by Elle James
“I did that? Glad I could help,” he said. “So, when are you coming home?”
“Not until I've completed my research.” The thought of going home didn't hold as much appeal as it had the first day. Could one tall, sexy Cajun have anything to do with her current feelings?
“How much longer will your research take?” Brian persisted.
“At least a couple more weeks.” Fourteen more nights with Craig in the dark, just the two of them. Too bad it had to be in a boat.
“Two weeks?” Brian's voice rose slightly. “That long? What if I come down next weekend? We could spend some quality time together. You know, sit on the porch and sip mint juleps or whatever the locals do on their day off.”
“Brian, we're through.” The idea didn't bother her nearly as much as it had two days ago. Frankly, she couldn't imagine what she'd seen in him in the first place. With understanding gleaned from meeting a man who could knock her socks off, Elaine realized she'd only been attracted to Brian because he'd paid attention to her for a while.
“Come on, Elaine. I made a mistake. Since the argument, I've had time to think.” He sighed. “I really miss you. How about if I come down there next weekend?”
“Look, I'm busy with my research. I'll be working through the weekends.” With the distance between them, she found it easy to put him off. When she returned home, would she take up where they'd left off? Did she want Brian back in her life?
Sure they'd had some nice evenings watching his favorite shows in her living room. They had quiet, pleasant sex on the rare occasion. Brian had been everything she'd thought she wanted in a relationship. He had been comfortable - and generally predictable.
One fiery kiss from a black-haired Cajun in the Louisiana bayous changed all that. She'd tasted the excitement. Her blood had burned through her veins, igniting her senses. Elaine had never felt that way with Brian.
“You're still mad.” Brian broke into her erotic musings.
A couple days ago, she'd been mad and very disappointed. Now, she actually felt relief.
“Think about it.” Brian went on. “I don't mind making the trip. It could be fun.”
“I'll think about it.” Elaine stalled, although she knew she'd never trust Brian again. They had no future.
A pair of light-blue eyes swam into her thoughts. She wasn't sure of her feelings for Craig. But with fourteen days of research left, she might have more of a due by then.
“I'll take that as a yes,” Brian said. “I'll talk to you later in the week. Take care and watch out for snakes.”
“But Brian -”
The line went dead.
Great. Now she had to convince him she didn't want him there. Elaine set the phone in its cradle and tapped her fingernails against the counter. She'd call him tomorrow and tell him not to come. Her relationship with Brian was truly over, and she suffered no disappointment and only a minor bit of regret for not having seen the truth earlier.
How liberating. She deserved better than comfortable.
Her surge of energizing euphoria slipped a notch. Was Craig, the ladies' man, any better for her? With his striking looks, he could have any woman in the town. Why would he be interested in a frizzy-haired scientist for anything more than a fling? For that matter, why would Elaine willingly continue a relationship knowing it wasn't going anywhere?
Okay, one revelation at a time, one hurdle to cross at a time.
She had work to do. Elaine gathered her bucket, nets, satchel and flashlight.
Night cloaked the land as she clunked along the road to the marina. Would Craig be waiting impatiently? Or had he gotten his uncle to fill in for him, after all?
The back door to the marina opened and a tall dark figure emerged in a tailored suit. He marched to a shiny black sports car, climbed in and spun out of the parking lot. Something about the way he moved seemed familiar. Elaine shook her head. Who did she know in Bayou Miste who'd wear a suit or drive an expensive sports car?
Elaine's heart kicked into overdrive when her hand touched the door handle to the bait shop. Would Craig be waiting in the shop? Would he be naked? She found herself silently wishing a “yes” answer to both questions.
What was she thinking? The man was way too sexy for her own good.
With her mouth watering, she entered the building.
Lights lit the aisles and shelves. No deep shadows to hide naked men.
“Mr. Thibodeaux?” Elaine didn't see anyone moving about. The place looked empty.
“Yo! Back here!” Joe Thibodeaux's voice called out and he emerged from behind the back counter. “Can't find a damn thing in this place.”
“Hello, Mr. Thibodeaux. Are you taking me out in the boat this evening?”
“No. Craig'll be takin' you when he gets back.” Joe ducked below the counter again.
“Oh, he's not here.” A lump settled in her stomach.
“No, just left.”
“Was that him in the sports car?” Somehow, she hadn't pictured Craig owning a sports car on his income.
“Yeah.” Joe answered from behind the counter. He surfaced with a box. “He had an appointment to keep before he could take you out on the swamp. He'll be a couple hours.”
Disappointment warred with relief. “Couldn't you take me out, Mr. Thibodeaux?”
“Nope.” Joe set the box full of assorted fishing paraphernalia on the counter. “Don't do much fishin' in the dark. Gave it up on account of my night vision pretty much stinks. Don't worry, he said he'd be back.” He rifled through the box without looking up. “Can't find my favorite filet knife.”
Elaine reached into the box and pulled out a long thin knife. “Is this it?”
Joe shook his head. “If it had been a snake, it woulda bit me.” He looked up. “You're welcome to hang out in: the bait shop until he gets back. Although I'm not much entertainment.”
“Thanks, but I have work I could be doing back at the cottage. Mind if I leave my things here for now?”
“Not at all. Set them behind the counter.” Joe pointed with his knife.
Elaine piled her bucket, nets and satchel on the floor and turned to leave.
“Craig treatin' you right out there on that swamp?” Joe shaved a fingernail with the filet knife.
Warmth spread up her neck and into her cheeks as she relived the feel of Craig's hands on her breasts and the touch of his lips to hers. “Oh, yes. We're finding specimens.”
“Good, good.” Joe peeled off another fingernail, then looked up. “Did the boy get around to askin' you out?”
Elaine's cheeks burned. “No. Of course not. I'm not here to date; I'm here to conduct research.”
“Yeah.” Joe wielded the knife without looking up. “A woman as smart as you has gotta be pretty dedicated to her work. Not much time for fun and dating.”
Ouch. His description hit the nail square on the head. Actually, it made her sound just as Brian had described - boring. “I like to have fun.” Damn, she sounded defensive. She didn't want to give Joe the impression she was a pathetic recluse.
“Craig's been known to be serious about his work, something you can appreciate. But he's got a sense of fun buried in there. He, Mo and Larry used to pull some pretty wild stunts around here during the summers.” Joe hands stilled and he glanced up. “Not that he does that anymore.”
“No?” A smile curved Elaine's lips. She could picture a younger Craig racing through Ms. Reneau's peach orchard. Even then, he had to be a complete heartbreaker with those dark good looks and ice-blue eyes. “Does your nephew always wait on customers in the... a...” . . Elaine coughed, suddenly embarrassed.
“The what?”
Elaine's gaze searched the corners of the shop and her face heated. “Nude. Does he always serve the customers in the nude?”
“Huh?” One eyebrow rose into the white thatch of hair hanging over Joe's brow.
With a shrug, Elaine shook her head. “Never mind.”
The old man's face split in a grin. “Don
't know if he serves customers in the nude, but Craig does have a way with the women.”
Elaine's smile faded. “I bet he does.” Women. Plural. As in, more than Elaine. “So he's dated a lot of women, then?” Elaine couldn't help asking.
“Yeah, but the boy needs to settle down.” Joe ducked his head and whittled at another nail.
“He does? Why?”
“He needs someone to love him.” Despite Joe's attention to his hands, the conviction came through in the tone of his voice.
What was the old man up to? Why was he trying to get her to go out with his nephew? “And are you saying I'm the one who should?”
“Yeah. He needs a serious settled woman to ground him in reality.”
Elaine coughed to hide her immediate denial. Settled woman? That made her sound old and not at all sexy. With her ego beaten to a pulp, her opinion of herself began to smell worse than the dead fish in her freezer. “If your nephew is such a ladies' man, why would he want to 'settle' with a woman like me?”
“Because the other girls don't matter to him. They never did.”
“Then why should I?” Elaine couldn't believe she was discussing Craig with his uncle.
“Because, despite what he might think, he needs someone like you.”
“Settled,” Elaine added, her voice flat
“Yeah, settled.” Joe's words slowed and his brows wrinkled into a frown. “Not in an ugly way. What I mean is, not flighty”
“Sounds more like he needs a mother, not another date.” Elaine turned toward the door. “You can count mel out of this equation.”
“Miss Smith.” Uncle Joe laid a hand on her arm. “I'm' afraid you got me all wrong.”
Elaine stared into Joe's face, an eyebrow raised. “Your nephew sounds like a womanizer incapable of committing to a relationship. Any sane woman would run screaming from such a man.”
The older man's hand dropped to his side. “Maybe so, but he's changing his ways.” In a low mutter he added, “He has to.”
“And you want me to help him change his ways?”
“Yeah.” An implied “please” emanated from Joe's anxious face.
“I don't have time to tame a wild man, Mr. Thibodeaux.” Although the idea had its appeal. Her heart jolted before she could rein it in again. “I'm here to study the swamp, not your nephew.”
“But he really is a nice young man.”
Elaine crossed her arms in front of her. “And a lathes' man who can't take women seriously.”
Uncle Joe grimaced. “Did I say that?”
“Pretty much.”
His lips curved downward. “That's not exactly how I meant it to come across.”
“Nevertheless, I'm not interested in your nephew, his women, or his needs. I'm interested in the swamp.” She turned toward the door. “Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to the cottage until Craig shows up to take me out.”
“I screwed up, didn't I?” Joe's eyebrows sagged and the corners of his mouth dipped.
Elaine couldn't be mean to the well-intentioned man.
He reminded her of a sad basset hound. She smiled despite herself. “Depends on what you were aiming to accomplish.”
“I want you to go out with my nephew.”
“Okay, I will.”
Joe glanced up, hope clear in his expression.
Elaine continued. “I'll go out with hint in the boat. But I won't go out on a date. Frankly, he's not my type.” Who was she kidding? That was exactly the reason why she gravitated toward him. That bad-boy aura intrigued her.
“Now, don't let my words turn you off. He's got a good heart.”
“I'm sure he does.” But he was a charmer. A man who could probably have any woman he wanted. How could she compete with the others? And did she want to? “Mr. Thibodeaux, I'm not interested in your nephew.” Liar!
“Maybe you aren't right now, but if he asks, will you at least think about it? That's all I'm going to say. I'll keep my big mouth shut from now on.”
Elaine stared at Mr. Thibodeaux. She could see how much he meant his request. Craig would never ask her out, so why not make the older man happy? “I'll think about it.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
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“I want a firm I can trust to represent my interests both here in Cypress Springs and in New Orleans.” Jason Littington tossed his napkin on his plate and sat back.
“That's why I'm here, Mr. Littington.” Craig twirled the stem of his wineglass. “I've read about Uttington Enterprises. You've built quite an empire in oil refineries in southern Louisiana.”
“Yes, it hasn't been easy Maintaining a delicate balance between the EPA, tree-huggers and local unions gets tricky. Do you realize the Cypress Springs factory employs more than four hundred locals? That's four hundred possibilities for lawsuits from Bayou Miste to Morgan City.”
“I like to think of it as one of the largest and most responsible employers in the surrounding parishes.” Craig's eyebrow rose, challenging the other man to dispute his words - he didn't. “Why did you choose our firm?”
“Your father and I went to Tulane together. We were roommates. I still consider him a friend.”
Craig nodded. “He would have come himself, but he's tied up in several high-profile suits in New Orleans.” He tipped his head slightly to one side. “Are you having any legal difficulties at this time, Mr. Littington?”
“Oh, the usual. An occasional disgruntled employee, meeting emissions standards with the cost of legal waste disposal rising. Face it, people want jobs, they need gas to run their cars, but no one wants the refineries in their backyard. With all the state and federal regulations, it's hard for a corporation to make a profit.”
With a slight nod, Craig tried to appear sympathetic.
Littington didn't look like he suffered financial constraints. His Armani suit and Rolex watch showed no signs of wear.
Craig stole a glance at his own watch. He'd already been with Littington for an hour and a half. Normally, he spent that and more if the client's financial worth warranted the effort. But tonight, he could only think of Elaine and going out on the swamp.
Time crawled. Littington gave him the same background information he'd heard a hundred times from other wealthy clients. Started with nothing, built a huge empire with the help of a few political aces played along the way. Yada, yada, yada.
With a stifled yawn, Craig glanced at his watch again. “Mr. Littington -”
“Call me Jason.”
“Jason.” Craig smiled. “I can have the paperwork drawn up by Wednesday. Do you mind if we meet at the same time and place? I'm unavailable during the day.”
“Not at all. Evenings work better for me, as well.” Littington pushed away from the table and stood. “Tell your father I said hello.”
Craig rose and shook hands with his father's friend.
The older man's smooth white hair, tailored suit and manicured nails reminded him too much of his father. Almost a carbon copy. Would Craig look like that in twenty years? Would the bottom line be all that mattered? He shook aside his wanderings. “I'll see you on Wednesday, Mr. Littington.”
The drive back to Bayou Miste raced by in a blur. The smooth-running engine and sound insulation left Craig twenty uninterrupted minutes to think. And what did he think about?
Elaine.
Barring the frog-curse crisis, they'd come to Bayou Miste for completely different reasons, the irony of which was not lost on Craig.
He'd come to secure a deal with a wealthy client bent on lining his pockets and finding loopholes in EPA regulations, possibly leaving his refineries open to dumping more pollutants into the environment.
Elaine had come to Bayou Miste to research pollutants and save the environment from would-be killers. And she thought he was nothing more than the uneducated nephew of the marina owner. What would she think of him if she knew the truth?
Craig's foot
lifted from the accelerator and the car slowed. A hard, sickish lump formed in his gut. Did her opinion matter? He'd only known her two days, for Pete's sake.
His foot jammed the gas pedal to the floor and the BMW shot forward, taking the curvy roads much faster than was legal or safe. Craig didn't care. Some situations called for breaking the rules.
He had to stop thinking about a certain dark-haired scientist with her heart in her work. He should be worrying about how to solve his amphibian dilemma.
Note to self. Concentrate on your priorities.
With a mental kick in the butt, Craig forced his mind back on track, straightened his shoulders and focused. Who were the likely candidates? He didn't have a lot of time left to make someone fall in love with him.
DeeDee DuBois, Maddie Golinski, Lisa LeBieu, and Josie Ezelle. Craig breathed out a huge sigh. DeeDee and Maddie gave him the hives, they were so... so... well, not his type. Lisa chilled him to the bone with her voodoo grandmother. Which left Josie.
Craig tipped his head to the side. He hadn't seen Josie in eight years. She'd been a leggy teenager with braces and a laugh like a hyena. But still, she was nice and not bad-looking.
How would her brother, Larry, feel if Josie fell in love with Craig? Did Larry understand Craig had no intention of getting married and settling in Bayou Miste? Once the girl admitted she loved him, the curse ended. Done, finished, kaput! Craig would be out of Bayou Miste so fast the town would wonder what had hit.
Was that fair to Josie? Would Larry hold it against Craig? Not that Craig came to the swamp that often, but he did value the memories the two shared. He, Larry and Mo had been friends for a long time.
Maybe he'd better run it by Larry first. But as far as the list went, Josie was the only reasonable option.
If you choose to ignore Elaine.
Damn. Craig wished his inner thoughts would give it a rest. He refused to go after Elaine. She'd just been dumped by one boyfriend. What kind of cad would knowingly do it again in such a short time?
No. He couldn't.
On the other hand, what if she went into a relationship with her eyes wide open? If he told her he didn't want anything long-term, would she still fall in low with him and accept the consequences?
