Read Online Bayou Born (Fleur de Lis Series) by Linda Joyce - Free Book Online Page A

with Meredith, that she’d turn out to be his mentoring assignment for the semester?
    And the most attractive woman he’d met in a very long while.
    Had Dr. Brown set him up?
    “Are you one of those guys who doesn’t eat anything green?” she asked. She dished salad from a wooden bowl onto her plate.
    “No. I eat green. Why?”
    “Then, try this.” With odd wooden paddles, she scooped up a pile of salad and plopped it onto his plate. “I happen to have it on good authority that it tastes great.”
    “I’ll be the judge of that,” he told her skeptically.
    As they navigated the rest of the food line, he couldn’t stop sneaking glances in her direction. Was Newton’s Third Law at play? “Force is a push or a pull that results from its interaction with another.” Despite the strong magnetic pull from her that said, “ come hither ,” usually, her kind of woman made him want to run for cover. Caroline had taught him that. Her kind fished for a guy, held him on her line, and after playing the line for a while, dumped him cold. Catch and release. Only Caroline had caught, released, then tried to hook him again. He wasn’t a slow study. One “Caroline” experience was enough to last any man a lifetime.
    In Branna’s case, the worst of it was, she had beauty and brains, too. That made her more dangerous than the average high-maintenance type. He had to admit, the woman had a lot going in her favor. He’d read her resume and credentials before Dr. Brown hired her, though he still wondered why she had worked as an event planner in some small hole-of-a-nothing town. In Mississippi. For the last several years. And, why teach adult education classes at night?
    Not his problem. Who understood a woman’s mind, anyway?
    “Any idea what this is?” Branna asked. She peered into a chafing dish where something had been topped with toasted breadcrumbs.
    “Nope,” he said. “And I don’t eat mystery food.”
    Her laugh reminded him of soft tinkling wind chimes.
    “Hmm. I would’ve guessed quite the opposite...coming from a mystery man.” She placed a dollop from the dish onto his plate. Rather than argue, it was his turn to shrug.
    When they neared the end of the food line, their plates groaning, Bitsy made a beeline toward them. He frowned, and tried to wave her away without Branna noticing. It didn’t work.
    “I see you’ve met our most eligible bachelor,” Bitsy said coyly to Branna. She tilted her head, motioning toward him as though he wasn’t standing there with a loaded dinner plate.
    “Yes. Yes, she has,” he interrupted, hoping Bitsy wouldn’t blow his cover.
    “Branna, you’re in good hands.”
    “And, whose hands would those be, exactly?” Branna smiled sweetly.
    “Why—”
    “Bitsy, I see Fred over there by the bar.” He alerted the older woman. She always kept a watchful eye on her husband. Fred’s prescription caused unpleasant side effects if combined with alcohol. When Bitsy took off in Fred’s direction, he motioned for Branna to join him in the other tent. He set his plate in front of an empty chair and held the next one out for her.
    “You’re good. But you know, I’ll find out your name sooner than later.”
    She sat, and then he seated himself beside her.
    “Hey, this salad is really good.” He hoped to distract her from the topic she appeared bent on pursuing. The mystery kept them on an even playing field. Once his identity was revealed, he’d be her mentor and her colleague, and flirting would be off the table. He wasn’t ready for that yet.
    What had Dr. Brown been thinking? The man had listed an inventory of Ms. Lind’s accomplishments and noted her background, then suggested that James and Ms. Lind had a lot in common. School, career, and old southern families. He should have been suspicious when Dr. Brown hadn’t segued into a lecture about finding the right woman and creating a whole, fulfilling life. Nothing like an old reformed bachelor trying his hand at