It Takes Two: Deep in the Heart, Book 1 (14 page)

“Mary’s about got her toys packed,” Cody said, coming back into the kitchen. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Annie replied, keeping her expression bland.

“I take it that was the snake-eyed varmint.”

Annie smiled at Cody’s blatant use of Travis’s words. “How did you guess?”

“Well, you looked startled when you answered the phone. Then you looked like you wished I’d get the hell out of the kitchen.”

He smiled, but Annie could tell Cody was probing out of a sense of protectiveness. “It’s okay, really. That was Zach Rayez, and he was calling to see how Papa was doing.”

“Clearing his conscience, I guess.”

“Cody! You know as well as I do that Papa hasn’t obeyed any doctor’s orders in the last ten years. He’s too stubborn to change, despite numerous warnings about his health. Zach may have ignited the situation, but then again, it could have happened the next time a snake appeared on our porch.”

“One and the same, to my mind,” Cody grumbled.

Annie laughed and finished wiping the counters. “Nobody around here is going to claim Zach as their best friend. He was doing his job, and that’s the end of it, okay?” Cody nodded reluctantly, and Annie couldn’t help teasing him a little. “Zach wasn’t real impressed that you dismember reptiles for a hobby, either, so you two are about on equal ground.”

She could tell Cody was trying to hide a smile by the wry twist of his mouth. “Okay, enough said about Zach Rayez,” he agreed. “Shall we go pay a visit to Travis?”

“Absolutely. Mary, honey, it’s time to go.”

“All right, Mommy.” Mary’s voice filtered down the hall.

“Do you mind stopping at the mailbox at the end of the drive so I can get the mail?” Annie asked. “I forgot it yesterday, and was too chicken to walk down there in the dark.”

“That’s showing good horse sense. No telling what might be out there,” Cody said, his tone stern. “It’s no trouble to stop.”

“Thanks.” The three of them walked to the car, and after Annie strapped Mary safely in, Cody started down the road.

Dust plumes flew up as the hearse crunched over the small rocks. “We could use a good rain,” Annie murmured.

“I know. I’m getting worried about the crops,” Cody confessed. “It’s been years since we’ve had this hot and dry a summer.”

She glanced out at the miles of untouched earth that ran east and west of her home. “Surely we’ll get some rain soon. I’ve spent so much time in the hospital, I guess I hadn’t noticed the weather.”

“Well, it’s been hot enough to bake beans, I can tell you.”

Annie looked at him. “I know you’ve been coming over to water the animals and check my crops. You’re a good man, Cody.”

“Yep.” He shot her a grin. “Grab your mail.”

She rolled down the window and opened the mailbox, snatching out the single long, white envelope sitting on top of a pile of junk mail. “Hmm, this looks official.”

“Maybe you won the lottery,” Cody joked.

“I don’t think so, but I sure could use it,” Annie replied. A small thread of uneasiness tightened her abdomen. This couldn’t be more bad news. It didn’t look like an overdue notice—and yet, something told her it wasn’t anything she wanted to read.

“Well, open it, so you won’t sit and worry all the way to the hospital.”

“You’re right. I’m sure it’s nothing.” Annie slitted the envelope with a fingernail and pulled out the paper inside. Her heart suddenly felt shriveled and cold.

Cody put a hand on her shoulder. “What is it, Annie?”

Her lips felt numb. She could hardly press the words out. Tears filled her eyes so that she could hardly read.

“I’m overdue on my taxes, as usual,” she whispered. The fear became full-blown. “But this time the bank wants to take my land.”

Zach hung up the phone, dissatisfied. Something told him that Annie hadn’t called for social reasons. There had been an underlying strain in her voice, very different from the confident demeanor he knew Annie to have. He’d waited, paving the way with idle chitchat should she decide to unburden herself to him.

Yet she hadn’t, and he’d known she probably wouldn’t. Annie might have a heavy load to bear, but he was not the person she would choose to confide in. She was strong, she was determined, and she would overcome her problems with courage despite the sinkhole beneath her feet. And he would cheer her on, admiring her from a distance.

Zach glanced out the window, absently noticing the cars on the ribbon-shaped highway many stories down. From his high perch, they looked like ants scurrying to get wherever they needed to go, determined in their blind, yet driving need. He ground his jaw, his teeth tight together. Should he have hinted to Annie about the newly precarious position Carter had mentioned she was in? Would a warning have helped a woman who was already struggling to do the very utmost she could to save herself and her family?

Most likely he would be stretching an ethical boundary by telling Annie that the bank was seriously considering her land as a foreclosure. On the other hand, Zach sensed Carter wasn’t dealing with an honest pack of cards on this deal. The man was far too interested, far too keen on the Aguillar land. He’d always been just a cut above dishonest, but never before had Carter displayed the slavering intensity he was showing for this particular deal. Zach’s mouth curled. Could it hurt to stack the deck a little in Annie’s favor, or would he be doing more harm than good?

He catapulted to his feet, pacing the glassed-in office. It was possible she could make her taxes in time. Farming wasn’t something he knew a lot about, but Annie had been enormously proud of the acres of corn she’d shown him. She was banking on the corn to be a major staple in the world food market. Zach felt her theory was as good as any, maybe even sounder than most. Annie was forthright and shrewd about her decisions. If blight didn’t get her, or birds, or whatever other dilemmas farmers faced, she had as good a chance as any to hang on to the world she loved.

Perhaps he was in a position to tip the scales just a bit in her favor, though. Zach left a message on LouAnn’s answering machine before grabbing up his car keys. He’d wound down most of the business he’d come in to take care of, especially since he wasn’t fielding new calls. Retiring from the big business arena was something Zach looked forward to greatly, hungrily even. His responsibility to Ritter would be a thing of the past, even was nearly so now. He didn’t owe them part of his future, though Ritter had been his brainchild in the beginning. Too many things had changed in the growth process, with boards and stockholders and slimy sales deals. It wasn’t the baby he’d birthed, and Zach didn’t think a thing about turning himself to a new project.

Of course, he didn’t owe Annie anything either, but after all the people whose land he’d bought, it would make him feel good to help one woman hang on to what she loved.

And Desperado was but a road trip away. Maybe a drive would clear the web of incessant wedding preparations from his head.

“I tell you, he’s acting different.”

Carter narrowed his eyes at the stunning woman. LouAnn was in a royal snit over her silly preoccupation with Zach Rayez. He nearly sighed with boredom. “I’m sure you’re just imagining things, LouAnn.”

“I’m not, Carter. Damn it, will you listen to me? Something’s going on, and I’m worried.”

“What’s going on? What’s different? I can’t help you if you don’t give me more concrete examples than that.”

“Damn you, Carter Haskins, don’t talk down to me. If I knew what the frigging problem was, I could fix it myself.”

She flicked a pointed fingernail in his direction. Carter held up a hand, shaking his head. “Calm down, LouAnn. Let’s be rational about this. Zach’s probably suffering from wedding overload. Didn’t you just say you couldn’t wait for this silly circus to be over? What makes you think he feels any differently? Most likely, he’s anxious to get on the honeymoon with his beautiful bride.”

“Yes, I said that, but only because I’m getting scared, Carter. I want this thing to be over so I’ve got Zach’s ring on my finger.”

He smiled lazily. “Ah, yes, the noose around his neck, so to speak. What happened, LouAnn? Did you let yourself fall in love with our ride to the top? Does that Tex-Mex give you a thrill when he lifts your skirt?”

She frowned and crossed her arms. “I wouldn’t know, lately.”

Carter leaned forward in the chair, examining her closely. The woman was stupid, but in her own idiotic way, he realized she was doing her best to tell him something. “What do you mean, you wouldn’t know—lately?”

She bowed her head, appearing supremely ashamed and uncomfortable to be having this discussion with him. Carter frowned, sensing real trouble.

“Zach and I haven’t made love since he went to Desperado.”

Carter leaned back, clenching his teeth. Damn that woman! Was it even conceivable that Zach would be remotely attracted to her, when he had the wondrously pink and blonde LouAnn waiting back home? Carter held back a curse, wondering if he’d miscalculated the situation. Surely LouAnn was wrong about Zach. The man probably wasn’t losing interest in her—and yet Zach had been plenty interested in her sexually since the day he’d met her. If he was passing up golden chances to slide into a woman made like a soft, welcoming loaf of warm white bread, then indeed there was a huge problem.

He cleared his throat. “I assume you’ve done what you can to get him into your bed.”

She nodded, spreading her hands in confusion. “At first I thought Zach was simply tired. But when sexy lingerie didn’t do the trick, either, then…”

Her voice drifted into silence. Damn the silly bitch. She was the perfect vehicle for Carter’s ride to prominence and power. Paired with the lethally handsome and likable Zach Rayez, they’d be a socially elite and powerful duo to be reckoned with, and, as Zach’s good colleague and friend, Carter would be positioned for a plum appointment in the next round of corporate musical chairs. If Zach was shedding Ritter International, it just meant that something else was lurking in the ambitious Hispanic man’s brain. Carter would continue to ride Zach’s coattails whenever it was beneficial to do so.

But at the moment Zach was suffering from some kind of sexual inertia, and tight, cold apprehension swept Carter.

He picked up his phone, jabbing in some numbers.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m calling Zach,” he replied tersely. “Maybe I can figure out if anything’s up by having a brotherly one-on-one with him. Could be you’re just imagining things. Bridal nerves, or something like that.”

“I don’t think so,” she murmured softly.

The phone rang until it kicked over into the phone-mail system. Carter listened intently, then hung up, swearing viciously. LouAnn jumped, but he barely gave her a glance.

“What is it, Carter?” she asked.

He stared at her, seeing eyelashes glued together and lipstick smeared from crying. LouAnn’s hair was mussed from her picking at it. The woman was a mess. Could it be she’d actually fallen for their brown-skinned pretty boy? The man she was marrying for financial security—a necessity when one spent more than their trust fund held—and continued entrée to important social circles?

Even more inconceivable, could Zach have fallen out of love with a trophy woman men far wealthier than he had pursued?

At the moment, Carter found he didn’t harbor much desire for LouAnn, either. He bit the inside of his mouth, resisting the urge to smack some sense into her. “Better get used to sleeping in your own bed, honey. The chicken’s flown the coop.”

Chapter Nine

“Try to put it out of your mind, Annie,” Cody said, indicating the tax notice she held between trembling fingers. “The bank’s sent you those before, and you’ve always paid up on time.”

That was true. But there were so many things in her life sliding out of whack that Annie felt like she was struggling just to hang on to normalcy. In the back seat, Mary murmured to her stuffed animals, her conversation pitched in the soothing sounds of a mommy voice. Annie closed her eyes, feeling sick. Something had to get better. Somewhere, somehow, there had to be a piece of good news with her name on it.

Cody patted her hand. “The corn crop’s going to be a big one, Annie. It looks like rows and rows of profit to me. There should be plenty to pay off the bank, with some to spare. And you know you can count on me to help bring it in.”

Annie nodded, dutifully fixing a smile to her face. “You’re right. I shouldn’t let myself get so thrown off balance.”

“That’s my girl. We wouldn’t be farmers if we weren’t tough.”

“I’m tough too,” Mary called from the back seat.

Annie glanced around to give her daughter a reassuring smile. She looked so pretty, all done up in a new red-stripe dress and matching hair bow her granny had made. Annie’s mouth went dry. For the slightest second, the old nightmare froze her brain: Mary begging in the streets of Desperado, a bedraggled orphan with no one to care about her.

Annie pressed her lips together. That menacing nightmare was impossible. Mary had family who would take her in, should something ever happen to Annie and Travis. Mary had family, true—yet why couldn’t Annie provide a more reassuring future for her only child?