Desperado: Deep in the Heart, Book 2 (38 page)

“I leased the ranch to Sloan. Need a new place to set my boots.”

“You did
what
?”

“Sloan needed a bigger spread to breed those spotted horses of his. Figure I can buy a place in California that’ll suit me.”

Stormy’s lips parted.

“I like it when you do that,” he said, leaning over to take advantage of her open mouth.

“But what about earthquakes and hippies and pollution?” she demanded when she could breath again.

“I’ll deal with ’em just the same as I did rattlesnakes and droughts and movie scouts that strayed onto my land.”

Tears filled her eyes. “I can’t let you do that.”

“I make my own decisions.”

She smiled through happy tears. “I know you do. But your ranch is too important to you.”

“
You
are too important to me.” He shrugged and belted her seat belt for her. “There’s a catch, though. Ma wants to come with me. She thinks there’ll be future
ni
ñ
os
to care for.” He swallowed down the painful lump in his throat and pressed forward. “And Mary wants to come out in the summers for acting lessons and such.”

“Oh, my,” she breathed. “I’d love all of that. Are you absolutely sure about this?”

“I am.” He nodded. “If you won’t mind having my family. Guess it’s a package deal, if you take me on.”

“I would be so happy. It would make me feel like…I had a real home. My mom will love your mom,” she said decisively. “They’re both so unique.”

He laughed at the sassy grin on her face, the expression he loved more than any other. “If we decide to change our mind one day and move back, I can always boot Sloan out. Or keep him,” he said on a sudden thought. “There’s plenty of room to build another house and I could use a paying tenant.”

“Can this really be happening to me?” she asked, her gray-iris eyes wide-open with dreamy amazement.

He thought he could see a future of happiness shining in her gaze, and it warmed his heart. She made him feel like a king with the power to make her dreams come true. He leaned back in the chair but kept his hand on hers. “You know, I’ve always wanted a hacienda-style house.”

“Oh, yes. Yes!” She smiled at him, but then the smile slowly melted away. Her eyes serious, she said, “I never told you I needed you, Cody. But I do.”

“I know you do. You’re a helpless female.” But he said it in a teasing manner and held her hand against his chest. “It means a lot to hear you say it. I love you being your own woman, but I gotta feel like there’s something for me to do in our marriage. A part for me to share in.”

“There’s lots that we can share. I had many empty places in me that you’ve helped fill,” she said, meaning it. “I can’t believe you’re going to Africa with me.”

He grinned at her, proud that he’d finally put one over on her. “You never figured me out, Trouble. I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid enough to try to live without the woman I love. I can’t keep feeling this twisted up. Guess that means I’m in love with you. Good enough?”

She smiled. “Yes. I love you, Cowboy.”

“I know. I’m an easy man to love. You, on the other hand, are a difficult woman.”

“I’m easier than you are!” she exclaimed.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said, slanting his mouth against hers for another quick kiss. “We’ll debate that one when we get back home.”

“There’s no need to debate.” She gave him a wicked grin and grabbed his shirt collar to tug him back for another kiss. “You win.”

“Mm.” He accepted the kiss she gave him and framed her face with his fingers. “How shall I celebrate this victory?”

She whispered an idea into his ear and Cody grinned at her before pulling her close. “Whew! That’s a heck of an IOU, woman.” He exhaled on a ragged breath. “And to think I once wanted to be a bachelor forever.”

“Crazy, huh?” She raised her brows and smiled teasingly.

“There’s crazy and then there’s crazy.” As the plane moved away from the gate, he held her hand in his. “Did I ever tell you I used to be afraid of flying?”

She shook her head and squeezed his hand in commiseration. “No, you didn’t. What happened?”

He gazed into her eyes, knowing that all he’d ever needed was this woman in his life for the long haul. “I came to my senses after I met a special, one-of-a-kind lady.”

“And that was all it took?”

He grinned at her. “That, and jumping out of a second-story window.”

About the Author

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Tina Leonard writes with humor, sexiness, and fun. With nearly 2.6 million books sold, she plans to keep writing books readers enjoy. Her writing schedule keeps her very busy with independent heroines and the heroes who love them. You can visit Tina at
www.tinaleonard.com
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www.facebook.com/tinaleonardbooks
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www.twitter.com/tina_leonard
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Look for these titles by Tina Leonard

Now Available:

Hotter than Hot

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It Takes Two

She’s not about to go down easy…

It Takes Two

© 2013 Tina Leonard

Deep in the Heart, Book 1

It’s crunch time for Zach Rayez. He’s four weeks away from marrying his fianceé and taking the reins of her father’s company. And one piece of land away from closing biggest development deal of his career.

When his partner drops the ball, Zach finds himself on the way to Desperado, Texas, to clear the acquisition off his plate and calm his fiancée’s pre-wedding jitters. He never expected to run into a brick wall named Annie Aguillar.

Descendent of a Spanish grandmother and Comanche grandfather, Annie is holding on tenaciously to the last hundred acres of her family’s vast holdings. The last thing she needs is a sexy stranger showing up on her porch, trying to sweet talk her out of her daughter’s legacy.

Neither saw their powerful mutual attraction coming. And when an untimely emergency draws them closer, Zach must choose which to defend: his plans for the future, or Annie and her dream.

Warning: Contains a city slicker hero who fast-talks his way into a corner, and a proud Texan heroine who doesn’t let go of her heart so easily. Get ready for some dust to fly!

Enjoy the following excerpt for
It Takes Two:

“The Aguillar landowner is proving to be the most difficult,” stated Carter Haskins with a shake of his head. “We can’t get him to budge.”

Zachary Rayez eyed his employee patiently. The man was leading up to something, but he was afraid it might be awhile before they got around to the heart of the matter.

“And I don’t mind saying it’s become something of a Mexican standoff between us and the Aguillars. As long as their property remains privately held, the other landowners continue to refuse our offers, too. For the most part, anyway.”

Zach glanced out the window of Carter’s spacious office, letting his mind wander temporarily while his colleague ranted about the difficulties of getting folks to sell their land. Some of those farms had been family landholdings—and usually homesteads—since the early 1800s. Zach knew sentimentality didn’t concern Carter Haskins. With a new state highway going in and land deals turning over at outrageous prices, upwardly mobile Carter scurried to buy as many innocent people out as possible—all for the sake of “progress”.

It was more for the sake of Carter’s reputation—and to line his pockets—than for any real gain to their corporation, Ritter International. The sweetener for politically savvy Carter was how good all this brokering flurry made him look to his friend, the governor. Carter could point to his sales as stimulating industry. The governor could claim, “New jobs! Texas is back in the saddle again!”, always dropping Carter’s name to folks interested in buying up Texas land. It was a let’s-rub-each-other’s-back fraternity.

Nobody would bother to count the minority who had to find a new way of life. A new way to make a living. To solder new ties to old memories.

Zach sighed to himself. Privately he could sympathize with the landowners. But it was his job to ensure that everything went smoothly at Ritter International. And as far as helping indecisive folks make up their minds, Carter Haskins was good at his job. Occasionally, damn good.

Carter’s thundering voice brought Zach out of his musings. “I couldn’t even get the Aguillars to consider an offer.”

Zach slid his gaze cautiously to Carter’s face. Zach had given notice of resignation to Ritter’s board over a month ago. Slick salesmen—reminiscent of carpetbaggers—were a breed he intended to cut ties with as soon as his tenure here was over. He’d made plenty of money, but now he wanted to make some he could feel good about. He wanted to go to sleep at night without being haunted by the faces of people he’d come to know and respect, mostly small landowners he’d persuaded into selling out in the name of progress—concrete and steel for highways and businesses. Being president of Ritter International had felt wonderful in the beginning, before he’d realized that people were drowning in the sea of green bills washing them out of their homes and heritages.

“Carter, if you’re hinting for help on this, don’t. I can’t go out to Desperado. With my wedding to LouAnn coming up in a month—never mind my last day here is in two weeks—” Zach slipped in smoothly, “I just can’t afford the time away.”

Zach shifted in his chair, arranging an appropriately regretful expression on his face. Inside, he was relieved. Life married to LouAnn Harrison was going to be very sweet. She was calm, with none of the hypertensity his colleagues usually exhibited. He liked that. And she had no aspirations for him politically. His future included taking over the family business from her old man, which was cushy indeed. Zach looked forward to that rosy picture, and getting delightfully plump and blonde LouAnn pregnant every year. She might not be the most intellectual woman he’d ever met, but he could get warm just thinking about how her soft little hands eagerly reached for him at night. Thanks to LouAnn, he could dodge this last manipulation of Carter’s and finish his work in Austin.

Then he was going to try his damnedest to forget about all the lives he’d helped ruin.

Carter sat down behind his massive mahogany desk, sighing. He pulled out a fat, Mexican-brand cigar, stuffing it into his mouth unlit. Zach’s words hung in the room, and he appeared to consider them before speaking. “You know, I’ve always thought of you as a good friend, Zach.”

Carter peered at him through gray eyes that shone with sincerity, and Zach shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Carter’s smooth sales talk had been helpful in making Ritter International financially secure in a tough political and financial climate, and in return, Carter had benefitted greatly from Zach’s ability to induce highly placed people to see his side of things. It had been a mutually advantageous relationship, businesslike and efficient. But if Carter was pulling on his emotional strings now, something had to be up. Something big.

Zach nodded, acknowledging the other man’s sentiment and going along with the game for the moment. Carter apparently was satisfied, for he continued, “If we want to catch the attention of the business world on this one, Zach, we ought to move quickly. Ritter International stands to become an even bigger player if we can close sales in that area of Texas. We’ll be able to bid to bring large corporations to that region, now that the state highway is almost certain to run right through it. Think of the effect on commerce in that region, and the tourists that might be drawn there.”

Zach didn’t want to see where any of these points were leading. Ritter International stood to gain some additional cachet, perhaps, maybe some clout for the commercial real-estate deals they could pursue. But an uncomfortable itch at the back of his neck told him that the person who would gain most from these ambitions was Carter. Zach raised a brow, but remained silent.

“The Aguillars have been an ornery thorn in our backsides that we’ve tried to be gentle about removing, but it’s not working. The race for the governorship is going to be dirty this coming year, and those damned Democrats are going to shoot at us with everything they’ve got. With Texas suffering so much financially, we could dry up like a puddle in the sun if the leadership changes hands and we lose our inside track.” Carter stared at Zach intently. “These transactions could be the ones that push Ritter International over the top in the real-estate game.”

You mean you need to make hay before your highly placed connection gets the boot.
Zach shook his head, unwilling to jump to the trumpet call Carter was sounding. “My wedding is in four weeks, Carter,” he reminded him, his tone definitive. “This job might take that and likely longer.”

Carter rolled his cigar pensively in his mouth. “This deal should be so easy you could do it with your eyes closed. The old man who owns the property’ll probably kick off any day. And you’ve got the rest of your life to make up for your absence to LouAnn.”

Resentment curled through Zach. LouAnn would be more than unhappy. She’d be livid. There were enough showers and supper parties in the next four weeks to fill up an old maid’s calendar—not that he cared about any of the peripheral merrymaking surrounding his impending nuptials. But it mattered to LouAnn, so it mattered to him.