick but thorough kiss on the mouth. Reaching down, he grabbed up his clothes. “As beautiful as it’s been, I can’t stay a fugitive in here. It looks like I’ve got about thirty phone calls to return—and then I’ve got to go—”
Zach stopped himself from saying, kick some butt. “I’ve got to go talk to someone.”
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed.
Zach sat down on the bed, allowing himself to run a hand along her thigh. “I’m sorry, Annie. I’d stay in bed with you until Christmas if I could. But I don’t have anything to offer you until I settle some things.”
“I know.” She pulled herself into a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her knees, and gazed at him. Seeing her sitting there so unconsciously sexy in his bed nearly made Zach detour from his plans again.
But he couldn’t. Not if he was going to be earn this woman’s love forever.
“It’s not very romantic, me running off on you, but—”
She laid one finger against his lips. “I think we’ve re-established connections to my satisfaction.”
He smiled, wondering what he’d ever done to deserve this woman. “Thank you for understanding.”
Annie shrugged. “There’s not that much to understand.”
He thought there was, but Annie possessed essential backbone. Her breasts had swayed enticingly with her shrug, and Zach swallowed hard. “Okay. I’m going to shower now. If you want to sleep some more, feel free.”
She shook her head. “I really need to get back to Mary and Papa. Thanks, though.”
“You could always shower with me,” he suggested, knowing she wouldn’t accept but a part of him wishing she would, even though it would obviously mean another lingering, loving delay.
“Next time, maybe.”
“Next time, definitely,” Zach replied. He rose to head to the shower. “Help yourself to anything you need,” he called over his shoulder. “I think Pop’s got several different kinds of pizza in the refrigerator, if you’re hungry.”
Annie smiled, thinking her hunger had been appeased for the moment. She got up and dressed quickly. Glitter caught her eye, and she paused in the act of putting on her shirt. Feeling a little guilty, Annie walked over to Zach’s dresser. Her eyes widened as she looked at the stunning emerald earrings tossed down casually next to a snake jaw and an old, ragged box. Small shivers ran along her arms at the odd array. But it was the earrings that drew her gaze relentlessly. Zach must have really loved his woman at one time to buy her such a valuable gift. Shooting a look at the closed bathroom door, where Zach’s lusty baritone voice was pouring forth in song, Annie picked up the earrings.
They winked at her, their color bold against the earth tone of her palm. Slowly, even though what she was doing would be embarrassing if Zach were to come out and see her, Annie lifted the gems to her ears and snapped them on before staring at herself appraisingly.
Shaking her head a bit to set the smaller stones dancing, Annie was beset by the heavy feel of the earrings. They were like weights. And though the jet of her hair complemented their greenness, her hair was too long and too wild to look right with them. Hesitantly, she took her hair, pulling it into an upsweep on top of her head, imagining for a moment what she would look like if she were to ever accompany Zach to one of those fancy dinner parties he no doubt frequently attended.
With a sigh, Annie let her hair fall and pulled the clips from her ears. It was no use. She wasn’t the glamorous type, and nothing was going to change that.
But Zach had said she was exactly what he needed. Carefully, she placed the earrings back on the dresser and finished dressing.
Zach needing her was the reason she could return to Desperado, believing that there would be more between them. Eventually, anyway. Her heart much lighter than it had been when she’d first knocked on his door, Annie walked out into the living room.
“You must be Annie,” a sandpaper-rough voice said.
She jumped, turning jerkily toward the voice. A little old man, probably Papa’s age but not nearly so robust-looking, gazed at her stoically.
“I am,” she replied. “You’re Zach’s father.”
There wasn’t much family resemblance, she mused, not in looks or in bearing.
“Yep,” he replied. “You can call me George, if you want. Want some pizza?”
She shook her head. “No, thank you.” Pinning him with a stare, Annie asked, “Why did you tell me Zach was sick?”
“He is.”
“He seems in fine health to me,” she stated.
The old man shifted slightly on his feet before tapping his head with a finger.
“His illness is up here.”
She shot him a suspicious look. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying he was down, depressed, fighting but not kicking ass.”
“That’s not how you made it sound on the phone. Anyway, he probably would have come around without me.”
He crossed his arms stubbornly. Zach’s hearty voice boomed down the hall in a loud rendition of “Amazing Grace”. “Seems there’s been some kind of change since your arrival,” the man remarked. “Course, you’ll pardon me for causing you any trouble.”
Annie pursed her lips wryly; Zach’s father was perfectly aware that her trip hadn’t exactly been for nothing. But he wasn’t about to let her nail him down into admitting any fault for his actions. “Maybe I’ll have some of that pizza I hear you’ve been hoarding after all.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said. “Sit yourself down at the kitchen table.”
She did, listening to him open and close cupboards and turn the microwave on. Seconds later it dinged, and he brought out a plate with so many pieces of pizza she’d never eat it all and a glass of iced water.
“I’d offer you something else to drink, but all Zach’s got is beer and gourmet coffee. I don’t drink the hops anymore and I’m trying not to drink that damn coffee.”
Annie smiled in commiseration as he sat across from her. Taking a bite of pizza, she watched him watching her.
“He asked for you, you know. Maybe knowing that, you can forgive my little bit of stretching the situation.”
Annie raised her brows, not about to let him off the hook that easily. Zach’s Pop seemed pretty cagey to her.
“Don’t suppose you care to know that you’re not exactly what I was ’specting,” he told her.
“I’m not surprised,” she said, thinking about the earrings and the pictures of Zach’s ex-fiancée she’d received. “I’m not much like the woman Zach nearly married.”