It Takes Two: Deep in the Heart, Book 1 Page 3

  Zach hesitated, and for one awful moment, Annie was sure he was going to refuse. She perceived her invitation was out of the ordinary. Land deals required cool participation on the part of both parties; there was no room for sentiment. She knew that, but the truth was, it was the only excuse she could think of to entice him to stay a little longer.

  “Sure,” he said easily, looking at her with his intense gaze. “I’ve got some time to kill.”

  Shivers of something akin to pleasure tingled her spine. Intuition told Annie that Zach was glad for the excuse to linger. Of course, he might welcome a chance to view what he was supposed to be purchasing, Annie reminded herself.

  She stood up and walked out of the kitchen. A wave of self-consciousness swept over her when Zach followed. Did he find her appealing at all? Was she too tall and lanky, her hair and skin too dark to suit him? Or did he feel the same tightly triggered response she did whenever they stood close enough to touch?

  Walking onto the porch, she held the screened door open, allowing him to pass by her. His hard-packed physique brushed her arm, and the scent of an enticing, musky aftershave made her mouth go dry. Annie slowly let the door close, with the sharp recognition that part of the reason she was lapping up this man’s sex appeal like a starving kitten lapping milk was the fact that there weren’t many men like him in Desperado. Most of the men from around here were good ol’ boys, with no more sophistication than the cows they raised. Zach had a keen intellect, she sensed, sharpening it to manipulate people into doing what he wanted them to do.

  And while nice enough, the males in Desperado who weren’t already married were a picked-over lot, too—although that wouldn’t have mattered if she’d had a mind toward marrying again. The major problem was she’d grown up with these folks, learned her letters in school with them and outrun them during recess. She felt sisterly toward the men she knew. Zach raised a different kind of emotion in her altogether.

  He stepped off the porch, cursing when the snake flicked a maraca-rattle warning at him. Annie smiled as he strode away from the wooden box and turned to wait on her.

  “What are you going to do with that damn thing, anyway?” Zach asked sharply when she reached his side.

  She laughed at him and received a grim smile in return. Tossing a casual wave at her father and Mary, Annie turned toward an open field, lightly touching Zach’s arm to guide him. “There’s a man in town who buys rattlesnakes. I’ll call him to come pick it up tomorrow.”

  “It’s hard to imagine why someone would collect rattlesnakes.”

  The muscles in his arm had bunched at her touch, and Annie withdrew her hand reluctantly. It felt so good to have this handsome man’s attention to herself—even if it was just for an hour. “Crazy Cody has several markets for snakes, with more demand than he can usually satisfy,” she replied absently, her mind on the man beside her, whose long stride, she noticed, matched perfectly with hers. “The university can use them for research. Medical laboratories need the venom for making antidote to snakebite.”

  They stopped walking at the edge of a cornfield, which began maybe five hundred yards from the house. Zach gazed down at her, and Annie’s heart beat a little faster. The scent of sun-warmed man reached her, filling her with body-aching desire.

  “Good for Crazy Cody. But why do you have to catch them?”

  Did the gruff tone of his voice imply he was worried about her safety? A thrill ran over her at the thought, and she smiled into his eyes. “The money comes in handy,” she said simply. “And I like to keep them off the land, anyway. I worry about Mary getting bitten.”

  Zach’s lips tightened, and Annie realized she’d given him the perfect opportunity to drive in another reason why she should sell her land. Not for a moment did she give Zach any credit for his self-control. Something told her he was merely waiting for the right, most ripe moment to make his case again.

  Her smile was light as she turned her gaze away from him to look over the tall green stalks of corn plants. As much as his purpose for coming here should alarm her, Annie wasn’t intimidated by Zach. In fact, she admired the intensity with which he pursued what he wanted.

  Silently, she walked forward, knowing he’d follow. The cornfield stretched forever, with its sea of green-flagged leaves. Annie felt pride and a stab of worry as her eyes automatically searched for blight and for bugs. With a wave of her hand toward the field, she said, “I’m counting on this year’s corn crop to be my big moneymaker.”

  Zach made no reply, and Annie walked forward without further comment. Banking on the fact that the world’s population was increasing, and the recent disturbances of wars around the world, Annie had felt corn was the crop to plant. Now she could only wait and see if her prediction would prove correct.

  “Do you oversee the crops?” Zach asked.

  “My father and I do that jointly, so we don’t have to hire someone else to do it. It saves money, and I enjoy the challenge.”

  For a couple more miles they walked, with Annie pointing out various items about the farm she thought Zach might find interesting, until they circled back to a small shack in a clearing, set under a growth of willow trees. Made mostly of wood, it was a typical foreman’s house. A few cacti here and there served as landscaping. Annie nodded toward the bungalow.

  “When we had a foreman, he lived there.”

  Without any further description, Annie walked around to the back of the house, where the waters of a small pond whispered to the overhanging trees. After the blazing sun, the quiet shade was comforting. She lifted the hair off her neck, appreciating the peaceful stillness. Gazing with satisfaction at the water, she noted tiny bubbles as fish rose to the top, looking for insects. “Mary and I come here to feed the fish sometimes,” she murmured, lulled into sharing that about herself by the serenity of the glade.

  “I thought fish fed humans,” Zach said.

  His tone was teasing, but Annie didn’t smile. Of course, he wouldn’t understand that this was a place for dreaming, a place for solitude, where the worries that clasped her chest like an iron band could be forgotten. In his rush-rush life of making deals, what would Zach Rayez know about slowing down enough to enjoy the calls of birds in the trees, the low rumble of a tractor in the distance? “Mary enjoys tossing corn kernels in for the fish to eat,” she replied, ignoring his comment.

  “The country version of the city playground, I guess.”

  Now she did smile. He made it sound like Mary was deprived of childhood joys, when actually she had so much more here than Zach could comprehend. “I suppose so. Are you ready to go back?”

  He started to say something, then closed his mouth and stared at her. Annie waited for him to answer. She looked at the firmness of his chin and the way his dark hair fell over his forehead, and wondered why fate had sent such an attractive man to carve up her life. The last man, the oily one with his pungent cigars and demeaning way of speaking, had been much easier to send away.

  “I know why you brought me here, Annie.”

  “I knew you would.” He was referring to her attempt to make him feel why she just couldn’t sell her land, but she didn’t feel any guilt about the ploy.

  He put his hands on her shoulders. The light pressure sent tremors of warmth shooting through her. If only this man had come for a different reason—

  “Annie, my job is my job. Unpleasant as it may seem, I owe it to the stockholders—and myself—to make certain I’ve done my best to purchase your land.”

  “Landowners are winning more rights in court every day,” Annie replied softly, not really listening to the earnest appeal in his voice. She allowed her body to sway a fraction closer to his, and his hands tightened on her shoulders slightly. “Anyway, where would we go? This is our home, Zach.”

  “Okay. Just promise me you’ll think about it and call me if you change your mind, all right?”

  He hadn’t released her shoulders, and Annie perceived Zach’s body was on a completely different track from
his ambition-oriented brain. “Whatever you say, Zach,” she said softly, knowing she’d never call him. Nor would he ever call her. This was the only time she’d ever see Zach Rayez.

  She put her hands lightly on his wrists. Without taking her eyes from his, Annie moved her hands slowly along his wrists to the broadness of his shoulders, smoothly moving herself into Zach’s arms.

  Zach found himself in a delicious embrace with Annie so fast he didn’t have time to explain about his fiancée—not that he wanted to. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about LouAnn. The strength of a freight train was roaring through his head, and all he could do was pull Annie more tightly to him. Hesitantly, he lowered his lips to hers.

  He’d been right about her lips; they fit his like she’d been born for him. Pliant and sweet, her mouth demanded and searched with the bewitching power of a woman’s hunger. He could only try desperately to hang on to his willpower. The foreman’s shack stood behind them, empty and waiting. Only a few steps separated him from what he knew would be exquisite ecstasy.

  Annie moved against him with a small moan, taking her lips from his to look into his eyes, questioning. Her rain-washed fragrance teased him. The womanly pressure of her breasts against his chest tormented him. The warm angle of her womanhood pressed against his upper thigh was sheer agony, because he knew that he would find ready welcome there. But the look in Annie’s eyes, all soft, inquiring innocence, was what stopped Zach from scooping her up into his arms and carrying her inside the shack. Panic filled him, paralyzing his desire. Though his body screamed for satisfaction, he could only end up hurting Annie. End up hurting LouAnn. And in the end hurting his conscience too badly to salvage.

  Regretfully, he pulled her arms from his neck and put a few inches’ distance between them. Zach tried for a smile, but only managed a grim twist to his lips. “If you’re trying to get my mind off my job, you succeeded.”

  She smiled too, but uncertainty shadowed her eyes. He knew Annie was wondering why he’d broken their embrace. Perhaps she even regretted initiating the kiss. He didn’t want that, because he certainly didn’t mind that it had happened. In fact, her honest approach was damned sexy and made him horny as hell. It was just that she was the wrong woman at the wrong time, and he had previous obligations. Hell, he had a previous life that had no intersection with hers.

  “Come on,” he said, his voice feeling very rough in his throat. “Walk me back to my car.”

  They returned slowly, each uncomfortable with what had happened. The shiny rental Cadillac sat in the sun, stars of light reflecting off the silver ornaments. Next time he came out here, Zach mused, he was going to drive a pickup so he’d fit in.

  Next time? Zach stopped himself. There wasn’t going to be a next time, of course. He’d go back to Austin and forget that he’d ever met this captivating woman, this Rattlesnake Annie.

  Mr. Cade hobbled out onto the porch. He stared Zach down, obviously glad to see him leaving. Zach tossed a polite nod in his direction, then slid into the car’s hot leather interior. “Thanks for the tea,” he said, wanting to say much more to Annie but finding himself choked by the impossibility of their situation.

  She nodded her head slightly and stepped back from the car. Zach stuck his key in the ignition, averting his eyes from her face. The car started, then died. He frowned and tried again. Again the engine sputtered to a stop. Mr. Cade was making his way off the porch, holding his cane like a weapon. Blazing hell! Zach thought. Of all the times for this to happen! Trying again, he willed the engine to catch.

  It was no good. Sighing, he got out and lifted the hood, almost resigned to a bad fate. What he didn’t know about cars could fill a book.

  Annie’s father stood beside him, glaring at the engine. She herself stood patiently, obviously waiting for her father to diagnose the problem.

  Which he did. After bending down to peer under the car—which looked painful to Zach, as old as the man appeared to be—he stood back up with a disdainful snort. “Caught a rock in yer radiator,” he said sternly, as if Zach was phenomenally stupid to do such a thing.

  “A rock?” he repeated. He’d heard a few thumps when he’d driven up the long, uneven dirt driveway to the Aguillar house, but he hadn’t given the sounds a second thought. “Can it be fixed?”

  Mr. Cade pressed what little bit of wrinkled lips he had into a thin line. “Have to be towed into town.”

  Apprehension began to try Zach’s patience. He didn’t want to wait for a bunch of small-town yahoos to try to fix the car. They’d likely do more harm than good. The rental-car company could send another, but it was a fair piece to Austin and he didn’t want to wait that long either. He wanted to get the hell off Annie’s farm before he succumbed to temptation.

  “Drive you into town,” Mr. Cade offered sourly. “There’s a small hotel there. You can call someone to come pick up your car tomorrow from there.”

  “You have a car?” Zach said hopefully, almost amazed. They seemed so poor the possibility hadn’t crossed his mind.

  “Yep.” Mr. Cade spat onto the gray-packed dirt. “Been broke for two weeks. Got a tractor, though. Take a while to get into town, but you ain’t got nothing better to do, do you, boy?”

  “Papa,” Annie protested.

  The old coot hated his guts, Zach thought angrily. He’d really enjoy watching Zach suffer in the heat in his business suit, while the man made certain the tractor moved slower than an ornery mule. Dammit! He should have told Carter to shove this deal—to hell with whatever was best for Ritter. It was more trouble than it was worth.

  “Papa,” Annie said, her voice like an angelic song and somehow breaking through the white-hot rage that was enveloping Zach. “He doesn’t have to go into town. Zach can call the towing service from inside our house.”

  “Actually, the car belongs to a rental company, and they’ll send someone to tow it. But as late as it is, I don’t know if they can send someone today.”

  “Then you can stay in the foreman’s shack tonight,” Annie offered. Her expression was blank, but her offer sounded sincere.

  Mr. Cade looked mutinous. A vein pulsed in his forehead as he considered Annie’s practical solution. Zach could tell he’d rather shoot him than have him spend one night on the property. “Hmmph,” was all he said, turning back toward the house.

  “Thank you,” Zach said to Annie, meaning it, although he’d rather stay in town, if the truth were told. Annie was too enticing, and he had a feeling she knew it. But she’d taken up for him with her father, and hearing it had made Zach’s chest expand. “I appreciate your offer.”

  “Think nothing of it,” she replied, her eyes glinting like blue ice. “I’d have done the same thing for anybody.”

  Chapter Three

  What the hell was that supposed to mean? Zach wondered. Annie had gone cold on him, sweeping into the house like a tornado. After a moment he followed her, jogging up the steps past the rattler. God, how he hated snakes. By the furious beating of its rattles, he could tell that creature highly desired to sink its fangs into him.

  Throwing the screen door open, he let it bang shut behind him. Cool air from whirring overhead fans touched his skin, and Zach stood still while his eyes adjusted to the dim hallway, just letting the soothing breeze wash over him.

  Mr. Cade’s face suddenly loomed near his, startling Zach out of his relaxed state. “If I catch you sniffing around my daughter, I’ll gut you like a catfish, boy,” he warned. Casting Zach a malevolent glare to make his point, the old man turned and shuffled down the hall. “Come on, Mary,” he called, as if he hadn’t just threatened a man’s life. “Let’s play cards.”

  Perspiration actually moistened the skin above Zach’s mouth. The old man hated him as badly as that damned snake outdoors did, and he didn’t doubt his threat. Annie was off limits. He stood rooted in the hallway until Annie returned.

  “The phone’s in the kitchen.” Annie’s soft voice caught Zach’s attention immediately. She was walking
down the hall toward him, obviously coming from her bedroom. The worn-out jeans had been discarded and were replaced by a white gauze Mexican-style dress that looked cool and womanly on her. He couldn’t imagine LouAnn wearing something so unsophisticated.

  Following Annie into the kitchen, he watched as she tied a large apron over the dress before pulling out a couple of pots. A glance at his watch told him it was six o’clock, and he should be getting hungry. The thought of food held no appeal. Annie’s hair was woven into a tight braid, swinging down her back and revealing a delicious curve of neck. That was something he could imagine taking a bite of.

  But by the ramrod stiffness in her spine and the way she was studiously ignoring him as she went about her chores, Annie was plainly of the same opinion as her father. Off limits.

  That’s fine, Zach thought crossly, sitting down and pulling the phone close to him. Woman trouble was the very last thing he needed. LouAnn was going to be fried when she found out he wasn’t coming home. There was an important party being held in their honor tonight at the house of the governor’s best friend. Why did he have to get stuck in the middle of nowhere with a couple of prickly country bumpkins?

  Absently, he dialed the rental car company and reported his problem. As he’d expected, the soonest they could come was in the morning. He hung up and glanced again at Annie’s back. Her competent hands flew as she mixed and stirred, lifting and closing lids on the hot stove. His mouth began to water as spicy aromas reached him.

  Of course, she hadn’t offered him dinner. He supposed he was lucky the Aguillars were willing to put him up. Sort of willing, anyway. And he could miss one meal.

  Zach sighed, the delicious smells bringing to mind the sumptuous array of food that would be laid out at the banquet tonight. Which reminded him that he had one more phone call to make—to LouAnn. Shoddy as it seemed, he didn’t want to call her with Annie in the kitchen with him. He wondered if she’d give him a moment’s privacy if he asked. Possibly there was a phone in the foreman’s shack he could use later when he was alone, yet he hadn’t seen any lines strung to the house. But LouAnn deserved as much notice as possible so she could get another escort.