Desperado: Deep in the Heart, Book 2 (2 page)

“Because I’m not the one who’s still in love with my dead brother’s wife,” Sloan said softly. “Annie’s been married to Zach now for years, Cody. It’s time to move on.”

Despair and hatred erupted inside Cody at the same time. Despair for the truth, and hatred for the unfortunate soul who would speak it aloud to him. “Sloan, next time I see you, you’re a dead man.”

“I know. From any other man, I could call that threatening an officer of the peace. With you, it’s a promise.” Sloan hung up the phone.

“Damn right,” Cody muttered, slamming the receiver down. He was not in love with Annie. She was a remarkable woman, and he had offered to marry her to care for her and Mary had she needed him to do it, to honor his brother’s memory. But Annie was a strong woman, and would only marry again the same way she’d married the first time: for deep, abiding love. She had found that with Zach Rayez, and he was happy for them. Cody fiercely loved his mother and Annie and Mary. But it would take a woman so special to get him to the altar that he couldn’t envision it happening. He was thirty-five, and not easy to get along with. There was no reason to change at this point. Still, his heart thundered in his chest, uncomfortably loud in the quiet house. Where was Ma, anyway, and Mary? He needed something to keep his mind off what Sloan had said. Air. He needed air to clear his head.

Thoroughly disgruntled, he jerked the front door open. Stormy looked at him sheepishly.

“I locked the keys in my car.”

“You locked your keys in your car,” he repeated, glancing over her head. “It’s running.”

“I know. I was backing out when I decided to leave a business card in your door. Just in case.” She took a deep breath. “So I hopped out and—”

“Locked your keys in your car while it was running.”

“Yes.” Her voice was breathy, somehow soft but not helpless. “Do you know anyone who could help me?”

Irritation flowed through Cody as he briefly wondered if she’d done this on purpose. The sweet, questioning look in her eyes kept him from telling her she’d have to call a locksmith to help her. The tilt in her straight, dainty nose as she stared up at him made the anger flow out of his tensed muscles. Sloan was a fool if he thought Cody needed a woman, but he could squarely say he was particularly safe from this one.

“Believe it or not, Miss Nixon, if you had to lock yourself out of your car,” he said, “you came to the right place.”

Men who were good with their hands were a species Stormy found extremely attractive. This one, with his strong facial features and swarthiness, was more attractive than most. The last thing she’d expected to find on her quest for the perfect location was a man whose handsome good looks belonged on the wide screen. Of course, he wouldn’t fit there; he’d be out of his element. But damn, oh, damn, Cody Aguillar was a man to make a woman’s pulse kick her heart into high gear. And when he went to work on her car with his large, capable hands, Stormy melted.

“There. All set.”

In a second, Cody had the door open, holding it for her like a gentleman. Stormy had seen a lot of fake chivalry in Hollywood, where a man might open a door once, especially if it might lead to her bedroom. Once they found out her bedroom was firmly off-limits, they never seemed to remember to treat her like a lady. More like an oddball.

With this man, the chivalry appeared to be firmly in character.

“Thank you so much,” she said, getting into the small rental car. “I’m sorry to have troubled you.”

“It wasn’t much,” he said.

She caught a wry note in his voice, though he didn’t smile. Nor did he linger as he shut the car door for her. Swiftly, she jammed the button to let down the window. “Call me if you change your mind.”

“I won’t.”

He nodded at her brusquely, and she had no choice but to nod with a stiff smile and let the window slide back up. Slowly, she reversed the car, conscious of the tall man with the long black braided hair and one feather earring who watched her like a hawk.

In two words, he’d managed to say more than she wanted to hear. He wouldn’t change his mind, and he wouldn’t call her.

Damn.

Chapter Two

“Stormy Nixon’s holed up at the Stagecoach,” Pick said, throwing the matchbook he’d been picking his teeth with onto Sloan’s desk. “Cody didn’t give her the time of day.”

“I could say I told you so.” Sloan sighed deeply. “But it’s too late in the day for me to get in an argument. You’d best take an ad out in the paper and see if anyone jumps at the chance to lease out their land.”

“But Stormy said they’d need several acres to do the project,” Curvy protested. “Most of the sodbusters have corn well into the growing season now, or crops they ain’t gonna want disturbed. Cody’s the only one with twenty-five hundred acres. Damn it, he’d never know them movie folks was there!”

The bent-over little man was becoming agitated. He’d had a spinal condition since his youth, making him shaped a bit like a curved bow. Right now, his indignation had him standing the straightest Sloan had ever seen him.

“I’ve done what I can to help you, and Miss Nixon. If we don’t have the land, she’ll just have to hit the next town and see if they’d be willing.” Sloan rose and reached for his hat.

“An ad might be the way to go.” Pick was thoughtful as he glanced at Curvy. “Stormy said they were offering good money. Could be one of the farmers might be willing to plow their crops under. It’s an opportunity to go with a sure thing, especially when we’re heading into another long, dry summer.”

They stared at each other for a second. “Annie Aguillar Rayez,” Pick and Curvy said at once.

“She’s got a hunnerd acres,” Pick finished, “plus she got the farm next to hers where she put her daddy and Gert when they got hitched. There’s plenty of room out there, and her farm’s right off the highway where the Hollywood folks could get their equipment out easily.”

“You can send Stormy to Annie’s to see if the location would be right but…” Sloan fixed the elderly gentlemen with a stern eye, “…don’t you dare try to figure out a way to rope Annie into it.”

“Oh, no,” Pick shook his head quickly. Too innocently.

“We wouldn’t, Sloan,” Curvy seconded too eagerly.

They hurried from the office. Sloan looked out of the window, watching them head across to the Stagecoach and an unsuspecting Stormy. He frowned as he saw the two men put their heads together. They were up to no good.

Just to keep the playing field even
, Sloan thought,
I’d best put another call in to Cody.

Mary stared at her mother, antagonism stiffening every limb in her body. It hurt Cody to see the two of them at such odds. Mary had once been Annie’s lifeline, her only happiness after his brother—her husband—had died in a farm accident.

“I’m thirteen. Stop treating me like a baby.”

“I’m not, sweetheart. I don’t want you going to the county fair alone. All I’m asking is for you to go with someone whose parents are going to be there, too. But I can’t leave right now. I can go tomorrow, but not tonight. A lady’s on her way over to talk to Zach and me.”

Annie’s expression was stern but loving. Cody thought she handled the situation well, but it had an explosive fuse to it. Mary was at an awkward stage, wanting to be grown up and resenting her mother’s control over her. She didn’t realize how much she still resembled—and sometimes acted like—a child.

“Fine.” Mary flung herself into the window seat. “If you’re going to treat me like a baby, I’ll just sit here and suck my thumb.”

Annie sighed. “That’s your choice.”

When the doorbell rang, she went to answer it, and Cody noticed Mary quickly dropped her babyish attitude and tried to appear adult. A Hollywood scout coming to call was a big deal to her. She was too young to know better than to be impressed by people who made their living pretending. Resentment slid through him at Stormy’s intrusion in their lives. When she walked into the room, he stared, feeling unwelcome attraction pull at him despite today’s even more outlandish getup. Where in the
hell
did that woman shop?

“You’ve met Cody, I believe,” Annie said, showing Stormy to a comfortable chair.

Cody barely returned her nod. Hell, yes, he’d met her. And as soon as Sloan had called to tell him Pick and Curvy were sending Stormy this way, he’d hurried over to listen in. Annie was good-hearted and sometimes innocent of the ways of the world. Stormy appeared extremely cosmopolitan—and determined.

Annie introduced Stormy to Zach, who shook her hand courteously. Last, she introduced her to Mary, and Cody saw Stormy’s eyes widen as she looked at the teenager.

“You’re very beautiful,” she told Mary.

“So are you,” Mary returned shyly.

Shock replaced the resentment inside Cody. Mary wasn’t beautiful; she was a child, for heaven’s sake! And Mary needed a trip to the eye doctor. Stormy wasn’t beautiful; she was exotic like a peacock in a chicken coop.

He had to correct himself, though, as he frowned at Stormy while she began to talk to Annie about the movie project. She
might
be beautiful, if she took off those damn voluminous pants—today a black pair, at least—and that filmy blouse which revealed curves he didn’t want to think about.

Mary stared at Stormy, her eyes drinking in every inch of the woman. Cody supposed Mary would think Stormy was glamorous. Thank heaven Annie had the good sense not to allow her daughter to dress like a gypsy.

“Don’t you think, Cody?”

Annie’s voice snapped him away from his perusal of Stormy’s slender feet, which he could see through the straps of black high heels.

She had a tiny rose tattoo on her ankle.

Cody leaned back, crossing his arms. “Think what?”

“Think that it would be okay for Mary to try out for a bit part in Stormy’s movie if it gets made in Desperado?”

“I— Hell, no, I don’t! I thought this was a discussion about location. Since when did this turn into a casting call?”

“Haven’t you been listening, Cody?” Annie frowned at him slightly. “Stormy thinks Mary would be just right for the part of the awkward teenager in the movie. She’d have to try out, of course—”

He stood abruptly. “I’m going into the kitchen to help myself to a glass of tea.”

“Oh, good. Will you please bring Stormy one, too, while you’re in there, Cody?” Annie sent a pleased smile his way. “I made some special, just for her visit. It has mint in it from my own garden. Do you like mint?”

Stormy nodded happily. Cody could tell she was delighted at being treated to Annie’s brand of warmth, just as many a time he had enjoyed it, too. There was no better woman than Annie. Stormy might be from La-La Land, but obviously she recognized a good heart when she met one.

However, he would not allow her to take advantage of Annie. Stormy’s trick of pretending interest in a role for Mary was calculated and underhanded. Cody stomped into the kitchen, pulling out a glass for himself and one for the purple-haired woman. “Do you like mint?” he mimicked, his mood turning more foul.

“Yes, I do, thanks.” Zach slapped him on the back. “What’s got your braid in a twist, Cody?”

“I don’t like any of this.” He threw ice into the beautiful green glasses so hard that ice chips flew. “I don’t like movie business.”

“And what else?” Zach leaned against the counter.

“Nothing else. It just feels fishy to me.”

“You don’t like her, do you?”

Cody half turned. “Who?”

“The movie scout.”

“This has nothing to do with her, although I must confess her hair makes me…nervous.” Purple, by damn. It could only be called purple.

“I like her hair.” Zach seemed surprised. “She’s a very attractive woman.”

Cody’s jaw sagged. He turned to completely face Zach. “You’re pulling my leg.”

Zach laughed heartily. “Relax, Cody. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“What secret?” He glowered at Zach to let him know he was trespassing on his business.

“I remember feeling the same way the first time I laid eyes on Annie. She had me turned so inside out I was walking backwards on my hands.”

Cody poured the tea. “Slick, you’ve misjudged the situation. I don’t like her, don’t trust her, don’t like the way any of this smells.”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t like me, trust me, when you met me, either.”

“There’s something wrong when one little weird-looking female can turn this whole town on its ear over some film and people playing make-believe. I’ve never seen so many folks get in line so fast to be made fools of.”

“Easy, Cody.” Zach thumped him on the back as Cody picked up the glasses. “You might find yourself next in line.”

“Damn well won’t.” He returned to the living room, and handed a glass to Stormy. She glanced up at him gratefully and smiled. Her forearm brushed against his jeans as she reached to take the glass.

Sexual response hit him in the region of his zipper, and he wished Annie had air-conditioning. It was time for Zach to get his wife an air conditioner; they had plenty of money, he thought sharply.

Stormy looked cool and completely comfortable in her loose clothes. She went back to animatedly discussing her plans, obviously not struck by the same pull he’d just felt. Disgusted with himself, he sat back in a well-out-of-sight chair, but where he could hear the discussion. Taking a long sip of tea, he allowed his gaze to wander along her face and down her neck. She had tiny freckles on her chest showing above V-neck buttons. She had nicely mounded breasts he tried not to look at a third time, a dainty little waist, and sweetly shaped hips.