The Road to Bayou Bridge

But L9-10 wasn’t just any bird. She was a very expensive endangered species like the American alligator below her had once been.

Nature couldn’t win this round.

Renny would.

Even if it went against all she believed as a biologist. But how was she going to get L9-10 away from the gator?

A loud crack sent Renny ducking for cover.

She covered her ears and crouched down just as the gator started thrashing, its long tail whiplashing the ground as it moved toward the tree line.

“Good Lord,” Renny squealed as L9-10 took flight right over her and two hunters appeared to the left of her, heading for the gator that now moved toward the inlet hidden behind the trees. Three more gunshots followed, clouding the area with something invasive and foreign.

Renny unplugged her ears and looked frantically around for L9-10, but the crane had taken flight, which made her wonder why the silly bird hadn’t taken to the skies in the first place to avoid being al fresco dining for the now-doomed gator.

Two hunters leaped from an ATV and moved quickly toward the place where the gator had disappeared. It had not been a boat she’d heard earlier, but rather a camouflaged, glorified golf cart favored by hunters. One of the men caught sight of her and stopped. He did a double take.

Well, she was an odd sight.

This man, clad also in camo, lowered his gun and moved toward her, his strides long and purposeful as he tramped through the lowland.

Renny tugged her draped hat off and started digging for her credentials. She’d already received permission from Picou to access the land, and these hunters themselves could be poaching on Dufrene property, though she was fairly certain the man who’d slipped through the tree line heading for the bayou was Nate, the oldest Dufrene brother.

“What the hell?” the man coming toward her muttered, shaking his head.

She lifted her eyes and her mind clicked and whirred as a horrible realization bloomed in her brain.

She blinked once before trying to school her features into something other than shock.

The man she hoped to never lay eyes on again was standing right in front of her, looking like a model for The Great Outdoors Magazine.

Darby Dufrene had come home to Beau Soleil.

CHAPTER TWO

DARBY DOUBLE-CHECKED the safety on his rifle and feasted his eyes on the woman who had always revved his blood and jacked with his mind. Renny had not changed much—still as rare and earthy as the Louisiana wetlands she now protected.

Oh, he knew she was a biologist, because his mother dropped in little asides about her during their rare conversations. But he’d not anticipated how her very presence, hell, her very scent, would affect him. Renny smelled exotic, like rainforest sunrises and Indian marketplaces.

Good Lord. What had he put in his coffee that morning? Or maybe all that weird music his mother had on when he left was making him loopy.

“Renny,” he said, unable to keep the pleasure at seeing her out of his voice. He’d come to Beau Soleil to find her and here she was.

“What are you doing here?” The tension around her mouth spoke more than her words. Okay. Not very happy to see him.

“Home for a visit.”

She swallowed and glanced over his shoulder. “You have a permit to shoot gators?”

“I’m not shooting gators. Nate is. He still has five tags left.”

“But you have a gun in hand.” She pointed toward his dad’s old rifle.

“Only as a precaution. We were about to bait some hooks when Nate saw the gator.” He gestured to the cold weapon. If she was this confrontational over his brother legally shooting at a gator, how would she react when he told her he was her legal husband? Wouldn’t be good. Suddenly he was glad he held a gun. “I thought you were a biologist or something, not an agent.”

She looked hard at him and her brown eyes narrowed. They were pretty brown eyes—eyes that could flash in anger as easily as they could widen then glaze over in pleasure. He remembered those eyes. “I am a biologist, but I also work for Wildlife and Fisheries, and we take violations seriously.”

He smiled. “Good to know. I’ll make sure I don’t get out of line while I’m in town.”

She frowned. “You always get out of line.”

“Well, I’m pretty much an inside-the-lines kind of guy these days, Ren. Naval officer, attorney and all that.”

“Right.”

“You don’t sound convinced,” he said with a laugh. “Though I just got my separation papers. Guess I’m no longer in the navy, or rather no longer active duty.”

Damn, he was rambling. Telling her things no one would have interest in. Get control, Dufrene.

Renny licked her lips, drawing his attention away from grumpy brown eyes to a part of her he’d always lavished attention upon. She was nervous, not flirting at all, but her tongue sliding between those plump lips had the same effect. He ripped his gaze away.

“Well, congratulations. Hope you enjoy your visit,” she said, but he was almost certain she’d meant, Hope you die a painful death.

Her whole attitude puzzled him. She was the one who hadn’t wanted him anymore—did she have to be so damn cold about it? But what did he care? Two weeks tops before he headed to Seattle, but there was work to do before he left, and part of that job stood right in front of him.

Renny twisted to glance behind her, and a piece of caramel hair tumbled against the white sheeting she’d draped herself in. When he’d first seen her, he’d had a flashback to those government guys in E.T. “Well, I’ve got a bird to track down.”

“Yeah, I saw that. What was it? It was huge.”

“Whooping crane. She’s out of her natural habitat, or what we think to be her natural habitat. I think a storm a few weeks back blew her north, so that’s why I’m here. I stopped by the house and cleared it with your mother before coming out.” She paused a moment and then cleared her throat. “She didn’t tell me you were home.”

No, his mother wouldn’t, would she? Picou had suggested this very area for setting a few baits for the gators. Not coincidental at all. “Who knows? She’s been distracted lately with my sister and all.”

“Yeah, I heard about Della. Amazing that y’all found her,” Renny said, pushing her hair back from her face. The Louisiana heat had her flushed and tendrils of hair stuck to the curve of her cheek—something that made her undeniably attractive in a mussed-up, natural way. In a way that made him want to peel that white-drape crap off her and find out how her curves had filled out over the past eleven years.

“Yeah, that’s the main reason I’m home,” he said, wondering why he was giving her all the details about his twin sister, his job, what he was doing on his own family’s property. Seemed natural to reveal his thoughts to Renny—just like in the past. He resisted the urge to scratch his neck. Mosquitos. Forgot how viscous they could be in South Louisiana.

“I’ve got to—”

“I need to talk—”

They both spoke at once before snapping their mouths closed. Pink bloomed on Renny’s cheeks as she shifted uncomfortably. “Uh, sorry.”

“No, I want to ask if maybe we can get together and talk? We have some things we need to work out, and I don’t think this is the best place.” He slapped another mosquito.

She shook her head. “Look, the past is the past. We don’t have anything more to say to each other. We were young and stupid and—”

“Hey,” Nate called from behind him. “Where’d you go? That was a big son of a gun, and I needed you to man the pole. Too late now. That gator sunk in the bayou like a stone.”

Darby didn’t turn toward his brother, but he could hear him getting closer. He couldn’t take his eyes off his wife. Okay, not his wife, but, still, his wife. It had been so long and she looked as good as a piece of pecan pie and a cup of chicory coffee—the epitome of all things Southern and Louisianan. He hadn’t expected to feel anything for her. He’d thought his feelings toward her childlike and gone in the wind like the world he’d left behind. But like a shadow, his past clung to him refusing to allow him to forget who he was, where he’d come from, and the girl he’d once loved.

Why was that so?

He didn’t want to feel anything for Renny. Or for this flooded field he stood in. Or the creaky boards squeaking beneath his feet as he climbed the stairs in the house in which he’d been raised.

He had to be done with Renny and Bayou Bridge. He had a new life waiting for him, and if all went as planned with Shelby and the job at her father’s firm, it was a given the sophisticated blonde would one day wear his great-aunt Felicia’s yellow diamond.

He just had to deal with the women of his past before that could happen, and unfortunately, both Della and Renny were like a backlash in his fishing reel. Not easy to untangle.

“Oh, hey, Renny,” Nate said, halting beside him. “What’re you doing out here? And what’re you wearing?”

“A costume.”

“Early for Halloween, isn’t it?” Nate cracked. Darby glanced at his brother, who’d grown a hunting beard like so many guys did when mid-September rolled around. Nate’s eyes crinkled and Darby almost didn’t recognize the former sheriff’s detective who’d nearly ground his nose off in an effort to solve cases. His wife, Annie, and son, Pax, had softened him, given him laugh lines and a lightness in his step.

Renny finally smiled and Darby felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. Good Lord. Obviously this was about more than the past. He had to dash a crazy impulse to grab Renny by the shoulders and kiss her. This wasn’t good. He was no longer a horny, devil-take-it guy with no responsibilities and a flask of Crown in his back pocket.

“Required when we’re approaching our cranes. Don’t want them to trust humans, so I go around playing Casper.” Renny shrugged with another guarded smile.

“Mom told me we had a crane on the property. She was pretty excited about it because the crane is a family symbol to her. She wanted to try and get a picture.” Nate’s gaze searched the tree line behind Renny. “Thought I saw it take off over there.”

She turned around. “Yeah, she’s likely in another tree. I need to a get a visual on her and then I’ll go. I doubt she’ll stick around too much longer because her natural habitat is the grasslands below here. But who knows, maybe the whooper likes the way your crawfish taste.”

“Mmm, crawfish. Haven’t had those in years,” Darby said as the thought of five pounds of the fire-red mudbugs accompanying a bottle of locally brewed beer made his mouth literally water. Wasn’t the season, but surely he could find some at the Crawfish Palace over in Henderson. But what would slake the old desire welling inside him for Renny?

Maybe a well-placed knee when he told her they were married? “Hey, Ren, I’ll give you a call, okay?”

“No.”

Nate made a whirring sound before balling his hands and flinging them apart. “Crash and burn.”

“Shut up, Nate. Not a date. Just some stuff Renny and I need to clear up.”

Renny shook her head, and he thought he glimpsed some flash of hurt. Or maybe it was regret. Something. “I don’t think there’s anything to catch up on, and I have plans this weekend with some friends, so...”

He could tell she was lying. He always could. Not a conniving, lying bone in Renny’s hot body, and speaking of which, wasn’t she burning up in all that white draping? She should take her costume off and show him what the good Lord had bestowed on her while he’d been doing push-ups in the mud and studying jurisprudence. “I get you may not want to spend any time with me, but there really is something we have to talk about. Like a must.”

A wrinkle settled between Renny’s dark eyebrows and he decided he didn’t like that wrinkle much. She was too beautiful to scowl. “Okay. Fine. Your mother has my information including my cell number. Call me and we’ll find a time to talk about whatever you’re so hell-bent on saying to me. But right now I have to go.”

She turned and started toward the place where the bird had disappeared, and that’s when Darby noticed her limp. Rolling with a small lurch. Jesus.

“She limps,” he whispered under his breath.

Nate’s gaze jetted to his. “Yeah, the wreck nearly killed her, remember?”

He shook his head. “No. I knew she broke her leg, but I didn’t know much about it. Her mother wouldn’t even let me see her and then when—” No sense in bringing up what had happened after the accident with his father. “You know, doesn’t matter anymore. I didn’t know Renny had been affected to such a degree.”

His eyes landed on the back of the slim woman moving through the grasses in her big, ugly white boots that came to her knees. The white drape covered the rest, but there was no disguising the pronounced limp. Something jabbed at his insides. Not pity because he could never pity anything as uniquely beautiful as Renny, but something sharp and bitter. Regret. Shame. Guilt. Something. Because he’d done that to her. He’d broken the girl he’d loved. And that stung. Even if no one had allowed him to make it right all those years ago.

Of course Renny hadn’t wanted him or his apology. That much had been made absolutely clear that damp May afternoon when he stood waiting for her in the obscene raucousness of Jackson Square and accepted there would be no more Darby and Renny.

“Come on. Let’s set out bait. Annie said if I bring that slop in my bucket back to the house, I could sleep on the couch, and I like my bed.” Nate headed for the ATV and the rotting chicken he had been marinating in his back shed for the past week in anticipation of alligator season.

With one last glance at the flash of white disappearing into the brush, Darby turned and followed his brother. “I’m in the mood for crawfish. Want to head over to Henderson?”

“Nah, Annie cooked something in the Crock-Pot. Take Renny and rehash all the good ol’ days.”

He would if he could, but he had a feeling getting Renny to go anywhere with him would be akin to Hercules facing his twelve feats. Almost impossible.

* * *

RENNY TRIED TO CONTROL her trembling hands, but the shaking that had originated deep inside her belly had spilled over. Even her teeth chattered—incredible since it was a blistering ninety-one degrees outside.

Darby Dufrene.

Here.

In Louisiana.

She closed her eyes, for a split second wondering if perhaps she’d fallen asleep in her office chair and had a horrible nightmare.

She opened her eyes and stared at the rough bark on the tree dead ahead. Nope. Still at Beau Soleil.

Could a girl ever prepare to run into her ex?

No, not totally. But she had been remarkably calm considering her sweaty hair was plastered to her neck and she was wrapped up in a white drape like an old couch hidden beneath a drop cloth. Plus, she wore not an ounce of makeup. Yeah, not prepared, but at least she hadn’t shaken in front of him. She turned her thoughts to the task at hand. Put him out of sight. Put him out of mind.

She placed the hat that swathed her face back on and cautiously approached the crane, trying to make her steps as level as possible even though chances were good the bird would recognize her uneven gait and feel some measure of safety.

Up ahead L9-10 flapped its wings as it clung to the lowest branch of a scrubby tree where there wasn’t much room for a five-foot crane. The tracking device was firmly affixed and the bird looked healthy, so other than gathering some water samples and making some notes on the general area the bird inhabited, there wasn’t much left to do.

Why are you here? she mouthed as she looked up at the bird. The crane twisted its head, the black eyes alert to Renny below her, but it didn’t do anything more than grow still. The encounter with the gator had spooked the bird, but the familiarity of the white costume had a marked effect.

Renny glanced across the field as the ATV rattled up the embankment, carrying Darby and his brother away from the field, and the separation was enough so her hands stopped trembling and her heart stopped thumping against her rib cage.

Dear God.

He’d looked so good. Different but good. His bearing was exact, no longer loose and rolling, and his carriage more erect. No lazy smile, no flirty blue eyes, no privileged fraternity boy blond hair flopping over his brow. Darby Dufrene had changed...and she hadn’t expected that.

But why hadn’t she? It had been over ten years since they’d last seen each other. Darby had moved on to military school, the Naval Academy and law school. This was no boy slinking among the oaks with a fake ID and a naughty promise for some grown-up fun. This was a man who’d served his country, broadened his shoulders and his horizons, and maybe forgotten the Louisiana girl he’d left behind.

Something zinged in her chest.

Renny shook her head, furious at herself for feeling any sort of hurt or regret over the man who’d ridden away and not looked back. She didn’t need him—then or now.

What did he have to say that was so important? It was too late for an apology, but maybe he’d truly grown up and wanted some sort of closure crap like ex-lovers demanded in all the movies.

Fine. She’d give it to him.

But she’d make sure she wore some lipstick and washed her hair first. No sense in looking like a backwoods coonass.

Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out and looked down. Her mother. So not the person she wanted to talk to at the moment, but if she didn’t answer, Bev would call over and over again until she did. Her mother was nothing if not persistent.

She moved away from the crane moving through the trees skirting the bayou and answered it on round two.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Darby Dufrene’s in town. Just heard it from my hairdresser, and I wanted you to know.”

“Well, I’ll try not to tear his clothes off and impregnate myself when I see him.”

Bev huffed. “Don’t get smart with me.”

“I’ve already seen him, and my clothes are buttoned up tight. You can stop panicking.”

“Where did you see him? Aren’t you still at work?”

Renny walked to a viable spot, bent down and filled a vial with water from the flooded field. “Technically, yes. But one of our cranes got blown north and has found a home at Beau Soleil.”

Silence sat for a moment. “Beau Soleil? You’re joking, right?”

“I wish I were.”

“I worry about you, you know,” her mother said, her voice slightly softer than normal. Bev Latioles made no bones about loving her daughter, even if at times that love felt like a blanket thrown over her head. Renny was always covered. In fact, Bev had even had a friend run a background check on a guy she’d dated a few years back.

“I know, but I’m a big girl and don’t need you worrying about me. Especially about an old high school boyfriend. We were kids, Mom. He doesn’t have the same effect on me that he once did.” Renny took one last look at the bird and started making her way back the way she came, hoping that the words she’d uttered were indeed true.

“Good because that boy was nothing but trouble, and I happen to know leopards don’t change their spots. Your father taught me that hard lesson.”

“So you’ve said time and again, Mom.” Renny didn’t want to talk about her father. Or Darby Dufrene. Or any man for that matter.

Not that she’d completely given up hope on finding a special someone, but her social life lay gasping for air on the side of the road. She’d been cursed in the guy department lately and had become a bit too settled in her own protective bubble of work and renovating her house.

“You know I’m not trying to stop you from finding a good man, honey, but I don’t want you to go off track again because I know how charming Darby can be.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, okay? Darby and I are ancient history. Besides, he’s in town visiting his family.”

“But I heard he’s out of the service and looking to join a law firm. Jackie said Helen Hammond told her that Picou said she was trying to get him to stay around here and practice. So this might not be only a visit. Just be careful around that boy. He’s hurt you enough, sweetheart.”

Renny shook her head and tried to tamp down the aggravation welling inside her. Bev meant well—she always meant well—but Renny was too old to have to explain herself to her mother. “I appreciate your caring enough to call me and warn me, but the last thing I want is anything to do with Darby Dufrene. There’s nothing between us but some faded memories.”

Renny heard her mother blow out a breath as she wove in between the trees, heading back toward the utility thruway where she’d parked her car. “Good, honey. Well, I suppose I’ll see you Sunday for my birthday? Aaron is taking us to lunch.”

“I’ll be there.” Renny clicked off the phone and tried not to growl at the blank screen.

Mothers.

Did they ever let go or was hers just abnormally leechy?

Probably just hers.

The hum of the ATV broke her from thoughts of being smothered to thoughts of the very man her mother had warned her about moments ago. The man her mother loved to hate almost as much as Renny’s own father. She’d never understood why her mother had hung on so long to her anger at both, especially since Bev seemed relatively happy with her boyfriend, Aaron, a passive, bald chiropractor she’d met a few years ago.

But Bev didn’t have to worry about Renny.

She wanted nothing to do with Darby.

No ties bound them.

CHAPTER THREE

“YOU DIDN’T BOTHER TO mention Renny Latioles was out on the land today,” Darby said as he poured a glass of ice-cold milk into one of the tall tumblers that had occupied the kitchen for as long as he could remember.

“No, I didn’t,” Picou said, stirring something on the huge Viking stove. It smelled like feet, but Darby wasn’t going to say as much. Maybe he’d head over to the house Nate and Annie had built a mere mile away and check out Annie’s Crock-Pot dinner.

He took a sip. “Why?”

His mother shrugged. “No real reason. Figured it wouldn’t really make a difference, though I suppose I should have told her you and your brother were out toting guns. Oversight on my part.”

Darby narrowed his eyes at her erect form, covered from head to toe in black spandex. A long silver braid parted her shoulder blades, the only color on a palette of black. Odd choice in outfit even for his kooky mother, but her clothes didn’t matter. Only the fact she’d already started manipulating situations for her own reasons. What they were, he couldn’t guess.

“Yeah. So, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“Yeah?”

“About Seattle.”

“I don’t want to hear about it, Darby.”

“I know you don’t, but it’s where I’ll be calling home for the near future.”

The spoon clinked against the pot. She turned and met his gaze with eyes the same color as his own. “Why would you want to live there? It rains all the time. How is that interesting?”

“I’m not concerned with interesting. I’m ready to start a new chapter in my life and that city fits the bill, and besides, I told you I met somebody. Right now it’s not serious, but if things go as planned, I’m thinking she’s the one.”

Picou snorted. “The one? How long have you known her? Two months? That’s not nearly long enough to know the color of her toothbrush much less if you’ll suit for the rest of your life.”

“It’s blue, and I haven’t made any decisions regarding Shelby, but you’re the only parent I have, so I’d appreciate some support.” He wasn’t going to tell her the only reason he knew Shelby’s toothbrush was blue was because he’d watched her pick it out at the commissary. He and Shelby hadn’t been intimate yet because he didn’t want to rush their relationship. They’d both agreed to allow things to build as they got to know each other better.

His mother looked away, spun and turned down the fire under the saucepan. “That figures.”