Close Cover (Masters and Mercenaries #16)(65)

“Not exactly, but if it gets out that there could be serious trouble coming our way, then Miss Marcelle starts using magic to find out who’s a criminal and who’s a tourist, and she gets that wrong a lot of the time. Momma starts packing more heat than normal. They’ll have town meetings. Someone always spikes the punch and then George Teague decides to fight a gator. It’s a thing around here. It’s best we keep quiet anyway. No one except your family and Ian knows where we’ve gone.”

That was why they’d been on the road at the godawful hour they’d left at this morning. Remy had made a few rounds of the city before he’d been satisfied they weren’t being followed. They’d left straight from the hospital. Laurel had packed for her. Lila hadn’t even said good-bye.

“Don’t you think we should tell your mom if we’re staying at her place?” Lisa asked.

“We’re staying out at the wharf. There’s an apartment over the bar. Jean-Claude said he’s cleared out so we can stay there.”

“You don’t want to stay at home?”

“I think it’ll be easier to watch over you at the wharf,” he said. “I should get to work. Jean-Claude wants to transition pretty quickly. That means every minute counts. I’m going to find my family and thank them for the welcome and then we can go.”

Oh, his panties were in a wad and she needed to get them all smoothed out if she was going to enjoy the night. “Or we could be more gracious and stay for a while.”

He stared straight ahead. “You spent the whole day ignoring me. I don’t think I can handle walking around a big old party with you not speaking to me. You can’t go running off, you know. We have to stick together. I think we’ll do that best if we don’t have a bunch of people around.”

Because he would have to explain her presence. He’d walked back into town with a woman on his arm. He’d left because of his divorce. How much would his pride be hurt if he had to explain over and over that she was nothing more than a client?

Well, he’d made that bed. He was going to have to lie in it.

It wasn’t her problem. She didn’t have to solve it for him.

“Okay, well, it’s your town and if you don’t want to go to the party, we won’t.” She opened the door to the truck and slid out.

And smelled the heavenly scent of food frying in greasy oil. Her stomach rumbled. And she couldn’t help but smile because yes, that was Remy Guidry all done up and glitterfied. It was the kind of handicraft high school cheerleaders made for the star quarterback.

She might have to steal that.

“If I went to every party this town threw, I would never do anything else,” Remy grumbled. “Come on. I’m sure my momma will be in the square. I’ll thank her and then we can go.”

He was going to be the grumpiest town hero ever.

They started walking down the sidewalk and she got a good look at the town that had produced Remy Guidry. It was weird. There was a barber shop complete with a blue and red and white pole. A café called Dixie’s proclaimed it had the best chicory in town. There was a half-priced book store that shared space with a game shop and offered “the best souvenirs.” A hardware store that also offered shipping services.

“A lot of these stores found they needed to diversify to survive,” Remy said. “The local grocery rents out space to swamp guides. We do what we have to to survive.”

What had he done to survive? Well, he’d taken a large contract for one.

She sighed. It would take a good long while to get over what he’d done. Even if she could understand it.

“Guidry, it’s damn good to see you, son.” A gray-haired man held out a hand.

Remy shook it and another couple. She listened quietly and figured out that these men belonged to the local Knights of Columbus and wanted to know if Remy would speak at their annual charity pancake breakfast.

Remy seemed to have lost the power of speech.

Was he actually shy? He’d never seemed that way around her, but now she had to wonder.

“Of course he will,” she said with a smile. “I’m Lisa Daley. I’m hanging out here for a while and working with him at the wharf. Call me over there and I’ll make sure it gets on his calendar.”

“Thank you, young lady.” He smiled suddenly. “I thought you must be Miss Daley. Not that you’ll have that name for long.” He held out a hand. “Oh, it’s nice to meet you.”

She shook his hand, wondering what he meant about her name, but she let it go. “And you as well.”

She was introduced to the group and then Remy managed to shift them away. She waved good-bye while Remy led her by the elbow.

“You’re handling my schedule now?” He stopped in front of a hot dog stand. “What was that?”

“It’s called being polite and you said I had a job. I assume part of that is going to be answering telephones because if you’re this growly on the phone, we’ll lose customers.” She hadn’t meant to say that. “You’ll lose customers. I’m kind of your temporary business consultant and the first thing I need to advise you on is your attitude.”

“My attitude?”

She nodded. “It’s bad today.”

“You haven’t smiled once all day. That’s why I’m in a terrible mood. I’m never in a terrible mood. I’m an easy-going guy. Now I realize one petite woman can frown at me and the whole day goes to hell.”