Chapter 4
4
Present day
Zara Miller smiled when she heard that special ringtone that belonged to her brother, Vaughn. She picked up her cell phone from her desk, wondering why he was calling so early on a Monday morning.
“Good morning, Vaughn. How are things going?”
“Everything’s going great, and the two ladies in my life are as wonderful as ever.”
The two ladies he was referring to were his wife, Sierra, whom he had married a couple of months ago, and her seven-year-old goddaughter, Teryn. Sierra had become Teryn’s legal guardian when Teryn’s mother, Rhonda, who’d been Sierra’s best friend from childhood, had died of cancer.
“You’re still coming home at the end of the month to attend Jaye and Velvet’s engagement party, right?” Vaughn then asked.
“Yes, I’m still coming. Why?”
“You might want to add additional weeks here to start packing,” Vaughn said. “I heard from the Historical Society and they are eager to take inventory of the contents of Zara’s Haven. That means you’ll need to pack up anything you want to keep.”
Zara’s Haven was the stately estate of their family home. It had been named for the first Zara, her great-great-great-grandmother, who’d been the wife of the town’s founder, the notorious pirate Jean LaFitte. Vaughn decided not to move into Zara’s Haven after his marriage. Zara, who owned several dress boutiques in New England and New York, had made Boston her home for years. That meant the twelve-bedroom stately mansion that sat on the Gulf of Mexico would be vacant the majority of the time. For that reason, she and Vaughn had decided to list it with the New Orleans Historical Society to make Zara’s Haven a historical landmark.
Jaye and Velvet were friends of theirs. She had prepared herself for the return to Catalina Cove for a weekend visit to attend the couple’s engagement party.
“Will you be staying at Zara’s Haven or the cottage while you’re here?” Vaughn asked, intruding into her thoughts.
“I’ll be staying at the cottage.” The cottage on Pelican Bay had been a wedding gift to their mother from their father. When their parents were killed in a boating accident years ago, their will gave Zara and Vaughn joint ownership of Zara’s Haven, but the cottage on Pelican Bay was left only to Zara.
She recalled going to the cottage on Pelican Bay with her mother regularly while growing up. She would spend hours on the island playing with her dolls while her mother, who’d once been a gifted artist in Paris, would spend her days in front of an easel, painting. It was the time she and her mother had spent together that she would cherish always.
“I’ll let you know when my flight arrangements have been made,” she then said.
“Sounds good. I’ll let you get back to work now.”
“Give Sierra and Teryn my love, and I’ll talk to you later, Vaughn.”
“Alright, Zara. Goodbye.”
After hanging up the phone, she continued sitting at her desk and thinking that although she had prepared herself for the return to Catalina Cove for a weekend visit to attend Jaye and Velvet’s engagement party, staying any longer than that had not been part of the plan. All because of that shocker she’d gotten when she’d gone home a few months ago to attend a celebration cookout given for her brother and Sierra.
She leaned back in her chair as she remembered what had caused her such shock...
Three months earlier
Zara walked back into the party from the patio to join her soon-to-be sister-in-law, Sierra. Both Vaughn and Sierra had been totally caught unawares. Vaughn had known about the surprise bridal shower today for Sierra, but what he hadn’t known was that the guys—namely, husbands and significant others of the ladies’—would be there as well. What was supposed to have been a surprise bridal shower had turned into a celebration cookout for the couple. Her brother hadn’t even known she had come to town for the occasion. It wasn’t easy pulling anything over on Vaughn and she’d been all for it.
Suddenly, she felt as if someone was staring at her. She scoped the room and went so still her punch cup almost slipped from her hand. She blinked, not believing whom she was seeing. It couldn’t be him. No way the man who’d just arrived, and who was staring at her with the same shocked expression she knew was on her own face, was the same man she’d had a one-night affair with a little over two years ago. Two and a half years to be exact. What was the guy she knew only as Saint doing here?
“Zara, are you okay?” Sierra leaned over to ask.
No, she wasn’t okay. How did he get invited to the party? He was standing beside Jaye Colfax, the new banker in town. Were the two related? Best friends? Was that why he was here in Catalina Cove?
“That guy who arrived with Jaye Colfax. Do you know him?” she asked, unable to break eye contact with him.
Following her gaze, Sierra said, “Sure. I’m surprised that you don’t. Probably because he graduated from high school six years before us and a year before Vaughn. His real name is Evans Toussaint, but most people living in the cove have always called him Saint.”
“Saint?”
“Yes.”
Zara’s head began spinning. So the man who’d had some sinfully erotic movements in the bedroom was known as Saint? He hadn’t been someone that had attended that summer music festival like she’d assumed. And he’d given her his real name or the name he usually went by. “Is he here visiting?”
“Like the rest of us, when he left for college he didn’t return, other than to visit with his parents. However, since they are getting up in age, he decided to move back to the cove a couple of months ago.” Sierra tilted her head to study Zara, who’d finally broken eye contact with Saint. “You’ve met him before, haven’t you?” she asked softly.
Zara drew in a deep breath. “Yes. It was two and a half years ago. A stormy night in August. Due to the weather, the airport in New Orleans had closed down. I had flown in to visit Vaughn, but the drive into Catalina Cove was hazardous so I checked in to a hotel at the airport for the night. That’s when I met Saint, at the hotel bar.”
She paused a moment. “He said his name was Saint and that his flight out of New Orleans had been canceled. Of course, I thought he was pulling my leg with his name, so I told him my name was Angel.”
Sierra grinned, which was a good indication her future sister-in-law knew what had happened that night. “I honestly thought I would never see him again, Sierra.”
Sierra leaned in closer and said, “Well, it seems that fate has decided otherwise. And just so you know, the sexual vibes emitting between the two of you are strong. People couldn’t help but notice your reaction to each other.”
That was the last thing Zara wanted.
“And another thing you might want to know, Zara.”
“What?”
“Vaughn is Saint’s boss.”
Bringing her thoughts back to the present, Zara stood from her chair and walked over to the window. Sierra had been right. A number of people at the cookout that day had witnessed her and Saint’s surprised reaction to seeing each other. Including her brother. Since nothing got past Vaughn, she was certain he’d figured out how she and Saint had first met. To this day, he hadn’t asked her anything about it.
What Zara appreciated more than anything was that her brother treated her as an adult, one that he knew was fiercely independent. He felt that she was mature enough to handle her business and make her own decisions. If she made mistakes along the way, they were her own to learn from. The only time Vaughn gave her advice was when she asked for it.
The blowing of a horn made her focus on the traffic outside the window. Very few shoppers were out today. So far it had rained every day this week, and the weather was a lot colder than it had been. It was a good thing she’d had the boutique store sale last week and not this one.
Zara detested cold weather and she would be the first to admit Catalina Cove had pretty good temperatures all year round, and their winters were not like Boston’s. She also knew the cove was one of the best places to live and raise a family...if you were interested in that sort of thing. She wasn’t now, although at one time she had been. Her ex-boyfriend, Maurice Calvino, had destroyed her dreams of marriage and family.
Refusing to think about Maurice, she moved back to her desk to sit down. She would meet with her boutique assistant, Sherri LaBlanc, to let her know she would be returning yet again to Catalina Cove. It would be the fourth time in less than six months. First, there had been the luncheon Sierra had hosted for members of her bridal party; the second time had been for Vaughn and Sierra’s celebration cookout; and then for their wedding in March. Now she would be returning to attend Jaye and Velvet’s engagement party and to pack up Zara’s Haven.
Her insides were tingling at the thought of seeing Saint again. She just hoped her willpower at resisting him was better than the last two times.