Holiday at Magnolia Bay (Southern Born Christmas Book 1) (4 page)

Aunt Evie clapped her hands in excitement. “Oh, I just knew you two would hit it off! Jenna, this is Drew Lanham.
Lieutenant Commander
, Andrew Lanham, to be exact.” His godmother’s blatant mention of his military rank was a misfire judging by the way Jenna’s eyes narrowed to slits. Still, it was in Drew’s nature to live life on the edge. He shifted his beer bottle from right to left and extended his hand anyway.

Jenna eyed the bottle of beer before reaching out to place her hand in his. Her fingers were warm and her handshake determined. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she murmured, her breathlessness negating some of her bravado. Drew sucked in a quick breath of his own as his body reacted intensely to the contact. Fortunately, years of training allowed him to hide it.

“I assure you, that’s just the first in a vast repertoire of pleasures I can provide,” he said. Aunt Evie chortled with glee at the blatant flirtation while Jenna’s eyes went wide in her pink face.

Drew had to give her credit for maintaining her own composure along with her role in the con. Despite the fact that her co-worker-boyfriend-lover-whatever-Perry-was had seemingly changed the rules on her, she wasn’t going to rat him out here in front of their mark. But it didn’t matter what the three scientists were up to, they weren’t getting Aunt Evie’s money. Even if it meant Drew had to spend the rest of his leave keeping close tabs on the trio.
Especially
if it meant keeping close tabs on one of them in particular.

“And with that, I believe we should adjourn to the dining room.” Aunt Evie rose from her chair, still holding her pesky cat that swished its tail as though it were the conductor directing this little drama. The two paraded out of the room leaving the rest of her guests to follow.

*

His eyes were
green. Almost exactly the color of the sea and so inviting that Jenna could easily get lost in their depths. Too bad they were also laughing at her.

Could this day get any worse?

Throughout the agonizing meal that should have been a delicious lunch, Drew Lanham’s eyes–
make that Lieutenant Commander Andrew Lanham’s eyes
—remained focused on Jenna, making it impossible to enjoy a single bite of food. Not that she could have anyway. Her head was spinning and the nausea that had been churning in her stomach since she left the Center threatened to unleash itself at any time.

Perry was engaged!
Yet, for the past month, he’d been flirting with her, dating her, kissing her and, oh, God, last night he’d had his hands…there! Jenna squirmed in her chair as the bile rose to her throat. Macy had been right; Perry was using her. And she’d been stupid enough to fall for it. And to think, she’d felt guilty this morning about being attracted to a stranger on the beach when all this time, Perry had been playing her. Her fork slipped out of her trembling hand and clattered on the plate.

“Pardon me,” she said automatically as she quickly reached for it again.

“Jenna, Sugar, are you all right? You look a little peaked,” Evie asked.

The last thing Jenna wanted was to upset her friend. Developing an international turtle hatchery had been a dream of both women for years now and Perry was their link to getting it established. If Evie suspected Perry wasn’t as honest as he should be, she’d never offer to fund the project. The problem was, Jenna wasn’t all that sure the Great Dr. Duhamel
was
sincere. It stung a little to think she could have been strung along so easily—especially following her relationship with Sam.

Never again.

Jenna Huntley was no longer every man’s doormat. From this moment on, she was playing by her rules. She’d keep her doubts about Perry to herself—for now. But she’d also keep a close eye on him if for no other reason than to make sure he didn’t take advantage of Miss Evie or anyone else.

“She’s just a little wiped out from her early morning escapades on the beach, Aunt Evie. She’ll live.”

Jenna risked a glance toward the head of the table. Drew was lounging nonchalantly in his godmother’s antique dining chair, his plate was now empty in front of him while another bottle of beer dangled from his finger tips. He gave the appearance of a man relaxed, enjoying a leisurely lunch, but Jenna knew his type well. This sort of man never fully let down his guard. He was just better than most at giving off the illusion that he had.

She tried to avoid his eyes, but they were everywhere she looked. As she suspected this morning, those green eyes of his were seemingly all-knowing. They unnerved her—
almost as much as they aroused her
. Worse, she had no idea of the game he was playing; why he was flirting with her.

“Oh my,” Miss Evie exclaimed. “Did something happen on the beach this morning?”

“No,” Jenna said.

“Yes,” Drew responded at the same time. “Something
definitely
happened on the beach this morning.”

Jenna narrowed her eyes at him while Miss Evie, Perry and his fiancée studied them both. Perry stared at her with perhaps a bit more intensity than the others, fueling her ire even more.

“It was nothing,” she said, continuing to look at Drew. The corner of his mouth turned up in a half smile as though he was glad she’d decided to play along. He’d engaged her in some sort of flirtatious battle that only he knew the rules to, much less the reason behind. “Just some little boys who got too close to the nest outside, that’s all.” She bobbed her head at him, conceding his point that she might have over-reacted a teensy bit this morning.

Drew was all victory smiles now. He saluted her with his beer before taking a swallow.

“Well, we do have to be vigilant if those babies have a prayer of surviving,” Miss Evie said. “The eggs are so close to hatching. And Lord knows what types of trouble some little boys can get up to.”

Jenna watched in fascination as Drew tried to suppress a grimace at his godmother’s statement.

“Ahem,” Perry said. He’d been attempting to charm Miss Evie throughout their lunch, while his fiancée surreptitiously studied Drew from behind her water glass. “Speaking of the turtles, Imogene and I would love to discuss our plans for the joint hatchery project with you.” He reached beside his chair to pull out his tablet, but Miss Evie stopped him before he could boot it up.

“Not on a full stomach, Doctor. I need to take my daily constitutional. Jenna can fill me in on the details another time.” She rose from her chair at the end of the table opposite her godson.

“Wait! You can’t just leave. I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours in an airplane so that we could discuss the financing of this project.” It seemed Imogene wasn’t a mute after all.

“But not to spend time with your fiancé?” Miss Evie asked sweetly.

Perry bristled beside Imogene, his eyes darting to Jenna’s. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard Drew gulp back a chuckle. There was nothing funny about the situation. Jenna was already under-employed at the Center as it was. Without a hatchery, she’d eventually have to move on to one of the larger facilities on the east coast—she was wasting her degree giving tours and working in publicity. Developing an international hatchery would finally validate her career with her family not mention keeping her in Magnolia Bay, the only home she ever wanted. But Perry’s ill-mannered fiancée may have just quashed the whole thing.

One thing about Miss Evie that Jenna had learned years ago, she didn’t tolerate rudeness. Not from anyone.

“Well, if it’s money you want.” Miss Evie’s face was inscrutable as she eyed Imogene. Drew had ceased his chuckling and become more alert at his end of the table. “Then we’ll have to get you some, won’t we? When I was a young woman, and we wanted something new that would benefit the entire town we had a party. We invited everyone who was anyone.” She eyed Imogene severely. “Especially if they had deep pockets. It’s been a while since we’ve had a party here.”

“Aunt Evie…” Drew was on the edge of his seat now.

Miss Evie ignored him, clapping her hands together. “Daisy and Camellia Bloom have been snooping around this old house for years. They’ll be pleased as punch to get an invitation. We can have an old-fashioned low-country boil right here on the beach.”

“God, not those old biddies from the historical committee,” Drew murmured.

“Miss Song, I don’t think you understand the magnitude of the project we want to discuss with you,” Perry interjected. “Small donations are fine for operating expenses, but—”

The older woman ignored him. “Next week Thursday should work just fine. There’s no church or choir practice on Thursdays, so that will have to do. We can pass the hat around and you’ll have your hatchery in no time.” She headed out of the dining room calling to her assistant.

“What does she mean by ‘pass the hat’?” Imogene asked Jenna while Perry vaulted from his seat to follow Miss Evie from the room. Imogene snatched up her bag and made for the door, but not before hissing over her shoulder. “I can’t just wait around this little hamlet for weeks on end. Perry promised this was a sure thing. He said
you
practically guaranteed it.”

Jenna sat in stunned silence. Maybe this was all just a bad dream. She’d wake up any minute and today wouldn’t have happened yet. Perry wouldn’t be engaged. Miss Evie wouldn’t be acting as though she was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

“All the more key lime pie for us, I guess.”

And the sexy man who’d been harassing her all day would be gone.

“You,” she practically shouted at him. “Everything was going fine until you showed up!”

“By everything, do you mean your little ruse to con my godmother out of millions? Actually, I think the woman who’s engaged to your boss—who is or isn’t your boyfriend—pretty much screwed the pooch on that one.”

Jenna was having trouble getting her mouth to work properly. How had everyone known about Perry except her?

“Face it. They used you. It’s the price of being…passionate,” he drawled.

Despite the fact it was true, Perry had used her, Jenna didn’t like the implication that she was somehow conning Miss Evie. They’d both worked on the plans for the hatchery together and the older woman had offered to fund it from the get-go. If anyone here was under suspicion, it was a certain military man who’d shown up out of nowhere to disrupt one of the most important events of Jenna’s career.

She crossed her arms over her chest and studied him. “Who are you exactly? And how do you fit into this picture?”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “Let’s just say I’m someone who means to keep my godmother’s financial house in order.”

“Funny how I’ve known Miss Evie for twenty years and she’s never mentioned having family of any kind, much less a godson.”

“Funny how I’ve known
Aunt
Evie my entire life, and she’s never mentioned knowing a freckle-face, turtle-saving, sea goddess.”

Jenna was shaking with anger—and something else she couldn’t quite define—as she stood from the table. “Miss Evie is very important to me and I won’t see her hurt. By anyone. I’m going to keep a close eye on you, Andrew Lanham.”

He leaned back in his chair, a wicked grin on his face. “If you’re willing to keep your hands on me, too, I’d say we have a deal.”

Her entire body was quivering now, even those hard to reach places, and that fueled her anger even further. “You drink too much.” It was childish, but her brain had seemed to cease functioning rationally when faced with the combination of that smile and those eyes.

His demeanor was suddenly deadly sober. “On the contrary, I don’t drink enough.”

And that’s when she saw it: That quick haunting flash of horror that soldiers brought back from war. It was a small glimpse at the vulnerability they carried around as a result of the atrocities they’d witnessed. Or performed. But she also knew what those vulnerabilities could do to a man. She’d seen it firsthand.

He covered it up just as quickly, giving her a smug smile before taking a pull from his beer bottle. Vulnerable or not, he was up to something. And Jenna wasn’t going to let him get away with it. But for now, she needed to put as much distance between the two of them as she could. Her common sense where men were concerned was at an all-time low. Making matters worse, her body seemed to be in the mood to ignore what little common sense remained.

Unable to trust her mouth, she turned on her heel and ungraciously stormed out. Two years of cotillion shot to hell. Her mother would be so proud.

‡