“Done.”
“Two, you have to go after that sonofabitch. I was listening at the window. His type makes me want to spit nails. Con, wouldn’t you like to see Maisie sharpen her journalistic claws on that bastard?”
Con raised an eyebrow very slightly. “When you put it that way, I think we can make a deal.”
“Any fine local brew will be acceptable.”
Lizzie let out a silent sigh of relief. “Dino, you are a man in a million.”
“And for the record, I think you two are made for each other.”
Lizzie frowned and tossed her hair. “Let’s go find a grocery store.”
Chapter 20
The power was still out when the local news crew arrived to do the arranged interview with Con. They brought their own lighting, which was lucky as dusk was falling and candles didn’t do more than punctuate the sweaty darkness descending on the house. The dining room was ablaze with spotlights and floodlights and people milled about, stepping over trailing wires and talking urgently into cell phones.
The perky local reporter with her spackled-on makeup and molded wire hair made Maisie look washed out and girlish by comparison, but Maisie didn’t seem to notice. She was too busy glad handing and name dropping.
Lizzie shook her head. She had ample opportunity to shake her head since she wasn’t wanted on camera. No, it was The Con Beale Show and his impending wedding rated only a brief mention in the interviewer’s introduction.
“The camera does love him, doesn’t it,” whispered Raoul, as he and Lizzie stood side by side in the shadows, watching Con’s elegant profile on a monitor. “Cool under pressure, that one. You picked a winner when you chose him. And you didn’t even know he owned this place!” Raoul slid his arm around Lizzie’s shoulders and squeezed her affectionately.
A spore of guilt exploded inside her. Did Raoul really think she loved Con? Despite overhearing them in the bedroom, he didn’t seem to get that they were just doing this for the money. Amazing what people will believe when they want to badly enough.
She knew how that went.
“He doesn’t own it yet,” she muttered.
“But these reporters are hot on the trail. Miss Thing there just said it.” He nodded his head at the female reporter. “He’ll get his due. I know it. You’ll be living the high life again, by his side. It’s like a fairy tale.”
She froze. The script she’d written for her and Con didn’t extend past payday, and here was Raoul conjuring up a Spanish-moss-bedecked happily-ever-after. Somehow, after last night’s unexpected intimacy, that scared the hell out of her.
She blew out a slow, silent breath. “Can you really see Con living here in swamp-ville again?”
“Yes.” He didn’t even look at her. “He loves this place. Can’t you tell? The way he’s always pointing out the birds and the trees and all that. He’s right at home here.”
Huh? Were they talking about the same person? Or was Con giving jovial swamp tours while she holed up in the bedroom?
What did it matter? “Even if the house does turn out to be his, he couldn’t afford to keep it. The lawyer’s already spent the money and a place like this costs a fortune to maintain.”
“Con will think of something. He’s a hustler,” Raoul said cheerfully.
“I won’t argue with that,” she murmured.
The reporter turned to face the camera. “So, Daniel Beale, Danny, Tiny, if you are out there, or if anyone out there knows where he is, please contact Eyewitness News at the number on your screen and reunite this family torn apart by tragedy.”
“I guess they dub the violins in later.” Dino snuck up behind them.
“Shut your mouth,” whispered Raoul. “I’m all choked up.”
He wasn’t kidding. Raoul still had his arm around her, and Lizzie could feel his chest heaving. She slid her arm around him and patted his back. “You’re a very caring person, Raoul.”
“It’s my downfall, sweetheart.”
“That’s a wrap,” called the female reporter. “We’re going to head back and cut a segment for the late news. We’ll pass any information we get right along to you. Thanks so much, Conroy, I think your story will touch a lot of hearts.”
Con said something inaudible and shook her hand. He searched the darkness, and when he found Lizzie, the look he gave her made her catch her breath.
This was all your idea.
“Excuse me.” She disentangled herself from Raoul and pushed past Dino toward Con. “You did great.” She stepped over a lighting cable just as someone swished it from between her legs.
“It feels weird to have people know so much about me.” He looked rather dazed.
“Weird but good, though, right?” She squeezed his upper arm.
“Let’s go outside.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the back door.
With a burst of excitement she followed him out into the darkened garden. The screech of tree frogs filled her ears and grass pricked her toes through her sandals as he pulled her off the slate patio out onto the lawn.
“Where are we going? I can’t see a thing!”
She swatted at mosquitoes she could hear but not see. A firefly glow in front of her face made her gasp.
Con’s gripped her hand tightly and sped into a run as they plunged deeper into the muggy blackness. He untucked his shirt with his other hand, and she smelled the raw tang of his sweat.
“You stink!” She laughed.
“No kidding!”
Lizzie stumbled over her sandal and he steadied her, then drew her in for a quick, hard kiss on the mouth that made her belly quiver.
Breathless, not knowing whether to gasp or laugh, Lizzie did both. Con unbuttoned his shirt and stripped it off, then unbuckled his belt.
“What are you doing?”
“Going in for a swim. Get undressed.”
“What?” She glanced to her right and saw the sinuous movement of reflected moonlight on the black surface of the bayou.
“In there?”
“Where else?” Con kicked off his shoes and shucked off his pants. Moonlight glazed his face and shoulders as he grabbed her around the waist and kissed her again. She felt his erection hard against her belly, through her thin shirt.
“Get undressed,” he growled, tugging at the waistband of her shorts. Suddenly he pushed up her shirt and closed his mouth over her bra-covered nipple with force, lashing it with his tongue through the satin fabric as his hands settled on her waist.
She gripped his hair with her hands, explosive laughter and fierce arousal surging inside her. Con’s tongue on her breasts was driving her half wild.
But not wild enough to get into a muddy black river slithering with all kinds of creepy creatures.
“There’s no way I’m going in there!” she rasped, hardly able to catch her breath.
“Oh, yeah?” In one deft movement he swept her off her feet—which didn’t feel nearly as romantic as it sounded—and slung her against his hard chest.
“There could be alligators, snakes, anything!”
Con chuckled. He swiped a bite at her neck, grazing it with his teeth. “Snap snap.”
“Con, please, agggghhhhh!” she screamed as he charged right into the bayou with her held firm in his arms. Water splashed her face and closed over her legs as she clung to him, shrieking.
“Shhh, they’ll think I’m drowning you.” Con’s hot dark voice and the warm dark water swirled around her. “Feels good, huh?”
“It is cooler than the air.” She tried to sound calm. Her arms were around his neck in a noose hold. “Don’t put me down. I don’t want my feet on the bottom.”
“No prob. I’ll just hold you. I’m enjoying the view.”
She glanced down at her chest where her shirt was bunched up to reveal breasts lifted and separated by her now totally transparent bra.
“My clothes are all wet.”
“You’re a keen observer.” The low vibration of his voice shivered into her ear. “Now al
l we need to do is get ’em off.”
“No way, what if someone—” She shrieked as her shorts and panties slid down her legs with one silky movement of his hand under the water. She reached out to grab them as they floated, separately, to the surface a couple of feet away.
“Con, they’re drifting. They’ll get lost!” She kicked against him, splashing.
“They’ll give someone downriver a nice surprise.” His gator grin gleamed in the moonlight. She gasped as her bra came unhooked. “You’ll have to loosen your arms so I can get it off.”
“No way!”
He focused on the little buttons of her blouse, undoing them in the darkness with skill. “Come on, wrap your legs around me, like this.” He maneuvered her thighs into position around his hips, so his erection teased her bare crotch. Moonlight glazed his striking features and the smile playing across his sensual mouth. “You look like a river goddess with your hair trailing out behind you.” He kissed her lips with gentle intensity that stole her breath and made her heart throb. Suddenly her top and bra were floating away on the quicksilver surface of the water and she didn’t seem to care.
“Did your Depo shot wear off yet?” His totally unromantic question made a giggle explode out of her.
“Why? You don’t want to get me pregnant now you might have an inheritance to share?”
Con laughed, his face right in hers. “Is that how rich people think?”
“You bet.” Her chest bumped against him as she chuckled. “And lucky for you I’ve still got another month left.”
“Thank God,” he murmured huskily, as he set about devouring her throat. As her fingers roamed over his back and up into his thick, wet hair, his erection thickened and hardened at her crotch. The silky water lapped at her breasts and she wriggled her hips, reveling in the sensation of the river water flowing over her sex and the delicious hardness of Con wrapped all around her.
She tightened her arms around his neck as his strong hands cupped her buttocks and he slid inside her, filling her. He buried his face in her neck for a hard love bite that made her nipples sting.
“Con, that’ll leave a bruise,” she gasped.
“I know.” He grazed her collarbone with his teeth. “I want everyone to know you’re mine.” His dark gaze roamed over her face.
“They already know. We’re getting married, remember?”
Con didn’t answer her question, instead he thrust hard, and she shuddered in response, gripping him. His eyes squeezed shut, and he kissed her lips so tenderly that it made her heart constrict.
Do you take this man to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forth as long as you both shall live?
Con held her so tight, his arms wrapped around her with such force she couldn’t imagine he’d ever let go.
I do.
She pulled herself even closer, wrapping her arms and pressing her cheek to his as her eyes squeezed shut. A surge of emotion threatened to choke her.
It’s just lust, she tried to tell herself, but as Con nuzzled her gently and rubbed her back, she got a sneaking feeling she was up to her neck in something a lot stickier and more complicated than lust. She wriggled as sensation built inside her. Rocked her hips against him, making waves in the water as waves of emotion rolled through her.
I love you.
She struggled not to let the words slip out. She didn’t want him to have that kind of power over her. Or if he did, she didn’t want him to know about it, unlike last time.
Why couldn’t she control her feelings for this man?
“What’s the matter?” Con’s soft voice made her realize that her sob of emotion had been audible.
“Nothing,” she lied.
She honestly didn’t know if it was love or hate or pain or tenderness or whatever, but she felt more for Con than she could express in words or thoughts.
He’d changed her, and if she wasn’t mistaken, she’d changed him too.
“Hold your breath,” he whispered.
“What?” she started to say, then she gulped air as he ducked them both below the black surface of the water.
Panic that tightened her legs around him turned to relief as they exploded up above the surface of the water again. Con’s cock danced inside her, and she gasped, water streaming over her face. Hands on her waist, he drove her to a fierce splashing climax and a scream that echoed down the bayou and out to the Gulf of Mexico.
Con’s wet hair hung to his gleaming eyes. The reflected moon danced in their black surface, vying with an expression so intense, so unreadable, that Lizzie couldn’t look away.
“Lizzie! Where are you?” Maisie’s voice pierced the viscous darkness, and the beam of a flashlight danced off a nearby tree.
“Oh, no.” Lizzie hid her face in Con’s neck.
“Don’t want cousin Maisie to catch you bare-assed in the bayou?”
“Not really.” She scanned the dark water for her clothes. Nothing.
“We can duck beneath the surface again.”
“No thanks!”
“Lizzieeeeeee!” That grating voice was getting closer. The beam bounced off the grass, illuminating Con’s white shirt. “Conroy? Where are you?”
“We’d better disengage,” whispered Con. Lizzie wiggled free of him. The water felt sensational on her aroused flesh. What did she care if Maisie saw her naked in the bayou making love to Con? She’d be jealous. You’d never catch Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass Dwight going at it out under the stars.
“We’re here!” she called on impulse. “No cameras though, please, we’re X-rated.”
Con chuckled and Lizzie buried her face in his neck with a snort of laughter.
She hid her breasts against Con’s chest as the flashlight beam hit them dead on. “Oh, there you are,” said Maisie, casual as if she’d found them reading. “We’re off to a restaurant for dinner, and I didn’t want you to get left behind.”
“You hungry?” whispered Lizzie.
“Only for you,” Con breathed against her neck.
“We’ll find some leftovers in the kitchen. We both need an early night.”
“It’s a very famous restaurant. Authentic Cajun, Con, you’ll really enjoy it.”
Con shook with silent laughter. “Bring back some boudin for me, okay?”
Maisie paused, perhaps writing something down. “Will do. Alright then, see you later.”
They collapsed in giggles as Maisie strode away, flashlight beam bouncing with her purposeful stride.
“You know, you can knock your cousin but she’s quite a woman. Just needs the right man to straighten her out.”
Lizzie bristled at his arrogance. “She’s got one. His name’s Dwight and he’s a very dignified bond broker. I don’t think she wants a Neanderthal to carry her off over his shoulder.”
“Don’t be so sure.” His teeth flashed in the moonlight.
“Neanderthal! Just because you—”
Her words were lost as she gasped for breath when Con pulled them both under the water again. As they burst up, gasping, she pummeled him with her fists. It was a very token gesture as she certainly didn’t want him to let go of her.
“I like the way you look with water running all over you.”
“I bet you do. It’s that Neanderthal thing.”
“Yeah.” He looked at her steadily, eyes shining. “I’ve got it bad. I want to drag you back to my cave and make love to you some more by firelight.”
“We’ll I’m not going anywhere with no clothes on.”
“Then I guess we’re stuck here. I like it. No one here but us.”
“And the alligators and snakes and crawdads and herons and mosquitoes and…”
“Yes. Isn’t it beautiful,” Con’s voice was dark with wonder. “Look.” He pointed down the bayou where it rolled away in a lazy curve, iridescent with moonlight. Overhanging trees on the far bank kissed the water with their branches. The air pulsed with the heady thrum of tree frogs calling for their mates. “I’d forgotten how p
erfect it is here.”
Lizzie’s chest tightened, and not just because of the creepy crawlies.
“You’re shivering. We’ll get out.” He splashed toward the bank, holding her tight. “The vans have all driven away.”
“My hair’s wet. It’s going to tangle.”
“I’ll comb it for you.” He pushed a soggy lock behind her shoulder, supporting her with one arm like she weighed nothing. “You have the most beautiful hair I’ve ever seen, my river goddess.”
Sweet talker. Still, with moonlight and the warm night air on her skin she felt beautiful, sexy and alive as Con let her feet down on the prickly grass.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been outside naked before.” She giggled as Con handed her his shirt.
“Yeah, I guess you kept your top on that time in the desert, didn’t you? This time was better. I could feel you right there with me.”
Lizzie blushed in the darkness. She hadn’t held herself back this time. Probably couldn’t have if she tried. Con had gotten right under her skin again, damn him.
They strolled back to the house holding hands, Con buck naked and totally unself-conscious, even when he kissed her and grew hard again.
He’d been irresistible as a fantasy man, in the role she’d conjured and he’d so easily assumed. But somehow as a real person, with problems and hang-ups and deep, deep flaws, he was even more dangerously captivating.
“Let’s find our way up to bed and get the sheets sweaty,” he whispered, as he pushed open the door into the dark house.
“Okay.”
Chapter 21
They never did get around to combing Lizzie’s hair, and by the next morning it was a rat’s nest of tangles. Raoul was actually breaking a sweat trying to get a comb through it at the dressing table in the bedroom.
“Girl, whatever did you put in it?”
“River water,” murmured Lizzie.
“You washed it in the river? Your hair doesn’t need washing every day. You could have waited. And why didn’t you use conditioner?”
Lizzie chewed her lip to stop a sly smile sneaking across her face.
Raoul tut-tutted. “I’ll have to talk to that boy. He’s interfering with my professional responsibilities.” He spritzed more detangler on it. “Can you believe all the fuss they’re making over him?”
A Bad Boy is Good to Find Page 22