by Emery, Lynn
“Go on to bed, Poppy. Get some rest.” Savannah hugged him then planted a kiss on his forehead.
“Ooh.” Tante Marie yawned loudly. Catching Antoine’s eye she jerked her head towards the door. “No wonder my eyes gettin’ so heavy. It’s almost midnight. I’m goin’ to bed myself.” She gave Antoine another cue by cupping his elbow as she got up.
“Hum, oh yeah. Gotta get up early to, well, got things to do. Goodnight.” He patted Paul on the arm even as Tante Marie none too gently propelled him out of the kitchen.
“Real subtle exit, huh?” Savannah gave a small nervous laugh. She began busily picking up the dishes. “I wanted to thank you for what you did, you sort of rescued us.” She spoke over her shoulder as she stood with her back to him rinsing out the cups in the sink. Suddenly, he was standing close to her. She could smell him, a warm musky scent that enveloped her.
“You were doing pretty well, though. That one guy you kicked will be limping for a while.” He began drying the dishes.
“Did you see the look on that guys face after that lady’s purse connected with his nose?” Savannah widened her eyes and wobbled her head in imitation.They both started laughing so hard they almost dropped the dishes they were putting away. She turned to shush him, pointing towards the bedrooms. They tipped out to the front porch, smothering their laughter as best they could. After several minutes, an awkward silent descended. Savannah sat next to him on the porch swing next to him. A little voice warned her not to let her let him get too close. Before either side had a chance to prevail, he slid right up to her, their arms touching.
“Savannah, would you like to go out sometime. For dinner or something?”
“All right. I mean, that would be nice—“She turned to find his face only inches from hers. His warm breath brushed her cheek. Without thinking, she pressed against his body gently rubbing her lips over his. She wanted to savor this closeness, to taste the sweetness a little at a time. His arms formed a circle around her waist. He moaned softly and took full possession of her lips, her mouth, and in that moment, her heart. Savannah could feel the heat from his body mixed with her own. Burying his hands in her hair, he began softly kissing her face. His lips etched a hot trail over her nose to her chin, finally urgently caressing her neck. With her head thrown back, Savannah’s mind was filled with him. All of her senses seemed heightened. The warm fragrance of the night flooded over them both. The sound of crickets seemed beautiful music composed just for this night. Arching her back, she trembled all over as his hands lightly touched her breast. The feel of his hands rubbing the fabric of her dress was a tantalizing prelude to having them touched without the barrier. The loud bang of a door slamming deep inside the house caused them to pull apart quickly. Remembering her aunt and father were only within a few yards away brought Savannah reluctantly back from that wonder place he had taken her. She took a deep breath to steady herself.
“I’d better go in now; I need to get an early start in the morning.” Savannah moved even further away from him, flustered by her lack of control. This man had brought out something in her that was as frightening as it was wonderful. Something she had been determined not to feel for anyone. In her agitation she was short with him.
“Of course, it is pretty late.” He stood uncertainly, trying to think of something to say. “Savannah, I really want to see you again.” He reached for her hand.
“Yes, well I’ll let you know.” She folded her arms to avoid his touch, fearing what it would do to her reserve that she was busily building. She had to find some way to withstand the onslaught of his effect on her senses.
“Goodnight.” He made no move to go for several minutes. Finally accepting that the magical moment that had drawn her to him had passed, he went to his Jeep. With a tentative wave, he drove away.
*****
Paul could still feel the glow of Savannah’s touch. Still unnerved by the power of his longing for her, he could not get to sleep. Not once in all the times he dated other women, had his passion stirred so deeply. The combination of beauty, courage, and sensuality in this one woman packed a mighty punch that knocked his defenses flat. Staring into the night, he determined to make her want him just as much.
*****
The next morning dawned brightly. As usual for Louisiana, the late September weather remained balmy. But for Savannah everything seemed to go wrong. She was tired and irritable from a restless night of trying to clear her mind of Paul. The blouse she wanted to wear had a ripped seam. The skirt she put on missed a button at the waist. Fuming, she dug through the bottom of her closet for the sandals she planned to wear. But they seemed to be playing hide and seek. Finally dressed, she avoided her aunt not wanting to answer questions about last night. She left as if in a big hurry calling out that she would just get a donut on the way to the shop. A huge knowing grin stretched across Tante Marie’s face as she stood at the window watching her leave. Savannah felt even more aggravated.
At the shop, the figures she tried to double check kept dancing around refusing to add up. Every time she punched them into the calculator a different total flashed annoyingly on the screen. About an hour after she had been there her father arrived. She gave him a distracted good morning and continued to mutter under her breath at the way everything was going wrong.
“Cher, I been watchin’ you for a while. You got your mind elsewhere. Sure thing not on what you doin’.”
“There is nothing on my mind. These invoices are illegible and not in any order. Why you haven’t fired that bookkeeper I definitely do not know.” She looked at the calculator display hopefully then groaned at the result. Flinging several pieces of paper to the floor she covered her face with her hands.
“Cher, every time you try to total up the supplies I bought for making my statues, you pick up a different set of invoices,” her father argued. “This one for instance is for souvenirs I got at market. This pile is sales receipts for Marie’s gumbo file mix and stuff, this pile—”
“Okay, okay. I’ll start over.” Savannah restacked the papers without looking her father in the eye.
At the sound of the bell she started up to herd the early shopper away until they opened in another hour.“Poppy, you left the front door unlocked again. You have got to be more careful. This isn’t the same small town it was twenty-five years ago.”
“Hold on now. You’re safe; it’s only a harmless engineer.” Paul held out both arms as if to show he was unarmed.
“Mornin’, T-Paul. How you feelin’ today, man?” Antoine slapped him on the back. His grin was wide as he glanced at Paul then at Savannah significantly.
“Pretty good, shaping up to be a beautiful day.”
“Sure enough, sure enough.” Antoine took a deep breath. His grin began to fade when he noticed that Savannah was not sharing in their good humor. “Well. I got some… stuff to take care of, in the stockroom. I’ll be in the back, out there.” His voice trailed off as he did his best to fade into the background.
“You okay?” Paul frowned. As he had reached out touch Savannah’s shoulder, he could fell her stiffen.
“Sure, fine.” She stared straight ahead.
“Did I do something to upset you last night? I thought, I mean we seemed to connect.”
“Yeah, well maybe that’s the problem. We connected too hard and too fast.”
“Listen, I don’t want you to think I’m pushing you. But with you so near, so damn fine, I just reacted.” He tried to put his arms around her but she moved away.
“I’m not looking for any kind of relationship right now, understand? There are a lot of other things I want to concentrate on, like my career or what’s left of it. My experience working for a big law firm left a bad taste in my mouth, but I haven’t given up on practicing law yet.” Savannah could feel her resistance slipping as she stared into those remarkable eyes. She wanted to erase the concern in them.
“I do understand. I’ve got a few life issues to resolve myself. We can take it as slow as
you want. Hey, since we got off to a bad start, let’s take it from the beginning. Hi, my name is Paul. What’s yours?” He reached out his hand. Refusing to be ignored, he grabbed hers and pumped it comically.
“Savannah, all right? Savannah.” She laughed in spite of herself. “Just don’t break it, I need those you know.”
“That’s much better. I meant what I said about taking it slow. This thing is too important to rush.” Paul folded her hand in both of his as he stared into her eyes.
Her gaze traced the strong curve of his jaw, lingered on his sensuous lips. A surge of heat began at the base of her spine. The same heat that been so easily kindled last night. Searching his face, calmness spread over her that no other man had inspired. She couldn’t deny that being with Paul made her feel she had finally found her place, a place she had not even known she was missing. This made finding it even more marvelous. As they began to exchange mock small talk, continuing the game of a first meeting, Antoine peeked at them. Since he didn’t hear any shouting or loud thumps, he figured Paul must be safe. He went back to sit at his desk and began straightening up the invoices. He whistled a sprightly Zydeco tune as he worked.
“I’ll come by later at around twelve thirty. How does lunch at Lafayette Park sound?”
“Great. I’ll pick up the sandwiches from Snooky Boo’s,” Savannah said. Snooky Boo’s was little more than a one room shack that served up the best old fashion homemade sandwiches for a song. It was at the edge of the small business district, situated perfectly for the blue collar workers on road crews and truck drivers.
“You got it.” He waved happily as he walked off with a new bounce in his step.
“Bye.” Watching him move away, Savannah stood on the sidewalk for several minutes enjoying the view. She sighed deeply at the sight. As she turned to go back into the shop, something made her look to her left. A block away, standing at the end of the street that lead to the museum was LaShaun. Even at that distance, Savannah could feel her malice curling out like a water moccasin. LaShaun traced something in the air. The smile on her face was anything but friendly. Unable to look away, Savannah’s feeling of calm drained away with each movement of her hands to be replaced by a sense of chilly dread. Savannah wanted to back away, to run, but something held her rooted to that spot. LaShaun nodded as if to acknowledge her effect on Savannah, then left. Savannah stood at the door gazing after her, rubbing the raised flesh on her arms. Breathing shakily, she went inside.
Chapter 4
For the next three weeks, Paul was so cheerful his partner Sam was getting really annoyed. Sam hated small towns having grown up in one on the wrong side of the tracks so to speak. He only visited a few times preferring to attend to the contracts in the larger cities.
“Man, if you start whistling some corny song I swear I’m going to throw up. There can only be one reason for this kind of irrational behavior, a woman.” Sam cocked one bushy eyebrow at Paul’s knowing laugh. “Just what I thought.”
“What are you so grumpy about anyway? Business is great, we’ve been having sunny weather, and you don’t have to stay here overnight if you don’t want to because most of my testing is done.” Paul stretched gracefully and sunk a perfect shot with a ball of paper in the wasted basket next to Sam’s chair.
“That last part is truly cause for rejoicing. How you stood it for six weeks is beyond me. But don’t change the subject, who is she?” Sam hooked one long denim covered leg over the arm chair.Since they had been reviewing test result figures for over three hours, he was more than ready for a break. The spacious living room of the mobile home Paul had rented doubled as his office.
“Savannah St. Julien.” Paul drew the name, savoring each syllable.
“That name sounds familiar. Hey, wait a minute. I heard that on television. Some reporter was interviewing a St. Julien about the plant. No, you wouldn’t be that dumb.”
“What are you talking about?” Paul handed him a soft drink before taking a seat on the sofa across from him.
“You’re the opposition, buddy boy, working for the enemy. These little numbers are going to get us in good with a major industry and your name is going to be mud.” Sam picked up some of the reports and shook them to emphasize his point.
“We did an independent assessment that showed the aggregate would not harm the soil if it’s processed correctly,” Paul insisted. “The soil mixture around the plant would not easily allow contamination of ground water if a large spill should accidentally occur…”
“Save it for your honey, man. When this baby hits the fan, you better be wearing a flak jacket, is all I can say.” Sam waved part of the partially finished report.
“I’m not working for the enemy either.” Paul scowled into his glass. “Singleton is taking all necessary precautions. What’s more, Claude Trosclair even got him to follow some of my suggestions to change some of their operations.”
“Does she know about your relationship to the Trosclair family?” Sam squinted at him.
“Of course not. There’s no need for her to know.” Paul shifted uneasily, his voice defensive.“Oh-oh.” Sam pursed his lips.
“Don’t give me that look.” Paul’s irritation came from knowing what Sam was thinking. Exactly the nagging worry he tried to suppress.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come out.” Sam leaned back.
“Nobody knows who I am, and this happened years ago. There’s no way it could.”
“Not tempted to tell cousin Quentin who you are and rock his little privileged world?”
“It would almost be worth it to see the look on his face, but no. I remember the look on my father’s face when I read Monmon Marguerite’s diary to him. He was trembling. The last thing he wants is for this to be known. Papa’s health isn’t good and getting him upset could send him back to the hospital.”
“Yeah, and what about grandpa. He exploited your grandmother and went on his merry way.” Sam seemed as angry as Paul should have been.
“That’s the way I felt, too. But we’re talking over fifty years ago in a small southern town. Mixed couples didn’t march down the aisle, man. She just fell in love with the wrong guy at the wrong time, in the wrong place.”
“This is incredible. Listen to yourself making excuses for him.”
“Okay, so he didn’t have the guts to buck generations of convention or risk his social standing, not to mention inheritance. How many would? Could you?”
“If I truly loved her, yeah, you damn right I could.”
“Real easy to say. We don’t know what it’s like to be in their skin, raised a certain way. It would mean giving up everything you have, including your family.” Paul crossed the room and began arranging the files on his desk.
“He’s got you fooled man. Claude Trosclair is one those southern aristocrats that sees having a black mistress as his right.”
“You haven’t met him. Besides, the way my grandmother’s diary reads they had a real love affair going, poetry, flowers, the whole nine yards. And she knew only too well that it would have to stay that way for both their sakes.”
“If you say so. I just hope you know what you’re doing here. Things are getting real complicated.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Paul asked.
“We get this contract, and you tell me your family secret.” Sam ticked off fingers counting.
“You’re my best friend and partner; I felt you had a right to know.”
“Then you date and dump, of all people, Marie Leveau.““Her name is LaShaun Rousselle, she works at the museum which happens to have a voodoo exhibit, and our parting was cordial.”
“Uh-huh, just don’t eat anything with red gravy from her. Then you fall hard for Ms. Greenpeace. When I was teasing you about how you needed to lighten up and get a life, I didn’t mean all in one day, my brother.”
“It’s cool. Don’t worry about it, alright.” Paul rubbed his face with both hands.
“If you say so. I gotta get going.” Sam raise
d his eyebrows and shook his head. He paused and turned back. “Call me if you need anything.” He extended his hand.
“You bet.” Paul gripped his hand hard for several seconds before letting go. After Sam left, Paul was more subdued. So lost in joy that he and Savannah were moving towards one another, Paul had not allowed himself to think about the complications. Complications that could spell disaster. Paul could still see Savannah’s lovely face smiling with pleasure. Closing his eyes, he could almost smell warm scent of her skin. Her affect on him was not to be denied. Opening his eyes again, Paul faced the growing fear that he could lose this woman who had become so precious to him.
*****
Now the days were much shorter, and temperature became frosty several times as cold fronts moved through. But in typical sub-tropical fashion, it could be forty degrees in the morning and seventy degrees by noon as the south Louisiana sunshine spread across the country side. The next five weeks were a whirlwind of activity for Savannah. She was busy helping her father get ready for the Christmas season. Close to Thanksgiving, business at the gift shopping really began to pick up. Keeping merchandise in stock was important. Strangely, she had not missed practicing law or even given thought to reviving the career for which she had worked so hard. Managing the shop had come easily to her. She had made changes that increased the profit margin. With her customary zeal to do anything she did right, she had studied everything she could find about how to operate a retail business or gift shop. At her suggestion, they were now doing gift baskets. Stuffed with Tante Marie’s famous pralines and handmade crafts, they became an instant hit.
When not in the shop helping customers or taking care of business details, she was with Paul. Her attempts to keep him at arm’s length had failed in big way. She found it impossible not to respond to him after that night on her front porch. Her skin tingled deliciously at the memory of his kiss, so sweet and hot. Thinking about being in his arms filled her with a scrumptious warmth that streamed over her. Savannah blushed at the memory of how he so easily evoked such burning desire with the lightest touch. Yet this strong physical attraction was only part of it. I love his mind, too. Savannah giggled to herself. Without thinking, she had gradually accepted him into her life. It was as if he had always belonged there. Her father, not an easy man to please when it came to men dating his little girl, expressed his approval by the absence of a scowl whenever his name was mentioned. Yet he did have his reservations.
