Trouble in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #1)(34)

Chapter Eight

Luc grabbed the notebook and ran into the lab. He shut the notebook in the drawer, then poked his tool in the lock, hoping it worked its magic. The lock clicked almost immediately and he rushed to the door, repeating the process on the deadbolt. He hurried over to the copier and pulled the documents off the tray and shoved them into his gym bag.

His pulse racing, he glanced out the window just as Maryse pulled to a stop in front of the office. Yanking open the panels of the copier, he prayed that he got the paper removed before she could offer to help. If any of the jammed pieces were partially copied, he was busted, pure and simple. There was no logical way to explain what he was doing with her personal property—or how he had broken into her lab to get it.

He flipped open drawers and panels and yanked the lodged paper from inside, cramming it into his pockets as he went. He was down to the last tray when he heard the office door open. He glanced into the tray at the offending paper and held in a stream of cursing. The paper was jammed in the rollers, crinkled like a Japanese fan, but if you flattened out the folded rows, Maryse’s handwriting still showed on the document clear as day.

“Problems?” Maryse asked as she tossed her keys onto her desk.

Luc rose from the copier and shook his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary for a machine this old. Just a paper jam.”

Maryse nodded. “It does that all the time. Let me take a look. I’ve gotten to be a real pro at fixing that piece of junk.”

Luc waved one hand, desperate to fend her off. “No, that’s all right. I’ll get it.”

Maryse stared at him a moment. “What’s your problem, LeJeune? Would my fixing the copier somehow be an affront to your manhood?” She walked over to the machine and gave him a shove. “Move out of the way. I don’t want to listen to you banging and cussing over here for the next thirty minutes. There’s a trick to getting paper out of this spot.”

Luc clenched his fists in a panic, searching for something, anything that would stop her from reaching into that panel, but he came up with absolutely nothing. His only hope was that she wouldn’t take a close look at the paper while removing it and he could somehow get it away from her immediately following removal.

Maryse squatted down in front of the copier and looked at the offending paper. “You got it jammed in good. Usually you’ve got to unscrew this top piece to get the paper out, but after I went through that process for about the hundredth time, I got smart and installed a pin to hold it in place. See?” She pointed to a long, thin, metal pin slotted through the panel and into the roller.

Luc glanced at the pin and nodded, certain he hadn’t taken a breath since she’d walked in the door.

“So all I have to do is pull the pin out,” Maryse said and proceeded to remove the pin while holding her hand under the top panel. “And, voila, the tray drops and the paper is easily removed.” She gently worked the paper out of from between the roller and the panel and held it up in front of him, the tell-tale text facing her direction and just below eye level.

All he could think about was keeping her from looking at that paper, and the only way he knew to throw someone like Maryse off track was to give her something bigger to focus on. Before he could change his mind he yanked the sheet of paper from her hand, ignoring the surprised look on her face, and stepped so close to her that he could feel the heat coming off her body.

“Mechanically inclined women really turn me on,” he said and leaned in to kiss her before she knew it was coming and could formulate a retreat.

As his lips touched hers, a spark hit him deep in his center, and the panic he felt began to subside. When she didn’t pull away, he kept his mouth on hers, gently parting her lips for his tongue to enter. He involuntarily pressed into her, his arousal firm against her leg.

The instant other parts of him made contact, Maryse jumped back and stared at him, her face full of surprise and confusion. “What the hell is wrong with you, LeJeune? Are you bucking for a hostile work environment complaint?”

She stared at him, obviously waiting for an answer, but he couldn’t come up with a single excuse that would fly. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I just got carried away.”

She gave him a wary look as she backed away and grabbed her keys from the desk. “Well, don’t let it happen again.” Without so much as a backward glance, she walked out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

Luc watched as she jumped in her boat and tore down the bayou. As the boat rounded a bend and disappeared, he slumped back against the wall next to the copier. What the hell had he been thinking? Maryse’s threat was very real—behavior like that could get him a legal complaint and completely blow his cover.

He looked down at the piece of paper, still clenched in his hand. At least he’d gotten the paper without her seeing it, and that had been the whole point, right? But as he shoved the papers in a file and headed out of the office to take them to a scientist in New Orleans, he couldn’t help but think he’d gotten way more than he bargained for.


Maryse pushed down the throttle on her boat and grimaced every time the bow beat against the choppy surface of the bayou. At the rate the boat was moving, she could probably have run faster, even with her injuries.

And running is just what you’re doing.

That thought brought her up short, and she eased up on the gas and gritted her teeth as the boat bounced to a slower, less-jarring crawl. She’d gone to the office with the intention of actually getting some work done. Then Luc had pulled his playboy routine, and she’d panicked like a schoolgirl.