CHAPTER 9
Aurelie didn’t wait for Beau to come around and open her door for her. As soon as he parked in the parking lot at the boat factory, she pushed open the door and dropped down. Inside, she was steaming. She focused on keeping her face from showing what was going on in her head.
Beau worked for the Brotherhood Protectors.
She should’ve known. This had to be her father’s work. Then she remembered. She could not remember telling her father the name of her protector. Yet, her father had known his name was Beau.
How incredibly stupid of her.
She wasn’t sure who she was madder at, her father, Beau or herself. Her father for hiring a bodyguard without her permission or knowledge. Beau, for taking the job but not letting her know he was a bodyguard, conning her into falling for him. Plus, he’d used that lame excuse that when you saved a person, you were responsible for them for the rest of their life.
Bull-fucking-shit!
She was mad at herself for falling for all of it. And for falling for Beau. He was a hired bodyguard, not someone truly interested in her for herself.
She was the job.
She followed him to the door of the old boat factory without saying a word. If she didn’t need the help as badly as she did, she would’ve told him to go fuck himself and then found a way back to Baton Rouge to get a car and go...
Where?
She could stay at her father’s house. No. She’d moved out to start living her own life. Leaving her father had taken a huge emotional toll on her and her father. She didn’t want to put him through it again. Nor herself. Her father needed to move on and find another partner to share his life with besides his only daughter. He deserved a second chance at love.
He’d said that Aurelie deserved the same. Only this time, she needed to find someone worthy of her love.
Aurelie had no intention of dating or looking for love. It was too hard. Too messy. Too painful when it didn’t work out.
She could go back to her house and hope that whoever had ransacked it wouldn’t feel the need to do it again, only with her in it this time.
No. Not an option.
She couldn’t go back to her house yet.
For the moment, she’d play her next move by ear. She’d see what the Brotherhood Protectors had to offer in the way of finding the one responsible for her troubles. Between the Brotherhood Protectors and the elements of law enforcement that were investigating the attacks, they should come up with something. As soon as they found the person responsible and put him in jail, Aurelie could walk away from Beau and never have to look at him again.
Beau opened the boat factory door and held it for her.
She stepped through, careful not to touch him and spark that electric shock that happened every time since she’d met him.
Expecting an old boat factory, she was surprised at how shiny and fresh everything was inside. New machines lined each side of the large building with aluminum stacked in neat piles or rolls, ready to be fed into the machines to make small boats.
“When our founder, Hank Patterson, was looking for a place to set up shop in the bayou, we found this old, abandoned boat factory. Hank decided to use it as the base of operations for the Bayou Brother Protectors. Our division leader, Remy Montagne, convinced him it would be a good idea to keep it as a boat factory as cover for the operations center for the Bayou Brotherhood Protectors—and it would give our team purpose between jobs if they could manufacture boats at the same time. Hank had the old factory outfitted with new equipment to manufacture small skiffs. He hired a full-time manager who was experienced in the manufacturing techniques needed to make boats. That man is responsible for training us and keeping operations flowing on a limited basis.”
“You know how to run this machinery?” she asked, despite her desire not to talk to the man. Curiosity got the better ever.
“I do,” Beau said. “Building something with your hands and operating machines is therapeutic. A lot of our guys coming off active duty need that.”
“PTSD?” She shot a glance toward Beau. He’d been in a helicopter crash and lost members of his team. She was sure that, having been an Army Ranger, he’d seen battle and the horrors of war. That had to have been hard. Coming back to the civilian world where people didn’t understand that life had to be even harder. Did he have PTSD?
Her anger lessened a little. But she wasn’t ready to let go of it altogether. There was no excuse for him lying to her about why he was there at that masquerade ball in the first place. And the kiss? Had that all been part of the job?
Her anger spiked all over again. She wanted to ask him for the truth, but not here. Not now.
Beau led her through the boat factory to a door on the back wall. To enter this section, he had to put a finger on a fingerprint reader and then look into a retinal scanner. Once he passed both security checks, a lock disengaged. He pushed the door open to reveal a hallway. As soon as he stepped through, lights blinked on.
They walked past several closed doors to one at the end of the corridor. It opened into a large conference room with a huge table dominating the center, a giant screen on one wall and a bank of computers and monitors taking up another wall.
A man sat at the conference table with a laptop in front of him. When the door opened, he looked up and then pushed to his feet. He rounded the table and met Beau and Aurelie holding out his hand. “Beau,” he said. “I’m glad you stopped by.” He shook hands with Beau and then turned to Aurelie. “You must be Miss Anderson.” He held out his hand toward her.
Her lips pressed into a tight line. “You know who I am, but I don’t know you.”
“My name is Remy Montagne. Beau told us you two were coming,” the man said. “He asked us for help figuring out what’s going on with his...” the man clamped his lips shut for a moment and then continued with, “with you.”
“His assignment,” Aurelie corrected.
Remy flashed a look at Beau. “Did you...”
Beau shook his head. “No.”
Aurelie looked from one man to the other, her jaw hardening. “I’m right, aren’t I? I’m Mr. Boyette’s assignment…? He’s my bodyguard…?”
Remy nodded. “Yes.”
Aurelie couldn’t look at Beau. “When did he get the assignment?”
Remy glanced at Beau.
Beau answered, “The morning of the masquerade ball.”
“Your father called us that morning and asked us to provide protection for you since you were getting death threats.” Remy tipped his head toward Beau. “Our guy, Beau, got the assignment. Your father asked that he not let you know that he was there to protect you. He was afraid that you would reject the idea. All he wanted to do was keep you safe.”
Aurelie faced Beau. “Is that how it was?”
Beau nodded. “I was under strict orders not to let you know I was there to protect you.”
Her lips pressed together as she breathed in and out through her nose before responding. “I see. Does my father know that you told me?”
Beau shook his head. “Not yet.”
“Good,” she said. “Let me do the honors.”
Beau dipped his head.
Aurelie lifted her chin and turned to Remy. “What can you do to help me?”
“I’m sure you’ve already gone through this with the sheriff,” Remy said. “It would really help if you could repeat the information so that we can get to work on it.”
“What information do you need?” she asked.
“Information about anyone who might have an issue with you, your work or your father.” Remy raised a finger for each item. “Names of old boyfriends, rejected lovers, the mailman, basically anyone you might have pissed off in the last few weeks or months.”
“I’ve been too busy working for my father for lovers or boyfriends,” she said. “You can mark them off your list.”
“What about your work with your father? I understand your philanthropy effort is to save the bayou,” Remy said. “Are you meeting resistance with the work you’re doing?”
She nodded.
“If I could get a list of the corporations or individuals you’ve encountered recently, that would be a good place to start,” Remy said. “We can run background checks on them. “
“It would help if I had my laptop,” Aurelie said. “Unfortunately, it’s in my car in Baton Rouge at my father’s house.”
Remy gave a hint of a smile. “I could have someone retrieve it for you.”
“I’d appreciate it if you could have someone give me a ride up to Baton Rouge to get my car,” she said.
“Beau will do that,” Remy said.
“I’d rather have someone else.” She lifted her chin. “Someone who hasn’t lied to me.”
Beau had expected her reaction, but it still hurt. He hadn’t wanted to keep the truth from her. Knowing her past with the boyfriend who’d turned out to be married, he understood her anger. He’d violated her trust. He wouldn’t get that back anytime soon. He’d have to earn it by proving he would never intentionally hurt her.
If she gave him the opportunity to do so. The way it appeared, she was about to shut him out of her life altogether.
“Miss Anderson,” Remy started.
“Aurelie,” she corrected.
“Aurelie,” he started again, “Beau got the assignment because the other members of the team were unavailable.” He spread his arms wide. “I’d take you myself, but I can’t today. If you can wait until tomorrow, I might find room on my schedule.”
Her brow furrowed. “That’s fine. I’ll find my own ride.”
“Miss Anderson—Aurelie,” Remy said. “You’re in mortal danger. No matter how you feel about Beau, he will keep you safe. Let him do his job. If you still feel the same tomorrow, I’ll take you to Baton Rouge myself. But, please, let Beau provide the protection you need until then.”
Her pretty lips pressed into a thin line. For a long moment, she didn’t respond, as if going over her options in her mind.
Finally, she nodded. “Okay. Only until tomorrow. Get me to Baton Rouge, where I’ll have a discussion with my father, and Brotherhood Protectors will be relieved of responsibility for my safety.”
Remy dipped his head. “Agreed.”
No! No! No!
Beau’s instinctive reaction was to argue and shake some sense into Aurelie. He sensed she was too angry at that moment to listen. He might as well talk to a wall. The hard-headed woman needed time to cool off.
He’d apologize and promise to be completely transparent from that moment forward. It might not make a difference, but he had to try. She might be the client, but she was beginning to be more than just the job. Hell, she’d been more than just a client from when he’d pulled her into his arms on the dance floor.
Something about her drew him to her like no other woman had ever achieved.
She was strong, independent and knew what she wanted and didn’t want. He couldn’t let anything happen to her. If she fired him, he’d still follow her around to make sure she didn’t end up in the bayou with the alligators again, or worse.
Remy met Beau’s gaze. “Let me know what you need me to do in the morning.”
Beau gave a brief nod. “Yes, sir.”
Remy’s gaze returned to Aurelie. “Beau will protect you. You don’t have to like him but let him do his job. I’m sure you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, but you don’t have eyes in the back of your head. Beau has your six. He’ll make sure you’re safe. The Brotherhood Protectors are trained to work as a team, to have each other’s backs. It’s how we survived on the battlefield.”
Aurelie sighed. “I hear you.”
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Remy said. “I want to feed your information to our computer guru in the main office. Swede is a master at finding information on the internet and the dark web.”
Aurelie’s eyebrows shot up. “Dark web?”
Remy nodded. “He checks all the information on all the databases he can access. If someone has a dark past, he’ll find it.”
She nodded again. “Good.”
“I’ll have him look into your father’s opponent, too.”
“Why would his opponent target me? If he didn’t want competition, wouldn’t he eliminate it? Why would he go after me?”
“We need to cover every angle,” Remy said. “Sometimes, the most bizarre ideas prove to be the ones that solve the case.”
“We’ll be at Old Man Pearson’s house. Do you know where that is?” Beau asked.
Remy nodded. “We used to go swimming off his dock in the summertime.”
Beau chuckled. “Elise mentioned that it was a favorite of her peers. I don’t remember swimming there as a teen.”
“Old Man Pearson never minded. It was in a cove that few boats entered. We didn’t have to worry about being run over by fishing boats or party barges.”
Beau shook his head. “I must have spent too many summers in Bayou Miste with my cousins. I’ll have to give it a try.”
“You should,” Remy said with a smile. Let me know if you need backup. I’ll have my phone on me in case of emergencies.”
“Will do.” Beau glanced at Aurelie, who still wasn’t meeting his gaze. His heart pinched hard in his chest. All he could do was to keep moving. Hopefully, Aurelie would come around. “Ready?”
She gave a quick nod, spun on her heels and marched for the door.
Beau cast a twisted smile at Remy.
“Give her a minute to process,” Remy whispered. “She’ll realize it wasn’t your fault. Her father gave us strict instructions not to tell her.”
“So, now we’ve broken his trust as well.” Beau snorted. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”
“And sometimes, you’re rained out.” Remy grinned and clapped a hand on Beau’s back. “It all works out in the end. Give it time.”
Give Aurelie time, Beau added silently.
She waited for him at the doorway that led into the boat factory.
He opened the door for her and waited while she passed through it. Her shoulder brushed against his, sending a spark across his nerves, pinging through his body like a ball in a pinball machine. When heat settled at his core, he pushed back against the rising tide of desire.
He had to get a firm grip. The woman wanted nothing to do with him.
Beau made another stop before heading for the safe house. He pulled into the parking lot at Broussard’s Country Store.
When he went to get out of the truck, Aurelie sat still.
“Aren’t you going inside? You need conditioner and other things to tide you over for a while.”
She stared straight ahead. “I don’t need anything.”
He frowned. She damn well did need stuff. “It’s not fancy, and they might not carry the brands you prefer, but it’s better than nothing.”
“I can get by for one more night.”
He stared at her for a moment longer. “Why sacrifice when you don’t have to?”
Her brow formed a V over her nose. She spun to face him, her cheeks bright pink. “Damn it, I don’t have my purse. I don’t have money, and I refuse to be a charity case to you.”
Beau could have smacked his forehead. She had told him the night before that she’d left her purse in her father’s car.
“I have money.” He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, dug bills and a credit card out of the pockets and tried to hand them to her.
She held up her hands. “No. I can’t take your money.”
“Then show me what you like, what will fit, and I’ll buy them as gifts.” He sighed. “At the very least, you need shampoo and conditioner, and we need food for dinner.”
“I’m not hungry,” she said with a stubborn tilt of her head.
“Well, I am,” Beau said more forcefully than he’d intended. He drew in a breath and started over. “I’m sorry. Our last meal was breakfast, we missed lunch and I’m getting hangry. I’d like to buy some food to prepare at the cottage.”
“Go on,” she said, waving a hand. “Get your food. I’ll wait here.”
He shook his head. “I can’t leave you in the truck. I don’t feel comfortable letting you out of my sight for a moment.”
“No one is going to attack me so close to a public place,” she said. “Besides, I’ll be in the truck with the doors locked.”
“Are you one hundred percent certain you’ll be safe?” he challenged. “Are you willing to bet your life on it?”
She nodded.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Have you heard of drive-by shootings?”
Her brow dipped. “Yes.”
“That’s all it takes. A car and a gun. The truck doors and windows aren’t built to repel bullets.”
She stared at the store for a moment, then sighed. “Fine. I’ll go in with you.”
“Thank you,” he said softly and got out.