Bayou beauty, p.13
Bayou Beauty, page 13
But he still hadn’t gotten her in bed. He was still at the make-out level, and it was slowly driving him insane.
“I don’t know exactly what happened, Mr. Darois,” the young woman said, her voice tremulous. She was a relative of his, but she used all the formalities. “I guess someone outbid us.”
“Underbid us,” he corrected. It was the third time this year that the company had lost a contract they should have been able to keep. “I want to know how much they bid, Jane. Do I make myself clear?”
“How am I supposed to find . . .” She backed away, moving toward the door though never taking her eyes off him. “I’ll find out and get back to you.”
The door to his office was left open and a familiar figure moved through the doorway, narrowly missing his unnerved assistant. Louis Sylvain was a man who knew how to wear a suit. His father’s closest friend had been the one to take Rene out to buy his first adult suit, a tailored three-piece that had been something akin to armor for him. It had been right before he’d gone to Chicago, and Louis had ensured he’d walked into that office feeling good about himself.
Sometimes it had been easier to talk to Louis than to his own parents. His mom and dad had seemed perfect, but there was always something mischievous about Louis.
“New assistant?” Louis turned and watched Jane scamper off.
“I promoted the last one. She wanted to move into HR and a position opened up.” Rene strode back to his desk and sank into his chair.
“Is that one of Cheryl’s girls?” Louis closed the door behind him.
Louis knew the family situation well. “Her youngest. She graduated a few months ago. If I could have put her in the mail room, I would have. In the last couple of months I’ve been forced to find positions for three of my cousins. Thank god Ashley didn’t qualify or she would be here, too. Jane has a business degree, though I have no idea how. She doesn’t know how to read a bid.”
“You know there’s a difference between school and the real world,” Louis chided. “Give her some time and I’ll find a better fit for her. I’ll start looking for a proper assistant for you. You know if you would stop promoting them, you might have better luck. Sometimes an assistant is just an assistant.”
Not in his experience. He’d worked with a VP in Chicago, a woman who’d taught him to always ask certain questions of his employees, the most important being—what is your goal? A good boss helped an employee achieve his or her goals, and that was how a boss retained top-tier talent. Still, it would be good to have an assistant like his wife’s. Gertie ran Sylvie’s work life like a well-run ship, and no one got past her. Not even Sylvie’s husband. “I don’t suppose you could find me a bossy older woman who takes no prisoners and protects her boss to the point that she can’t be intimidated by her boss’s charming husband.”
Louis grinned, an expression that made him look far younger than his sixty-eight years. “Having trouble with Gertie, are you? I could have told you not to try to get around her. She’s a dragon, that one. Always was.”
He often wondered if other CEOs realized how helpful being located in a small town could be. Every employee tended to have connections.
He wanted a connection with his wife. “That’s an apt description. She guards Sylvie’s schedule zealously. I never realized how busy a small-town mayor’s life is. She’s up at six and doesn’t get home until dinner, where I have to share her with my mother, and then she’s off to bed because she has to do it all over again. And the weekends are even worse. I thought we could spend a leisurely weekend together but no. We attended a Little League tournament. The entire thing.”
It hadn’t been the romantic afternoon he’d hoped for.
Louis moved to the chair in front of his desk, easing himself in with grace. “The problem is you associate the mayor’s office with the last mayor. His version of the job was to lead by napping. And fishing. Sylvie’s a ball of energy, and she’s got big ideas for the parish. She takes this place seriously. Have you thought about the fact that she’s a smart, ambitious woman who likely won’t stay here for long? I know she promised to work out the mayor’s term, but that’s almost up.”
“She’s planning on running again.” They’d talked about her ambitions for the parish. She had things she wanted to do before she made a decision about her future. She wanted to build up the infrastructure for the parish, to make city hall hum so when she left, the processes were in place to take Papillon into the future.
Then she would likely look into running for a state seat. He could make that work. Louisiana wasn’t some massive state. It was a three-hour drive from Papillon to Baton Rouge, and thirty minutes by private plane. She could commute to work. He would put a landing strip in the backyard.
“Is she, now? When did she make that decision?”
“Would it be so bad if she wanted to stay here because her husband’s here?” He had to play all this out because Andre would show up at some point, and he would likely be having this discussion again.
After all, Sylvie’s career and the possibilities of her life were exactly why he’d walked away the first time.
He didn’t want to make the same mistake again. Or rather the same choice. It hadn’t been a mistake to let Sylvie get through college and see a bit of the world before he pounced and locked her in the cage with him.
That was what bothered him. Did he have any right to drag Sylvie into his problem?
“I don’t suppose so.” Louis had taken over for Rene’s father in many ways. Louis was now the one who came in at least once a week to talk about how Rene was doing. “But I worry about what happens if she does choose her career over you.”
“Because you’ve seen it happen?”
A curious brow rose over Louis’s eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I’ve been thinking a lot about my parents lately. I worry their relationship was more of a friendly one than a passionate marriage. I worry I might be falling into the same thing because it’s what I know.” Though he couldn’t deny the passion he felt for his wife. “It’s not that I worry about it for me. For me, it would be the perfect marriage. I don’t want another wife. I want Sylvie. If I’m honest with myself, I jumped all over this situation because it gave me a way to get her where I want her.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I don’t think Sylvie will be happy with that kind of marriage. Her parents were wildly in love.” Maybe kids were always doomed to replay what they’d watched as they grew up. He knew he often felt like he’d stepped into his father’s life the minute he’d died, like the crown had been shoved on his head and it was heavy.
“Your parents loved each other,” Louis said quietly.
“But were they in love?”
Louis sighed and sat back. “They were older when they married. Your mother was well into her thirties, and at the time that wasn’t a normal thing. Your father was older than she was.”
“Did he marry her for the company’s sake?” That question had been running around Rene’s head for years.
“Are you asking if he was under the same pressure as you?” Louis asked. “Yes, he was. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t love your mother.”
Rene had always had his suspicions. “You spent more time with him than she did. He was married to this company. I’m not sure that’s what I want. I’m also not sure I’m capable of anything else. I think I’m my father’s son. I think there’s something missing inside me.”
He’d thought about the look on Sylvie’s face when he’d told her plenty of marriages started without love. It hadn’t been the answer she’d wanted, but he hadn’t been able to lie to her.
“There is nothing missing in you.” Louis had leaned in, his eyes intent on Rene. “And there was nothing missing in your father. He knew how to love. Maybe he wasn’t demonstrative enough for you, but that had to do with the way he was raised.”
“I’m not judging him.” He loved his father. He’d been a good father, but he hadn’t taught him how to be the kind of man Sylvie seemed to need, and he was at a loss for what to do. He wanted her. He wasn’t sure he could have her, and he was a little scared that losing Sylvie would have far more of an effect on his life than he was willing to admit.
He’d missed her for years, and when she’d returned, she’d seemed uninterested in him. Now he knew she wanted him, but he couldn’t seem to give her what she needed to take the last step that would start their physical relationship.
Then he could show her what he could offer. He could make up for his lack of emotions by being everything she needed in bed. A passionate lover and a good life partner she could count on. He had to hope that would be enough.
“I’m glad to hear it, because your parents went through enough judgment,” Louis said, his eyes going to the portrait of Rene’s parents he kept on the wall. In it they looked every bit the sophisticated, stately Southern couple. Educated. Polite. Respectable. “I was your father’s best man. I know how he felt about your mother. In many ways she saved him.”
“From what?”
Louis seemed almost startled by the question, but he recovered quickly. “The same thing you’re going through now. He was under pressure to marry, too. Your mother’s family was more relaxed, but she felt like it was time to settle down. She wanted a baby. They were happy together. Does love have to be one way? Does it have to be the crazy passion you see on a screen for it to be real?”
It had to be whatever Sylvie could accept. He breathed a sigh because he wasn’t going to fix the problem by talking about it. He wasn’t sure he could fix the problem at all. Louis had never married. As far as Rene could tell, Louis had been a confirmed bachelor all of his life. He’d been married to his job, too. “Of course not. Now let’s talk about what’s happening downstairs. You heard we lost the Gateway account?”
Louis looked like he wanted to argue but he merely sighed and plowed ahead. “We’ve got a leak somewhere. A corporate spy, to use dramatic language. Someone is leaking our bids and allowing our competitors to swoop in and underbid by pennies. The question is, who’s working for Charles?”
Rene thought along the same lines, but he had to be fair. “We don’t know it’s Charles.”
“No one else benefits,” Louis said firmly. “Everyone else wants the company to make money. Charles wants a bad quarter so he can point the finger your way at the board meeting. Someone is feeding him information, and we need to figure out who it is before we put in another set of bids next week.”
Louis was right. “Nothing is more important than this. I’ll clear my afternoon and we can strategize.”
He might need to hire someone to come in and audit his systems for suspicious activity. He didn’t want to do it, but he might have to call home and let them know he was in for a bunch of late nights. More proof for Sylvie that he wasn’t a good bet.
There was a knock on his door.
Hopefully it was his assistant with some information. “Come in.”
The door opened and pure sunshine walked in. Sylvie had changed out of the business suit she’d worn this morning and into jeans and a yellow T-shirt, hiking boots on her feet, and her hair up in a pretty scarf. She held a picnic basket in her hands. “Hey, I’m sorry to barge in but no one was at reception. I took the afternoon off and was wondering if you wanted to have lunch. I thought we could go out to the island.”
“Yes.” He couldn’t stand up fast enough.
Louis’s lips had curved up in a grin. “Nothing is more important?”
He’d said that about finding the spy, and now he realized what a lie that had been. The most important thing in the world had just walked through the door. “You can handle it, right?”
Nothing was more important than her.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” She bit her bottom lip in a way that nearly had him panting. “It was a silly idea. I didn’t think about the fact that you probably couldn’t get away. Maybe we could go to the cafeteria.”
He was already pulling his tie off. “No. I can absolutely get away. I could use an afternoon off. I’ve got some more casual clothes up here for when I need to go to job sites. I’ll change and we can go grab my boat.”
A brilliant smile crossed her face. “Okay. I haven’t been out on the bayou since I came home, and I was thinking about it this morning at yoga.”
“I would love to take you,” he replied, a sense of satisfaction running through him. She’d come to him. She’d taken time off and wanted to spend it with him, and that meant she was willing to give this thing a try.
“I’ll wait out here for you to get changed.” She turned and walked back out.
“And you say you’re not passionate.” Louis sighed. “You’re crazy about her. Stop worrying about the words you use. Love is different for everyone. There’s no one be-all, end-all definition. You want to learn how to be a good husband? Ask her to show you. I’ll handle everything and give you a report in the morning. But be careful. I heard there was a storm brewing.”
Rene glanced at his window. The day was bright and shiny. The weather report was often wrong.
There was no way anyone was raining on his afternoon. Not when his world finally seemed sunny.
chapter seven
Rene slammed the door to the cabin shut as the walls seemed to shake with the force of the thunder. He could hear the way rain pounded on the roof, and he hoped the cabin had already gone through its yearly maintenance.
“I guess I should have looked at the weather report.” Sylvie was shaking, too, her clothes soaking wet because they’d been sitting in the boat when the heavens had opened up and dumped sheets of rain on them. “It’s lucky we were close to your fishing cabin or we would have had a long ride back to the marina.”
It would have been a dangerous ride, too. Lightning filled the sky, and it was hard to see anything through the pouring rain.
The afternoon had started off lovely. They’d gone out to the island and shared the sandwiches and cookies Sylvie had packed. They’d watched the butterflies and talked about everything from what movies they’d watched lately to stories of their travels. Everything with the singular exception of their relationship. They seemed to be treading carefully around that subject.
Then he’d realized it would be dark soon, and the bayou could be dangerous at night. They’d gotten back in the boat and the storm had come on them so suddenly they’d had no choice but to look for shelter. Luckily they hadn’t been far from the fishing shack his grandfather had built. Shack was a complete misnomer since his grandfather had believed in luxury. It was more of a cabin, and while it wasn’t as well appointed as his home, it was far from rickety. The cabin was warm and there was food and a roof over their heads. It was all he could ask for at this point.
“I don’t know that I would have made for the marina with the rain coming down like that.” He would have worried about lightning hitting them. “I would have found the nearest land and looked for a place to wait it out.”
Thunder cracked overhead and Sylvie looked up as though she could still see the deluge. “Then I’m spectacularly happy about this cabin. The thought of riding this out under a tree isn’t appealing.”
It hadn’t been to him, either, which was precisely why he’d taken the chance to come here. “Are you all right?”
Sylvie gave him a shaky smile. “Of course. It’s not the first time I’ve gotten stuck in a storm, though it is the first time someone has swept me away to his private cabin.” She glanced around with that look of wonder she always seemed to find. It didn’t matter if she was looking at a master work of art or an old cabin. Sylvie found the world interesting and worthy. He was pretty sure she looked at the world the way he looked at her. “It’s been years since I’ve been here. Do you still have a generator?”
“Yes. It’s out in the shed.” Despite the fact that spring was making its way to summer, there was a definite chill from the storm. “I’ll get the lights on and then I’ll build us a fire. There’s no central heat out here.” He stopped in front of her, looking down into those gorgeous eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have taken better care of you.”
Her head tilted back so she could look up at him. “Maybe I should be apologizing. After all, it was my idea to take the afternoon off. I didn’t know about the storm, either. You could be warm and cozy in your office.”
And then he would have to concentrate on finding the spy in his organization. He would way rather be worried about warmth and food. He would definitely rather worry about taking care of her. “I don’t know that I would call my office warm or cozy.”
Oh, but her eyes were warm. “If you don’t like your office, we should talk about renovating it. It doesn’t look like you’ve redone it. And honestly, it’s not so bad being stuck here with you.”
“I haven’t. But then neither have you.” He would love to take on that project with her. He took a chance and cupped her cheeks. “There is no one I would rather be stuck with.”
One brow cocked, a definite challenge. “Not even my brother?”
“I can’t do this to your brother.” He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers. “I don’t even want to try. I don’t think Dre would be half as fun to kiss as you are.”
She grinned. “He would argue with you on that.” She went up on her toes and kissed him again. “Go and get the lights on. I want that fire as soon as possible. I’m cold.”
He handed her the flashlight. There was still some light outside, but in here it was pretty dark. Luckily his boat had a stash of emergency tools, like the flashlight. “There’s some dry clothes in the bedroom, though they’re going to be big on you. And if no one moved it, there should be a battery-operated lantern on the nightstand. It could take me a minute to get the generator going. And there are towels in the bathroom.”
