“Go to hell.”

Zach didn’t flinch.

Travis stalked out onto the porch, and she knew he was about to intervene. He couldn’t break this up. Not yet. Not until she convinced Zach to go away and never come back.

“Follow me,” she told Zach, turning for the path that led to the river.

With a glance at Travis, Zach fell into step. “Is he going to let us leave?”

“Fifty-fifty,” she allowed, wondering the same thing herself.

They cut off the edge of the driveway, moving onto the narrower path, where willows would partially screen them from Travis’s view. She took a surreptitious glance over her shoulder, making sure her brother wasn’t following.

“It’s not like I’m asking you to knock over a bank,” said Zach.

“You’re asking me to betray my community.”

“Don’t be melodramatic. Nobody even has to know you’re helping me. It’ll be a secret.”

“So you can blackmail me with it later?” she challenged.

He gave an exaggerated eye roll. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“How is that ridiculous? You’re blackmailing me now.” Her voice came out more shrilly than she’d intended.

“There’s only one thing I want from you, Abby.”

“Don’t call me Abby.” That nickname was reserved for her family.

“I like it.”

“You don’t get to like it.”

His gaze stayed on her, while he obviously regrouped. “How can we make this work?”

“You can go away and never come back.”

“I’m definitely not going away. I need a variance on my water license. Nothing more, nothing less. Hundreds of jobs depend on it. And from everything I’ve learned in the last week, you’re the only person who can help.”

“I’ll email you my research,” she offered out of desperation.

“I need more than your research. I need to know who to ask, what to ask them, how to write the application and how to fight my way through the bureaucracy.”

“My brain is not for sale.”

“Yeah? Well, when it comes to my employees, my morals and values are open to the highest bidder.” Passion and determination moved into his tone. “Don’t push me, Abby. I’ll do anything, anything to keep them from losing their jobs.”

“If I help you set a precedent for varying a nonranching water license, my family’s cause gets set back by miles.”

“You’ll have to gain the ground back later.”

“You couldn’t care less about me, could you?”

He didn’t answer.

Then again, maybe he did. His silence said it all.

She clamped her jaw against her anger, realizing there was nothing left to say, no argument she could make that would change his mind. Zach had given her an impossible choice. She could be secretly disloyal, or blatantly disloyal.

If she was blatantly disloyal, there was no going back. If she secretly helped Zach, maybe, just maybe, the fallout would be manageable. At least she’d know the ins and outs of his strategy for getting around the water license. Maybe she could use that later, in some kind of political counterattack. Maybe.

“Well?” he prompted, and she knew her time was up.

“Fine,” she ground out, accepting that she was trapped. “I’ll do this for you. But if you ever dare tell my family anything-” she lifted her index finger, jabbing it against his chest “-and I mean anything about anything, I swear I will hunt you down and shoot you dead.”

“Not a word,” he vowed.

She paused, shaking off the sick feeling of disloyalty. “We can’t talk here.” And meeting in town was also a risk, with Seth and his staff all there.

“Come out to the brewery,” Zach suggested.

It wasn’t her first choice. But at least it was out of the way.

“It’ll take me a couple of days to pull things together,” she told him. “And I’ll need to come up with an excuse to leave the ranch.” She’d only just returned home to help Travis. It was going to take some fast talking to get away again. And she’d be leaving all the work to him. “I hate this.”

“I’m not crazy about it either.” Zach’s eyes unexpectedly softened. His lips parted. A breeze washed over them, rustling the leaves.

He reached out, grazing the top of her hand with his. “You know, I really wish we could-”

“Don’t,” she warned him, darting away, even as her pulse leaped at his light touch. “Don’t you dare try anything. I am not going to sleep with the man who’s blackmailing me.”

He dropped his hand. Then he blinked his expression back to neutral. He gave a sharp nod of acceptance. “Of course you’re not. The brewery, then. Thursday morning. Be there.”

Four

As she turned onto the Craig Mountain Brewery road, a Sawyer Brown tune came through the stereo speakers, and Abigail cranked up the volume, letting the beat pound its way through her brain. After she’d lied to her brother Travis this morning about where she was going, she’d promised herself she’d give Zach one day. She’d work fast. She’d work hard. And he’d have everything he needed to apply for his license.

Then she’d spend the night in Lyndon, head back to the ranch and forget she’d ever met the man.

Her plan to fantasize about him had come to an abrupt end when she’d learned that he had no scruples. Okay, maybe the end wasn’t quite so abrupt. In fact, she was still working on it. It turned out that fantasizing about Zach was a hard habit to break. Which only made her hate him more.

How dare he mess up her life like this? It was a mere one-night stand. Was she not entitled to cut loose and have fun every once in a while? Thousands of women across the country had one-night stands. She was willing to bet things like this didn’t happen to them.

Then again, she supposed they hadn’t slept with Zach.

It would have been easier if she could just plain hate him. But he’d been such a perfect lover, she couldn’t help wishing for the fantasy. If she could have Lucky back, she’d be looking forward to today.

They’d talk and joke and flirt, maybe kiss a little, maybe even cancel her reservation at Rose Cottages…

Whoa. She abruptly pulled back on that thought. She wrestled her imagination into submission as she navigated a series of potholes. Then she rounded a corner, and the massive stone castle of Craig Mountain rose in front of her. She rocked to a halt in the parking lot, fingers going white as she gripped the steering wheel.

The band had changed songs, belting out one about the winner losing it all. Abigail didn’t particularly feel like a winner, but the rest fit. Her pride had been battered and bruised, and if she dared let her anger slip out of place, her emotions felt a whole lot like heartache.


* * *

Zach greeted Abigail in the brewery’s reception area, which was once a foyer to the massive, stone castle. She was glaring at him, displeasure palpable in her flashing golden eyes. She wore torn, faded blue jeans, a powder-blue cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up her forearms, the top button missing, and a pair of battered cowboy boots, with a gray backpack slung over one shoulder. Her face was scrubbed free of makeup, and her glossy auburn hair was pulled back in a plain ponytail. She couldn’t have telegraphed “don’t touch me” any louder if she’d shouted it from the highest tower.

He knew she thought he’d set her up. He hadn’t. But there was no way to make her believe it. Too bad. Because whatever it was that had attracted him that night wasn’t going away anytime soon. She could dress down all she liked. She was still off-the-charts sexy in his eyes.

“Good morning,” he offered.

“Morning,” she returned, stony faced.

“Thanks for coming.”

She scoffed and shrugged her shoulders. “Like I had a choice. Tell me what you need, and let’s get this over with.”

Zach couldn’t help a surreptitious glance at the receptionist stationed at the counter across the room, trying to gauge if she was within earshot. It seemed unlikely, but there was no point in taking chances.

“You want the tour first?” he asked Abigail, using an outstretched arm to direct her toward the main door.

Craig Mountain Brewery offered tours of the castle, the facilities and the grounds. According to Lucas, there were quite a few tourists willing to make the hour-long, scenic drive to visit a historic castle and sample Craig Mountain beer. At the last managers’ meeting in Houston, Zach and Alex had turned down Lucas’s proposal to put in a small restaurant. But Zach was now rethinking that decision.

“Why would I want a tour?” Abigail asked without moving.

“Because it’s interesting.”

She crossed her arms mulishly over her chest. “I’m not here to see the sights.”

In his peripheral vision, he saw the receptionist move to the far side of the cavernous room. Nice to know the staff were courteous.

“I need you to understand how we operate here. How else are you going to argue our case?”

“I’m not arguing your case. I’m giving you some information. What you do with it is entirely up to you.”

“That wasn’t our deal.”

“We don’t have a deal. We have a blackmail scheme.”

True enough. “You’re being melodramatic again.”

She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. “Then I can walk back out that door and not worry about any negative repercussions?”

“No, you can’t,” he admitted.

“I rest my case.”

“See, you’re good at this.”

She frowned. “You expect me to laugh?”

“I expect you to let me show you around Craig Mountain Brewery.” He gestured toward the door again.

She gave a hard, exaggerated sigh and hiked up the backpack. “If that’s what’ll get this over and done with.”

“That’s what’ll get this over and done with,” he confirmed.

She lifted her nose in the air, pivoted on those scuffed boots and marched for the door.