A Bad Boy is Good to Find(64)

“Yeah.” Con shone with pride.

“Danny, would you wrestle it on camera, please!” Maisie was suddenly right in front of him.

“Wrestle it into doing what?” asked Danny, with a smile. “It’s just laying there.”

“I don’t know. Can’t you make it mad and sit on it or something?” Maisie looked like she was about to start jumping up and down with excitement.

“Tell you what,” said the proprietor slowly. “If one of ya’ll New Yorkers want to help Danny carry this gator to the pen over there—” he gestured out into the darkness. “Your drinks are on the house.”

“I can carry it by myself, chief,” said Danny.

“I know, but where’s the entertainment in that? I’ve got a bar to run.” The bartender slapped him on the back. “Come on, who’s willing to help move this magnificent creature for me?”

The tree frogs sang.

“Oh come on!” protested Maisie. “Conroy! Here’s a chance to get back in touch with your bayou heritage.”

Con laughed.

“Don’t be a spoilsport! I’m sure your brother would love to have you do it with him.”

“Sure, it’d be fun.” Danny looked as relaxed as if he’d been dared to go floss his teeth.

Con hesitated.

Adrenaline surged through Lizzie. “No, don’t! You’ll get hurt.”

“No, he won’t,” said Maisie. “Look, it’s not even moving. And it’ll make such a great cliff-hanger at commercial break.”

“Well, I guess I—”

“No!” said Lizzie. “Con, you can’t!”

“Why not? As Maisie said it isn’t doing much.”

“I’ll take the head, and you hold the tail still. I’ll walk you through it.” Danny settled his hands on the rim of the pen, ready to jump the fence and get started.

“Alright.” Con took a step toward the fence.

A vision of those hideous teeth closing around Con’s arm, or worse, his head, swam in front of Lizzie’s eyes and sent adrenaline surging through her. She grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare get into that pen, Conroy Beale!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Don’t you care about anyone but yourself?”

There was a lengthy pause. Lizzie flushed violently.

“Nice to have someone who cares about you,” said Danny softly. He lifted his hands off the fence.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea, that’s all,” she mumbled. “I just…”

I just love you.

“Alright.” Con slid his arm around her. “I won’t do it if you really don’t want me to, Lizzie.” He kissed her forehead gently. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

Lizzie tried to act like she didn’t care much either way. Which was hard when Con settled his lips on her cheek and squeezed her waist, sending a current of heat and relief charging up through her.

Maisie scanned the group. “Roger?”

“I think I’ve drunk a bit too much,” he slurred, swaying like a redwood in the wind.

“Dino? I’ll take over the camera.” Dino just looked over the camera, which was running, and raised an eyebrow.

“Raoul.” She sidled over and slapped him on the back. “Come on. Just think of the great stories you’ll have to tell. You’ll be dining out on this for years.”

Raoul lifted his chin in the air. “Sweetheart, I don’t do mud.” He straightened his shirt lapel.

“Ugh!” Maisie put her hands on her hips. Her eyes flashed in the harsh light above the door. “You’re all such wimps. I’ll do it!”

Even the tree frogs shut the hell up.

Danny looked down at her from his impressive height, and a slow smile spread across his tanned face. He strode up to her and gently lifted her hand, as if they were about to step out in a minuet. “I’d be delighted.” He kissed her knuckles gently.

Maisie shook her hair back and stuck her chest out. “Good. Let’s get started.”

Lizzie covered her eyes with her hand. “That poor alligator.”





Chapter 23





Lizzie was the only one sober enough to drive home. Except for Dwight who’d zoomed off in disgust after learning from an anxious Raoul that his fiancé was about to get down and dirty with an alligator. Raoul had gone with him to help navigate.

Con sat on the bench seat of the big van next to Lizzie while everyone else, including Danny, piled into the rear. They’d retrieve Danny’s truck in the morning.

The alligator was sleeping it off in a larger pen down near the bayou, the drinks—which had flowed for a couple more hours—were on the house, and Maisie and Danny—both covered in mud from head to toe—had been giving each other glances that could scorch the skin of a lesser mortal.

“Your cousin is something else.” Con had also managed to get very dirty, and he was nearly as drunk as the rest of them.

Lizzie put the car into gear and pulled out of the space without stalling even once. “Yup, that’s Maisie, loves to be the center of attention.” Typical. Everyone in the bar had been drooling and falling all over her. Apparently, a glaze of mud only enhanced her Amazon appeal. “I’ll never hear the end of her alligator-wrestling adventure. I can’t believe Dwight didn’t try to stop her.”

“Do you think anyone could stop Maisie doing what she wants?” Con stretched and cracked his knuckles.

“Buckle your seatbelt.”

He smiled, eyes soft with affection or liquor or both. “I love it when you worry about me.” He obeyed with fumbling hands.

”I bet Danny let the alligator get loose on purpose just so he could have the fun of catching it again.”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “He sure knows how to put on a good show. It’ll be a blast on TV.”

“That’s not what you were saying at the time. My arm still has white marks from you gripping it.”

“Hey, he’s my brother and I haven’t seen him for ten years. I didn’t want him to get eaten right after I found him again.”

“He’s quite a character. I guess it runs in the family.” She winked at Con, who winked back, causing a teeny sizzle in her belly.

“What is Maisie doing with that Dwight? He seems a real stick in the mud.”

“Dwight is from an old oil family. He’s well connected and very, very rich.”

“That may be, but he’s not man enough to handle Maisie.”

“And you’re suddenly an expert on the subject?” Driving strange unlit roads in the dark was rattling her nerves enough without Con having opinions about Maisie’s love life.

“I just know what I see. Maisie needs a real man.”

“You’re lucky she can’t hear you through that partition, she’d show you which one of you is the real man.”

Con laughed. “Too right.”