CREOLE BLUES
By
Jewel Adams
Brittney Massey keeps her life as rising Jazz singer Kat Boutie and her true identity as a rancher’s daughter separated. That is until New Orleans’ mafia King Lucas Cortine sets his sights on her. Brit’s surrender under Lucas’ spell is a night filled with erotic passion and memories that haunt the woman Lucas claims.
She may sing the evocative Cajun lyrics as if she were born in the Louisiana bayou country, but Brittney refuses to be Lucas’ woman. The danger that comes with the man won’t stop her. Determined to break free of Cortine, Brittney charges headlong into witnessing her lover murder a DEA agent!
Brittney faces enemies at each turn and Cortine’s bounty hunter Mark Maitland brings them right to her door. Her failure to escape Lucas could cost Brit’s life, but will her heart survive the man she gave her virginity to!
EXCERPT: General Audience, Erotic Contemporary Romance
Available in Print and Ebook: http://classactbooks.com/bkpgCreoleBlues.html
CREOLE BLUES
By
Jewel Adams
CHAPTER 1–Discovery
“How do you want your eggs?”
“Over medium, no runny stuff.”
Giving the gruff driver a shot at an attempted smile. “Right, got it.”
Ignoring the crude calls from the other table, Brits’ gaze drifted past the dust covered glass window panes to the early morning sky. So much for wide open spaces…
“Order Joe, and tie them down.” Biting her lip to stop from voicing her displeased thoughts, Brittney wondered what could be worse in the morning than facing a grumpy cook and tables full of bleary eyed truck drivers and drifters. They probably chewed rusty nails for lunch.
I want my life back. The words screamed through her mind.
“Hey, how about some coffee?”
Closing her hand about the pot handle, she took a second to hide her emotions and gather her mask. “Sure…want a menu?”
“Coffee will do.”
Brittney nodded, never raising her eyes from the counter to the unusually soft spoken and rather sexy low voice.
“A smile would help brighten the morning.”
She knew better than to return his request. One polite jester made these creeps think they owned you.
Maitland’s frosty brown eyes followed the trim aloof figure that issued its snub, confirming his impression that this delicate creature didn’t belong in this excuse for a truck stop.
Nursing his coffee, he wondered if maybe this lead had been all wrong. After days of searching the area for any clue that this woman was Kat Boutie, he failed to expose her identity.
Shielding his curiosity, Maitland’s scrutiny shifted from the woman’s beautiful features. She did a good job of deliberately camouflaging the natural grace in her facial features. She was about the right height, 5’ 4” maybe 5” and she had those brilliant blue eyes. She wasn’t blonde. In fact, that rich healthy tan and sun streaked auburn hair forbade picturing her as a sultry platinum type. But it was her, Kat Boutie.
Mentally shaking himself, Maitland found it hard to place the icy waitress in silk gowns and flashy stage costumes. She looked more like the jean and tee shirt type, yet he didn’t have any problem picturing her in those sexy baby doll nighties.
No, those long shapely legs and luscious thighs would be a pleasurable sight in any man’s bed. Maitland blinked, cursing the large shadow of reality that intruded on the vision. Looking at her more openly he could see her with Lucas Cortine.
Two-thousand miles from New Orleans, his whore didn’t run far enough to escape that man. Maitland refused to acknowledge or question his part in finding her for the crime boss, remembering their last meeting…
“Misunderstandings happen all the time between…”
The word left unspoken said it all. Cortine’s latest whore fled the posh coop.
“She’s very important to me Maitland.”
“She obviously doesn’t want to be found.”
Maitland watched the controlled anger vibrate through Cortine’s powerful build emphasized by the sharp cut of his expensive suit. The heavy Cajun accent grew thick under the force Cortine used to control his rage. Yeah, the man hated that the flower of New Orleans dumped him.
“Kat is an emotionally vibrant woman and she has let her jealousy rule.”
Maitland didn’t like Cortine’s slick excuse. “Most womEn cool off sooner or later.”
When the angry snap of Cortine’s dark eyes refocused on him, Maitland could understand why the woman ran.
“My Kat is also stubborn. So much so, Mr. Maitland, that I fear she will never let me explain our unfortunate misunderstanding. The reason I need your services is that Kat also knows my associates too well to let them get close to her.”
“And if she refuses to come back?”
“I’ve heard that you can be very persuasive…if the price is right.”
So he didn’t care how Maitland got her back. Most the time Maitland didn’t either. Being a bounty hunter, most of his prey ran from him not to him. But Kat Boutie wasn’t a fugitive. Except maybe in Cortine’s eyes.
“Fifty thousand upon delivery.” Cortine haplessly tossed an envelope on the desk.
Maitland clenched his teeth to keep his jaw from falling open and peered directly into the man’s eyes.
“There’s ten thousand for expenses, over and above your fee.”
Maitland never hesitated to take a job. He didn’t have to like Cortine, that wasn’t part of the contract. Hell, no one could like the man. The king of the New Orleans’ darker side of life, his mob connections weren’t something new, every city had what the man represented. Even the police looked the other way to avoid this man. The general consensus being he was better than what might take his place.
So where did Kat Boutie fit in with the crime boss?
“If you doubt my sincerity Maitland, believe me when I say my enemies don’t need any incentive to find Miss Boutie.”
Truth from the master of deceit? Maitland couldn’t find any argument in what the man allowed him to see.
“Kat is special. She is not what you think or what anyone believes.” The dark suit strained under the pressure Cortine maintained on his emotions. The silence seemed to go on forever as the man stood looking out the window causing Maitland to wonder if the man forgot his presence in the room.
“She’s not my woman. Not like the others. Kat unknowingly set the rules.” Turning, Cortine looked at Maitland, as if studying him. “Have you ever touched enchantment, pure beauty, Mr. Maitland?”
Without thought, Maitland answered the intense question. “No, never.”
“Kat’s both. She can make a man question things in himself that he never should find.”
Feeling uncomfortable by Cortine’s unexpected revelation, Maitland shifted, breaking the spell that the man fell into.
Cortine turned and faced Maitland, again cold confidence glared back at him. “I want you to find her so I can stop her from getting hurt.”
The man’s announcement came too hard to toss off.
“Maitland, I heard two things about you. You are the best hunter out there, I need you for that. I also heard that you are a nut case around women,” he looked directly into Mark’s eyes before going on, “if you lay one finger on her I will kill you, Maitland.”
“Fifty thousand covers a lot of reasons,” he muttered aloud.
“More coffee?”
Raising his gaze, he captured the waitress’ misty blue stare. For a second her wall fell and Maitland dwelled in the illuminating crystal pools.
“Yeah.”
When he felt her pull back from his invasion, his fingers gripped the cup to stop himself from reaching out to make her stay.
Brittney nodded, berating herself for breaking her own rules, the first being, never make eye contact!
Damn, she needed to quit this job. If only…regrets were a waste of time. Surviving is what counted.
He figured staying any longer might be too obvious. Maitland left a dollar on the counter, deciding that she’d find it. He’d come back at lunch, maybe if she saw him again she’d unfreeze a bit. Somehow, he held little faith in that prospect. He needed to decide on how to take her back to New Orleans. She sure wouldn’t jump in his car.
Brit watched the confident strides of the tall stranger going out the door. She continued writing the order the two guys rattled off. He didn’t move like the rest of them, no swagger, more like a circle…of danger surrounded him. The image brought with it the familiar prick of warning.