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

stuff for the new restaurant. And they’re so happy about this stupid baby and everything. They don’t have time for me right now.”
    “Why is the baby stupid?”
    “It just is. I mean, how mortifying! When my friends find out my mom and Zach have been—” she hesitated with a strained look at Stormy, “—well, doing it, they’re going to freak. I’ll never hear the end of it. I mean, it’s so gross!”
    “What’s so gross?”
    “That my mom and Zach have been doing it!”
    Oh, Lord. Stormy closed her eyes wearily, wondering what she should say in this situation. “It’s pretty normal when you’re married, Mary.”
    “Yeah, but not when you’re old.”
    Stormy tried not to laugh at Mary’s indignant tone.
    “It’s not funny, Stormy.”
    She jumped at Mary’s perception of her reaction.
    “It’s humiliating to have your mother get pregnant when she’s nearly forty years old. And a baby’s just going to be more work. That’s all they ever do anyway is work. And now there will be more.” Mary gazed at Stormy with rapt admiration. “I want to be like you. I want to have fun.”
    “Stormy!”
    She bit back a yelp at Cody’s sudden furious shout.
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He strode into the pool area, dark and tall and overwhelming.
    Stormy stared up at him. “Swimming?”
    He chose to ignore that for the moment. “Young lady, you are in big trouble.” He pointed at Mary. “Get out of the pool.” His anger directed his attention back to Stormy. “I had a hunch this was where she’d be, and by damn if I wasn’t right.”
    Stormy hauled herself out of the pool to pit all five foot two and a half inches of herself against Cody’s wrath. “Cool off, Cowboy. You don’t talk to me like that. Maybe to some cow-eyed female who thinks you’re tough stuff here in Desperado, but not me.” She put her hands on her hips. “We’re not finished swimming.”
    His jaw dropped for an instant. “Listen, Trouble, I don’t want any lip from you. I knew you’d be a bad influence around here, and sure as shooting if I’m not right.”
    “Of course you are!” Stormy was building righteous anger of her own. Cody’s eyes snapped at her, but blaming her was outrageous. “You’re always right, aren’t you, because you’re the life authority. Cody Aguillar has everything figured out, down to the last curtain call.”
    “I don’t do curtain calls, I don’t do damn make-believe, but you’ve got this poor kid convinced that La-La Land is someplace to look up to. Get out of the pool, Mary.”
    “Not so fast.” Stormy put out a hand to keep Cody from pulling his niece out of the water. “First of all, I’d like to know what’s so damn admirable about chasing slobbery cows around a pasture, before poking them with a cattle prod to get them in a truck where they’ll shortly end up garnished by wilted lettuce and a radish.”
    “Mind your own business,” he growled. “Mary, come on.”
    “I am minding my own business. I don’t eat red meat, you know. So what you do for a living seems strange to me. You don’t watch movies, so what I do for a living seems worthless to you. But you keep taking potshots at me, and maligning my lifestyle, and you don’t know a damn thing about me.” Stormy took a deep breath. “All I’m asking, Cowboy, is that you slow down a minute, and don’t come rushing in here yelling at me before I even have a chance to tell you what happened.”
    “I know what’s happening.” His gaze roved her swimsuit, then returned to her face. “You’ve scared the tar out of Mary’s mother with your irresponsible behavior—”
    “Uncle Cody,” Mary interrupted. “Stormy didn’t know I was running away. She didn’t know I was coming over to the hotel.”
    “Running away? What are you talking about?” He stared at her.
    “I needed to get away for a while. I shouldn’t have done it, but I…need someone to talk to. You all treat me like a baby,