Loving Evangeline Read online

  He had never been more content than he was at this moment. Evie probably didn’t know what was really going on with Mercer and was involved only peripherally; he would be able to protect her without much problem. He had taken her to bed, and now he knew what had lain beneath her mysterious sadness. He doubted that Evie would ever completely stop thinking about Matt, but that was okay now, because Matt Shaw’s ghost had been banished and she had emerged from her emotional deep freeze. She had said that she loved him, and he knew instinctively that she hadn’t been mouthing the words merely to rationalize their lovemaking. If she hadn’t already loved him, he would never have been able to seduce her.

  Some of the women who had come before had also told him that they loved him—most of them, in fact. The declarations had never elicited more from him than a rather tender pity for their vulnerability. Though he had liked and enjoyed all his lovers, none of them had ever managed to pierce his shell; he doubted any of them had even known the shell existed.

  Evie’s simple statement, though, had filled him with a satisfaction so fierce that his blood had thrummed through his veins. She hadn’t expected him to respond. Now that he thought about it, she expected less from him than anyone else ever had. It was a startling realization to a man accustomed to having people come to him with their problems, expecting him to make decisions that would affect thousands of workers and millions of dollars. Evie expected nothing. How was it, then, that she gave so much?

  He carried her into the bathroom and stood her on her feet, then unwrapped her from the sheet. The sight of her creamy golden flesh aroused him again, drew his hands to cup her breasts and feel the cool, silky weight of them. His thumbs rubbed across her nipples, making them tighten. Evie’s eyes were wide with alarm as she stared at him.

  His mouth quirked into a crooked smile. “Don’t look so worried,” he said as he bent down to press his lips to her forehead. “I’ll restrain myself until you’ve had time to heal. Get in the tub, sweetheart, while I put on the coffee. A bath will relieve some of the soreness.”

  “Good idea,” she said with absolute sincerity.

  He chuckled as he left her there. The feeling of contentment was even deeper. She was his.

  Chapter Thirteen

  How could experiencing such a night not leave an imprint on her face? Evie wondered as she got ready for work. After her leisurely soak in the soothing hot water and an equally leisurely breakfast, which Robert had cooked with the same easy competence with which he handled everything else, he had driven her home and reluctantly kissed her goodbye for the day, saying that he had some business to attend to in Huntsville but would try to get back before she closed the marina. If not, he would come to her house.

  She had forced herself to do the normal things, but she felt as if her entire life had been turned upside down, as if nothing were the same. She wasn’t the same. Robert had turned her into a woman who actively longed for his possession, despite the discomfort of her newly initiated body. She hadn’t known, hadn’t even suspected, that passion could be so savage and all-encompassing, that the pain would be as nothing before the need to link her body with his.

  She wanted him even more now than before. He had brought up the long-buried sensuality of her nature and made it his, so that she responded to the lightest touch of his hand. When she thought of him, her body throbbed with the need to wrap her legs around him and take him inside her, to cradle his heavy weight, accept and tame the driving need of his masculinity. The scent of his skin, warm and musky, aroused her. Her memory was filled now with details that she hadn’t known before, like the guttural growl of his words and the way his neck corded when he threw his head back in the arching frenzy of satisfaction.

  She stared at her face in the mirror as she swiftly braided her hair. Her eyes had shadows under them, but she didn’t look tired. She simply looked…like herself. If there was any change at all, it was in the expression in her eyes, as if there was a spark that had been missing before.

  But if her face was the same, her body bore the signs of his lovemaking. Her breasts were pink and slightly raw from contact with his beard stubble, her nipples so sensitive from his mouth that the soft fabric of her bra rasped them. There were several small bruises on her hips, where he had gripped her during his climax, and her thighs ached. She was sore enough that every step reminded her of his possession and awakened echoes of sensation that made her acutely aware of her body.

  It was much earlier than usual when she drove to the marina, but she needed the distraction to take her mind off Robert. If she was lucky, Sherry would bring Virgil by to spend the day with her.

  Craig was gassing up a boat when she arrived. When he had finished, he came in and rang up the sale, putting the money in the cash drawer. “How come you’re in so early? Have a nice time last night?”

  Her nerves jumped, but she managed a composed smile. “Yes, we did. We went to a private club for dinner and dancing. And I came in early…just because.”

  “That’s a good enough reason for me.” He brushed his dark hair out of his eyes and gave her an urchin’s grin. “I’m glad you’re going out with him. You deserve some fun, after the way you’ve worked to build up this place.”

  “Thanks for swapping shifts with me.”

  “You bet.”

  Another customer idled up to the docks, and Craig went out again. Evie picked up the morning mail and began sorting through it. The junk mail and sales papers went into the trash. The bills went to one side, to be juggled later. One letter was from a New York bank she’d never heard of, probably wanting her to apply for a credit card. She started to toss it without opening it, but on second thought decided to see what it was about. She picked up the penknife she used as a letter opener and slit the envelope.

  Thirty seconds later, her brows knit in puzzlement, she let the single sheet of paper drop to the desk. Somehow this bank had gotten her confused with someone else, though she couldn’t think how they had gotten her name on one of their files when she had never done business with them. The letter stated, in brisk terms, that due to a poor payment record they would be forced to foreclose on her loan unless it was paid in full within thirty days.

  She would have ignored it except that the amount noted was the same as what she owed her bank for the loan against the marina. She knew that figure well, had struggled to get it down to that amount. Each payment brought it even lower. She didn’t know how, but obviously her file had gotten into this other bank’s computers, and they wanted her to pay fifteen thousand, two hundred and sixty-two dollars within thirty days.

  Well, it was obviously something she would have to clear up before it got even more tangled. Evie called her bank, gave her name and asked for her loan officer, Tommy Fowler, who was also an old school friend.

  The line clicked, and Tommy’s voice said, “Hi, Evie. How’re you doing?”

  “Just fine. How are you and Karen doing, and the kids?”

  “We’re doing okay, though Karen says the kids are driving her crazy, and if school doesn’t start soon she’s going to get herself arrested, so she can have some peace and quiet.”

  Evie chuckled. The Fowler kids were known for their frenetic energy.

  “What can I help you with today?” Tommy asked.

  “There’s been a really strange mix-up, and I need to know how to straighten it out. I got a letter today from a bank in New York, asking for payment in full on a loan, and it’s the same amount as the one I took out from you, on the marina.”

  “Is that so? Wonder what’s going on. Do you have your account number handy?”

  “Not with me, no. I’m at work, and all my bookkeeping is at home.”

  “That’s okay, I’ll pull it up under your name. Just a minute.”

  She could hear the tapping of computer keys as he hummed softly to himself. Then he stopped humming and silence reigned, stretching out for so long that Evie wondered if he’d left the room. Finally a few more keys were tapped, then more sil