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“Can it, Trisha.” He’d heard all the gossip and didn’t want to be reminded that when he’d been conceived his mother was having an affair with Polidori. His teeth ground together but he just kept working, ignoring Trisha’s innuendoes and veiled threats. Christ, what did she want from him?
“It’s just that I hate it here, Zach. This is…nowhere. I want to go back to Portland.”
“You just got here.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“You want to be close to Mario.”
“So what?”
Zach slid her a look that called her stupid. “Get smart, Trisha. It’s never gonna work between you and Polidori. Dad’ll never approve.”
“Since when do you care?”
“I don’t. I’m just giving you some free advice.”
“Save it.”
“Fine.” He opened the door at the back of the stable, then let the colt trot outside. With a snort and toss of his head, the horse ran free, bucking and kicking up his heels before lying in the thick dust and rolling. Clouds of dry earth roiled to the sky and the colt grunted in pleasure. Soon all Zach could see of the animal were four white-stockinged legs thrashing madly.
Trisha made a face. “You’re not going to help me?”
Zach shook his head. “No way.”
She arched a delicate brow and set an expression somewhere between a sneer and smile on her pouty lips. “You’ll be sorry.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Irritated, he strode out of the stable and wished that the rest of his family would just leave him alone.
It was hours later when Kat found him. The sun had set and Jason had taken Trisha and Nelson into town. Zach, avoiding his family as much as he could, had stolen two beers from the refrigerator and had climbed onto the roof of the tack shed that butted up to the stables. The dark sky was alive with shooting stars and Zach sat alone, his back propped against the rough outer wall of the second story of the stables, his legs stretched out on the sloping cedar shingles. Through the tar paper and split shakes, he heard the muffled sounds of horses, snorting, rustling in the straw, le
tting out an occasional whinny.
The moon was small, just a sliver, but gave off enough light so he could see the stands of trees flanking the rambling ranch house and outbuildings. The house was lit like a Christmas tree, patches of warm light glowing through the windows. Kat was still awake, prowling the rooms. He caught glimpses of her now and again, moving restlessly from one window to the next, and he decided he wouldn’t slip through the French doors to his room until all the lights had been turned down and he knew that she was asleep. So far, he’d avoided her, but he wouldn’t be able to sidestep her forever.
He opened a can of Coors and beer foamed over the side. He took a gulp, catching most of the overflow when he heard the old dog let out a quiet bark, then the unmistakable sounds of footsteps walking unerringly to the stable. His heart nearly stopped. Seconds later the rungs of the ladder to the hayloft clicked as someone climbed to the top. Now what?
He smelled the scent of her perfume before he saw her in the open window of the hayloft, her face white, her black hair the color of midnight. His chest felt as if it were suddenly constricted with iron bands.
“Manny said you might be here,” she said as casually as if she’d spent all her life creeping around barns and climbing into haymows.
His gut tightened as she slid through the window and stepped onto the roof. Balancing herself with a hand on the roof of the stable, she walked the short distance to his side and slid onto her rear.
The scent of her perfume was stronger as it drifted to his nostrils, and her arm was so close to his that he could feel the heat of her body. He remembered how she’d felt in his arms, supple and pliable and willing…Oh, God…“What do you want?”
“Company.” She offered him a smile. “I thought we were friends.”
Off in the distance a coyote howled.
“I don’t know if that’s possible.”
“We could try to be. Especially if you offered me a beer.”
Throat so dry it felt like sand, he handed the second can to her, and she, with a smile that flashed in the dark night, popped the tab and giggled when the foam erupted and spilled across her fingers. She lapped it up with her tongue and Zach tried not to notice how sexy she looked with the white flecks on her lips.
“It’s beautiful tonight,” she said, staring up at the heavens and sighing loudly. “If you like this kind of thing.”
“You don’t?”
