“I still am,” Gator said and lifted Flame’s knuckles to his mouth.

She snatched her hand away, shocked that she was holding his hand and didn’t even realize it.

CHAPTER 8

The afternoon seemed entirely surreal to Flame. She kept forgetting to stay on her guard, relaxing and laughing with Nonny before she realized she was doing it. Nonny talked about the four Fontenot brothers, her voice spilling over with love. Both Wyatt and Gator talked in low, affectionate voices, and they leapt up to get Nonny whatever she asked for. Often they addressed her as ma’am. Flame found it very quaint and endearing.

She rose reluctantly to go. It was the first time she’d ever really felt at home and she was aware she probably would never get to have the feeling again. “I had a lovely time, Mrs. Fontenot,” she admitted. “Thank you for the tea and cookies. Your home is wonderful.”

“Come back soon,” Nonny urged.

Gator took her hand as she stood up. “I’m going with you,” he reminded.

Flame shot him a quelling glance as she made her way to the front door. “It’s quite all right, Raoul. I’m perfectly fine on my own.” She leaned close to him. “I’ve had enough of your company and you’ll only get in my way.”

He retaliated by kissing the nape of her neck. “I can run circles around you, babe. I’ll follow you with your bike and we’ll make the exchange at the houseboat,” Gator added as he escorted her out the door.

“It’s my bike. I’ll take it home.”

“You’ll take off like a bat out of hell and I’ll never see you again. The Jeep can’t possibly keep up with that bike and you know it. I’m coming home with you.”

Flame glared at him. “I hope Burrell has his shotgun out. He warned me about you. He said you were a lady’s man and a bunch of other not so nice things.”

He grinned at her. “Betcha you got all jealous and snarly on him.”

She tossed her head, hair spilling around her face. “Get over yourself.”

His grin widened. “You did, didn’t you? No worries, cher, I’ve sowed my wild oats and am ready to settle down to wedded bliss. You’re the one and only for me.”

“I ought to insist on marrying you. You’d run screaming for the hills. Wedded bliss, my ass. You couldn’t maintain your façade of charm and the image of an easy going nature full-time.”

He pressed his hand to his heart. “Honey, that plain hurts. Everyone in the bayou knows I’m easygoing and charmin’. I think you have the pre-wedding jitters. Don’t you worry your pretty little head…”

“You’re about to get kicked. Hard.”

He laughed aloud. “Talk like that turns me on.”

She turned away before he could see her answering smile. She wanted to think of him as an enemy, but it was becoming more difficult. She actually liked the lunatic. She especially liked how gentle he was with his grand mother. And, God help her, his warped sense of humor. It was one of her worst failings. She enjoyed people. She knew it was because she wanted to fit in somewhere. She wanted to belong.

Raoul Fontenot had the family Flame always wanted. They loved one another and teased and treated each other affectionately. She craved that, needed the feel of a home and family, and he had shared his with her. Flame walked away from him with a lump in her throat and tears burning behind her eyes, away from his smiling grandmother and his perfect home.

“Hey!” Gator came up behind her and slung his arm around her shoulders. “You all right? I thought we were joking around.”

She would not cry in front of him. She was going home to Burrell. Maybe it wasn’t the same thing, but the river captain needed her company almost as much as she needed his. Flame shrugged Gator off and picked up the pace, practically running to the Jeep. It was a cowardly thing to do and she was ashamed of herself, but what the hell? She didn’t owe him an explanation. And she damn well didn’t want him being nice to her. Because she felt like a fool, she leaned out of the Jeep to look back at him.

Raoul was watching her, rubbing his shadowed jaw with a perplexed look on his face. He looked sexy in his tight jeans with his shirt stretched across his broad shoulders. “Try to keep up,” she called to him and started the engine.

He flashed her a boyish, heart-stopping grin and made a run for the house. Flame tore out of the yard, raising a cloud of dust as she sped out the gate. She knew the capabilities of her motorcycle and even with a head start, Raoul was going to catch her, but she wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

Racing down the highway, she spotted the open field that would give her a huge advantage. The shortcut would take her along the edge of a marsh, and through a series of small wooded areas, but she’d shave off several miles. She took the narrow dirt road and sped the Jeep across the overgrown field, dodging a couple of trees. The vehicle slid through a bog, slinging up mud behind her as she cut through a narrow patch of the marsh at high speed.

Laughing out loud she spun a doughnut in the next patch of mud, just because it was exhilarating and she knew Gator was roaring down the highway on her bike. She felt him. The connection between them was strong, strong enough that she knew if she reached, whispered, called to him, he would hear her.

She was in the risky area now, the Jeep slipping around turns as she let up just a hair on the gas going into the curve and punching hard, sliding nearly sideways through the turns. The Jeep was decked out for all terrain and she used every bit of skill she possessed to drive at breakneck speed along the faint trail. The Jeep caught air and slammed down, the front end tipping to the left and throwing her forward, only to catch air a second time, this time tilting to the right. She braced herself using the steering wheel, but the seat hit her back several times as she was thrown back and forth. Mud sprayed the air be hind her, throwing up a dark trail and covering the Jeep in rich goo.

She didn’t dare let up on the gas; in the heavy mud she’d be stuck immediately, so she pushed the Jeep to its limits, powering through the spongy ground and bumping over the nearly invisible road. Twice she dared the lower creek beds. Wyatt had a snorkel on the Jeep, but she didn’t want to take a chance using it in deeper water because it would definitely slow her down so she only went for the shallower beds, crossing fast and driving hard up the bank before shooting onto the frontage road that would take her along the canal leading to Burrell’s island.

The Jeep was black with mud even with the speed she was going, the wind spraying the dirt behind her. She smirked and waved as a car tried to stay up with her only to back off when mud spattered it. A black town car was heading in the opposite direction, and she recognized it as Parsons’s private vehicle. There was a certain satisfaction in seeing mud spray up and over it as she blew past. As she sped along the frontage road, she glanced toward the highway and her heart slammed hard in her chest. Gator was low over the motorcycle, his shirt rippling in the wind as he raced toward the exit to the extensive waterway system.

Flame couldn’t believe how excited she got just spotting him. Her stomach did a series of little flips and her heart began to beat wildly. She hadn’t had so much fun in a long time. He was just as determined to win as she was, his jaw set, his mind focused. She knew it because he was a competitor through and through, just as she was. They were so alike in so many ways, yet so different where it counted.

She tore up the frontage road along the canal, glancing back to see the motorcycle already exiting. Raoul had to have seen her even with the dust flying. She bent low over the steering wheel, her foot hard on the gas, urging the vehicle to greater speeds. The engine screamed at her, but over the top of it, she could hear the purring of her beloved motorcycle. The bike flew past her, tearing into the small dirt parking lot just moments ahead of the Jeep.

She parked next to her bike, leaping out, laughing, because she couldn’t help it. He sat on the motorcycle, swinging one leg, looking lazy and cool despite the humid heat of the swamp.

He pulled off his dark glasses and winked at her, holding out the keys to her bike. “I do believe, Ms. Johnson, I kicked your pretty little ass.”

She took the key chain from him and dropped the Jeep keys in his palm. “I do believe there must be at least ten cop cars chasing after you.”

“I lost them somewhere near the bridge. If they’re coming after me, they’re mighty slow. What’s my prize?”

“You think you deserve a prize for speeding? You were breaking the law. That was cheating.”

“I’m a rule breaker, cher. You’ll have to get used to it.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. There were flecks of mud on her clothes and some on her face, but all he could focus on was the laughter in her eyes. Everything male in him responded to her, but when she laughed because of him, he felt almost as if he could fly.

“I can’t imagine you as anything but a rule breaker. You were a little outlaw as a child and you’re still one as an adult. You get away with too much because you’re so charming. It isn’t good for you.”

His grin widened and he poked her with his finger. “A-ha! I knew you found me charmin’. Even the toughest ones fall eventually.”

“You’re not nearly as charming as you think.” She started back toward the Jeep.

Gator trailed after her. “Yes I am,” he teased. “You’re trying to escape me now, but I’m going to say hello to Burrell and declare my honest intentions so he won’t be comin’ after me with that shotgun of his.”

She stopped so abruptly he ran into her and had to catch her shoulders to keep both of them from landing on the ground. “Your only intention toward me is to get me back to Whitney’s little laboratory,” she reminded.

“Well now, I wouldn’t say that was true,” he denied, heat gathering in his eyes.

“Hello, you idiot. I’m not pregnant. We haven’t slept together. We’re not engaged to be married. You’re here to drag my ass back to Whitney.”

He tilted his head to inspect the curve of her bottom. “And a nice ass it is too. You’ve got me wondering again about those pretty little panties of yours.”

“Stay on track here, Raoul. I think you have ADD.”

His hand slipped from her shoulder to slide the length of her arm, trailed to the curve of her hip. She glared at him. “And keep your wandering hands to yourself.”

“You like my hands.”

“Not that much.” She faced him squarely. “You’re making this hard.”

“Well, that’s fair. You make me hard.”

She threw her hands into the air in sheer exasperation. “Go home, Raoul.”

“Not a chance, cher. I introduced you to Grand-mere. Why don’t you want to introduce me to Burrell?”

“You already know Burrell. And don’t give me your puppy-dog look. It isn’t going to work. I’m not taking you home to him. If you give him your ridiculous story about pregnancy and engagements I’ll never hear the end of it.”

He grinned at her. “Of course he’s going to hear about it, Flame. This is the bayou. We have our own newscasters. Grand-mere has announced to all her friends and they’ve called all their friends. The news has traveled throughout all the parishes by now.”

“Great. Just great.” Her eyes met his. Sober. Penetrating. “Why did you insist on me going to see your grand mother? She’s a lovely woman and I really enjoyed meeting her, but why would you do that?”

“I told you why.”

“That wasn’t the reason. I saw you with her. You’re very protective of her, of your entire family. Why would you give me ammunition like that?”

There was a small silence. She held his gaze. Gator sighed and shoved a hand through his thick wavy hair. “I wanted you to know who I really am.”