“A man gets used to mean after a while.” He grinned, showing one prominent gold tooth. “No need to go by the hotel straight off. We’ll show Carlo here what Houston’s all about.” As he walked he swung Carlo’s case at his side.

“I’d like that.” Diplomatically, Carlo moved closer to his side. “I could take that case…”

“No need for that. What you got in here, boy? Weighs like a steer.”

“Tools,” Juliet put in with an innocent smile. “Carlo’s very temperamental.”

“Man can’t be too temperamental about his tools,” Bill said with a nod. He tipped his hat at a young woman with a short skirt and lots of leg. “I’ve still got the same hammer my old man gave me when I was eight.”

“I’m just as sentimental about my spatulas,” Carlo murmured. But he hadn’t, Juliet noted, missed the legs, either.

“You got a right.” A look passed between the two men that was essential male and pleased. Juliet decided it had more to do with long smooth thighs than tools. “Now, I figured you two must’ve had your fill of fancy restaurants and creamed chicken by now. Having a little barbecue over at my place. You can take off your shoes, let down your hair and eat real food.”

Juliet had been to one of Bill’s little barbecues before. It meant grilling a whole steer along with several chickens and the better part of a pig, then washing it all down with a couple hundred gallons of beer. It also meant she wouldn’t see her hotel room for a good five hours. “Sounds great. Carlo, you haven’t lived until you’ve tasted one of Bill’s steaks grilled over mesquite.”

Carlo slipped a hand over her elbow. “Then we should live first.” The tone made her turn her head and meet the look. “Before we attend to business.”

“That’s the ticket.” Bill stopped in front of the conveyor belt. “Just point ’em out and we’ll haul ’em in.”

They lived, mingling at Bill’s little barbecue with another hundred guests. Music came from a seven-piece band that never seemed to tire. Laughter and splashing rose up from a pool separated from the patio by a spread of red flowering bushes that smelled of spice and heat. Above all was the scent of grilled meat, sauce and smoke. Juliet ate twice as much as she would normally have considered because her host filled her plate then kept an eagle eye on her.

It should have pleased her that Carlo was surrounded by a dozen or so Texas ladies in bathing suits and sundresses who had suddenly developed an avid interest in cooking. But, she thought nastily, most of them wouldn’t know a stove from a can opener.