Waters Run Deep

“Jane, please. And it’s killer out here, isn’t it? I’ve been here for almost a month and I still can’t get accustomed to the humidity.”

Annie glanced down the highway in the direction from which Jane had come. “What are you doing all the way out here?”

“Marathon,” the woman panted, pulling the breathable tank from her torso. “I’ve been training for months around the shooting schedule. Beau Soleil’s ten miles from the motel where the rest of us are staying, so it’s a perfect training run here and back.”

Annie nodded. Jane was okay. Much better than Tawny, but then again, Jane was a serious character actress appearing as an extra on police procedurals and the occasional big-screen film. With a wholesome look and a trust-inspiring demeanor, Jane was also frequently cast in commercials. As a close friend to the Keenes she’d snagged a part as the killer’s girlfriend. Something about being whacked in the first scene only to reemerge at the end of the film as the mastermind who faked her own death.

Annie checked her watch. No time for another mile. “I can’t handle that much running. Gotta get back to Spencer. Good luck with getting your miles in.”

“Glad he was found yesterday. Scary, huh? He’s such a rascal. I’m not surprised he slipped off. Tell him I’ll bring him a lollipop when I get a break. I promised him one when he beat me at Candy Land last month.” Jane straightened and glanced in the direction of Beau Soleil.

Annie nodded. “I’ll do that.”

“We should catch up. Maybe drinks in town? Tawny might come if Carter or that crazy lady will watch Spencer.”

“Sure,” Annie said, knowing Tawny would rather hang out with a leper than with the nanny.

“I’m so bored out here,” Jane said with a shrug, as if that explained why she was so hard up for company. “All the other girls on the film are twentysomethings who spend their time banging the crew. Although there is this one gaffer who’s to die for, but he’s such a baby. Okay, TMI. I’m heading back. I’ll call the house later.”

Jane set off back toward the motel, which sat right outside the city limits of Bayou Bridge. Annie had studied the map of the area, noting the bayous, tributaries and low marshland surrounding the small town. She needed to do some snooping around the production site, and Jane had given her a perfect reason for dropping by the motel if she could get some time off. Several members of the film crew worked directly for Carter’s production company and she’d told Ace she’d try to get a feel for how they regarded the Keene family. This tentative friendship with Jane would be her ticket into that world. So drinks would work.

She headed back to Beau Soleil, sucking wind and praying she wouldn’t crumple on the highway. The occasional car passed her, along with plenty of huge pickup trucks with dual exhausts and mud-splattered flaps. One passerby gave her a wolf whistle. She refrained from flipping him off.

By the time she made the gate to the mansion, she was done. She gulped air as she crunched down the long, winding drive at a slow walk. The cemetery appeared as she rounded the corner and she shivered despite herself. Her grandmother had claimed to have second sight and the ability to commune with the dead. The sudden prickly feeling had to be a leftover freakazoid gene rearing its ugly head.

The sound of a car behind her had her scooting off the road and checking over her shoulder. Gray government car.

Nate Dufrene.

Her heart took a gallop that had nothing to do with the run she’d just completed.

He slowed beside her.

She stopped.

“Wanna ride?”

“I’m almost there. And I’m pretty sweaty. Wouldn’t want to get your seats wet.”

His gaze traveled down her body and up again before meeting her eyes. The look was leisurely, not perfunctory, and his checking-out of her sweaty body made her throat tighten and awareness ignite in her blood. “I don’t mind.”

Her mind screamed get your butt back to the house and leave sexy Nate Dufrene the hell alone. Her libido, however, told her to take the candy the man offered and climb into his car like a naughty little girl. Damn, it was hard to ignore candy like Nate.

“If you don’t mind,” she said, walking around the car and pulling open the passenger door. She sank inside and angled one of the vents onto her face. Nate turned the AC on high and shifted into gear, rolling slowly toward the historic home where he’d been raised.

The car smelled like plastic, mingled with the slight scent of citrus cologne that suited the man sitting next to her. She inhaled, sucking in cool air and Nate Dufrene. Both were good.

“You run often?” he asked, casting an inquisitive look her way.

“Three or four times a week,” she said.

“You look like you could run circles around me.” He drove really slowly. On purpose? Or did he hide pawpaw tendencies behind his gorgeous brown eyes and lumberjack body? Maybe he wanted more time with her?

“You look fit enough,” she said, glancing out the window. No sense in trying to sound flirty. That had never been her game. Besides, she shouldn’t have climbed in the car with him, shouldn’t have gotten close enough to drink in his clean smell and seductive voice.

“Oh, yeah? Maybe we can go for a run together,” he said, as the house came into view.

Her body tightened unwillingly as thoughts of other things they could do together flitted through her mind. She glanced at him, unable to help herself and shrugged as though his presence wasn’t affecting her at all. Which it so was. Lord, what was wrong with her? Goal: prove to Ace she could do a phenomenal job as an investigator so she could make more money and get better assignments. Barrier: hunky detective.

“Is that a ‘yes’ or a ‘maybe’?” Nate asked, swinging into the gravel parking area out front. “Because I’ll be around. I think keeping an eye on the Keene family might be something our department needs to consider in light of the threats they’ve received.”

“Really? Figured we left danger back in L.A., so I doubt it’s something the local authorities need to worry about. I’m sure you have much more exciting things to pursue.” She reached for the door handle, but his big hand on her arm stopped her. His touch was warm, even on her heated flesh.

“Just a second,” he said.

She glanced at him, not able to read his expression or his eyes. “Yeah?”

“What did you say you did before becoming a nanny?”

Alarm uncurled in her belly, choking out the weird sexual energy that had been humming for the past few minutes. “A real-estate agent.”

“With what company?”

“Why? You looking for a house in the Valley?” she asked, jerking her arm away. “I worked as a real-estate agent for several years in Nevada. What’s it to you?”

“You lived in Nevada?”

No. “Yeah. Are you checking up on me or something?”

“Why so touchy?”

She gave him a dead stare. “I don’t like people implying I’m a liar.” Even if she was one. This undercover gig was hard to keep up around a guy like Nate. He seemed to smell bullshit from a mile away. She’d have to be extra careful to not let her guard down around him. Or anything else.

“I didn’t imply you were a liar.”

She arched an eyebrow and climbed from the car. “I’m not an idiot. You implied all over the place.”

She didn’t wait for him to say anything more. She needed to get away from him. Get a shower before she had to pour Spencer’s cereal and play happy nanny for the day. Hopefully, Ace or his best hound, Jimmy, would break the case by finding the weirdo who threatened five-year-olds back in California so she could go home and pick up another assignment, preferably something that didn’t involve watching SpongeBob twelve times a day. But until then, she’d do what needed to be done, even if it meant lying her ass off.

Nate stared at her as she gave herself a mental pep talk. He didn’t turn off the engine and he didn’t follow her, which was probably a good thing. She felt way too vulnerable around that man. What was he doing here anyway? Didn’t he have a job to do? Something more important than skulking around Beau Soleil implying she was something other than she was?

Her thoughts tripped over each other as she walked around the flowered path toward the kitchen door. She’d grab a yogurt smoothie before she went up to her bedroom.

Nate’s mother met her on the path.

“Did I see Nate pull up?” The woman looked worried.

“Yeah, he actually gave me a ride.”