by Leanne Banks
“Well, I suppose this is a good time for us to get to know each other better. Although, you could do an internet search on me and find out quite a bit,” she added wryly.
“Yeah, age, education, pedigree. Gossip about potential marriage partners.”
“Trust me, that was only gossip. Only speculation. At one time, my brother was hoping I would accept a proposal from—” She broke off, remembering she should keep that information private, at least for the time being.
“From who?” he prompted.
“State business,” she said. “My brother would consider it confidential.”
“And you?” he asked. “What would you consider it?”
“Horrifying,” she said. “Impossible.”
He chuckled and lifted his beer to his lips. “I can see why it didn’t work out.”
“Well, enough about me. What about you? Any former loves in your past?”
A shadow crossed over Zach’s face, and his expression immediately closed. “I don’t discuss that part of my past. You want to know about my sister and brother, my business, my ranch, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
“But—” she said. “You just asked about mine.”
“I wanted to know if there is anyone else in the picture with you. I can tell you I’m not seeing anyone. That’s all you need to know.”
Frustrated, stymied, she stared at him. “How am I to know what kind of father you would be?”
“I can ask the same question. How do I know what kind of mother you would be?” he countered.
“Well, that’s different,” she said, flustered by how he’d turned the tables on her. “You know I’d already begun to make plans to take care of the baby, to raise the child on my own.”
“Without letting the child know about the father,” he said, a bit of steel slipping into his voice.
“Yes, but I already explained why. It was a one-night stand. It didn’t seem fair to hold you responsible.”
“Well, there’s where you’re wrong. I never back down from my responsibilities.”
“I can see how you would feel that way,” she conceded. “But what I really want to know is your attitude toward children. What are your thoughts about raising them?”
“Children are to be nurtured and protected. I don’t believe in raising a hand against a child. There are other ways to teach them, if that’s what you’re asking. I will be involved with this child,” he said. “You can count on it. And if you really want to know what I think about raising a child, I think the parents should do it together,” he said, his gaze meeting hers dead-on. “As husband and wife.”
Tina’s stomach clenched. “Of course, that doesn’t apply to us,” she said.
He took a slow swallow from his beer and she couldn’t help watching his throat work. The sight was surprisingly sensual. Her thoughts caught her off guard.
“Yet,” he said and set down his glass.
Shock raced through her and she couldn’t keep her eyes from rounding. “Oh, no. You can’t be serious,” she said. “You don’t really think you and I should—” She shook her head.
“Get married,” he finished for her and she marveled at how easily the words slid off his tongue. He didn’t appear the least bit troubled by the prospect.
“We don’t even know each other,” she said, desperation growing inside her. “We don’t even know if we like each other.”
“We can take some time to find out,” he said. “You’re early in your pregnancy.”
Alarm buttons went off inside her brain and Tina stood. “I’m sorry, but I hope I haven’t misled you into believing I have any intention of marrying you. I agree that it’s a good idea for us to know each other, but—” She shook her head, her throat closing at the very thought.
He stood and reached for her hand. “Stop panicking. We don’t do shotgun weddings around her anymore. Well, not often,” he amended with a rough chuckle. “I’m not going to force you to do anything. But don’t you think our baby deserves to know that we explored the option of marriage? Years from now, when our child asks why we’re not married, and he or she will. You can count on it. Don’t you want to know, in your heart of hearts that you have tried to give your child everything they could want? Including an on-site father?”
Her heart still frozen in her chest, she bit her lip.
“Breathe,” he said.
She forced herself to do as he said. She shook her head and closed her eyes. “Since I found out I was pregnant, I always pictured myself as a single mother, handling this by myself,” she whispered.
“Paint a different picture,” he said.
She opened her eyes and looked into his.
“One with me in it,” he said. “Because whether we get married or not, you’re not doing this alone.”
The next morning, Zach rose early and drove his jeep out to a fence that needed to be repaired. He stripped down to his T-shirt and got down to work with the sun blazing down on him.
The menial work usually soothed him, but today he couldn’t help thinking about Tina. He wondered if he had scared her away. He wondered if she would still be there when he arrived home today.
Couldn’t worry about that, he told himself as he strung new wire to fix the fence. He hadn’t been deceptive, he’d been real. She would have to choose her course based on what he’d told her and her own thoughts.
He couldn’t blame her hesitance. After all, she was a princess. He would never have bedded her if he’d known. That said, she’d bedded him knowing he was a rancher/businessman. What did that say about her?
He liked that she wasn’t prejudiced. Despite his pride, he liked that she was determined to vet him. He wished she wasn’t so determined not to marry him. That struck at his pride. What did she find so offensive about him?
He worked nonstop until lunch and finally glanced at his watch. Pulling a bottle of water from his backpack in the car, he noticed a car coming toward him. He squinted his eyes, trying to recognize the driver.
At first, he thought it was Hildie as he identified her car. The car screeched to a stop in front of him and a brunette exited the vehicle with a basket. He immediately identified Tina.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as she walked toward him.
“Bringing lunch,” she said. “Hildie told me you’re awful about taking a break.”
“Hildie’s a tattletale,” Zach said with a scowl.
“But she tells the truth,” Tina said, looking around. “Is there any shade around here?”
“The car is the best bet,” he said. “Did you have the AC on during your drive?”
Tina laughed. “In this heat? Of course.”
“Good,” he said. “Part of surviving our Texas heat is relying on air-conditioning. Don’t try to tough it out.”
She glanced at his sweat-stained T-shirt. “Looks like you toughed it out. Hope you want a sandwich.”
“I’m in,” he said, surprised and pleased that she’d found her way to him. He walked to the car and got inside. “How did you find me?”
“Hildie gave me directions and I have a GPS,” she said. “It’s an amazing tool. My sister sent me a box with some of my clothes, laptop and other stuff. I’d recently bought a GPS.”
“I’m impressed,” he said. “I wouldn’t have thought a princess would have driven on dirt roads to deliver a sandwich.”
She gave him a withering glance. “You clearly need to revise your ideas of what a princess does and doesn’t do.”
He accepted the sandwich she gave him and took a bite. “Touché,” he said after he swallowed.
She took a sip of her water and studied his face. “What made you fix the fence? That task is pretty low on the totem pole.”
He shrugged. “I have a ranch manager and I sometimes do the menial stuff to free him up to stay on top of other tasks. I also often have to go into Dallas for our other companies, so I can’t commit to ranch duty all the time.”
“You sound l
ike a busy man,” she said.
“I’m lucky to have several successful businesses,” he said with a shrug of his powerful shoulders that distracted her.
She shook her head. “I don’t know how you do everything,” she said.
“You do what you need to do to get the job done,” he said and remembered what he’d learned about how much of the load Tina had carried for the rest of her family. “Maybe you do know what that’s about.”
Seeing the light of recognition in her eyes, he felt his gut lift a little. “I’m just about finished here. If you like I can take you for a tour of the ranch when I’m done.”
“I’d like a tour of your kingdom,” she said with a smile that flashed a dimple at him.
He couldn’t help grinning in return. “Kingdom?” he echoed. “That’s a pretty term for a few acres of scrub and brush.”
She shot him a look of disbelief. “You’re doing that thing Americans do so well,” she said. “Understate. Play humble.”
“No play,” he retorted. “I’m humble.”
She gave a low, not-quite-ladylike chuckle that got under his skin. “And I’m a runway model.”
“You could be. With your body,” he said.
Her eyes widened in astonishment. He liked that he’d taken her by surprise.
“You are full of—” She took a breath and her lips twitched. “Flattery.”
“Not really,” he said. “Meet me back at the house.”
“I’d rather watch you finish the job,” she said.
He felt a forbidden thrill at the idea that the princess wanted to watch him flex his muscles. He wanted to flex a lot more with her. “Go right ahead,” he said and stepped out of the car.
Deciding to give her a show worth watching, he stripped off his shirt and finished the repair job. Fifteen more minutes and he was done. He sucked down the rest of his bottle of water.
Strolling to the driver’s side of her car, he tapped on the window. “Did I do an okay job?” he asked.
She pressed the button to lower the window and shot him a look of grudging appreciation. “You should leave your shirt on,” she said. “It protects you from the sun.”
“Are you saying you don’t like my body?”
She gave a huff of impatience. “You’re insufferable and not at all humble.”
Zach chuckled. “You still want to see the ranch?” he asked.
“Yes. I’ll meet you at the house,” she said and the window slid upward. Seconds later, she spun away, leaving him in her dust. Her speed made him a little nervous, though he wouldn’t tell her that. Winning over a princess wasn’t going to be the easiest job he’d undertaken, but he was determined.
Zach grabbed a quick shower after he returned to the house and Tina took the apples and bottles of water Hildie offered. Zach descended the stairs with damp hair and wearing fresh clothes.
Her heart stuttered at the sight of him so strong, carrying his muscular frame with confident ease. He was so different than every other man she’d ever had in her life. He wasn’t at all intimidated by her position, but he also seemed to respect her as a person. He was protective, but he hadn’t forced her into anything. True, he’d pretty much told her he wanted them to get married, and she’d nearly lost her dinner afterward.
The truth was he still hadn’t tried to force her. He’d just stated his case and let the truth sit between them. Terrifying, but in many ways, valid. Too valid.
This was a big decision. Damn. Since she’d met Zach, everything had been a big decision. She bit the inside of her lip, a technique she’d developed as a child to cover her nerves.
“Okay, your highness, you ready to see my little plot of land?” he asked, his eyes full of sexy humor.
She smiled. “Your kingdom,” she corrected.
He chuckled and she allowed him to lead her out the door to his SUV. He ushered her into the car, started it and turned on the AC. “West first. We call it the devil’s land. It’s the worst,” he said. “Nothing grows here,” he said as he turned onto a dirt road.
She looked out the window and couldn’t deny what he’d said. “Well, it does look a bit dry. No irrigation possibilities, I suppose?”
“Might as well pour water into Death Valley,” he said.
She couldn’t quite swallow a chuckle. “I love it that you’re not trying to sell me. It’s so rare.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean, everywhere I go people always show me the best stuff first and try to hide the bad. This is hideous.”
Zach pulled to a stop and put his car into Park. Propping his jaw against his hand, he stared into the distance. “Yeah, in a way. In a way, if you can get through the barren desert, maybe you can make it through anything.”
She searched his hard face and saw a dozen emotions. Loss, grief, resolve, strength. She wondered where it all came from and she suspected it wasn’t from the scrubby landscape in front of them.
“Do you come here often?” she asked.
“Probably every few months or so,” he said. “This kind of place strips you down to the basics. There’s nowhere to hide. That’s the bad thing. The good thing is maybe you don’t need to hide.”
She took a moment to absorb his words. What a concept. No need to hide? She tried to remember when she hadn’t felt like she needed to hide. When had she felt like she could be herself? Safe?
She felt a whoosh of tense air exhale from her lungs.
“I heard that,” he murmured.
She sucked in a quick breath.
“Relax. That’s what this place is for. It’s base line.”
She took a deep breath. “When did you first come here and feel this way?”
He paused a halfbeat. “I was sixteen. Torn between playing football in high school and helping with the ranch. Tough year.”
She knew without him saying which he had chosen. “You gave up football.”
He glanced at her. “How’d you know?”
She shrugged. “Just an instinct.” She met his gaze. “You and I have more in common that most people might think.”
“In what way?” he asked.
“You chose family, duty, heritage. So did I,” she said.
“Not entirely,” he said. “When you needed to make a change, you did. That’s courageous.”
She bit the inside of her lip. “Maybe,” she said. “Maybe just necessary.”
“It’s still courageous,” he said. “You went against the grain. Against what was expected of you. Don’t underestimate yourself, Tina. I don’t. No one else should either.”
Feeling a rush of pleasure surge through her, she stared into his eyes and felt herself sinking with each breath. Her gaze slipped to his mouth and she felt a tingling sensation on her lips. It felt like a thousand years ago that he’d kissed her, yet she remembered it as if it had happened yesterday.
Confused by her strange combination of feelings, she struggled with the dipping sensation in her stomach. She took a quick breath to clear her head and smiled. “I love it that we started here. What’s next?”
“It gets greener,” he said, putting the truck in gear and turning around.
He drove past the swimming hole where he learned how to swim, then past a field of bluebonnets, then past his parents’, his grandparents’, and his great grandparents’ graves. She wanted to get out, but he shook off her suggestion to linger. They passed fields and fields of cattle, then he came to another stop, this one overlooked rolling green hills. Looking at the beautiful vista, she felt something inside her ease. “Nice,” she murmured.
“Yeah, it does the same thing to me,” Zach said.
She studied his face and saw the same peace she felt inside her. “You’re in love with your kingdom,” she said, unable to keep a smile from her face.
He did a double take and lifted a dark eyebrow. “In love with my kingdom? That’s a first,” he said.
“You are,” she insisted. “You’re as devoted as my brother is, ex
cept not as arrogant, thank goodness.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t call myself in love. Maybe committed. Maybe I need to be committed,” he muttered under his breath.
“Here’s the important question. On your worst day, would you want to be doing anything other than taking care of your ranch?”
He searched her face. “Where did you come up with that?”
“Someone in a very poor village in Africa once told me that on her worst day she wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. It was so wise. So magical. I’ve always wanted to find something that made me feel so strongly.”
“So being a princess didn’t do it for you?” he asked.
She hesitated, swamped by guilt. “No, it didn’t. I don’t want to be ungrateful—”
“You’re not,” he said, covering her hand with his. “You’re just being honest. I like that,” he said, his gaze wrapping around her heart and squeezing. “I like that a lot.”
Chapter Seven
The next morning when Tina awakened, she found a note from Zach under her door. Eat an early dinner. I’m taking you to town for a meeting at 6:00 p.m.—Zach
The abrupt language jarred her after the tour of the ranch they’d shared yesterday. He clearly hadn’t learned the proper way of addressing royals, she thought wryly recalling all the invitations to her that had read, The honor of your attendance would be greatly appreciated… Oh, well, maybe that was part of the reason he appealed to her. Nothing fake or flowery about him. He put his motives flat out in front of her.
After giving her sister Bridget some tips for her upcoming appearances via e-mail, Tina sat in the swing on the front porch, contemplating her and her baby’s future with no lightning bolts of decision.
Hildie must have known about the appointment because she called Tina in for early dinner. “Do you know what this meeting is about?”
Hildie glanced at her in surprise. “Meeting?” she echoed. “Zach’s taking you into town for an appointment with Dr. McAllister. Dr. McAllister’s the best ob-gyn doctor in the area.” Hildie shook her head. “We just wish she would have moved to town sooner.”
