Once Upon a Groom

“And here I thought you’d like it if I just faded away and you didn’t have to deal with me anymore.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Zack said the words, but he did feel guilty. Hadn’t he often wondered what life would be like without his father’s carping?

“Don’t lie to me. The truth is the truth is the truth.”

No matter what had happened before, Zack said with certainty, “I want you to be well. I want you to be healthy again. Jenny is worried sick about you and she needs you.”

His father swallowed, looked away for a moment, then back at him. “She’s the daughter I never had. Her own father’s a fool for not realizing what a gem he has in her.”

Silent, Zack considered Jenny’s background and the year he’d been closer to her than he’d ever been to anyone.

Silas asked, “What are you thinking about?”

After a few moments’ reluctance, he answered, “How much Jenny meant to Mom and you.” And how she’d refused to go with him to L.A. That thought still had the power to bring back bitterness and regret.

“I need you to promise me something,” his father entreated in a low, serious voice.

“What?” Zack asked warily.

“With me out of commission, Jenny can’t handle the burden of the Rocky D on her own. She’s taken over even more responsibility the past couple of months with management of the ranch as well as training the horses, but it’s all too big for any one person. So no matter what happens tomorrow, will you stay a month, six weeks, and help her get a handle on whatever has to be done?”

“Dad—”

“I know it’s a lot to ask. I know this isn’t your life. You have big fish to fry. Well, the Rocky D has big fish, too. I know you think I have no right to ask anything of you. That might be true. But Jenny’s going to need some help, and you’re the only one I trust to give her that help.”

If his father had asked for his own benefit, Zack might have been able to turn him down. But the way he’d put it, how could Zack refuse? Still, he had commitments of his own.

Silas continued, “You could set up shop at the Rocky D for a while. There’s plenty of room. You could have your own office in the east wing.” He hesitated. “I have a home theater there now, too.”

The sliding glass doors of Silas’s cubicle opened and a nurse bustled in. “Time’s about up,” she said gently but firmly. “Your father needs his rest.”

Zack knew that was true. He also knew state of mind could make a big difference if his father was to recover. No, he didn’t want to stay. No, he didn’t want to get roped back into a life he’d left behind. No, he didn’t want to be around Jenny and feel that old tug of desire they’d shared.

“Think about it,” his father said.

Zack knew he wouldn’t be able to do much else.

The following morning, Jenny paced the waiting room while Zack worked on his laptop. She didn’t know how he could concentrate with his dad undergoing the heart catheterization. Even during the night as she’d tried to doze on the sofa, she’d caught glimpses of images flickering on the laptop screen where Zack studied them and tapped the computer keys. He hadn’t slept at all.

When he’d returned from seeing his dad last night, he’d been remote and silent. This morning, after visiting Silas again, he’d been the same. Just what was going through his head? Once, so many years ago, she would have known. For the past fifteen years, she hadn’t had a clue. For the gazillionth time, she thought about what might have been if she hadn’t lost their baby. Quickly she shut down those thoughts.

With a long, blown-out breath, Zack closed the lid of the machine, pushed it deeper onto the side table, stood and rolled his shoulders. His muscles rippled under his black T-shirt. Above the waistband of his khakis, she could glimpse just how flat his stomach still was.

“Do you do that often?” she asked, feeling wrinkled and rumpled and not as put together as he had always looked no matter what he wore. The lines around Zack’s eyes were deeper now, but other than that he looked … as charismatic and sexy as ever.

“Work through the night? Oh, yeah. Especially when we’re on deadline.”

“For a movie?”

“For a movie, for an edit, for a casting.” He shrugged. “It’s the nature of the business.”

“Here I thought you lounged in a chaise at the beach most of the time,” she joked.

He gave her a long considering look. His blue eyes were so direct with an intense focus that hadn’t changed. “My life isn’t what it seems from the outside.”

“The outside?” She was genuinely curious.

“What you see and hear. The premieres, the publicity for the movies. It looks as if it isn’t staged, but all of it is.”

“Even those photos of you on the beach?” She wouldn’t mention the drop-dead gorgeous models and actresses he was always photographed with.

“Exactly.”

Pausing only a second, she prodded, “Does Silas know about your real life, or do you only tell him about the outside?”

“Dad hears what he wants to hear.”

“But do you talk about your actual work with him?”

“You probably know how much we talk. It’s mostly about the weather, his horse buyers, if I’ll be nominated for another Oscar.”

“If you made a point of telling him …”

Zack scowled and even that expression was sexy as the corners of his mouth turned down. “You’re not going to be on my back about talking to Dad the whole time I’m here, are you? Because if you are, I’m going to spend most of my time working.”

If he’d intended to frame that bomb of information into his response, she didn’t know. But she surely realized the implication. “The time you’re here? How long will that be?”

“We’ll figure it out after he’s back up here giving orders again.”

“We’re talking about more than a few days?”

“It depends on his condition. I’ll let you know after I speak with his doctor.”

For just a moment, Jenny felt her heart fall. She really didn’t have a right to be here, or to any information. No matter she spent every day with Silas, saw his symptoms develop, and cared deeply that they had. She wasn’t a relative. Zack was his son. She was not Silas’s daughter.

That thought brought to mind the inevitable one of wondering where her own father was right now. Maybe she cared so much about Silas because her own dad didn’t seem to want her to care about him. And she shouldn’t, because he always left … he never stayed. But she did care.

“What are you thinking?” Zack asked, as he crossed to the sofa where she sat. He moved the magazine she had tried to concentrate on, lowered himself beside her, yet not too close.

Did he feel any remnant of the attraction that had rippled between them as teenagers? The attraction she felt now? “I’m not thinking. I’m just worried.”

“Bull. Something was ticking through that pretty head of yours besides worry.”

His attitude both shook and angered her. “You don’t know me anymore, so don’t try to read me like a mentalist at a carnival.”

“So you think I don’t know you?” His voice was lower as he said, “When you’re thinking, little frown lines appear right here.”

He touched the space between her brows and her heart rapped against her ribs.