Bayou Moon - Andrews, Ilona [41]
The water lapped at her, washing away the jitters. Calm came.
She opened her eyes. The pregnant dark sky threatened rain. The dark boards of the dock slid past her. William’s face swung into view, peering at her from the dock.
He stared at her with utter amazement, like a kid who had stumbled on to a bright odd-looking bug.
“Hi,” she said.
“What are you doing?”
“Floating.”
“Why?”
“It’s relaxing. You should try it.” Too late she realized that sounded like an invitation. Great. Just great. Would it have killed her to think before she opened her mouth? Jump in with me, Lord Bill, I’m swimming here, half-naked . . .
William shook his head. “No.”
Wait a minute. What did he mean “no”? “Why not?”
“I don’t like water.”
“Why?”
William grimaced. “It’s wet. And the pel . . . the hair stinks like fish for hours afterward.”
Cerise blinked. Was he serious? “Swimming is fun.”
“No, swimming gets you from point A to point B. What you’re doing isn’t swimming. You’re not going anywhere.”
Full of opinions, Lord Bill. “Swimming is good for you, and you could always shampoo your precious hair afterward. Your hair looks good after you wash it.”
He grimaced.
“I bet the women from the Weird tell you that you have great hair all the time, Lord Bill.” She bet they told him he was handsome as sin, too.
His face turned grim. “Women from the Weird tell me nothing. They don’t talk to me unless I pay them.”
Well, that was neither here nor there. William peered at her. “If you’re finished splashing in this muddy puddle, I’d like to get to Sicktree now.”
Cerise raised her eyebrows. “Muddy puddle?”
“To you it might seem like a giant crystal-clear mountain lake, but trust me, it’s a dirty little pond. I bet the bottom is squishy slime, too. I suppose trading the rotten spaghetti stench for the fish one is an improvement ...”
He was going to take a dive into this lake. He just didn’t know it. Cerise rose, finding footing in the soft mud. The water came up to just below her breasts and her wet shirt stuck to her body. William’s gaze snagged on her chest. Yep, keep looking, Lord Bill. Keeeeeep looking.
Cerise raised her hand. William leaned forward, poised over the water. His strong dry fingers closed about hers. She smiled, gripped his hand, and bent her knees, hitting him with her full weight, trying to pitch him into the lake.
The muscles on William’s arm bulged. He flexed and she felt herself lifted out of the water. He plucked her out and held her above the lake for a moment.
The tiny hairs on the back of her neck rose. Nobody was that strong.
A hint of a smile curved William’s mouth. Carefully he set her on the pier and caught her by the shoulders. “You okay?”
He was standing too close.
Cerise tilted her face up. “Fine.”
He had a peculiar look on his face, a slightly hungry, possessive expression. His hands on her shoulders felt dry and warm.
If he took a small step forward, his chest would touch her breasts.
Say something, you idiot. Snap him out of it. “So do you often rescue hobo queens from filthy puddles, Lord Bill?”
“William,” he told her quietly. It sounded like an intimate request.
“How’s your side?”
He let go of her long enough to raise his shirt. The dressing was gone—he’d probably taken it off, the ass—but the cuts had scabbed over. That was some fast healing.
William dipped his head, looking at her. There was nothing threatening in his gaze, but she had a distinct sense of being stalked by a large, careful predator. They had to get out of the damn swamp and into town, where there would be other people and she could leave him . . .
“Maybe swimming would be good,” he said.
Oh no. No, no, no.
Cerise looked past him, trying to think of something to say. Her gaze caught on chunks of battered wood bobbing in the lake just beyond the boundary. She squinted at them. Yep, sure enough. Cerise swore.
He turned. “What?”
“See those muddy broken boards in the lake?”
He looked to where she pointed. “Yes?”
“I think that’s our boat.”
CERISE stood at the boundary, staring into the Broken and