Almost Home Part 14

"I don't know either," he said. "I should have called to cancel hours ago."

"Why would you want to cancel?" she asked in confusion. She opened her mouth to say something else, and he put a finger against her lips.

He'd meant to tease her into quiet, but touching her mouth with his finger put his pulse into overdrive. He traced the line of her mouth, the line his tongue had once tasted, the line he wanted to taste again.

"Zach," she murmured in a husky voice.

He didn't know what she was asking, so he couldn't begin to answer. He pulled his hand away from her mouth and shoved it into his pocket.

"Mr. Tyler?" the hostess asked, looking at Zach. "Your table is ready."

He wasn't ready for his table. He hadn't told Katherine about his father yet. "Before we sit down, I have to tell you something," he said hastily.

"Can't you tell me at the table? I'd really like to sit down."

Zach sighed as Katherine followed the hostess into the dining room. He'd had the foolish notion he could actually avoid sitting down to dinner with her, that he could send her on her way before his father arrived, but as usual, Katherine had gotten in the way of his plan.

Before he knew it, they were sitting at a quiet corner table in the back of the dining room, ordering wine and perusing the menu.

Zach could barely read the entrees. His mind was spinning, trying to find a way out of this mess. He hadn't antic.i.p.ated Katherine looking so stunningly beautiful or so warmly appealing. Right now all he really wanted to do was sit and look at her in the candlelight.

"Zach, when I was leaving the barns yesterday, I took a wrong turn, and I stumbled across this incredible garden." Her eyes lit up with excitement. "It was amazing, I've never seen so many flowers. Of course, the weeds are overrunning everything, but if someone took a little time, it could be spectacular. Do you know where it is? Have you seen it?"

Zach couldn't help being taken in by her enthusiasm. Katherine had so much desire to set things right, and she wanted everything to be beautiful. She didn't see the dark side of life, only the light. In a weed-filled garden, she saw beauty. In an old love letter she saw her father. He couldn't help wondering what she saw when she looked at him.

"Mrs. Stanton said I could do some work if I wanted to," she continued.

Zach suddenly realized he'd lost half the conversation. "Mrs. Stanton? You saw Mrs. Stanton?"

"Yes. She came into the garden. Haven't you been listening?"

"I wish you hadn't gone there."

"Why?"

"Because that garden was very special to the Stantons. I don't think they want people in there trampling all over the flowers."

"I wasn't trampling the flowers, and Mrs. Stanton said I could come back any time, that she'd welcome a little help with the garden. Of course, I said I would. And she said you'd be happy to help me find the gardening tools."

"Oh, h.e.l.l, Katherine. How do you get yourself into the middle of everything?"

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him. "I was being helpful. That's all. I don't know why you have such a problem with me doing some gardening. It's not going to bother you."

She didn't know the half of it. That garden was only a short ways from his house. She was already invading his personal life; the last thing he needed was to see her at work.

"Every time I turn around, I trip over you," Zach said. "Of course you're going to bother me. You'll want tools and more tools and directions and suggestions and someone to look at what you've done."

"That's not true. I won't ask you for a thing. In fact, I'll find my own tools."

"I thought you were here to look for your father. Now you're going to spend your days weeding some garden that n.o.body cares about? Why?"

"Because it's there, and it needs me."

"We're talking about a garden, not a person."

Katherine tucked a piece of hair behind one ear in a gesture that was becoming endearingly familiar.

"I know you don't get it. But at home, in California, I'm not really needed. Everything runs smoothly without me. When I saw the garden and I smelled the lavender, I knew that this place was special and I was meant to fix it."

"Kat, I don't believe in fate or oblique symbols that people use to rationalize their decisions. You weren't meant to drift through life. You're supposed to take charge. You do what you want to do, and to h.e.l.l with whatever other people think or want."

"Easy for you to say-I've spent my whole life worrying about what people think of me."

"Why do you care?"

"Because I do." She picked up her menu. "Maybe we should order now. I'm starving. I spent most of the day listening to some woman describe the intricacies of quilting. It would have been great if she'd told me something helpful, but-"

"Wait," Zach interrupted, suddenly realizing he'd gotten sidetracked, and his father was due to show up any second. "There's something I have to tell you."

She sent him an expectant look. "What?"

"I didn't make this dinner reservation. My father did. I only came to warn you not to listen to him."

"I don't understand."

"Jackson heard you were looking for your father. I don't know how or when. As far as I knew, he was on the other side of the world or dead. But apparently he's here in Paradise, and he wants to meet you. His name is Jackson with a J," Zach said pointedly.

Confusion, then shock, filled her beautiful blue eyes, and Zach had the urge to take his words back. But he'd never believed in pulling off a Band-Aid slowly. Better to yank it off, get the pain over all at once.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Katherine sat stiffly. She had that proud, vulnerable look on her face again, the one that made him think of a terrified puppy facing a German shepherd.

Before he could reply, he saw his father out of the corner of his eye, approaching their table like a missile on target. "Just don't believe a word he says," Zach said quickly.

"Zach-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jackson Tyler stopped next to the table, looking handsome and refined in a charcoal gray suit. Somewhere in his travels he'd obviously picked up some new threads.

"Zachary. There you are." Jackson smiled at Zach, then at Katherine. "I trust my son has been entertaining you, Miss Whitfield. Allow me to introduce myself-Jackson Tyler." He offered her a small bow along with his hand.

Katherine shook it somewhat warily. "You're Zach's father?"

"Yes, I am," Jackson looked over at Zach.

"Don't say it, Pop. Don't do this."

"Zach, what's going on?" Katherine asked. "What don't you want your father to tell me?"

"That this isn't just any dinner," Jackson replied smoothly. "It's a family dinner." Jackson sat down next to Katherine, forcing her to slide closer to Zach. She looked from one to the other, trapped between them.

"I'm not sure I understand."

"I'm your father, Katherine. Welcome to the family."

Her mouth dropped open. "My father? Oh, my G.o.d!" She sent Zach a wild, desperate look. "He's wrong, isn't he? Please tell me I'm not-I can't be your sister. I just can't be."

"Now, now. There's no reason to get hysterical," Jackson said soothingly. "I realize Zachary might not be your first choice for a brother, but he's not so bad."

Katherine heard Jackson's words, but they didn't make any sense. There was only one sentence going around in her head. I'm your father.

She'd finally heard someone utter the magic words, but she'd never imagined how deeply they would hurt. She looked at Zach imploringly, willing him to tell her his father was making a joke-that there was no possible way they could be brother and sister. A sense of horror grew in her soul as she thought about their kiss, the way his tongue had probed hers, his mouth warm and hot, his hands seeking, her body wanting...

Zach's gaze dropped down to the tabletop. He took a deep breath, the pulse in his neck beating like wildfire as he fought some inner demon. Finally he looked up at her-at his father.

"Tell her, Zach," Jackson encouraged. "Tell her how much you want us to be a family. After all, you're entering an exciting time in your life. You have a horse that might win the Derby, and perhaps Stanton Farms will be yours after all these years. That is, as long as you stay on Harry's good side. Katherine will want to share in that."

Zach stared at his father as if he hated him. Katherine could see it in the way his eyes blazed and his hands clenched on top of the tablecloth. She didn't understand what was going on between the two of them or with her.

"Katherine won't be sharing in anything," Zach said tersely.

"Now, Zach, don't forget our little understanding."

Zach shook his head and glanced over at Katherine. "He's not your father. It's a con. He heard you were rich and looking for your old man. He figured he could sell you your dream. But it won't come cheap, Kat. Don't buy in to it." He paused. "You deserve better."

Her heart caught in her throat at his last words. You deserve better. No one had ever thought she deserved more. Looking at the two angry men, she had a feeling it would cost Zach more than she knew.

"Don't listen to Zach, Miss Whitfield. He's afraid I'll leave everything to you, instead of to him," Jackson said.

"Leave what to me? You don't have anything."

Jackson ignored him, turning to Katherine. "I believe your mother's name was Evelyn Jones."

Katherine nodded, feeling panicked by his words. "Yes."

"I knew her. Only she didn't call herself Evelyn then. She had another name."

"What?" Katherine whispered.

Jackson smiled, looking as if he were beginning to enjoy the evening. "Now, I'd be happy to tell you everything. But not tonight. Not until we make ourselves a little deal."

"That's it." Zach stood up and grabbed Katherine's hand, pulling her out of the booth along with him. "You don't need to listen to any more lies."

"We'll talk later, when we can be alone," Jackson promised.

"Do you have proof that-that you're my-my father?" she asked haltingly.

"Would I come to you if I wasn't?"

"You would," Zach answered for Jackson, looking straight at him. "But maybe to ease everyone's mind, you'd submit to a blood test. Painless. Easy."

Jackson's eyes glittered with dislike. "I don't need a blood test to prove I'm her kin. I have information only a father would have."

"Then spill it."

"Always so impatient, Zachary. Why don't you both sit down?"

"No. This dinner is over. You didn't know her mother. And you certainly aren't going to know her." Zach squeezed Katherine's hand, as if to rea.s.sure her that he would never let that happen.

Jackson's eyes narrowed as he took in the two of them. "I should have realized. You're sweet on her. Well, no matter. The truth will come out."

"You wouldn't know the truth if it hit you."

Zach stalked out of the restaurant, dragging Katherine behind him, ignoring their waiter's startled look and the murmurs following their exit. He didn't stop moving until they reached the parking lot, until the night air cooled the raging anger in his body. "G.o.dd.a.m.n him," he swore as he let go of her hand to hit the side of his truck. "Why the h.e.l.l can't he leave me alone?"

Katherine looked at Zach's hard face, his dark eyes, and saw a fleeting s.h.i.+mmer of pain covered by anger and hate and weary disillusionment. She wondered if this man had ever been a boy, if he'd ever looked at an apple without searching for the worm. She glanced over her shoulder, relieved to see that Jackson hadn't followed them out to the parking lot.

"I can't believe he has the nerve to show his face around here, much less claim to be your father," Zach said. "Since he won't take a blood test, it's obvious he's lying."

"But he must have known we'd ask for proof."

"He must have something else," Zach murmured.

"Like what?"

"Something on your mother, maybe. He seems to know a lot more about you than I do."

"Maybe I should go back and talk to him," Katherine said, even though it was absolutely the last thing she wanted to do.

"No, it's better not to talk to my father unless you're armed with more information than he is, and at the moment, he's got the upper hand."

"He wouldn't have the upper hand if you'd thought to warn me," Katherine said sharply.

Zach tipped his head. "You're right. I thought about it."

"Why didn't you call me today and tell me what was going on?"

"I thought about that, too."

"Zach!"

He shrugged. "You're looking for a needle in a haystack, Kat. But sometimes you don't find the needle, you find a rat. I warned you about that the first day we met."

Katherine sighed. "So I got what I deserved."

"Well, maybe not what you deserved. n.o.body deserves Jackson. That's why I couldn't let you have dinner alone with him. And now I wish I had called you earlier. We could have skipped the whole thing."

"Do you think Jackson knew my mother?"