It Takes Two: Deep in the Heart, Book 1 (18 page)

Annie felt like someone had just jerked her backward by the hair, leaving her stunned on the ground. Zach married? Had she heard him right?

“I don’t think I follow you,” was all she could manage.

“I’m supposed to be married in about two weeks. Two weeks after that, I formally take over my fiancée’s family business.”

Slowly, she edged away from Zach. Why was he telling her this now, when they’d just shared the most earth-shattering kiss she’d ever experienced?
I do not have meaningless sex, Annie. It’s not in me to acquire your body without loving you first.

Of course. Zach loved another. Once again, she’d thrown herself at him, and this time, he’d comforted her because she’d been crying like a baby. But the same wonderful emotions that spun through her at his touch left him unfazed. Because there was a woman in his life who already had his heart.

Annie sighed deeply, wondering if it was possible for a heart to actually break in half. Hers felt like it was splintering in two. A different kind of pain in the heart than Travis had suffered; one that wouldn’t benefit from a late-night trip to the emergency room.

All Texas’s horses and all Texas’s men couldn’t put Annie together again.
The nursery rhyme ran through her head, bastardized by the tormenting, hateful thoughts toward that other, faceless woman. Annie shook her head, angry with herself. Hearts mended. She was a survivor. Best to salvage her pride, to walk away a woman of courage.

“Congratulations,” she said, her voice soft and pleasant. “And that you drove all the way to Desperado to try to help me during this special time is more than you should have done. A phone call would have sufficed.”

“You’re too ornery to be talked into anything over the phone.”

Annie nodded agreeably. “You’re right. Still, I should pay you for the gas money you wasted on the trip out here.”

Zach reclined on his elbows, tossing an amused look her way. “You haven’t even listened to my business idea yet.”

She stood, brushing off her jeans briskly. “No. But I need to get up to the house to check on Mary. And Papa. Please make yourself comfortable in the foreman’s shack, if you wish. We could discuss anything else that’s on your mind in the morning at breakfast, before you leave. I feel bad keeping you from your wedding preparations.”

Annie turned away. Instantly, her arm was caught in Zach’s relentless hand.

“Annie, don’t be this way.”

“I’m not being any way. It’s late, and I’m tired. Please excuse me.”

Reluctantly, he let her hand fall between them. “All right. But we talk in the morning.”

She shrugged and turned toward the house. There were plenty of things she could find herself doing to keep herself out of Zach’s way tomorrow. She was almost to the house when she heard Zach calling.

He came thundering through the darkness, crashing through crackly shrubbery lining the drive. “Wait a minute,” he commanded, catching up to her. “Why do you sound like you know Carter Haskins so well, anyway?”

Annie turned, but Zach grabbed her arm. She jerked away. “Let me go.”

“Annie, wait—”

Something thudded in the dirt between them. Annie and Zach jumped. A good-size hunting knife stuck up out of the cracked earth, handle shivering.

“What the hell!” Zach swore.

“The lady wants to be left alone,” Cody said. “So leave her alone.”

Zach could make out the big man on the porch, idly smoking a cigarette, its tip glowing brightly in the darkness. The son of a bitch hadn’t moved from his spot more than an inch, yet he’d managed to send the hair on the back of Zach’s neck straight up. He was going to end up with a limb missing yet.

“Damn it! You could’ve cut off my toes. Or hers, Cody,” he complained. “All that drama’s wasted on this city boy.”

Cody chuckled. “Wasn’t aiming for your toes or I’da hit ’em.”

Zach sighed and glanced at Annie. She stared back at him, her hands on her hips. Boy, was that woman ever mad. He reckoned she had a right to be, but he was hoping for a more receptive attitude before he broached his idea. Deftly, he leaned down and snatched the knife from its resting place, noticing that it was heavy enough to have done real damage if Cody’d been of a mind to hurt him rather than scare the bejesus out of him. He handed it, handle first, back to the man on the porch, who accepted it without comment.

“Now,” Zach said, “Annie, I would really like to know how well you know Carter Haskins.”

She pierced him with a glare. “Carter came out here to discuss buying my land. He is a disgusting human being, and I sent him packing.”

Zach digested this news, feeling a sour ache spread through his gut. Carter had come to Desperado privately, though he’d lied, saying they’d only had phone contact. Something was rotten about the situation, but he didn’t know what it was. Why would Carter disturb himself to research a deal so thoroughly—other than a possible commission on it? Congratulations from the governor? Hell, no. Carter had gone way overboard with his sneakiness this time. And running to Pop, sniveling about how Zach couldn’t make the deal, like Pop’s disappointment in Zach would matter two cents to him anyway. Maybe Zach had been on top of the heap too long. There were too many ambitious men—like Carter—waiting to cut him down. Only he’d never thought this treachery would come from the man Zach had hired.

“You know I’ve always thought of you as my friend, Zach.”

Zach grimaced. Still, more than Carter’s underhandedness wasn’t right. He looked toward the east, scanning darkness untouched by a single wisp of cloud. It had been a while since he’d seen the original drawing of the proposed highway. Since he hadn’t known Annie at the time, he hadn’t checked to see where her land lay on the chart. And Desperado had meant little to him other than the name of a thoroughfare.

But as soon as he got back to Austin, Zach promised himself a good look at that proposed state highway. Because something about the whole situation was stinking to high heaven.

Yet he said mildly, “You’re right. Carter is not a nice man. My association with him is not one of the things I’m most proud of in my life anymore. That’s one of the reasons he’s no longer going to be working at Ritter International.”

Zach stopped, giving Annie a chance to think about what he was saying. “But if you’ve met Carter, you’ll realize how important it is to listen to my idea for getting your farm fiscally secure.”

“In the morning.”

He shook his head stubbornly. “You’re already mad. I might as well go ahead and say everything that might rile you up at one time.”

She crossed her arms mutinously. “I’m listening.”

Zach glanced at Cody. “Is the porch the place you want to discuss business?” he asked Annie.

“Yes,” she insisted.

“Go ahead, Slick,” Cody said, tossing his cigarette to the ground. “There ain’t crap on the evening news, so I’ll just sit here and be entertained.”

“Me, too,” Travis said from inside the house.

Zach trained his eyes on the window beside the porch and realized Travis was reclining on the sofa inside. The window was up, and the old man had been sitting there listening to every single word that had been said up to this point. Cagey old buzzard, Zach thought. A man couldn’t let his guard down for an instant around these people.

“All right. A family caucus is as good as any way to throw my thoughts out, anyway.” He squatted down on the porch. “The way I see this thing, some folks have gotten the notion to buy this land. They’re willing to threaten you with right of eminent-domain laws, thinking that with the state highway coming through here, they have the right to pull that particular string. They may even be the reason the bank is putting the squeeze on you right now.”

“You’re talking about Haskins,” Cody stated.

“That’s what I suspect. Unfortunately, I believe he’s got his teeth to your ass on this one, Annie. Carter isn’t going to stop until he gets what he wants.”

She pointed a shaking finger at him. “You go back and tell him to find someone else to bother. He may have his teeth to my ass, but he’ll find himself wearing dentures if he tries to bite.”

God, how he loved this woman’s grit. Zach shook his head. “I’ve got a funny hunch on this, Annie. I’m asking you to trust me.”

Travis cursed blue, and Cody followed suit. Zach spread his hands. “All right. Just hear me out.”

The three looked at him warily.

“If Annie can make her taxes, the land can’t be foreclosed on. In fact, the more financially solvent Annie is, the less of a threat Carter can ever be.”

“How much were you going to make to come out here and do a job on me?” Annie asked.

Zach scented red-alert danger. “Now, wait a minute, Annie. My salary isn’t pertinent to your finances. First things first.”

“Don’t patronize me, damn it. I know about commissions.
How much
?”

He shook his head before looking her square in the face. “A hundred thousand dollars.”

“Son of a bitch!” Travis shouted from the window. Annie broke her gaze from Zach’s and turned her head. “My rifle’s on the porch, Annie. Shoot the dirty rustler.”

Annie folded her arms across her chest, refusing to look at Zach. “I can’t shoot him. I’ve kissed him.”

“That’s it, you low-down, skirt-chasing, snake-eyed—” Travis cursed as he tried to move from the sofa. “I’ll come out there and shoot you myself.”

“Sit down, Papa,” Annie commanded. “Let’s hear Zach’s idea before we kill him. To give up one hundred thousand dollars, it must be a blue-ribbon winner.”

Cody hadn’t moved, but then the rifle was just behind him, Zach noticed. And he’d given Cody back the hunting knife, so the big man had two promising choices of weapons if he decided Zach was merely an ink blot in Desperado’s history.

“Okay,” Zach said, turning his focus to Annie. “To get you solvent, you need a business. Something profitable, that isn’t at the whim of sun or rain or other uncontrollable acts of nature.”

“Clock’s ticking, Slick,” Cody said. “Cut the sales bull and give us the bottom line.”

Zach stared at Annie, who merely gazed back.

“I’m thinking salsa’s the name of the game.”

Chapter Eleven

“Salsa!”

Cody, Travis, and Annie repeated the word in unison. From his position inside the window, Travis shook his head. “If you mean Annie’s salsa, she’s been selling that locally for some time now. And making about forty bucks a month at it. Chicken feed, compared to what we owe.”

Cody shrugged. “Nice try, I guess, anyway. I still haven’t figured out why you’re so determined to get on Annie’s good side.”

Annie hadn’t said a word. She kept her gaze trained on him, as if she knew there was more to his theory than he’d gotten to tell so far. Zach welcomed the connection he felt between them.

“I’m thinking commercial, Annie,” he stated, his voice soft, yet determined. “Commercial with a twist, maybe a gimmick thrown in.”

“I’m listening,” she said. “Keep talking.”

“I aim to.” He hunkered down on the porch steps and she sat close by, her eyebrows raised with interest. “Now recently, a Texas picante sauce company was sold for a nice chunk of change. So, I know there has to be money in a good, hot recipe. Your salsa is one of the best I’ve ever tasted, and I’ve traveled most of Texas.”

“Been around a bit, have you?” Travis interrupted meanly.

“Texas is an interesting state,” Zach tossed over his shoulder. “Be a shame to miss any of it.”

He grinned at Travis’s sarcastic snort and continued on. “The restaurant angle is what comes to my mind What if you marketed your sauce to better restaurants, specifically those looking for a different, attention-getting product for their customers?”

“What’s so interesting about salsa?” Cody asked. “It’s either good, or it’s not so good, but it isn’t something people are going to interrupt their supper talk over.”

“Ah, but this is Snakebite Sauce, cooked up by Rattlesnake Annie herself,” Zach said with a grin. “I envision a big brown and gold label, with Snakebite Sauce prominently figured in the middle and with Rattlesnake Annie in curving letters over the top.”

“The Aunt Jemima of salsa,” Cody said.

“We can only pray,” Zach replied.

“Cody, you ain’t buying Slick’s line, are you? There’s so much bull crap piling up out there, I’m gonna have to shut the window.”

Cody folded his arms over his chest, his gaze measuring as it rested on Zach. “I’ve always got one ear open when a man’s talking opportunity, Travis. He’s obviously put some hard thought into this for no apparent reason that I can figure—unless you own stock in some kind of company that’s set to make a profit off this scam, Slick.”

The growl in Cody’s voice made Zach chuckle. “Wish I had. All my investments are sunk in oil stocks and commercial real-estate ventures, and they haven’t been worth dirt since the bottom fell out of the market.”

“I still don’t see why Annie needs to do this,” Travis complained. “She’s sitting on a bumper crop of corn out there, more than enough to pay off the taxes this year.”

“This year,” Zach repeated. “Could be next year won’t be so great. Or the next. If you hit the market right, Snakebite Sauce might keep you from worrying your teeth to nubs every year.”