Sea-born Women by B.J. Mountford

Author:B.J. Mountford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780895874627
Publisher: Blair
Published: 2002-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

THE SEAS WERE ROUGH. Bert could see the ferry pitching as it turned into the narrow channel. Hunter, the only passenger, was off before it even tied up. The boat stayed just long enough to unload ice and supplies for Justin. Then, engines still running, it headed back out to the sound.

“We did bring the cooler, right?” Hunter carried a plastic bag of groceries, another of ice.

“On the bike.”

As they walked back to the ranger camp, Bert told Hunter about Donny’s visit. “I’m sorry I let it slip about Luna Mae,” she said, still annoyed at herself for her indiscretion. Telling Hunter didn’t make it any better. “I just wanted to warn Lettie before—”

“I knew it was a mistake leaving you here.”

Bert grabbed his arm. “It’s not that big a deal, is it? They just came over to keep me company.”

“You don’t understand.” Hunter shook off her hand. “It’s everything put together. They been saying the hurricane might turn this way.”

“I heard that. You know the media is going to milk Carlos for all it’s worth. Look, there’s no one here except us,” she said. “Donny should be at Atlantic by now. He was taking Lettie back.”

“I didn’t give you Rudy’s news yet. Source has a girlfriend.” He paused. “Lettie!”

Bert did a double take, head jerking, mouth open—all the classic signs of surprise. “Lettie?” she repeated stupidly.

Hunter’s eyes lightened at her reaction. “Fooled me, all right.”

“How do you know? How did Rudy find out?” Bert’s head was still reeling. Lettie and Olin?

It seemed forever before he answered. “Anne Source had a sister. Rudy met her after the accident, so he called her this afternoon while I was at the meeting. Gave him an earful, she did. Seems that two weeks ago, Olin had Lettie up to the house, and the sister caught them there.”

“Maybe he was giving her some of Anne’s things.” Blowzy, overripe Lettie and the persnickety Olin? Hard to believe.

“That’s not what the sister told Rudy. Said the car was there all night, and some other nights, too. Seems the sister never approved of Olin Source. Said he didn’t come courting Miss Anne until after their father died and left them some property. Seems he never held a regular teaching job either, just substituted when the spirit took him.”

Bert tried to imagine Lettie and Olin together. At first, it didn’t fit, not until she visualized Olin in high school—gawky, bookish, a defensive show-off. He’d probably never been popular with the girls, and a woman like … She nodded slowly. “Lettie’s so easy-going, so earthy. I’ll bet she taught him a couple of things.”

“That woman’s worn out better men than him.”

At least she had him making jokes. “Wish I was that uninhibited. She’s definitely sexy.”

“Can’t lay a button to someone I know.” Now, Hunter’s eyes were warm, caressing her. “Still, it does make for complications.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lettie’s got a boat. She knows her way around the sound as well as I do, and the dark doesn’t faze her any.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.