BornontheBayou Read Online Free Page A

supposed
to happen. “I might come back and stay one day.”
    “You should surely do that.” He glanced down at her, at the
blouse, still crisp, and the wrinkles in her skirt. She shivered.
    “Cold?” He chuckled, as if joking to himself. “The
air-conditioning in this car can be fierce.”
    “No, no, I’m fine.” Rather this than the blazing heat.
    She wouldn’t have to worry about that now because she’d be
back in London this summer. Fuck. Her first venture outside the nest and she’d
failed.
    “You could stay in Baton Rouge a few days. Have a little
holiday. You ain’t seen much of the place. I could show you ’round, if you
want.”
    All she wanted was to go home. “I need to get back.”
    “No you don’t. You’re a real sweetheart. Damn, you could
have a good time here. We could have a good time here.”
    To her alarm, he stopped the car. Even worse, he killed the
engine.
     
    Jace hadn’t realized his prank would go so ridiculously
wrong. The sight of those sweet nipples had done something to him, even more
when he heard her soft voice and caught sight of the brilliance of her eyes,
and that strand of hair that had driven him crazy. Sex personified, only
emphasized when he realized she wasn’t aware of it.
    In that tight skirt and with her breasts whispering against
the crisp fabric of her blouse, she’d driven him beautifully crazy. He’d hoped
to further their acquaintance over dinner but she’d rushed out. He’d thought he
could catch up with her, but once he’d questioned her assistant, who’d smugly
told him Beverley’s job had depended on the fucking chef, he understood. He’d
really screwed up this time and it was up to him to make it right.
    When he went to hunt her down and apologize, offer to make
amends, she’d gone. Jaime had followed him and told him what happened. “I can’t
understand why the company wanted an English person to do the job. After all,
what does she know?” She smiled at him, Southerner to Southerner, except he
wasn’t. Not entirely, anyway.
    “She doesn’t even have a car, but one of the workers was
going off shift.” Jaime sniffed. “He took her. I bet she’s getting more than
she wanted right now.”
    “Who took her?” he asked, his stomach tightening.
    “Gaston Rebennac.”
    Shit, fuck. “Rebennac?”
    “Do you know him?”
    He stared at her perky face, trying to quell his rising
fury. Jaime knew, he could see it in her eyes. She shrugged. “Beverley can take
care of herself.”
    No, she couldn’t. If she fought, she’d only get it worse. He
knew, he’d seen Gaston Rebennac with a woman a time or two. If he’d known
Bell’s was employing him, he’d have vetoed it.
    When Jaime had spoken the name, the memories came roaring
back, from boyhood bullying to youthful rivalry, and the remembrance of
discovering Rebennac with a naked, shivering girl under him. She’d been sobbing
her heart out because she didn’t want what he was forcing on her. That wouldn’t
happen to another woman if he could help it.
    Urgency shook him into action. “Where did they go?”
    Jaime shrugged. “She went out with her suitcase, so probably
the airport. No reason for her to stay, is there?”
    The main highway. Had to be. Rebennac wouldn’t think crafty,
he never had. No back roads for that bastard.
    Jace hurtled downstairs to where he’d left his rental car
arrogantly parked outside the main door. Nobody had moved it. It would have
served him right if they had, he supposed, but thank Christ they hadn’t.
    With Jaime scurrying after him as fast as she could in her
spiked heels, he wrenched open the car door. “If she comes back, keep her
here.”
    He’d do anything to get rid of the guilt currently eating
his stomach out. If he carried on like this, he’d get an ulcer.
    Who fucking cared, so long as he caught her in time. Gunning
the engine, he set out as fast as he dared.
    He sped up the road, glad of the recent rainfall that had
damped down the dust,