An Eye for an Eye(16)

Redwood Falls, Texas

A few weeks later, Zach's hands were still tied and his frustration level was even higher. When he was in Redwood Falls, like today, the anger simmered to an even hotter degree, because everything he saw reminded him of Katie.

But he continued to come to town, and not only to see his family. Even though he spent the majority of his time in Dallas, he continued to do most of his banking in Redwood Falls, wanting to give as much of his business as he could to the small town.

As he walked up the steps of the bank he almost ran directly into Diana Turner, Katie's mother, who was leaving the premises.

The older woman had her head down, and when he reached out and steadied her, she looked up and he could see the tears gleaming in her eyes. At over forty, she was still very pretty, and she had a bit of Katie's look around the eyes, but studying her closely now, it was obvious that Katie had inherited her dark, sultry looks from her father's side of the family.

"Mrs. Turner, are you all right?" Zach had never felt any ill will toward the older woman, if anything, he had always felt a sliver of respect for her.

Her narrow shoulders trembled under his hands, and as she nodded her head, he realized that although she didn't resemble her daughter very much, their mannerisms were so impossibly alike that the relationship between them couldn't be denied.

"I'm fine, thanks."

Even as she answered him, she looked up, tears beginning to fall from her eyes, and it suddenly hit him that this was Katie's mother and someone had upset her. "You're not okay." Zach twisted around and began leading her down the steps until they reached a bench in the shade, not far from the building. He gently pushed her down until she was seated. "It might help to talk about it."

"That's sweet, Zach, but I'm afraid nothing can help this situation."

"You never know, why don't you give it a shot? I've got time to burn." Time to burn? That was a joke. If she were anyone other than Katie's mom, he was afraid he'd have blown right past her on his way up the steps and never looked back.

She took a shuddering breath and hesitantly, began telling her story. As her words unfolded, Zach tried to listen with only compassion. But he couldn't. His cutthroat instincts were too sharp, and as he realized that his proverbial chess pieces were falling perfectly into place, he schooled his features carefully and tried like hell not to show the satisfaction that had his guts screaming with victory.

Of course, he'd attempt like hell never to call checkmate on Katie. That's not the way he wanted her. He wanted her soft and warm and willing. But just in case. This would be just in case he couldn't get her that way. This was exactly the insurance he needed to calm the frustration that had been eating him alive. Now he'd be able to sleep and eat and function like a reasonable man as he went through the motions of his life for the next few months while he continued to try to woo Katie into his bed.

Yeah, this was his ace, if he ever needed it. He held victory in the palm of his hand.

Victory, yeah, he smelled the scent of victory. And it smelled a lot like Katie's naked body in his bed.

So why was that a stab of guilt he was feeling in his gut?



Katie opened her dorm room after a sharp knock and saw the student who usually manned both the entrance to the dormitory and the information desk. The girl had a big smile on her face as she pushed a vase of roses toward Katie. "These came for you about an hour ago, but this is the first chance I've had to bring them up."

With a confused expression on her face, Katie reached out and took the bouquet from the other girl. "Are you sure? For me?"

"Yeah. Lucky you." The girl turned to go. "I've never gotten flowers delivered to me, and I've had a boyfriend for three years."

"Thanks," Katie said as the girl rushed off. Turning and shutting the door again, Katie set the vase on her chest of drawers and found the envelope. She slid her finger underneath to pop the seal, and almost had a heart attack when she read what the note contained.

The cardstock was off-white and embossed with gold filigree and the words were written in crooked, masculine handwriting. Have dinner with me. It was signed simply, Zach, and had a phone number underneath.

Katie looked at the roses for a few seconds almost as if she expected them to jump up and move, as if they weren't an inanimate object. She leaned down and touched the petals of one flower, and put her nose to them, smelling their deep, luscious scent. Visions of Zachary McIntyre rushed through her mind, and without quite realizing she was doing it, her finger moved back and forth across the handwritten message. As she touched the card, she was bombarded with the memory of him pleading with her to forget the past and to give him a chance. It made her heart constrict.

For a moment she wished she were a normal girl, and that she could accept his dinner invitation without a qualm. But she couldn't. Although she believed he'd let go of the pain in his past, or most of it, at least, she couldn't let go of hers.

If only there was a way to tell him that it wasn't anything personal against him. It was obvious that he didn't know what had happened to her, and she felt bad for not being able to call him and tell him.

But she couldn't, and she wasn't going to make herself do it. What she'd gone through at seventeen had been bad, and she wasn't ready to make herself take the first step in getting over it . . . not with a physical relationship, anyway.

She knew she was being a coward. She hated being a coward. But not facing Zach with the truth was far less of a cowardly act than when it had taken her months to go to the police about the attack. When other young girls had been in danger and she had been too scared to face what had happened to her, that had been . . . horrible. And so cowardly that she still cringed about it.

At the time, she'd been too shaken from the attack and had only wanted to hide in her room. She hadn't wanted to upset her parents; she'd told herself she was trying to protect them from the pain of knowing what she had gone through. And that had certainly been true. But she also hadn't wanted to face her attacker in a courtroom and have to go through the ordeal of testifying. It was shameful remembering that it wasn't until she'd found out the evil bastard had almost hurt Mandy and Hannah that she'd agreed to testify. And even that had been because Josh had prodded her so much. And even though Jesse Whitaker was in prison now, it would be a long time before Katie forgave herself for being such a coward for so long.

So really, not telling Zach the truth right now wasn't nearly as bad as the ball of misery in the pit of Katie's stomach was telling her that it was.

She'd tell him one day.

She really would.

But today wasn't the day.



A month later Katie received another dozen roses. The card was exactly the same except for one addition. Underneath the request that she join him for dinner, Zach had written the word please. That word, seeming so stark, so vulnerable when she saw it written in his handwriting, desperately made her want to go out with him. Tears blurred her eyes as she saw his roughly handsome face in her mind's eye. She wished she were brave enough. She really did. Maybe he'd send flowers again next month. Maybe then she'd be ready.

She wiped the tears from her cheeks with the palms of her hands and inhaled deeply.

Yeah, she'd be ready next month.





On the sixth month, Katie got angry when the roses arrived. Why wouldn't he leave her alone? Why did he have to send her stupid flowers every month? All they did was make her wish she could go with him. They made her feel utterly ridiculous for not being brave enough to step out of the narrow box her world had become over the past few years. The roses made her look at herself in the mirror, and she didn't like who she saw there. There was absolutely no reason she should be afraid. But she was. Every month, when the roses came, they made her realize the depth of her insecurities and they made her remember things that she desperately wanted to forget.

And unfortunately, she began to build up a deeper resentment toward Zach with the passing of time.



PART TWO



Chapter Seven

Two and a half years later-Present Day

Redwood Falls, Texas: The Turner Farm

Katie sat at the kitchen table and stared in horror at her mother. "What did you just say?"

Diana Turner took a shuddering breath. "Zachary McIntyre is calling in our loan. We have thirty days to come up with the money or he'll foreclose on the farm."

Katie's stomach turned slightly queasy as the ramifications of that statement sank in. "Mom, how did this happen? What loan?" Katie paused as tension coiled in her stomach, making it spasm in cramps. "How much money?"

Her mother looked up from the coffee she was absently stirring. Pain was etched across the older woman's features. "Three hundred and twenty thousand dollars."

Katie's heart stopped beating as she felt the color drain from her face. "Wh-why?" The single word was all she could get out.

Diana started crying softly, tears running down her pale cheeks. "It was all because of that woman." She took a deep breath and it was obvious to Katie that her mother was trying to keep it under control. "Ironic, isn't it? When your Uncle Chris left town with Cindy McIntyre, he wanted to sell his half of the farm to raise funds for that money-hungry witch. I know I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, it was a horrible tragedy when they were killed." As Diana took a sip of coffee and wiped the tears from her cheeks, Katie's stomach tightened into a ball of sharp distress. Her mother inhaled deeply and her mouth tightened before she continued. "Anyway, you know your father couldn't let half of the land go to anyone outside of our family. So we borrowed the money from the bank and bought your uncle out. Chris and Cindy got the money and disappeared. We got a mortgage. And then the drought came. The crop failed. We couldn't feed the cows. We had to sell the herd for pennies on the dollar because we couldn't afford the feed. So we missed some payments."