THE TIES THAT BIND

by Ginna Gray

  "Damned if I know." Zach raked his hand through his hair and began to pace. "All I did was ask her to marry me, and she hit the roof."

  "You asked her to marry you?" Kate stared at him with her mouth hanging open.

  "Jeez, bro, isn't that kind of sudden?"

  "I know. I know. I didn't intend to ask her this soon, but then after we got home last night we—" He broke off and scowled at them. "Look, just forget it, okay. This is a personal matter between Willa and me. I'll work it out."

  "Oh, no, you don't. You can't just leave us hanging," Maude Ann insisted. "Besides, how can we help you if you don't tell us what the problem is? So spit it out. What happened when you and Willa got home?"

  Zach glared at them, but all five just waited with expectant expressions. Finally he sighed and raked both hands through his hair again. "After we got home, I took a look at her cheek and tried to comfort her and … well … one thing led to another and—"

  "Aha! So what we thought was going to happen did happen. Jeez, bro, you must not have done it right if she's that mad."

  "Knock if off, J.T., and let him finish," Matt barked.

  Zach shot J.T. a quelling look, and started pacing again. "Anyway, the thing is … it was Willa's first time. But she didn't tell me, and by the time I realized it, it was too late."

  Matt gave a long, low whistle.

  "Oh, man, that's a heavy responsibility," J.T. murmured, sobering.

  "Yeah, well, I chewed her out for not telling me. I told her if she had I wouldn't have touched her, but the damage was done, so we would get married. That's when she hit the roof and started acting completely irrational."

  Maude Ann rolled her eyes. "Big surprise. No wonder she's got her nose out of joint."

  "Oh, Zach, how could you?" his sister groaned.

  "What? I was trying to do the right thing."

  "Jeez, bro, I sure hope you didn't say that to Willa."

  "Man, you really bungled things." Matt shook his head and gave him a pitying look. "Hell, Zach, even I know you don't ask a woman to marry you without first telling her that you love her."

  "He's right," Kate said. "No woman wants a man to marry her because he feels it's his duty. She needs to know that she's loved and wanted so much that her man can't bear the thought of a life without her."

  "I can't! Dammit, I've never felt this way about any woman before. Surely she knows that I wouldn't have ask her to marry me if I didn't love her."

  "Oh? And just how would she know that?"

  Zach glared at Maude Ann, unable to come up with a reasonable answer. After a moment he heaved a sigh, grimacing. "Ah, hell. I guess I really shot myself in the foot, didn't I? I swear to you, I was already thinking marriage, but I was going to court Willa for a couple of months first, then propose. What happened between us last night just made it seem more urgent, that's all."

  "Then I suggest you tell her that," Kate advised. "But I warn you, don't be surprised if she doesn't believe you."

  "Damn. So, it's hopeless?"

  "Not necessarily," Kate replied. "All I'm saying is, be prepared. It's going to take a lot of effort to convince her. You may be in for a long, hard struggle."

  "I'll damn well lay siege to her if I have to," he declared.

  Zach began to pace again, muttering under his breath about Willa's stubbornness and his own stupidity. Halfway across the room he stopped and glared at his brothers. "Wipe those grins off your faces. You two are really enjoying this, aren't you?"

  J.T.'s grin widened. "Hey, after the grief you gave me when I wanted to marry Kate, can you blame me? Anyway, I gotta tell you, man, seeing my calm, always-in-control brother so frazzled is a pure delight."

  * * *

  Except for a light in the kitchen, the house was in darkness when Willa drove into the ranch yard that night.

  She parked beside the barn and went inside and flipped on the dim overhead light. Immediately Bertha whinnied and her head appeared over the front of her stall. "Hi, girl," Willa murmured, stroking the mare's forehead. "Did you miss me today?"

  "It's about time you showed up."

  Willa jumped and spun around, her hand over her racing heart. "Zach! What are you doing here?"

  "Waiting for you. I knew you'd look in on your horse before you sneaked up to your room."

  "So you lay in wait in the dark to ambush me," she snapped.

  Zach shrugged. "Whatever it takes. So, where were you all day?"

  "I went to a movie in Helena. Not that it's any of your business." She'd also spent hours moping in a park and more just aimlessly driving around, but she wasn't going to admit that to him. She didn't dare let him know how much he'd hurt her.

  She stomped around him to the feed bin, half expecting him to reach out and grab her, but he kept his distance and merely watched her.

  "By the way, I've already fed your mare."

  "Oh." She dropped the scoop back into the bin and closed the lid. "In that case there's no reason for me to stay." She swung around and headed for the door with a determined stride.

  "Willa, I love you."

  The quiet declaration stopped her in her tracks and sent a shaft of pain through her heart. She turned slowly and looked at him, her eyes accusing. "Don't you dare say that to me. Not now."

  "I know, I know. I should have told you last night. My only excuse is, I was rattled. But it's true all the same."

  "I don't believe you." Her voice was low and quivering with hurt and anger. It was all she could do to not burst into tears.

  "Nevertheless, I do love you. I swear it."

  "Stop it! Stop saying that!"

  She headed for the door again, but before she'd taken two steps Zach was blocking her path. She hadn't known a man his size could move that fast.

  "Willa, listen to me—"

  "No! You'll say anything to get your way, all because of some outdated code of honor. Well, I'm sorry if you have a guilty conscience about what happened, but I refuse to have a martyr for a husband. Now get out of my way."

  "Okay, I will, if you'll answer just one question?"

  She eyed him warily. "Oh, all right. Go ahead."

  Zach looked deep into her eyes. "Do you love me?"

  Willa sucked in a sharp breath. "That's not fair. You can't—"

  "Do you?"

  She tried to turn her head away, but he grasped her chin and refused to let her. "Look at me, Willa," he commanded in a voice like velvet. "Look at me."

  When at last she raised sullen eyes to meet his gaze he went on in the same softly insistent tone. "If you can look me straight in the eye and honestly say, 'I don't love you, Zach' then I'll never bother you again. Can you say that, Willa?"

  Her chin began to quiver and her eyes grew moist.

  "I…I…"

  "Say it, Willa."

  Her eyes accused him. "Why are you doing this to me?"

  She tried, but she couldn't force the words out. Finally she closed her eyes and shook her head. "I…I can't."

  "Thank God for that," Zach exclaimed, and snatched her into his arms. He cradled her close and rubbed his cheek against the top of her head. "If you'd said that to me it would have killed me."

  He loosened his hold just enough to lean back and look at her. Willa's heart jumped when she saw the gleam in his eyes.

  "Zach, no—"

  "I have to. I've nearly gone insane these past twenty-four hours. If I don't kiss you soon I'm going to blow apart."

  "You don't understand. This changes noth—"

  Zach's mouth settled over hers, swallowing up the words. She tried to resist, pushing at his shoulders, but it was a weak effort at best and pointless. This was Zach, and she loved him so much it hurt.

  The lushness of the kiss, its power, its seductiveness were impossible to resist. At the first touch of his lips against hers, the tingling heat coursed through her veins and set her pulse to beating like a tom-tom.

  After a night of crying, followed by a day of licking her wounds, her emot
ions were running just below the surface, making it impossible to hold back her response.

  With a groan, Willa succumbed and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back greedily, hungrily, her passions soaring. Vaguely, she felt herself being lifted, carried, then they were lying together in one of the empty stalls on a pile of fresh hay. It crackled beneath them as they kissed endlessly and clung to each other, its pungent grassy scent rising all around them, filling the air with its sharp sweetness.

  There was no time for foreplay, and no need. Driven by the anxiety and raw emotions of the past twenty-four hours, their desire reached fever pitch within seconds. They worked frantically to get free of their clothes. Soon buttons and zippers and clasps were dealt with, but needs were desperate, demanding, and neither could wait long enough to strip completely. Shirts were yanked open, jeans and underwear shoved down and kicked off partway. Then, in a move as natural as breathing, Willa opened to him, and Zach sank into her silky warmth.

  For several moments the only sounds in the dimly lit barn were the stomp of hooves and an occasional soft whicker from the horses stalls, the crackle of hay, and lovers' soft sighs and gasps and whispered words of passion.

  The end, when it came, was explosive, eliciting a long, moaning cry from both of them. Then only the hiss of their labored breathing broke the ponderous silence.

  After a moment Willa became aware of a piece of straw poking into her back and shifted. Zach raised up on his forearms and smiled down at her, one blond eyebrow cocked. "Am I too heavy?"

  Their intimate position, combined with the wild disarray of their clothes and the dawning awareness that they had just made love in the barn, a literal "roll in the hay," brought a blush to her face. Barely able to meet his gaze, she shook her head.

  Zach's chiseled lips turned up at the corners. All the hard edges in his face seemed softer. He had that relaxed, slumberous look of a satisfied male. Lowering his head, he placed his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. "Tell me again that you love me."

  "Zach, don't." She pushed at his shoulders. "Let me up."

  He rolled of her and she sat up and fastened her bra and started buttoning her shirt. Zach sat up, as well. She knew he was watching her, but she kept her gaze focused on her task.

  "Willa? What's wrong?"

  She glanced at his puzzled expression and sighed. "Zach, nothing has changed."

  "What do you mean? You do believe that I love you, don't you?"

  "What I believe is, you're a moral and honorable man who always tries to do what's right. Right now you think that means marrying me." Her jeans and panties were bunched below her right knee. She stood and stuffed her left foot into the empty pant leg and pulled them up.

  "How can you say that. After what just happened?"

  Willa looked up from buttoning the waistband on her jeans, her face sad. "Oh, Zach, all that proves is you desire me. That's not a difficult response to get from a man. And it's certainly not enough to convince me that we could build a life together."

  * * *

  Over the next few days Zach was even more quiet and distant than usual, but Willa knew he hadn't given up. He watched her with brooding intensity whenever they were in the same room or working within sight of each other.

  Everyone else had picked up on his black mood and they all watched what they said and tiptoed around him as though they were walking on eggs, making the atmosphere in the house extremely uncomfortable.

  The only solution Willa could think of was to avoid Zach as much as possible, and each morning she grabbed a biscuit and headed for the barn before the others gathered for breakfast.

  Four days after making love with Zach the second time, she entered the barn at daybreak and was surprised when she didn't see Pete. "Pete? Are you here?" she called as she headed for Bertha's stall.

  She was halfway there when someone grabbed her from behind, clamping one hand around her waist and the other around her mouth, cutting off her instinctive scream.

  Her first thought was it was Zach, but then she realized that the man was smaller.

  "I've been waiting for you, bitch," Lennie growled in her ear. "You've been leaving early these past few days, so I figured this would be the best time to catch you alone."

  Willa struggled to twist free, but Lennie laughed and tightened his hold painfully. "Go ahead, fight me. It won't do you any good. You're coming with me."

  Revulsion shivered through her. He'd been watching her.

  "The trouble was that stupid old man was always here before you left the house and you never ride out without three or four cowboys with you. But I took care of the old geezer."

  Pete! Dear Lord, what had he done to Pete? "Now we're going up into the mountains, just you and me. And when I'm done with you, Mahoney or no other man will ever touch you again. C'mon. Let's go. My truck is hidden over behind the pine grove."

  At first, all she'd felt was revulsion and disgust, but now real fear coursed through her and she began to twist and buck and kick.

  "Stop that! It won't do you any good. Dammit! I've got a gun. If you don't stop I'll shoot you right here— Ow!"

  He hopped on one foot and grabbed his leg where Willa's boot heel had made hard contact with his shin. The instant his hand left her mouth she threw back her head and screamed.

  * * *

  Zach was halfway to the barn when the bloodcurdling sound stopped him in his tracks, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. Willa! His hesitation lasted only a fraction of a second, then he pounded for the barn.

  The screams were cut off as suddenly as they erupted, just as Zach charged inside. The sight that greeted him brought him skidding to a stop. Lennie Dawson had Willa in a choke hold, with a gun to her temple.

  "Stop right there, Mahoney, or she's dead!"

  "Let her go, Dawson."

  "Not on your life. She's coming with me."

  Zach shook his head, his eyes fixed on Lennie. "I don't think so."

  "I'll shoot you if you don't get out of the way," he screamed. "Damn you! If I can't have Willa, no man will. Especially not you."

  The wild look in Lennie's eyes unnerved Zach, though he was careful to not let his uneasiness show. Eaten up with jealousy, the younger man hovered on the brink of insanity.

  "Zach, please go. Please," Willa pleaded. "He means it."

  "No. I'm not going to let him take you. He'll have to kill me first."

  "That's a better idea, anyway," Lennie raged. "This ranch should have been mine. Willa should have been mine, and you stole both of them. You deserve to die, damn you!"

  "Put the gun away, Dawson," Matt ordered. He and J.T. entered the barn and took up a position on each side of Zach.

  "Get out of here!" Lennie shrieked. "My quarrel is with him, not you two."

  "Anyone who tangles with our brother has to deal with Matt and me, too," J.T. informed him.

  "And with us, as well," Maude Ann stated calmly. She and Kate stepped inside the barn and stood shoulder to shoulder with their husbands and Zach, flanking the men on each side.

  Appalled, the three men paled. "Maudie, you and Kate get out of here. Now," Matt bellowed.

  "Jeez, Kate, have you lost your mind?"

  "Sis, J.T.'s right. Get out of here. If you want to help, go call the sheriff," Zach said.

  "He's on his way. I called as soon as we heard Willa scream and Matt and J.T. took off for the barn. And Maudie and I aren't leaving, so forget it."

  "That's right." Maude Ann looked Lennie right in the eye and tilted her chin at a challenging angle. "Mr. Dawson, you really should have given this more thought before you decided to harm any of us, because we're a family, and that includes Willa. And families protect their own."

  In the distance the wail of a siren could be heard, growing steadily louder. Zach took a step forward, and the others moved with him. "Drop the gun, Lennie. It's over."

  "No! No, stay back! Or I'll shoot you all!"

  Zach shook his head and edged forw
ard another step. So did everyone else. "You may get one of us, maybe even two, but you can't stop us all."

  "At least I'll get you."

  "Please, Zach, go back. Go back," Willa sobbed.

  "Shut up!" Lennie tightened his hold on Willa's neck, nearly choking her. "I'm gonna enjoy this." Lennie turned the gun directly at Zach and took aim at his heart

  Clawing at the arm encircling her neck, Willa struggled to get air and at the same time raised her knee and kicked back as hard she could. She landed a vicious blow squarely on Lennie's kneecap. He howled and the gun's booming report echoed through the barn. Zach let out an "Oof," spun around and went down.

  "Zaaach!" Willa fought like a wildcat, clawing and scratching and kicking to get free, but Lennie stubbornly hung on. Cursing her and hobbling, he raised the gun again, but before he could fire, Matt and J.T. jumped him and wrestled him to the ground, taking Willa down with them.

  Calling Zach's name over and over, she wriggled and squirmed and frantically worked herself free of the pile of men and scrambled on her hands and knees to his side. "Zach. Oh, Zach," she sobbed. With Kate and Maude Ann's help, they rolled him over onto his back, and Willa cried out when she saw the bloodstain spreading on his shirt.

  "Easy," Maude Ann cautioned in her calm, physician's voice.

  "What in the cat hair is goin' on?" Groaning, Pete staggered out from behind a stack of hay bales, holding his head.

  "Pete! Thank God. Are you all right?"

  "Far as I can tell, Willie."

  "What happened?"

  "Well now … one minute I was dippin' up grain outta the feed bin, an' the next thing I know, I'm waking up behind the hay bales to a godawful noise what sounded like an explosion. If that ain't bad enough, now some fool's comin' with a siren wailing like a banshee. Dang, I got me a knot on my noggin you could wear a hat on. I think somebody conked me."

  "That was Lennie. And he shot Zach."

  Pete frowned, focusing on Zach's prone body. "How bad is he?"

  "It probably looks a lot worse than it is," Maude Ann answered. "Kate, would you go get my medical bag? It's in the armoire in our room. And call an ambulance while you're there."