by Jana DeLeon
“You gonna track him?”
“Oh, that’s the best part,” Vernon replied. “I don’t have to. Josie’s gone and hired a professional tracker to find the problem critter. She’s done moved him into the house and everything.”
“She’s paying a professional to track a bear? Hell, my ten-year-old grandson could track a bear. They ain’t all that sneaky.”
“I don’t think Josie believes it’s a bear. I think she believes that bunch of superstitious swamp men working on the crew. They think they saw the Tainted Keitre.”
“Be good for business if they had, and I could use an uptick here. Might get more tourists this way instead of all of them flocking to New Orleans.”
“You know as well as I do it’s a load of hooey. They were either drunk or managed to spook themselves.”
“You’re probably right,” Ted agreed. “Still, doesn’t seem to be no harm in Josie hiring a tracker to put the whole thing to rest, and it saves you the hassle of dealing with it.”
“Says you. He came out to the job site today to play twenty questions with me. I don’t appreciate some stranger asking me to explain myself and my job. Ain’t none of his business, no matter what he’s paid to do.”
“What’s he talking to you for? You ain’t seen anything, have you?”
“No. I got the impression he thinks it’s a man, not a bear, doing the damage.”
“Could he be right?”
“Sure, a man coulda tore down them fences,” Vernon said. “But I’m betting on bear. Why would a man waste time tearing down fences in the swamp on private property? It seems a lot of effort just to delay the inevitable. Josie’s determined to go through with turning her house into a hotel.”
“Well, he ain’t gonna make any friends around Miel if he starts peeking up skirts and treating people like suspects.”
“That’s his problem, I guess. I just hope he gets it handled and leaves soon.”
“From what you say, it would probably be best for everyone,” Ted said. “What about that other thing we talked about?”
“No word yet, but I’ll let you know.”
“I hope it works out. That could be a really good deal for me and Annie. Business hasn’t been all that great for a couple of years. I gotta find other ways to make ends meet.”
“I know,” Vernon said. “As soon as I hear back from the guy in New Orleans, you’ll be the first to know.”
“I appreciate it. You need any supplies while you’re here?”
“Yeah, give me a couple boxes of bullets for my pistol.”
“You thinking you might run into trouble over this?” Ted asked, his voice strained.
“You never know what might come up in the swamp. Best to be prepared.”
Tanner heard some shuffling and the ring of the cash register. He hustled to the end of the row and slid behind a display of handbags just as Vernon walked past the row and out of the store. Tanner peered over the top of the row and saw Ted step from behind the counter to assist a customer with a saddle in the back of the store.
The saddles were located on one side of the store, blocking Ted’s view of the entry, so he hurried down the rows, cast a quick glance at the street to make sure it was clear then eased out of the store and down the block.
What are Vernon and the store owner up to? It was something in the swamp that was worth two boxes of bullets to protect and would help Ted make ends meet. Put together, it didn’t look pretty.
He wondered if his presence had prompted the stocking up on bullets. If so, that wasn’t good. Whatever Vernon was up to, it was clear Josie didn’t know about it. The connection in New Orleans troubled him most of all. Vernon was involved in something that required partnerships with people in the city—secret partnerships.
There were a lot of things that came to his mind, especially after spending the past decade in the swamps. Drug running was the first.
And the most dangerous.
* * *
DINNER WAS SURPRISINGLY enjoyable for Josie. Tanner had returned to the table just before the food was served, but when she’d asked about his absence, he’d glanced around and then shook his head. Whatever he’d gone out for, he either wasn’t sharing or wasn’t sharing it in public.
So they’d talked about normal things like politics, sports and current events. She would have liked to find out more about the mysterious tracker, but every time she wandered into personal territory, he changed the subject or put the question back on her. By the end of dinner, she still didn’t know a single thing about Tanner’s personal life or his past that she hadn’t known before walking in the restaurant.
A big strike against him, regardless of Adele’s advice.
If she couldn’t trust a man, she couldn’t trust herself with him. Not even for a fling. She couldn’t risk being made a fool of again, especially not in her hometown. At least, her past embarrassment had occurred a continent away. She was the only one in Miel who knew about it, and it was going to remain that way.
In Miel, she didn’t get the looks of pity that some had for her, or the looks of disdain from others who felt she was a fool for being played. Here she was just Josie Bettencourt, hometown girl. No one knew about her past mistakes, and she wasn’t about to make them again.
Tanner LeDoux, with his flirting and subsequent secrecy, was a prime candidate for a meltdown later on. Whatever slim thought she’d had about letting down her guard was gone from her mind by the time they finished eating.
Despite the fact that they were technically “working,” he insisted on paying for dinner, which confused Josie even more. Finally, she decided it was either good upbringing, pride or both that prevented him from letting her foot the bill. He gave Marquette a nice tip and thanked her before leaving. She gave him a shy smile but glanced away almost immediately.
Josie briefly wondered why Marquette had chosen a profession like waitressing when she was clearly so uncomfortable around people, but then she reminded herself that options weren’t all that plentiful in Miel and moving to New Orleans was probably more of a strain than the withdrawn young woman could handle.
Tanner looked over at her as they walked down the street to the bar. “Are you ready for round two?”
“I suppose so, especially as round one was rather uneventful.”
He nodded. “Yeah, but the restaurant pulls a different crowd than the bar. I wanted as many people talking as possible. Besides, I was hungry and the ribs were excellent.”
She laughed. “You’re right on all counts. I haven’t had a meal that good in months. I’ve been so busy, I rarely leave the house, and I’m not much for cooking. I figure a sandwich does me fine, and there’s more important things to do with my time.”
“I’m the same way. Unless friends harass me into a meal, I rarely get a great one. I’m surprised you don’t meet friends in town. You can’t work all the time.”
“Most of the people I considered casual friends years ago have moved away. There’s not a lot here to offer young people looking to establish themselves. I do go visit Adele sometimes. She’s the little silver-haired lady who walked in the restaurant when you were leaving. She was a good friend of my mom’s—started off as her babysitter.”
“So she’s essentially family, just not by blood.”
“Yeah, I guess she is. I’ve never thought about it that way, but you’re right.” She smiled. “So I guess I’m not alone, after all.”
“It’s tough not having your parents around, especially if you were close.”
Something in his tone made her wonder if his words weren’t only about her. Even though she figured he’d find a way around her question, she still had to ask, “Are your parents still around?”
“No. I lost my dad when I was eight. My mom died my first year of college.”
Her heart ached for him, losing both parents at such a young age. Instantly, she felt guilty for being so harsh on him for not talking about his personal life. It had never crossed her mind that t
he memories could be mostly painful.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t imagine how hard that was. I feel sorry for myself losing my parents so young, but at least I was well into adulthood before either of them passed. You had your brothers, though. There’s three of you, right?”
“There’s three of us, but I didn’t really ‘have’ them. We all have different mothers.”
“I didn’t realize you were that far apart in age.”
“We’re not. Our father wasn’t exactly the stuff good husbands are made of. Holt and Max are only four months apart. I’m two years younger.”
“Oh, wow,” she said, mortified that she’d introduced this line of questioning. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up something painful.”
He gave her a small smile. “You didn’t. I got over what my dad did years ago. I didn’t spend as much time with my brothers as Holt and Max spent together. They both lived in the same town. My mother moved us away after she figured out my dad wouldn’t remain faithful to one woman. We moved back a time or two because she thought he’d changed, but we always ended up leaving again.”
“That must have been hard on her.”
“Probably, but she should have known better. He already had two sons by two different women, and from the rumors, the possibility existed for a lot more. She rolled the dice and came up short. After he died, I hoped we’d move back for good, but for whatever reason, my mother refused to go back to Vodoun. Instead, she hopped from one unfit Mystere Parish man to another.”
Josie could tell by his tone that Tanner wasn’t happy with his mother’s choices. She couldn’t really blame him. Her bad decision had left a little boy without a father, then she’d moved him away from his brothers.
“Holt’s mom was the best, though,” Tanner said. “She was happy to have us all at her house and treated Max and me like her own. No matter what our father put her through, she was always a class act.”
The love that had been missing from his voice when talking about his own mother was so apparent when he spoke about Holt’s. Also, she didn’t miss the fact that he referred to one as “mother” and the other as “mom.” She guessed that Holt’s mother had felt more like a mom to him than his own.
“She sounds like a wonderful woman. Is she still alive?”
“Alive and taking a much-deserved early retirement in Florida. I just visited her for a week last month.”
He stopped suddenly and Josie realized they were in front of the bar. She choked back a bit of disappointment that their conversation ended so abruptly. Finally, she’d learned something beyond Tanner’s résumé, and she’d been prevented from learning more by the length of the walk.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded and walked into the bar, wondering if she’d ever get the opportunity to delve into the inner workings of Tanner LeDoux again.
The bar was small and crowded. Tanner pointed to two empty stools at the bar and guided her through the maze of tables and people to take the two empty seats. A couple of seconds later, a big burly man came over to take their order.
“Beer.” She almost had to yell above the noise in the bar.
Tanner held up two fingers. The man nodded and poured two beers from the tap in front of them, then slid them across the counter.
“Is that Mack Prevet?” Tanner asked.
“No,” Josie said. “Mack’s the one coming out of the storeroom and snarling.”
“He’s looking directly at you.”
“Glaring is probably the least offensive thing he’s done since I returned.”
The bar owner locked in on Josie and Tanner and strode directly over to them.
“This ain’t no photo shoot,” Mack said. “You want to drink with your modeling buddies, you can do it at home.”
Tanner laughed. “That’s a new one. I’ve never been mistaken for a model before.” He held out his hand to the scowling bar owner. “Tanner LeDoux. I’m a professional tracker. Josie hired me to stop the vandalism at her property.”
Mack looked at Tanner’s hand and then back up at him, not bothering to extend his hand. “Don’t care who you are or what you’re doing here, as long as you do it away from me.”
Tanner lowered his hand. “I was away from you. You walked over here, remember?”
Mack narrowed his eyes at Tanner. “You’ve got a smart mouth on you, buddy. Go ahead and have your bit of fun with the ice princess, but if you get the least bit out of line in here, I’m throwing you out myself.”
“Duly noted,” Tanner said. “Hey, maybe when you have some time, we could talk about where you were the last two nights when someone was vandalizing Josie’s property.”
“Watch your step. Most men don’t like being accused of things they haven’t done.”
“Did you take that as an accusation? That’s interesting.”
Mack glared at Tanner for a second, then stalked to the other end of the bar, where he leaned over to talk to a group of men gathered there.
“Word of my arrival is spreading fast,” Tanner said, and nodded toward Mack.
“He certainly didn’t like your implication.”
“Yeah, maybe because he hasn’t done anything wrong. Maybe because he’s the vandal. Hard to see the truth. That chip on his shoulder’s blocking a lot.”
“That man has serious issues,” Josie said, shaking her head over the entire exchange. “So much drama for such a small place.”
Tanner took a swig of his beer, then leaned in toward Josie. “Don’t look now, but your friend Sam is on his way over—again.”
She held in a groan as Sam stepped in between them.
“Josie,” he said, without acknowledging Tanner at all, “I see you’re making a full night of it. I feel badly about how I left things earlier. Let me make it up to you with a dance.”
It was all Josie could do not to roll her eyes. The man actually thought dancing with him was a good thing.
“Actually,” Tanner interrupted, and rose from his stool, “I’d just asked Josie to dance, so you’ll have to take a number.”
He extended his hand to Josie, who slipped off her stool and placed her hand in his. “Maybe next time, Sam,” she said as she walked hand in hand with Tanner to the tiny, crowded dance floor.
The song was a slow one, and he pulled her in close to him, encircling her waist with his strong arms. She wrapped her arms around him, placing her hands flat on his back, her chest pressed against him. With her hands and her breasts, she could feel his toned, firm body, and she couldn’t help wondering what it would look like in far less clothing. During her modeling days, she’d seen plenty of ripped males bodies in various stages of undress, but she’d bet her last dime that Tanner could give any of them a run for their money.
“Thank you for rescuing me from Sam,” she said.
“It wouldn’t have been very gentlemanly for me to leave you stranded, listening to him for an entire song. You might have docked my pay.”
She laughed. “I don’t think this falls in the context of your job duties.”
“That’s a shame,” he whispered as he pulled her closer. “If I was paid to do this, I’d probably never stop.”
She laid her head against his chest and let out a sigh, all of her earlier resolve flying completely out the window. Only one other time had she met a man who could so easily turn her inside out.
And look how well that one worked out.
She bit her lower lip and tried to silently will herself into a mindless stupor. One dance wasn’t going to hurt anything. If she couldn’t enjoy a few minutes in the arms of a sexy man without it completely blowing her life plans, then she didn’t have the backbone to carry them through in the first place.
Closing her eyes, she let herself melt into Tanner, swaying to the slow rhythm of the country tune playing on the jukebox. As he hummed along with the melody, the rest of the world drifted away and for a moment, all of her problems disappeared.
Chapter Nine
It was almost midnight when Tanner pulled up the driveway in front of the house. All of a sudden, he slammed on the brakes and killed the truck engine. Josie, who’d fallen half-asleep on the ride home, jerked into consciousness.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I saw a light in the upstairs window of my bedroom.”
“Maybe you left it on.”
“I’m sure I didn’t, but even if I had, it still wouldn’t be moving. This was small and mobile, probably from a flashlight.”
He leaned across the truck and pulled his pistol and flashlight from his glove box.
“Stay here and lock the doors,” he instructed.
“No—”
“You’re safer here. We have no way of knowing how many of them are in there.” He looked at his watch. “Give me five minutes, and if I don’t return, drive straight back to Miel and get the sheriff.”
Before she could say a word, he jumped out of the truck and eased the door closed, then hurried down the backside of a long row of hedges toward the house.
Josie leaned forward to stare out the windshield at the house. Slowly, she scanned every window on the second floor, then the first, but she never saw even a flicker of light. She didn’t doubt for a moment that Tanner had seen it, which meant that whoever was there had left or was hiding. Her mind struggled a bit, trying to decide which was the better option. If the intruder had left, then Tanner was not at risk, but if the intruder was still there and Tanner caught him, then it would all be over.
She looked at her watch and huffed out a breath when she realized not even a minute had passed. It already seemed like an eternity. A patch of clouds passed in front of the moon, and all the light extinguished. She sat in the pitch-black, unable even to make out the front of the truck. Her heartbeat echoed in her head and she realized that the swamp had gone completely silent.
Suddenly, she heard a crunch of leaves right outside her truck door, the tiny sound booming in the silent night. A wave of panic came over her and she reached for the door lock that she’d forgotten to press earlier. But before her fingers touched the button, the passenger door flew open and yellow eyes stared at her.
