Brown Eyed Girl (18 page)

The woman rolled her eyes. “Visiting
mon vieux monde
for the holidays.”

“
How are your parents?”

“
They’re good, but if I had to sit through one more minute of watching ma pere sleep in the recliner while ma mere watched another re-run of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’, I’d lose my freaking mind.” She grabbed his arm and jerked him toward the dance floor. “Come on Red, allons danser!”

Red took her into his arms and they swayed to one of the soft, bluesy ballads of Marc Broussard and his band.

Angelique’s arms looped around his neck and she pulled herself closer, rubbing herself provocatively against him. “What do you say Red? Would you like to take me back to your place when we leave here?”

“
I don’t have a place in Lafayette anymore, Angel. I sold the house here and bought a ranch outside of Lake Coburn.”

She looked at him in horror. “Why would you do that?”

“
I have friends there, one whose wife is expecting my twin Godchildren, and I’m opening up another club there.”

She waved her finger in front of his face. “Non, non, non, Red baby, that’s why you hire people to take care of things like that for you. And by the way, I
have
a Godchild I see twice a year...for birthdays and Christmas. Unload the
ranch—
” she said, not bothering to hide her disdain, “—and move back to Lafayette where you belong. Meanwhile...” she purred, rubbing up against him suggestively, “...we could go to your office down the hall and lock the door. What do you say, Red? Allons piquer, oui?”

“Angel,” he said, trying not to show how truly disinterested he was by her suggestion. He removed her arms from his neck and took one step back. “We’ve been through this before, sweetie, and decided it’s better if we’re just friends.”

Her lower lip pushed out in a provocative pout. “That was before I realized that there are no more good men out there. Come on Red, one more for old time’s sake. No other man has ever made me feel what you could,” she breathed into his ear. “Work your magic on me one more time. Let’s rent a hotel room for tonight. Just one more night of great sex for good measure,” she said, pulling his face close for a kiss.

Red pulled away from her. “Arret ca, Angel! Stop! You know we’d only end up hurting each other, and I don’t want that.”

She pouted prettily again, but finally relented. “You don’t know what you’re missing out on. I haven’t had it in awhile, and I’d be a real wildcat for you tonight.”

Red chuckled. “I appreciate the offer, but no.”

She gazed at him suspiciously. “Have you met someone?”

“I’ve met plenty of people since you.”

Angelique shook her head. “Are you in love with someone?”

He hesitated a split second before answering. “Of course I’m not.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I believe you’re lying.”

“Look, Angelique, I’m not
with
anyone. I don’t have the time to start anything new right now.”

She tapped his chin with her long manicured nail. “I think you’re keeping something from me,
monsieur beau
.”

“Do you want to dance or not?” he asked, getting rather annoyed with her.

“Okay,
cher,
we’ll dance, but you know I don’t like it when people keep things from me.”

Red snorted. “People keep things from you? It wouldn’t have anything to do with that hot temper of yours, would it?”

“
Moi?
Me?
Je connais pas
. I don’t know. I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re talking about.”

Red cocked his head to one side. “Let me refresh your memory. How about the girl you attacked in the ladies room because I danced with her a full month after we broke off our relationship? Does that ring any bells?”

Angelique’s brow furrowed. “Are you going to hold that against me for the rest of my life? I only pulled out a small patch of hair, and that putaine had a headful. Besides—” she said, fluffing her own hair, “—I saw her two months later, and her bald patch was filling in nicely.”

“
I’m surprised she let you close enough to see,” he said, snorting.

“
It was tricky. I had to sneak up on her from behind and tap on her shoulder. When she turned around and saw it was me, she screamed like she’d seen a gros betaille, and ran in the opposite direction.”

“
Hmph...I can’t imagine why.” He gave her a stern look of warning. “I’m telling you now, Angel, if you ever pull anything like that in any of my places again, I will ban your ass. Do you understand me?”

She sulked, but remained silent.

“Answer me, Angelique.”

“Oui! Yes, I understand! Just dance one more with me, Red.”

Red complied, praying that Angelique would be gone by tomorrow night. The last thing he wanted was for her to be anywhere in the same vicinity as Tiffany.

<><><>

Drake LeBlanc sat at his desk in his Houston high rise apartment trying to shake off his insomnia induced exhaustion with more coffee. Damn, but he’d give anything for a full night of restful sleep. He’d decided Tiffany was right about him needing a career change, but suspected his job was just the first in a long line of changes he needed to be happy.

His life, as it existed now, bored the hell out of him. Everything from the fancy restaurants and take-out food he survived on, to the company he kept. Finding the necessary diversions of the female persuasion without saddling himself with a wife and children was proving more difficult. After the display of mind numbing lack of feeling he’d seen from his parents, the
last
thing he wanted was to get tied down to someone permanently and pump out a couple more children to keep the cycle going. But the endless parade of gorgeous, shallow, model-thin women he usually found sexually gratifying, had become increasingly unsatisfactory as of late.

Examining the contents of the file Dan had delivered to him first thing this morning, he saw Scott McAllister’s life laid neatly before him on the glossy surface of his desk. So far, he hadn’t seen a damn thing out of line with the man. He was valedictorian of his high school class, graduated with top honors from Louisiana State University, with a bachelor’s in Business, worked himself through the Master’s program and had several successful businesses in and around the Lafayette area since then, just as he’d said. The man was a self-made millionaire and Drake was thoroughly impressed with his credentials.

Even more impressive, in Drake’s opinion, was the character references that Dan had collected. Everyone, without fail, said the same thing about Scott ‘Red’ McAllister. The man was hard-working, fair, honest, and possessed a level of integrity that most men strive for, but few actually attain. Although he didn’t go looking for fights, he obviously didn’t back down from any. The one item on the sheet that jumped out at him was the fact that even the two people he’d managed to alienate over the years called him incorruptible. Apparently they’d tried to hold back services, demanding kickbacks, and McAllister had come out swinging—exposing them both for their dishonesty, and causing serious repercussions for both men. It had resulted in one board member resigning his position, and another dropping out of a re-election campaign. This guy was the polar opposite of Tanner Collins, and Drake figured Tiffany could do a hell of a lot worse. A bachelor with no children, he had no serious relationships to speak of, so he was definitely free to start up something with Tiffany when she was ready.

He held up a snapshot of the man in question and wondered if he was looking at a picture of his future brother-in-law. He hoped Tiffany could find a way to be happy now that she’d finally had enough of their parent’s interference. They’d practically sold her at birth to the Collins family and no matter how hard he’d tried to convince them that pushing her to marry Tanner was unfair to her, they’d turned a deaf ear to his reasoning. Thankful that she’d finally found the strength to stand up to them, he’d do what he could to support her.

Drake picked up the phone and dialed his father’s mobile number. “Hey Dad,” he said after his father answered the phone.

“
Drake!”
The voice of Daniel Drake LeBlanc boomed over the phone.
“How are you, Son?”

“
I’m good, and how about you?”

“
Oh, can’t complain. You hardly ever call, so I know there must be something on your mind. Out with it.”

“
It’s about Tiffany breaking it off with Tanner.”

Daniel groaned.
“Your mother called hotter than a habanero coated in cayenne pepper. She insists she’ll never be able to hold her head up in her circle, and wants me to talk some sense into her.”

“
Well, don’t even try. She’s done with that piece of crap. You do know that, right? That he’s not fit to lick the soles of her shoes?”

“
I know Tanner doesn’t have the spic and span persona that your sister admires in people, but she’s living in a dream world. Let’s face it, Son. Good husbands aren’t that plentiful, and she’s not getting any younger. If she’s going to make a match, she needs to get on the ball.”

“You know, Dad. You and mother have only missed the age of arranged marriages by a century and a half.”

“
That’s not funny, Drake.”

“
It wasn’t meant to be. So, tell me, how’d
your
arranged marriage work out for you?” He heard his father’s growl of disapproval.

“
Your mother and I look at our marriage as a business arrangement. Marriage for any other reason is pure foolishness.”

Drake shook his head, amazed at his father’s stubbornness. “I’ve heard all this before, but the fact is, Tiffany doesn’t love Tanner. Hell, I don’t think she even likes him. I know I can’t tolerate the son of a bitch. He’s weak willed and arrogant, and those two qualities don’t make for a good husband or father of your future grandchildren. Wouldn’t you rather see her with a decent man? Wouldn’t you want your grandchildren to have a better role model?”

“
Women don’t have the luxury of waiting as long as we can to have children. Her biological clock is ticking away as we speak.”

“
You should have thought of that before you coerced her into wasting five years with a man, and I use that term loosely, who wasn’t suited to her. Besides, you act like she’s a shriveled up old maid, when she could easily pass as a teenager to someone who didn’t know her.”

“
Our families have known each other for years. She could tr...”

“
You know, Dad,” Drake interrupted. “That horse you’re beating? It died a good while back, so you might want to bury the damn thing any day now.”

“
Is that what passes for parental respect at that fancy ivy league college?”

“
If respect is what you’re after you’d better start showing your daughter some support,” Drake drawled. “At this rate, grandchildren won’t do you a bit of good because I doubt she’d bring them around.” For the first time in the conversation, his father answered with dead silence. “Dad, are you still there?” Finally, he heard his father’s tentative reply.

“
She wouldn’t do that, would she?”

Drake rubbed his jaw in frustration. “Hell, I wouldn’t blame her if she never set foot in Texas again. You
do
know that mother and Tanner both expected her to walk away from her career after marriage. Do you have any idea how insane that is?”

“
Your mother had strange ideas about women who work.”

“
Hell, the only thing mother ever
worked
at was spending your money. Even then if Melinda hadn’t been around, we wouldn’t have gotten a ‘hello, how are you’, much less three square meals a day. Tiff and I knew early on that, as mothers go, ours sucked…bad.”

His father gave a loud
harrumph
.
“That woman never did have any kind of maternal instinct. She wasn’t any better of a wife than she was a mother. The bed was a desolate place with your mother in it.”

Drake cringed to himself. “I sure as hell don’t need to hear any of that.” His father chuckled, as Drake continued. “So, do you think you could stay off of Tiffany’s ass about this, dad? You know, if you do, she may find someone on her own who’s more suited to her. God knows she deserves to be happy.”

“
All right son, I’ll speak to you mother, as much as it pains me to do so.”

Drake grinned in triumph. “Trust me, you won’t be sorry.”

Once the phone call with his father ended, he dialed his sister’s home number. She answered on the third ring, sounding slightly winded.

“
Hey Sis, how’s it going?”

“
Hey Drake, I just came in from my run.”

“
How far?”

“
Um, three and a half miles. It helps me deal with Tanner calling twenty times a day telling me I need to reconsider. I’m sure he has mother and dad’s blessings.”