Free Desperado: Deep in the Heart, Book 2 by Tina Leonard

she’s here for.”
    Annie sat down on a concrete block. “I was awfully hard on her last night.”
    Propping his boot on the bottom of a metal rail, he said, “I’m sure she wouldn’t be in the business she’s in if she wasn’t used to a little tough talk.”
    “I thought you said her job wasn’t hard.” She shot him a teasing smile.
    “Get back on your subject, Annie Aguillar Rayez.”
    “I’m going to accept her offer. She can film The Devil’s Own on my land.”
    Cody’s boot slid off the rail. “Why?”
    “Because…well, because. I just think it’ll be all right.”
    “All right? Isn’t there a difference between something being all right, and something you really want to do? I know very well you don’t care any more about a movie, particularly a horror movie, than I do.”
    “No. I don’t. I don’t even have cable on my TV. I’m too busy to watch TV or go to movies, but Mary’s hit a bad patch, and I think this movie thing might…” she stared at the calves he’d penned, “…might make her feel part of something.”
    “Does it have to be on your property to do that?”
    “No. But there aren’t any other alternatives, for one thing, and this way I can at least be on the set every day and keep my eye on her.”
    “And if she doesn’t get the part? Then you’re stuck with a bunch of city folk tearing up your land.”
    “I have a funny feeling Mary will get a part of some kind. She’s danged determined about this.” Annie gave him a wry smile. “Stormy has made a huge impression on her.”
    “Yeah, well.” Crazy purple-haired woman had made an impression on a lot of folks, it seemed. Right now, she was off running around with Wrong-Way Higgins—and Cody’d never seen a man look more smitten than that one. “Don’t know if it’s a good impression. Hey, what about your restaurant? How are you going to have time to run a restaurant and be on a movie set all the time and have a baby?”
    Annie shook her head. “My permit’s been turned down.”
    “What?”
    “The reason wasn’t very clear. Zach’s going to look into it. Something about there being a lack of money in the city coffers to fix the street in front of my restaurant site. And no money to fix the power lines around it. And it wasn’t a fire-safe location. There were a ton of reasons.” She looked at him sadly.
    “By damn there were.” He smelled an ugly rat in this mess. Zach could check into the legal aspects of the situation if he liked, but Cody knew that to find a rat, he needed to go straight to the source of the nest—the mayor’s wooden bench.
    “Maybe it’s for the best. I should be spending time with my daughter right now. I think she’s worried about how the new baby is going to affect her.”
    “Yeah, she’s worrying about herself a lot these days.” Cody took her arm and led her toward the exit. “I don’t think Stormy’s come back yet, but you can leave a message at the desk for her to call you.”
    “Keeping an eye on her, are you, Cody?” Annie’s voice turned teasing again. He could feel the tips of his ears turn red.
    “No,” he lied. “Just wasn’t sure if her heading out with Wrong-Way was a good idea or not.”
    “I see.” She reached up and tugged at his braid. “You know, Cody, it wouldn’t hurt you any to take a girl out every once in a while.”
    “It would hurt me to take that one out. Go on.” He opened the door of her truck so she could get in.
    Annie grinned at him. “I sure do appreciate you looking out for Mary last night. I’ve instructed her not to give you even a whisper of trouble while we’re gone.”
    “Hmm.” After talking to Sloan, he wasn’t sure what he’d gotten himself into. “Are you sure you’ve thought this situation over? About the movie set?”
    The smile slipped from her face. “I’ve thought about it, Cody. I don’t like it. I don’t like a lot of things lately, but if it will help my little girl, how can I say no?”
    He