It Takes Two: Deep in the Heart, Book 1 Read online

  “My name is Annie Aguillar,” she replied. “Not Mr. Aguillar.”

  “No, definitely not mister,” Zach agreed, trying to sound light. The least Carter could have done, he thought bitterly, was give him correct information. “I was misinformed as to who owned this property.”

  “I’m not the least surprised,” Annie said, resentment steeped in her tone. “We don’t have names, or faces, to you people who want our land. We are merely pawns to be moved around at your whim, numbers in transactions. I said your time would be wasted by coming out here, Mr. Rayez, and I meant it. Nothing you can say will induce me to sell this land. It has been handed down for three generations through the women in my family, and I intend to see that my daughter’s children grow up here.”

  According to Carter, her land would be central to the project Ritter wanted a piece of. The highway would wind through the entire state, and was planned to run right through the heart of Desperado, with Annie’s property smack in the middle. If they had their way, tall buildings housing commercial ventures would be popping up all over her property. Regret tore through him, that his position in Austin brought him here and put him in such a difficult situation with Annie Aguillar. Zach turned his gaze away from her to look instead over the gently rolling land alive with yellow-petaled sunflowers.

  Her words were brave, but inside, Annie’s heart was racing. This handsome man with windswept hair and glinting sable eyes wasn’t like the last land grabber who had come to call. That man’s chubby fingers and oily complexion had repulsed her so badly she’d had bad dreams for two nights—dreams that she had died and little Mary was left to beg in the streets of Desperado. She’d awakened, fighting her way out of twisted sheets, her mouth dry. Heart-pounding fear had sucked the moisture from her. Only going into Mary’s room and placing a warm kiss on her head had been able to slow the pounding of her heart.

  The slamming of the front door startled them both. Apparently, Papa had decided to get out of the heat and watch from the window at Mary’s side. Annie was glad. There was no reason for her father to suffer heatstroke because of this stranger. The rattlesnake had been more difficult to handle than this Zachary Rayez would be, she told herself.

  “According to the law—”

  “The law,” she sneered. “I recognize the laws I choose to. Do you really think I care what you, or those wealthy toads in Austin, call laws? All citified white men, who’ve never had to do a hard day’s work in their life. You know nothing of my life. Don’t come on my property and start spouting ‘laws’ to me. You’re only here to make a sale. Threatening me with right of eminent domain won’t work, because no one from the state has been out to see me.” Her smile was mocking. “I’m not so ignorant that I can be taken in by a mere salesman, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

  Whirling around, she pointed to telephone lines in the distance. “See those lines?” At his nod, she said, “When the citizens of Desperado came to me and wanted to run those lines over my land, I said ‘yes’. I was happy to do that. When they came and asked to cut an acre of trees to build the new elementary school desks locally, I said ‘yes’. I have never denied use of my property for the people of this town. But you,” she said, her tone dripping with venom, “you want me to sell out so you can pour concrete over this land. You and your money-hungry friends in Austin who don’t know me, or my family, or one person in Desperado. This time, I say no.”

  “What if folks here disagree with you? What if they think the new highway will be beneficial in bringing commerce to this area? It could have an impact on the tax base, since big business will probably follow close behind the building of the highway.”

  “They are welcome to sell their land and let the state highway be built where their homes used to stand, have their children play in the shade of skyscrapers. But not me, Mr. Rayez. And frankly, I don’t understand why my one hundred acres is of such necessity to those plans. Surely you can find someone else who is willing to sell out in Desperado.”

  She’d called his bluff and they both knew it. Most people in the town resented outsiders coming to bid unsolicited on their property. Zachary Rayez would look long and hard for enough people in this town to see his side of things.

  The man looked defeated. Surely not because of her, Annie thought. He had to have known the impossibility of his expectations. After all, she’d warned him. Weariness appeared in threadlike lines around his eyes and in the rough curl of his mouth. The suit he was wearing was ridiculously out of place on her dusty farm, and she knew he had to be hot. Why she cared she didn’t know, but it couldn’t hurt to offer him a drink before sending him on his way. Letting him see how they lived might even make Zach Rayez realize he was dealing with people—not unfeeling numbers. It was a message he could relay to the big bulls in Austin, Annie reassured herself.

  Now that she’d explained her stand, she relaxed a little, allowing herself to admire the height of the man and the chiseled lines of his face underneath dark, wavy hair. His dark eyes studied her, and she wondered if she saw admiration in his gaze. Surprised, Annie recognized a tiny part of herself coming to life that she thought she’d buried with her dead husband, straining like a new plant to break through hard soil and seek the sun. Something about this man was making her feel…alive again. It was a good feeling, a spreading warmth of response she regretted she couldn’t allow herself to enjoy.

  But surely ten minutes more, savoring the unexpected feeling of womanliness Zach Rayez brought to her, couldn’t possibly be wrong. Offering him a little hospitality would only show this man that she wasn’t an ill-bred country yokel. “Mr. Rayez,” Annie said softly.

  He’d turned his head away for a moment, breaking their eye contact. Now he looked at her again, his gaze sending a tingle of excitement jumping through her. Annie drew a deep breath, knowing she was treading on dangerous ground but needing to just the same.

  “Why don’t you come inside and cool off for a while?”

  Chapter Two

  Zach struggled to decline Annie’s too-tempting invitation. If life was a chess game, he was a black piece and the landowners were white. There was no gray area on the board. Zach knew himself well enough to admit that accepting hospitality from Annie would be tantamount to venturing onto their side of the board—which meant risking an emotional checkmate.

  Late afternoon sun shimmered on the sloping tin roof of their home, and Zach squinted at it thoughtfully. Stepping inside that house would bring him into the intimacy of the Aguillars’ lives. He suspected Annie was fully aware of the implications of her offer. It was to her advantage to draw him into her world. The Aguillars would become more than mere names on paper if he accepted the refreshment she offered.

  He would learn how their house was furnished, whether the carpet was thick and soft, or if there were hardwood floors instead, gleaming with care and lemon polish. He’d be able to observe Annie as she moved about her kitchen, if she offered him a drink. The thought was strangely erotic in a male chauvinistic sort of way. He liked the idea of Annie waiting on him, bringing him something cold to drink in those capable hands of hers.

  Zach stared at Annie, impressed with her beauty and courage. It was a situation that required delicate handling, because getting to know the Aguillars on a personal level meant he might start to care about them. It was better to remain distant.

  And Zach acknowledged that he wouldn’t be going inside this house to wrangle over details of a sale. He’d be going inside solely to spend a few more moments with Annie.

  Even now, she waited for his answer. Eyes the color of bluebonnets watched him, perhaps trying to fathom the reason for his hesitation.

  What the hell—he was supposed to be a coldhearted guy, wasn’t he? If she was throwing out some sort of a challenge by inviting him in, he could take it. Emotions weren’t a problem for Zach Rayez.

  “That sounds great,” he finally said. “The drive out here was longer than I thought it would be.”

  Annie nodded a
nd turned toward the house. Zach followed, enjoying the sway of her curved hips encased in the worn-out jeans. Some raw, untamed part of him burned to know more about this woman. He found that surprising, because he’d been completely faithful to LouAnn since the night he’d proposed to her. There hadn’t been a doubt in his mind that she was the right woman to share his life during their serene, nine-month engagement.

  Now he looked at Annie’s trim, jeans-covered thighs striding into the house, and he desperately tried to conjure up the pleasurable image of LouAnn’s marshmallow-soft legs wrapped around his backside, urging him toward his pleasure. The memory seemed more distant and faded than the horizon in Desperado.

  The snake, still in its prison by the steps, seemed to promise revenge, the forked tongue trembling as Annie walked inside the house. Zach hurried past the serpent as fast as he could.

  “Would you like some iced tea?” Annie flung the question over her shoulder as she glided into the kitchen.

  With great difficulty, Zach snapped his attention away from her enticing posterior and back to where it belonged. On his job. “Tea is fine,” he answered.

  She got out glasses and a pitcher. The old man came into the kitchen, along with the child, whom Zach thought looked heartbreakingly like her mother.

  “Papa, this is Zach Rayez, the man I told you about earlier. Zach, this is my father, Travis Cade.”

  “Hello, sir,” Zach said, extending his hand.

  The old man ignored it, leaving no one in any doubt of what he thought of Zach’s presence in his house. “Come on, Mary; we’ll go play outside,” he said instead, walking out of the kitchen. The little girl followed behind him.

  Annie turned unblinking eyes on him. “I suppose an apology is in order for my father’s behavior. However, surely you can understand his feelings.”

  “I do,” Zach replied. “I understand them all too well. I’m sorry I had to meet him under these circumstances.”

  It was true. He was no more welcome in this house than that old rattlesnake outdoors was, and he couldn’t blame the old man for feeling that way. Annie handed him a glass of iced tea, which he took, grateful for the coolness of the glass and the sensation of her warm fingers barely brushing his.

  She opened a closet in the kitchen and tossed her boots inside, putting a pair of worn-out leather sandals on her feet. Annie’s feet were brown to begin with, but had seen lots of sun too, turning them a toasted almond color. Currant-colored polish on her toes complemented the earthiness of her skin. Zach thought about LouAnn’s little white toes and her delicate white feet that rarely saw any sun except in St Tropez, and he wondered why he felt attracted to Annie. She was nothing like what he aspired to have in his life for himself.

  After setting a plate of brownies down in the middle of the table, Annie sat down across from him. Her fingernail scratched at an old scar in the table, as if she was trying to think of something the two of them had in common they could talk about.

  Although Zach usually was a master at the art of conversation, especially with women, he didn’t know what to say, either. There wasn’t much that he and Rattlesnake Annie had in common. And sitting there, simply gazing at her, seemed to be enough for him. An odd feeling of contentment settled over him.

  Annie’s gaze rose to meet his with the slow, gentle grace he found so fascinating about her. He watched in amazement as her eyes traveled over his shoulders, across his cheeks, skimming down to where his shirt disappeared inside his belt. It felt strange to sit and observe her considering him so carefully with those indigo eyes of hers. He endured her perusal, though, without minding it. For a quick second, when it seemed that she forced her eyes to meet his again, he saw what he thought was admiration in them.

  Dawning wonder filled him. Was it possible that, against her will and in spite of the fact that he’d come on a mission that pitted them against each other from the start, Annie was attracted to him?

  He found that thought intensely flattering. He sensed Annie gave neither body nor heart easily. He wished, with all his soul, that he were in a position to explore the secrets veiled behind her eyes.

  Zach struggled to contain his lustful thoughts. Papa and his rifle held more than a touch of menace, and he didn’t feel like becoming target practice for some redneck farmer in Desperado, Texas. Zach reminded himself that he’d done this type of job, and had the conversation he needed to have with Annie, in many a blue-and-white gingham kitchen. He was making it harder than it had to be.

  Zach looked into Annie’s eyes, knowing that his words would quickly chill the admiration he’d seen there. “I understand your reluctance,” he began.

  “Do you?” she asked, her eyes appraising. “Do you really?”

  He hesitated, knowing he was treading on dangerous ground. “I understand probably as well as anyone can. However, I’m prepared to buy your land at a fair price. My job is to make certain that you feel good about this deal.”

  “You can’t possibly make me feel good about selling my land.”

  “Then you’re aware that Ritter International may take you to court on the premise that your refusal could be blocking a major state project. A court battle would be emotionally involving, not to mention costly.”

  The reference to cost had to be made. It was obvious from looking around at Annie’s furnishings that she wasn’t a wealthy woman. She was probably scraping by, crop to crop, like so many other farmers in Texas. The threat of legal hassles was doubtful, but one Zach wanted to mention anyway. He was fairly certain Carter had an eye on his presidency at Ritter. One poor little farmer like Annie wasn’t going to stand in Carter’s way of impressing the board with his finesse.

  “I will do whatever it takes to make certain that this land stays in my family,” she vowed with quiet assurance.

  “If you sold your land, you’d be well off financially—”

  “That might play a part in your consideration, but it doesn’t in mine,” she assured him. “Not where my heritage is concerned. Can’t you understand that?”

  Instantly, Zach realized she was referring to his obvious Hispanic background. Zach looked at his tea glass for a moment, unwilling to discuss that with Annie. How he felt about his heritage was a personal topic he wouldn’t talk about with someone he was trying to broker a deal with. “What if you lost your land? You’ll always have that fear, that threat, hanging over your head. At least my way, you could sleep at night, knowing Mary’s future was secure.”

  That was probably his trump card, he thought. If Annie was this loyal to her heritage, she’d most likely be fierce where her family was concerned.

  “Mr. Rayez—”

  “Please, call me Zach,” he inserted smoothly.

  She swallowed and glanced away for a moment, seemingly reluctant to use his name. “Zach,” she said, “I realize that growing up in the city and being city-bred, you may not understand about land. But there’s a history involved. I’m one-quarter Indian. I feel honored to have a piece of America. I own a piece of the land the Native American people were deprived of. That means more to me than you might be able to imagine.”

  She measured him with a glance and took a sip of her tea. He watched, fascinated. Her natural, berry-colored lips were full and endlessly pouty in the center. Just right for sealing themselves around a man’s mouth and hanging on for a good, long kiss. LouAnn was a practiced kisser, but her little doll-baby lips didn’t quite fit his much wider mouth. And when she pouted, it was downright unattractive.

  “Secondly,” Annie said, bringing him out of his musings, “there is my family to think about. My parents lived in this house, as did my grandparents. In fact, the land comes through my grandmother, who was white. My grandfather was full Comanche Indian. They fell in love, much to the dismay of my grandmother’s family, who once owned a great deal of this valley. Their wealth and social position made it unbearable that their daughter would fall in love with an Indian, and they cut her out of their lives and out of their will, giving
her this one-hundred-acre parcel and nothing more. ‘Good riddance, and don’t come back, as long as you have that Injun slavering after you,’ they told her. When I think about giving up this land, I think I would be betraying my grandmother’s suffering. It would hurt her to know that all she’d had in the world to pass down had come to nothing.”

  It was important for everyone to own land, or something of value. Half-Mexican himself, and struggling in an Anglo-oriented business climate, he’d had the need to call something his own. He understood the willingness to fight to get ahead.

  He understood ambition.

  What Zach didn’t understand was the overpowering attraction he felt for this lovely woman. He wanted Annie, wanted her in the worst way. With the same driving need that he’d wanted his successful climb to the top, he wanted her.

  But he would never cheat on LouAnn. He would never cheat on anyone. Not that he was suddenly ingrained with a moral streak or anything like that. But that was his one principle. Cheating on a woman didn’t do any good—his own father had proved that theory. And he wouldn’t dream of hurting Annie by acting on his desire for her. He wanted to kiss the ground her burnished feet walked on; he wanted to pour her bathwater into a martini glass and drink it.

  These were fantasies he could hold close to him at night—because he would never hold her close during the daytime, in the harsh light of reality.

  Zach knew he could never have Annie Aguillar.

  Deep in her heart, Annie recognized that the emotions Zach Rayez stirred up inside of her were unhealthy. She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter what he thought about her, that their worlds were so different he couldn’t possibly understand a way of life that mattered greatly to her. Yet some need inside her wanted Zach to appreciate why she felt the way she did.

  “Would you like a tour of the farm?” she asked suddenly.