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

Annie’s got that restaurant she’s gonna open up here in Desperado, and we’ll just lure all the Shiloh folks up this way to eat her delicious cooking. They’ll leave their money in this town, and we’ll have the last laugh on Tate. They might think they’re the only honest folk around, but they lie like dogs when they say they can cook.”
    “Garbage so foul I wouldn’t feed it to my pigs.” Pick furrowed his brow. “Did Annie ever get her permit for the restaurant?”
    “Don’t think so. Think the city is still looking it over.” Curvy looked at him. “Why?”
    “You’re the mayor. Seems to me you could hold something up if you didn’t think it was for the good of the city.”
    “That’s blackmail, Pick.”
    “It’s business, Curvy. She who wants to receive from the town oughta give to the town.”
    “Wait just a minute.” He shook his head. “Annie’s damn generous with her time and her resources. We wouldn’t have half of what we got if it wasn’t for Annie Aguillar Rayez.” He waved Pick’s idea off. “Remember when lumber was so scarce, and she let us cut trees off her property to make desks for the elementary school? Nope. Can’t hurt a woman who’s done so much for Desperado.”
    “Then Desperado stays a place where folks stop to pee on the way to Shiloh to see the statue of the general, eat that stuff they call food, and pay to see the places where the famous actors stayed. Yep.” Pick leaned back against the bench, sighing as if satisfied with the outcome. “That’s what we are. A pee stop.”
    “Pick, we’d be putting ourselves on a par with that dishonest Higgins if we stooped to such trickery.”
    “I ain’t arguing with ya. You’re the mayor, and I’m proud to be a citizen of the town with the finest potty stops in Texas.”
    “All right!” Curvy jumped to his feet and glared down at Pick. “I’ll do it.”
    “Better a man’s pride than his conscience.” Pick grinned up at him. “I’ll walk over with ya.”
     
     
    “I hope to hell I’m never the parent of a teenager.” Cody examined the heel of his boot. He sat in Sloan’s sheriff’s office, hot and airless except for the small fan in the corner, but his mood was already foul and air-conditioning wouldn’t have made any difference.
    “Me, neither. Heck, I hope I’m never a parent at all.” Sloan nodded his empathy. “Bachelorhood is nearly as good as sainthood, if you think about it.”
    Cody gave him a thin look. “Why?”
    “Either way, you get respect. Any man who gets to our age without getting tied down deserves respect.”
    “All I know is that Stormy Nixon needs to finish up her business and get out of here. She’s causing trouble.”
    “Well.” Sloan leaned back, and the chair squeaked loudly. “Reckon she couldn’t stir up anything that wasn’t already a problem.”
    “My Mary isn’t a problem, Sloan, and I don’t like to hear you insinuating it.”
    The sheriff gave him a thorough stare. “Hate to differ with you, friend, but the only reason little Mary hasn’t spent a night in lockup is because I let her off easy—one time only. Just as a gesture to the respect I have for you, friend, but not to be abused.”
    Cody’s jaw dropped at the warning. “What in hell are you talking about?”
    “Well, this is confidential between me and you. ’Cause Mary made me a promise she was gonna stay outta trouble from then on. I believe she’s kept her word.”
    Cody nodded abruptly.
    Sloan took a hunting knife out of his drawer and began shaving the corner of the desk. “I found her and three little buddies punch-drunk one day down on my property.”
    “When?” Cody’s eyes narrowed. Annie kept a good eye on Mary. The child wasn’t allowed to run wild.
    “One day when they were cutting school. They’d gotten ahold of some disgusting mint liquor—and to this day they won’t tell me where they got it—and they were throwing rocks through the apple trees at my horses. Too drunk