Echoes in the Bayou by Ursula Dukes Read Free Book Online Page B

after Katrina hit when I
started looking for a new place and I don’t know… there was something about
this place that seemed to call out to me. It was screaming my name so I called
up my realtor, put in an offer and was the new owner of Montieu plantation the
very next day."
    "Oh
so you and your fiancé live here?" Ava asked disappointed. Of course
Gavin would send me here where the prospect of falling in love again would be
completely out of my reach, the selfish bastard . "Oh no not anymore, she broke things off with me
but I decided to move here anyway so here I am alone," he said, trying to
hide his sadness.
    " I'm sorry; it’s none of my business. I was just trying
to get a feel for the place and its owner," her smile full of hope. There
was something about her eyes that made him want to tell her everything about
him. How he was incapable of love and that his ex-fiancé had spent years using
him, but that he didn’t care because he didn’t want to spend the rest of his
life alone.
    "Ava,
I hope you’re not tired," he said hoping that she was a night owl like
him. And after she told him that she wasn’t, he invited her downstairs for a
bite to eat. When she eagerly accepted, he found himself grinning from ear to
ear. "That’s wonderful," he said with cheerfulness.
    Ava
released yet another smile. "Just let me
get freshened up and changed, I’ll join you in a moment."
        She made sure to draw the curtains before she
got undressed, there were some strange things going on, and she didn’t need the
feeling of someone watching her added to it.
    A s she stood underneath the soothing water, she thought
about her employer Magnus. He was very attractive, and his jet black hair was
almost shoulder length, a little wild but still very sexy. Longer hair was
something that she usually disliked on a man, but on him the longer hair suited
him quite well.
    She
imagined him running hi s fingers through it when
he got frustrated or worried. How it must fall sexily around his glasses when
he’s looking down. It didn’t hurt that besides having a tall and well-built
body, he had the most erotic looking eyes. They were a shade darker than pure
gold, and they were incredibly mysterious. Yes, Magnus DuPonte is one sexy writer , she told herself as she got dressed.
    A nd he seemed to be very attentive; did she sense an
almost immediate attraction? Well
immediately after he scared the shit out of me with a baseball bat , she laughed at herself. She had put him in his place
though and she hoped that he saw that she was no weakling. I think I’ll
be able to handle Magnus and this job pretty damn well , she told herself and stepped out of the shower.
    Not
wanting to appear sloppy, she fished through her luggage until she found
something suitable.   She put on a pair of
linen capris and a white tank top. After finger combing her long curly locks,
she dabbed on some lip gloss and made her way down the stairs and towards the
kitchen.
    "Ah
just in time, you look very nice," he said. Magnus had prepared some left
over fried chicken, biscuits and potato salad.
    " Wow, now don’t tell me you cooked all of this?"
She asked in disbelief.
    Magnus
let out a snicker. "Nope, my parents came
for a visit and my mother who loves to cook, prepared this wonderful meal. So I
hope you like it," he said with nervousness. He didn’t know why but he
wanted to do everything in his power to impress her, to make her feel welcomed.
And he hoped that it was working.
    While the
two ate and talked, the area around the old house continued to come alive. The
step that had caved when she stepped on it had slowly started to repair
itself.  The crumbling columns that stood in front of the grand house
suddenly turned rock-solid again. And slowly but surely the peeling paint began
to dissolve into a smooth, milky white luster. And while all of this was going
on; something in the bayou stirred.
    Magnus
and Ava talked well into the night and while he tried his best