"I hope I'm not intruding, and you'll probably think this is a crazy question," the blonde said. "But I saw a photograph of you and a young woman at Golden's, taken a long time ago. I'm hoping you might remember who she was."
Golden's? A photo? Leeanne knew there wasn't any photo of Jimmy taken with her on Golden's Wall of Fame, because Jimmy hated to have his picture taken.
"I'm not sure what you're referring to," Jimmy said. "What was your name again?"
"I'm sorry. Katherine Whitfield."
Katherine Whitfield? The woman J.T. had thrown his bourbon at? Mary Jo had been whining about the incident all morning. What on earth could Katherine Whitfield want from Jimmy?
"Could you tell me more about this photo?" Jimmy asked.
"You and a young woman are sitting at a table. She has long dark hair, parted in the middle. I couldn't see her face. She looks thin, young, maybe nineteen or twenty. The bartender thought her name was Evie. He said you'd know for sure."
Leeanne caught her breath at Katherine's question. Evie? She'd never heard him talk about an Evie.
"I don't know anyone by that name," Jimmy said firmly. "In fact, I don't think I'm in any of the photos. You must be mistaken."
"Really? Both Zach and Justin seemed quite sure the man was you."
"Sometimes pictures can be deceiving. If that's all, Miss Whitfield, I have an appointment."
He was nervous, hiding something. Leeanne shivered at the edge in Jimmy's voice. Her boring, bland husband had a secret. An old lover perhaps? She could hardly imagine. And while one part of her angrily wondered if he'd been unfaithful, another part of her was somewhat titillated by the idea of Jimmy having a secret life.
"What about an Evelyn Jones?" Katherine persisted, obviously unwilling to let Jimmy go yet. "Do you remember a woman by that name?"
Leeanne crept closer to the door, determined to catch every word.
"No," Jimmy said. "Why are you asking?"
Katherine paused so long, Leeanne wondered if she was going to answer the question.
"I think the woman in the photo might be my mother," Katherine said slowly.
"You're trying to find your mother?" Jimmy asked.
"No. I'm -- well, actually I'm looking for my father."
Leeanne bit back a gasp at the implication. She'd never have expected this in a million years.
"I'm not your father," Jimmy said hastily. "If you have any such notion..."
"I didn't mean to imply that. I'm trying to figure out why my mother had so many mementos from Golden's, and I hope that leads me to the truth. I don't know if the woman in the photo with you is even her. The name was close -- Evelyn, Evie."
"No. Sorry. I can't help you."
"Well, thanks for your time."
Leeanne almost forgot to move. But she couldn't let Jimmy or Katherine catch her in the hallway, not after that bombshell. She dashed down the hall and into the ladies' room. It took her a few minutes to catch her breath, to settle her racing heart.
Had Jimmy had a lover she didn't know about? Had he fathered a child with someone else -- a child who was now a beautiful grown-up blonde? But if he had, he wouldn't have shirked his responsibilities. He wasn't that kind of man. Unless he hadn't known...
Chapter Seven
Friday dawned with a clear blue sky, broken only by an occasional puffy white cloud drifting across the perfect landscape. Katherine rolled down the window of the car she'd borrowed from the Inn and inhaled the crisp, country-fresh air. Her meeting with Jimmy Callaway the day before had not gone particularly well, but today was a new day, a new beginning, with all sorts of possibilities.
She was going to start by driving out to J.T.'s stud farm and introduce herself to him and his wife. After throwing alcohol in her face, she figured he owed her at least a meeting. But as she saw the sign for Stanton Farms, the impulse to take the next turnoff and see Zach was too strong to resist.
Two minutes later she pulled into a loosely graveled lot and parked the car in front of a life-size statue of a jockey wearing burgundy and gold with the letters SF branded on his chest.
She stepped out of the car and looked around. To the right there were numerous shade trees and a long narrow path leading to what appeared to be an impressive three-story house. To the left were the barns, a half dozen or so buildings going back as far as the eye could see. And somewhere in that area she could probably find Zach.
"Can I help you?" a woman asked, stopping in front of Katherine with a friendly smile. Wearing blue jeans, dusty boots, and a burgundy T-shirt with the now familiar SF crest, she was obviously an employee of some sort.
"I'm looking for Zach Tyler," Katherine replied.
"He's in the breeding shed. Do you have an appointment?"
"No, I'm just a friend stopping by to say hello.”
"It's the second building on your right. If he's not there, stop in at the office. They can track him down for you.”
Before she could move, a trio of horses came flying into view in a nearby pasture. She caught her breath at the sight of a mother and two foals chasing a bird or a butterfly or something that had set them into a run on a beautiful spring morning.
"Oh, wow," she murmured.
The girl beside her laughed. "That's Misty and her babies. Actually, only one of the babies is hers. The other one's mother died at childbirth, so Misty adopted the baby."
She watched while the two younger horses played under the mare's watchful eyes. "They're gorgeous."
"That they are."
"I've never seen a horse up close before," Katherine confessed with a laugh.
"You came to the right place then. Get Zach to show you around. We've got some real beauties here."
"Thanks, I will." Katherine took one last look at the mare and her babies, then walked down the path toward the breeding shed. Along the way she couldn't help noticing how busy the farm was. There were horses being walked in a ring, others getting hosed down. Workers were pitching hay and filling up water troughs. She was as far from her thirty-second-floor office as she could get.
"Can I help you?" an older man asked, stopping in front of her to push his baseball cap up higher on his head. He squinted at her with friendly brown eyes that lit up his lined face. "I know you. You're that gal who landed herself in a ditch."
And she remembered him, the other man in the trailer with Zach.
"That's me," she said lightly.
"Well, you look a lot better than the last time I saw you. I'm Sam Jordan."
"Katherine Whitfield."
"You come to see Zach?"
"Yes, is he around?"
"Oh, sure, he's always around. Lives and breathes this business, you know."
"I got that impression."
"He's in the breeding shed. I'll take you over there."
"Thanks," Katherine replied, falling into step alongside him.
"I'm sure Zach will be happy to see you," Sam said with a half smile in her direction.
She wasn't so sure, but she appreciated the vote of confidence. "Have you known Zach long?"
"Since he was a sixteen-year-old smart-ass. The kid had to work hard to get to this point. Didn't get no help from his no-good dad."
"I've heard a little about his father."
"Well, Zach ain't his Daddy. About time folks realized that. He runs this farm better than anyone I've ever seen. He's got a real fine horse, too. That makes people nervous. Folks around here don't want to have to take their hats off to him, but if Zach has his way, they'll have to do just that."
"Do you really think people will change their minds about him if his horse wins the Derby?"
"In Paradise, the Derby counts for a whole lot." Sam paused for a minute, sending her a speculative look. "You going to stay in town long, Miss Whitfield?"
"I'm not sure yet."
"Well, I hope you'll stay until the Derby. It's only two weeks away, and it's an experience you won't want to miss." Sam paused in front of a large barn. "This is th
e breeding shed. When we go in, stay behind me. We're breeding John Royal to Miss Penny today."
She gulped. She'd never actually seen two animals mate, and she wasn't all that sure she wanted to see it now. "Maybe I should just wait outside."
"Don't worry. There's a viewing area. You won't be right in the room with 'em," Sam said, heading into the barn.
Katherine stayed as close to him as possible as he led her into the breeding shed. He mounted a few stairs to the left and let her look through the glass.
"Oh, my," Katherine murmured, watching as two men held on to the bridle of a beautiful chestnut-colored horse.
"That's Miss Penny. She came all the way from Texas for this mating." Sam looked at her and smiled. "You don't know much about horses, do you?”
"I don't know anything."
"Breeding is our business. Owners send us their mares and we breed them to our stallions. The bloodlines are traced back for several generations. Every aspect of each horse's breeding is taken into account, and the result is a pure thoroughbred who will hopefully win some races and enhance the value of the bloodline."
"It seems so cold-blooded."
"It is," he said with a laugh. "But the horses don't care. Everything is kept one hundred percent sterile. The walls are padded, no nails or spikes, nothing that could injure a rattled horse or one of our men."
"You make it sound like a rather violent process."
"It can be. These are twelve-hundred-pound animals. And sometimes a mare can get a little nervous."
She could understand that. She felt a little nervous, too, and not at all sure she wanted to witness the coming event. Then Zach walked in.
Dressed in tight-fitting, faded blue jeans that were stained with dirt at the knees, a navy blue polo shirt that stretched across his broad chest, and a baseball cap on his head, Zach Tyler was every inch a male with his long, lean legs and powerful arms. He strolled up to the mare and began to pet her as she danced lightly on her feet.
Katherine couldn't hear what he was saying through the glass walls, but it didn't matter. Watching him quiet the mare was an amazing experience. She'd seen him angry and impatient, but she'd never seen him so tender.
"Zach's good with the girls," Sam said with a grin in her direction. "The four-legged kind, that is."
As he finished speaking, Zach turned to look at them. He frowned, giving her a quick nod. Then the large door at the other end of the room opened and his attention moved to the powerful stallion.
"That's not the real one," Sam said in her ear.
"What do you mean?"
"That's the warm-up act."
At her look of confusion, he explained. "That's a standard-bred stallion, not a thoroughbred. His job is to tease the mare, see if she's ready, test how she's going to respond. If the mare is truly in heat, she'll be submissive. If not, she may try to resist the stallion and kick him. We can't risk our very expensive stallion getting injured, so we test the waters first."
She watched as the mare was backed up against the wall of the adjoining room where the stallion was. The stallion thrust his nose at her, snorting with eagerness. The mare stood quietly under Zach's firm hand. A second later the door slammed shut between them.
"What happens next?" Katherine asked as Zach moved the mare through another doorway.
"Show-time," Sam said, leading her along the glass wall until they could see into another room. "Billy there is putting a thong over the mare's nose, which is attached to that thick stick. It's called a hobble and a twitch. In another minute, Zach will bring in John Royal. He won't let the stallion rush her. We don't want to have her jump or jerk."
She stiffened as Zach brought in an enormous copper-coated horse. The horse was powerful, confident, and strong. The mare gave a whinny as if in approval.
"Here we go," Sam said.
And without any further ado, the stallion moved toward the mare. He rose on his hind legs, and Katherine saw one of the men in the ring hold up something that looked like a rolling pin and place it between the horses as the stallion plunged into the mare.
"Oh, my!" Katherine said as the mare jerked her head so hard the stick and stable boy went flying against the wall.
Zach grabbed the mare as two other men guided the stallion. Another minute or two and it was over, the stallion led away, the mare left standing alone.
"You okay?" Sam asked. "You look a little green."
"That was... animalistic.”
"They're horses. What did you expect?"
"I don't know." She gave a helpless smile. "Sometimes I feel like I landed on the moon when I landed in that ditch."
He grinned back at her. "You'll get your moon legs. It just takes a while. Do you want to wait outside for Zach?"
"That sounds good.”
The fresh air was a welcome relief. She sat down on a bench and took in several deep, calming breaths. She was definitely out of her element. A meow brought her head around. A large orange cat leapt onto the bench and climbed onto her lap without waiting for a welcome. Katherine instinctively rubbed her fur, missing her own kitty. At least this felt familiar.
* * *
Zach saw Katherine sitting on the bench and stopped to watch her for a minute. She was talking to the cat, looking more comfortable with an animal than he would have expected. He'd seen her face through the glass in the breeding shed, the wonder, the shock.
At first he'd been angry that Sam had brought her inside. Then he'd been glad, because if there was one event that could shock a romantic city girl, it was watching two horses mate in cold, sterile, realistic surroundings.
That was what sex was, elemental, basic, a need, just like an itch or a hunger. It was women who made it more than that -- who wanted words of love and sparkling fireworks. Men just wanted to get inside, fast, hard, quick.
Although quick might not be right this time around. He had a feeling a man could go real slow with Katherine, take all day, all night, maybe even a few nights to really touch her, taste her. Damn. He felt his body harden with each teasing thought. Why couldn't she have just stayed away?
She lifted her gaze and caught him staring. He quickly moved towards her. He needed to get her on her way as quickly as possible.
"This is a nice cat," she said as he approached.
"Simon is a lazy bum. Go on, scat," he said, taking the cat out of her arms and shooing it away.
Katherine stood up and brushed some stray fur off of her light blue sweater. At least she'd come dressed more appropriately today. Even if her jeans were designer, at least they were practical. Unfortunately, they curved in all the right places.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Did you come to say good-bye?"
"You're going to have to stop asking me that. I'm not leaving any time soon. I was actually on my way to J.T.'s farm when I saw the sign for this place. I didn't expect it to be so big or that there would be so many people working here."
"Forty-seven to be exact, counting all the part-timers," Zach replied.
"Do you own this farm?”
He quickly shook his head. "No. It belongs to Harry Stanton and his wife, Claire. I'm just the farm manager."
"Which means you're in charge of all this?" She waved her hand around the barn area.
"Impressed?" he asked.
"A little," she admitted.
He felt a rush of pride at her smile along with an overwhelming desire to kiss her.
"Come with me," he said.
She looked startled. "What?"
"Come to my office." He grabbed her hand, pulling her along, ignoring the curious looks of his employees. They knew better than to question his actions. He was the boss, after all, and if he wanted to have a little privacy with a beautiful blonde, that was his business.
His office was in the first building, a large room with computers, printers, a fax, and a large desk that was perpetually covered in papers. His secretary had an office next door, but she was off somewhere on a lunch break, so there was no o
ne down at this end of the building but him -- and Katherine.
He led her into the room, slammed the door behind them, and placed his mouth over hers. It was what he wanted, what he needed, what he couldn't deny. He'd thought about it all night. He'd almost kissed her in the bar, but somehow he'd held back. He couldn't deny himself again, not when she was so close, not when she was so soft.
* * *
Katherine lost her breath as Zach's mouth covered hers. He branded her lips with a hot, fiery mark of possession. No gentle, get-acquainted kiss for Zach. He sought total possession, sliding his tongue into her mouth with a groan of desire that completely matched her own.
In fact, she couldn't get enough. Putting her hands on his chest, she slid them up and around his neck, pressing his head closer to hers, allowing him no chance for retreat. When he withdrew, she pursued. When she stopped for breath, he leaned in for another kiss. It should have ended after one or two or three, but they couldn't seem to stop.
"Jesus!" Zach murmured, finally drawing back, breath ragged, his black eyes dancing with gold glitter. "I didn't expect that."
She stared at his eyes, then dropped her gaze to his mouth, to his full lips, and she couldn't help licking her own.
"Don't," he said.
Don't what? She had no idea what he meant, and the conflicting signals in his eyes told her he didn't have any idea either. "It's not enough," she said softly, standing on tiptoe to press her mouth to his once more.
"Damn you, Katherine." His hands came around her waist, his fingers locked with each other, as he pulled her against him.
She could feel every hard, muscled inch of him, and the friction between their legs, their hips, their chests, drove her crazy with need. She wanted bare skin against bare skin, her breasts against his chest. She wanted to feel all that power beneath her, on top of her, inside of her.
She closed her eyes as his lips trailed across her face to her ear, the corner of her neck. She wanted him with every fiber of her being. She'd never understood how a woman could meet a man and jump into bed with him. But she understood it now. She'd known this man for three days, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered as long as he was holding her, touching her, making her heart beat faster and her mind spin out of control.
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