In Dreams

“Impulse. It was only a flesh wound…and I wanted to hear your story before acting.”

Pacified by his explanation, she echoed him. “Impulse, right. Me, too. I was too freaked out to think clearly. But afterward, I had time to give it some thought, and I was going back to New Orleans, straight to the police, when those creeps caught up to me. Now I don’t know what to do.” Another way of saying she was afraid, Lucy supposed. She didn’t want to end up dead like that poor woman last night. “What about you? Are you going to turn me in?”

“Interesting turn of phrase,” Justin mused. “But no. I don’t want to bring you more trouble than you already have. I’m aware that things aren’t always black or white, and secrets have a way of staying hidden in bayou country.”

A thrill shot through Lucy, and she wondered if he meant something beyond her own situation.

She certainly wasn’t a bayou country kind of girl, so the hiding part was only temporary. Sooner or later, she was going to have to return to New Orleans and deal with this mess.

But the ache in her side and fear made her opt for later.

LUCY RYAN was hiding something. That much was obvious. And she was afraid.

Looking out over the bayou where a lazy alligator pretended to be a floating log, Justin let all his questions drift at the back of his mind.

Let her be, part of him thought. But letting her be could get her killed, and I don’t need another death on my conscience.

Whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to go back to New Orleans sooner than he liked.

Hearing movement at the door, he turned to face Lucy, who’d insisted on cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Funny the way, each time he looked at her, she got more appealing. With her womanly hip pressed against the doorjamb, her gaze soft and her lips parted slightly, she was downright tempting.

He cleared his throat. “You ready to go to town?”

She met his gaze and lifted both hands. “These are the only clothes I have, so what you see is what you get.”

Justin liked what he saw and wouldn’t mind getting some of it for himself, he thought, his groin tightening.

Her soft body wasn’t weak, merely inviting to a man’s hardness. Her reddish brown hair made her complexion appear pale and delicate, despite the splash of freckles across her short nose. She had alluring gray eyes and a luscious bow-shaped mouth. The thing that tempted him most, however, was the smooth expanse of skin between her short top and low-cut pants. Skin that he’d had to look at and touch when he’d tended to the wound in her side. Skin that he longed to taste….

For a moment, he forgot about New Orleans and murders and guilt. For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to take her right there, in the doorway. For a moment, he felt so connected to this woman that he didn’t even know what he might do to protect her.

And then the moment passed.

Fighting off the sexual haze, he decided any questions he had for her could wait.

“No bridge?” Lucy asked, looking around at the nearby bank in confusion.

“No bridge. No vehicles out here, either.”

“Then how do we get to town?”

“Pirogue.” He indicated the shallow, flat-bottomed boat tied to the houseboat.

“We’re both going to fit in there?”

“Unless you want to walk through the swamp.”

“Been there, done that,” she muttered. “I have no desire to be a snack for an alligator.”

He stepped down into the boat and held out his hand. She took it and then stepped in gracefully.

Still, the pirogue tilted slightly and her body brushed against his. He slipped his hands around her waist to steady her. Her eyes flared and he dared to think her reaction was personal. With one hand, he touched her cheek. A becoming color again filled her face. He rubbed the fleshy part of his thumb against her mouth until her lips parted, and she flashed her tongue over the full lower one as if in expectation….

What the hell was he thinking? They were standing in the pirogue in the middle of the swamp, breathing hard like two teenagers.

“You’d better sit down,” he said more softly than he was feeling.

She nodded curtly, then dropped like a rock.

He untied the pirogue and pushed off.

“What’s the name of the town?”

“LeBaux.”

“You have people there?”

He immediately thought of his mother who would be ecstatic when he walked into the house with a woman on his arm. She’d been after him to marry for years. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to marry. He’d even felt love for a woman before, but that emotion had been fleeting. They hadn’t meshed in the essential way two people needed to so they could make a life together. He’d drifted from one woman to another, and once he’d hit his thirtieth birthday still single, his mother had played matchmaker. He’d come to Sunday family dinner several times in the past year only to be treated to a prearranged companion. Nice women, but he’d felt no connection, not like he did with Lucy.

“My mother,” he said, “twin younger brothers, two aunts and an uncle, assorted cousins.” He’d been the only one in the family struck by the urge to move to the big city. “But to tell the truth, the whole town is like family. Anyone there would do anything for one of their own.”

“I don’t even know my neighbors,” she admitted.

He shoved off, and as always, ever since he’d been a kid, nature held him in thrall.

They drifted through patches of duckbill grass and under cypress trees draped with Spanish moss. Here and there a water lily poked out of the water and wild flowers were scattered along the banks. Ahead, an otter swam, and overhead a blue heron wheeled and then dove to pluck a fish from the waters.

“This place is a paradise,” Lucy said, turning to smile at him.

“A nice place to visit,” he agreed.

“Under the right circumstances. I am a city girl at heart, though. I don’t fit in here.”

“Where do you fit?” he asked, thinking she’d fit perfectly in his bed.

“In a town house at the edge of the French Quarter. Dana Ebersole and I have been renting it for more than a year now.”

He couldn’t keep his disappointment at bay when he said, “Ah, so you live with someone.”

“Oh, no, not like that. I mean, Dana isn’t a man. She’s been my best friend since we were kids. She’s my business partner, as well.”

A clarification that brought a smile to his lips. “What kind of business?”

“A shop in The Quarter called Bal Masque.”

“Souvenirs.”

“That, too. And masks for Mardi Gras. But mostly art pieces. We also give classes teaching people how to make their own masks.”

“Are you an artist?”

“I went to art school. Not the same thing.”

“So, some of those art pieces you sell—”

“Are mine,” she admitted. “I lead the classes, as well. Dana was a business major. She’s responsible for numbers and organization and advertising. In other words, she’s the one who keeps us from going bankrupt.”

“The partnership sounds like a good match.”

“Very good. What about you?” Lucy asked, glancing at him again. “What do you do for a living?”

Not wanting to talk about his own work and the way he’d bungled his last case, he said, “Look, we’re just about there,” hoping to distract her.

He saw her tense up and scan the bank ahead, as if she were afraid the thugs were waiting for her. But all that awaited them were the buildings across from the dock—a small grocery store and a diner.

“Don’t worry, chère, I’ll see that you’re safe.”

Lucy glanced back at him. “I’m not your responsibility,” she said in all seriousness. “As soon as we get my car, I’m off.”

He wanted to tell her that wasn’t advisable, that she needed to give the flesh wound a couple of days to heal—anything to keep her with him a while longer, so he could see what she was all about, maybe even figure a way to help her—but he was fairly certain nothing he said would sway her. She seemed determined to be rid of him as quickly as she had the hoods who’d driven her into his arms.

He just had to decide if he was willing to let her.

3

WHEN JUSTIN TURNED from the languid stream of the bayou and poled up to a floating dock, Lucy anxiously looked around.

Part of her expected to encounter the men who’d chased her into the swamp waiting for her, guns drawn. But they were nowhere in sight. Lucy breathed a little easier.

Justin jumped out onto the floating dock first and with a few twists of rope against a wooden post tied up the boat. Then he hooked the hull to the dock with one foot and offered her a hand and a smile.

Heart fluttering at the way he was looking at her—like he knew, for heaven’s sake, like he could read her mind about the dreams—Lucy reluctantly took his hand. Their physical connection was immediate and more intense than she would have imagined. Her palm felt scalded and as the sensation spread up her arm, she swayed slightly.

Justin easily pulled her right into him. The tips of her breasts brushed his chest, oh, so lightly, but her nipples immediately tightened and sent a warning to parts below. She squeezed her thighs together and awkwardly pushed past him.

“Are you all right, chère?”

The dock swayed under her, the motion adding to her already wonky stomach. “Yes, why?”

“You seem…well…a little breathless,” he said, his voice low and warm as the sunshine. “I thought maybe the wound was letting you know it was there.”

“Yes, the wound…” She was lying, of course. She’d forgotten all about being shot. She shrugged and forced a smile. “Just a twinge. It’s fine now.”

“Good.” Placing a light hand at the small of her back, he started for the bank. “Watch your step here.”

Her quick jump to dry land—make that squishy land—was inspired by the touch of his hand. Being close to Justin was difficult enough. Allowing him to continue touching her would drive her nuts because the intimate contact would remind her of the hot dreams.

And then all she would want to do is tear off his clothes and see if the sex was as good as she’d imagined.

Nothing could be that good, she argued with herself. At least nothing in her experience had led her to believe that sex could be in the fireworks category.

But wouldn’t she like to find out?

No. NO. She couldn’t. Wouldn’t. That would mean involving Justin Guidry in her life.

And that would mean involving Justin in the murder she’d witnessed.

Totally unacceptable. She’d got herself into this mess, so she was going to have to get herself out of it without involving anyone else with the murderers or the authorities.

First, though, she had to get her car out of the bayou.

“So where’s the local garage?” she asked, as they walked along the edge of town. She was careful to leave a few inches of space between them. “I need to arrange for a tow truck.”

“All in good time, chère, all in good time.”

Now what was that supposed to mean?

Lucy thought Justin was headed straight through the center of town—all two blocks of double-story buildings, shops at street level, probably living quarters above. But he kept going, straight away from the bayou and toward a neat white house with a big front porch raised off the ground by cement-block stilts.

She looked around and noticed all of the houses were likewise equipped to deal with flooding from the bayou, the downside of living below sea level.

Suddenly Lucy felt Justin’s hand at the small of her back again, and she practically raced him up the front steps to the door so he couldn’t get a better grip on her.

“Hey, Mama, you got guests!” he called out, as he threw open the screen door.

The room was big and comfortable. Soft gold walls and dark rust couches were accented with brightly colored pillows and scarf valences at the long windows. A piano was set against one wall covered with dozens of framed photographs. Family, she thought, smiling.

A woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Justin flew through the doorway. Her hair was dark with a single silver streak tumbling down over her heavy-lidded brown eyes.

“Justin, my oldest, my most wonderful boy, is that—” she stopped dead in her tracks and gaped “—a young lady you have with you?”

Though she was obviously surprised, Justin’s mother sounded pleased as punch, Lucy thought, amused at the way the woman addressed her son. There was great affection between the two of them, that was obvious from the big hug Justin gave his mother.

“Mama, I have brought home a woman in distress,” he announced dramatically.

“Oh, my. How can I help?”

What in the world was he going to tell his mother? Surely he wouldn’t alarm her with the truth.

As she stepped forward, hand held out, Lucy surreptitiously kicked Justin. “Lucy Ryan.”

“Marie Guidry,” the woman returned with a firm handshake. “What kind of help do you need?”

“All that rain…”

She gave Justin a glance to make sure he wasn’t going to butt in with the part she didn’t want told. His arms were crossed over his chest and his expression nonchalant. He was letting her tell it, thankfully.

“My car got stuck at the edge of the bayou and your son kindly brought me to town to get help. I need to have someone haul the car back onto the road and check it out to see that everything still works properly.”

The last thing she needed was a breakdown on the way back to New Orleans.

“Oh, you poor dear. The rain was terrible…last night.” Marie Guidry gave her son a look before adding, “That must have been a scare for you. Come in the kitchen and I’ll get you something to eat. Food always makes a body feel better.”

Lucy said, “I’m not hungry. Justin already fed me.”

His mother’s eyes rounded. “Oh, he did, did he?”

“What could I do, Mama, but feed a woman in distress?”

“So her car went into the bayou…at the fishing camp…how?”

“Well, not right at the fishing camp. Of course that’s not possible.” Justin suddenly sounded nervous. “Say, how about we have some coffee. Mama makes the best chicory coffee this side of New Orleans.”

Justin was doing his best to distract his mother.

Though she turned back toward her kitchen, his mother asked, “And how would you know I make the best chicory? You taste every one in the parish?”

“Pretty darn near.”

The warmth between mother and son made Lucy feel right at home. Maybe more at home than at her own parents’ house. Not that her parents didn’t care for her and her sister or welcome them home. They simply weren’t as touchy-feely or as open with their emotions.

In the kitchen, a smaller, fairer version of Marie Guidry sat at the kitchen table and chopped vegetables, throwing them into a big pot. Justin introduced her to Lucy as Tante Jeannette.

“Nice to see that you have good taste in women, Justin. Your mother was beginning to worry that she was going to have to hire a matchmaker for you.”

Startled by the woman’s inference that she and Justin were an item, Lucy was just about to set her straight when she was interrupted by the heavy clump-clump of a male tread down the back stairs toward them.

“Ah, Stephen,” Justin called out. “Just the man I was looking for.”

“What, you need someone to cut up your bait for you?” asked the younger, taller, softer version of Justin.

“I need someone with a good strong truck and chain. I need to get a lady’s car unstuck. The lady being Ms. Lucy Ryan here.”

No smile crossed Stephen’s lips as he gave Lucy the once-over, but he nodded in a friendly manner. “Should I round up Marcus, then?”

Justin lowered his voice to ask, “You know whose bed he’s in?”

“I heard that,” Marie Guidry said from across the room. She was at the stove pouring coffee in two mugs.

“Well, do you know?” Justin asked her.

“I try not to think about it.” She gave Lucy an exasperated expression. “Three sons over thirty and not one of them married or even seeming concerned about settling down. I’ll never have any grandbabies at this rate.”

“Don’t worry, Mama,” Justin said, “there’s plenty of time for those.”

“I mean before I’m too old to enjoy them.”

“Watch what you wish for, Marie,” Tante Jeanette warned her. “For all you know, Marcus already has a brood spread over the parish.”

Justin sighed the dramatic sigh of a man who had an unwanted weight on his shoulders. “So, does anyone know where Marcus is or not?”

“Marcus is right here,” rumbled a voice as its owner came through the back door.

His younger twin brothers were sort of identical in the way of stature and features. But while Stephen was neatly pressed and handsome in a quiet way, Marcus was unkempt and incredibly fetching with a day’s growth and hair that hadn’t yet been brushed.

Lucy could well believe he’d just gotten out of some lucky woman’s bed….

Okay, so she had bed on the brain thanks to Marcus’s captivating older brother.

Justin introduced Lucy to the twins and then sketched out her plight, leaving out the details just as she had done with his mother.

“We’ll have your car out in no time,” Stephen assured her. “You’ll be on the way back to New Orleans before supper.”

“If that’s what the lady wants,” Marcus said, arching an eyebrow.

Justin gave him a brotherly whack and said, “We’re on it, Lucille. Mama and Tante Jeanette, make sure the lady doesn’t pine for my company in the meantime.” He was about to follow the twins out the door, when he hesitated and looked back at Lucy, adding, “Perhaps you ought to stay in the kitchen, chère, away from interested eyes.”

With that he left. Lucy felt the weight of curiosity aimed her way.

Thanks a bunch, Justin, she thought, facing the two women waiting for her to explain that mysterious comment.

“Is that my coffee?” she asked, taking the mug from Marie. Quickly, she drank it down. “Mmm, this is the best chicory. What’s your secret?”

Lucy prayed Justin and his brothers would hurry, since she had no idea of how long she could keep his mother talking about her culinary prowess.

“THIS ISN’T GOING to be too hard,” Stephen said, linking the chain under the back bumper of Lucy’s car. “Probably best if you get in and start it and put it in reverse. Then Marcus can pull easy-like while you give it a little gas.”

As if he hadn’t gotten cars out of Louisiana bayou muck many times over the years, Justin thought.

But that was Stephen. Precise. Always going over the details ad nauseam. He didn’t want to label his little brother obsessive-compulsive, but if the shoe fit… Even being an accountant reflected that part of his too-organized personality.

“Okay, we’re set,” he said, sliding behind the wheel and starting Lucy’s car.

Stephen signaled Marcus, who put the truck in gear. And when Justin slid Lucy’s transmission into in reverse, the car slid out of the sucky ground and back onto the gravel like a greased pig. When they both stopped, Stephen unhooked the chain and threw it in the back of the truck.

Marcus slid out of the truck, yelling, “Stephen, you drive. I’m going to catch a ride in the lady’s car.”

He settled into the passenger seat next to Justin, who waited until he’d backed up to the paved road and turned the car onto it before asking, “What’s up, Marcus?”

“That’s what I was wondering, B.B.”

B.B. standing for Big Brother. Only Marcus referred to him in that casual way. Stephen…well, Stephen was Stephen.

“You’re referring to?” Justin asked.

“Lucy Ryan. Lu-u-ci-i-ille.”

Justin was annoyed by the way Marcus picked up on his nickname for Lucy. “Like I said, she’s a lady in distress.”

On the way over here to rescue her car, he’d drawn a graphic picture about what had happened the night before. The danger part, anyway.

His brothers had agreed to keep an eye out for the two men in case they came looking for Lucy. If they came too close and pushed too far, they would be sorry, Justin knew. No one messed with the Guidry boys in these parts and got away with it. They were a force to be reckoned with, Stephen included.

“So why do you think Lucille ended up out here?” Marcus probed.

“Here’s where the pedal to the metal brought her. Simple as that.”

“Maybe not so simple. Maybe it’s fate.”

“What? You think I should get involved?”

Marcus grinned at him. “Go for it, B.B.”

“I meant as a private investigator.”

“Well, not quite what I had in mind—”

“I know what you had in mind, Marcus. Playtime is always what you have in mind,” Justin muttered, driving Lucy’s car around to the back of the house where it would be less conspicuous.

Stephen pulled the truck up and parked it next to the car as additional camouflage.

Truth be told, he could use some playtime. And he hadn’t missed a single one of Lucy Ryan’s many charms. But while he had a lot of faults, taking advantage of a woman who was skating on thin ice wasn’t one of them, so he might as well keep his libido in check.

“She’s going to be flying back to her life in New Orleans as soon as I return her car keys,” he said more to himself than to his brother.

“So don’t give them to her yet…for her own good, of course. Or stop hiding at the fishing camp and fly home after her. Whatever it takes.” Marcus slapped him on the back in a go get her manner.

Justin was thinking about doing that very thing as they headed for the back steps.

But was he really ready to face New Orleans?

To face his failure?

To face a ghost of his own making?

Laughter spilled out of the house, the inviting sound lightening his mood. Lucy’s laughter. It sounded good. It sounded right.

It melted something inside him.

He hadn’t had much to smile about lately outside of family, but Justin felt his chest tighten as he opened the kitchen door and went inside.

THE EDGINESS Lucy had felt on being left with the two women was completely gone by the time Justin and his brothers walked through the kitchen door. Marie and Tante Jeanette were delightful women who—though seeming to sense there was something wrong, that information was being kept from them—had done their best to put her at ease. After she’d made her call to Dana, assuring her that she was all right, Marie entertained her with stories of Justin’s boyhood bayou exploits.

Laughter bubbled from Lucy as she listened to his mother relate how Justin at age ten had set out to feed the poor alligators because he thought that being so slow and all, they couldn’t get their own food. So he’d taken a raw chicken into the pirogue and had wheeled it out to feed the alligators. That’s when he’d learned how fast they could move when food was involved.

“So which story is Mama telling you?” Justin asked as he entered the kitchen.

“The one about the alligators,” she said, trying not to snort.

He smiled, then gazed intently at her.

Suddenly breathless, Lucy said, “So you got my car out and it’s okay, right?”

“Drove it with no problems,” he said.

“So I should probably go.”

Not that the idea thrilled her. It made her feel as if she were tied up in knots inside.

Going to the police with a slew of half truths wasn’t her idea of something to look forward to. And if they tracked down the murderer and his accomplices and brought them in on charges, she would be expected to testify. Then she would have to lie and say she witnessed something she’d only seen in a dream, not in reality, because who would believe her otherwise?

How did she get around that?

Justin eyed his mama and aunt and then indicated Lucy should follow him to the living room.

Once there, he spoke in a lowered voice. “I think you should give it a day. Between the wound and those thugs looking for you—”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m okay, really.”