She shook her head. "It's not your fault. And I was surprised that he's just a kid. To tell you the truth, I wasn't half as scared of him as I am of these horrid woods."
"Still, I screwed up. It was unprofessional of me, even if I don't understand why he fixated on you. But it's gotta be due to his grudge against me."
"He said you were responsible for the loss of his woman, so in return he was taking your woman from you." Her eyes cooled then, and she took a step back. "You needn't worry, though. I set him straight on that score."
Zach winced. He had really hoped to put off his groveling until he could put some thought into what he wanted to say, but it looked as if he was out of luck on that score. "Listen, about that. I owe you an apology for my behavior after dinner tonight. I was wrong, and I acted like a jerk. You, on the other hand, were one hundred percent right."
She blinked. "I was?"
"Yeah."
"Well, as much as hearing that is music to my ears, I'm not quite sure I understand just what it is you think I was right about."
He shifted uncomfortably, because this was uncharted territory and he was a man who liked to prepare. Still, he had to give it a shot. He owed her that, at the very least. "You know… love." He opened the passenger door of the Jeep and lifted her onto the seat, but sat her sideways, facing him. "The relationship thing."
"What about it?"
"I've decided I'm for it. I think we should have one." He eyed her expectantly.
To his dismay, Lily looked more confused than ecstatic. "Isn't that quite a turnaround?"
"Yeah, well, what can I say. I'm"—he cleared his throat, drew a deep breath—"crazy about you." He exhaled in relief. Whataya know? That hadn't been so damn difficult after all.
"Or perhaps just plain crazy," she said flatly. "And you sure as sugar picked the wrong night for it, because I am so, so not in the mood for your charity." Her chin came up even as her voiced cracked.
His head snapped back as if she'd slapped him. "Say what?"
"You sat across a table from me not more than two hours ago, and informed me in no uncertain terms that you don't—how did you put it?—' do' love, but now I'm supposed to believe you're suddenly wild about me? Don't insult my intelligence, Taylor. You think I don't recognize your overactive Mr. Accountability streak at work when I see it?" She crossed her arms over her breasts. "You've decided it's your fault I had a big, bad uncomfortable hour at Miguel Escavez's hands, so you're offering yourself up as consolation prize."
"That's a crock of sh—"
"The heck it is! But I've got news for you, Zachariah. Like I said, I'm not some charity case, and I deserve more than a pity proposal, or proposition, or whatever this is supposed to be. So I tell you what. You can just keep your big sacrifice. I don't want il."
I don't want you, roared in his head, and all his shields slammed into place. For one of the few times in his life he'd opened himself up and taken an emotional risk. Hell, he'd just offered her more than he'd ever offered another woman in his entire adult existence, and she'd tossed it back in his face. "Fine." Losing all expression, he essayed an indifferent shrug. "Whatever. I thought it might be fun. But if you're not interested, you're not interested. Damned if I'm going to beg."
"No," she agreed thinly. "Zach Taylor would certainly never do that, would he?"
Surprisingly, temptation was riding him with spurs of steel to do exactly that, but she obviously wasn't ready to listen and he wasn't about to toss his heart at her feet again—not when she seemed more inclined to stomp all over it with those needle-heeled shoes of hers than clutch it to her breast. He turned away and pulled Glynnie's cell phone from his pocket. "I'd better let everyone know you're okay."
His sister answered the phone and screeched so loudly when he broke the news that he had to hold the phone away from his ear. Once she'd settled down enough to carry on a coherent conversation, he said, "Is David back yet?"
"No, but he's on his way," Glynnis said.
"Okay, I'll see if I can intercept him. I need him to come pick up Lily."
"What, you got a hot date or something, that you can't bring her home yourself?"
"That's cute, Glynnie—a real knee slapper. And no. I don't. But I do have to go get Escavez and take him to the sheriff's office before he can slither off and find himself a hidey-hole to hatch a new plan to screw up my life."
"Oh. Yeah. Good idea."
"Can't tell you how relieved I am that you agree."
There was an instant of silence. Then she said, "Whoa," at the same time he muttered, "Sorry."
"Forget sorry," she snapped. "What's got your shorts in a wedgie?"
"Not a damn thing. I gotta go." He disconnected, and glanced at Lily. But she'd swung around to face front and didn't look at him. Pacing away, he punched in David's number. A moment later he disconnected again after giving the younger man a succinct update and directions on how to find them. Then he turned back to the Jeep.
He was all business as he grilled Lily regarding what direction she'd traveled since escaping from Escavez's car, but he didn't appreciate by half her own businesslike responses. As soon as David and Christopher arrived, he put her in the backseat of their car, but then stood holding the door open for a moment as he stared down at her.
This was freaking nuts. He loved her, she loved him, and he was ready and willing to make a go of it—why was she being so damned stubborn? Okay, now clearly wasn't the time to hash it out, but he couldn't just let her go like this. So he dropped to his haunches, reached into the car, and snagged a hand around the back of her neck. Pulling her toward him, he leaned in to meet her halfway, and planted a hard, hot one on her startled mouth.
Just as abruptly, he turned her loose. "I will do right by you," he warned her baldly as he rose to his feet. "You can take that to the bank." Then, closing the door, he slapped the car's roof to signal David to take off.
It didn't take him long to find Escavez's car. And miracle of miracles, something actually seemed to be going his way when he saw that the young man was still inside, head tipped back against the seat as he stared dully up at the roof liner. Zach opened the passenger door and slipped inside. "Hey, there, Miguel. I hear you and I have a little unfinished business."
"She took my keys," the younger man whined. "She hit me hard enough to break my head, and she took my keys. Just because I said her shoes were ugly."
Zach nearly laughed out loud. So that's what she'd been talking about when she'd said she couldn't believe she'd lost it over her shoes. He didn't so much as crack a smile, however, and looking at the nasty lump on Escavez's temple, he shrugged.
"Well, see, that's your problem in a nutshell, Miguel. You don't know dick about women. But instead of owning up to it like a man, you blame everyone else. It was my fault that Emilita preferred another man to you. It's Lily's fault that she didn't care to be tied up and taken to the woods and decided to change her circumstances."
Miguel roused to glare at him. "You shamed me! In front of the h'entire village you claimed that Emilita welcomed Pederson's touch."
"Oh, grow up. You shamed yourself. Yes, I probably should have told you in private, but if you recall, you're the one who made it public when you chose the town square to challenge my decision not to punish my soldier. And Emilita did welcome his attention. I'm sorry about that, but women dump men every day. It happens; get over it." He looked at the sullen young Latino, and shook his head. "You had potential, Miguel. You've got a good brain, leadership ability, and connections in your village. But instead of letting us teach you how to focus all that for the betterment of Bisinlejo, you tossed it away on some half-assed revenge trip because your fucking pride was bruised. Now INS will no doubt be called in and you'll be deported back to Colombia. I doubt anyone but you even cared about Emilita's defection. But when your compadres return to your village and are hailed as heros, you'll be the guy who went AWOL. That's the true disgrace here, and you've got no one to blame for it but yourself."