Mary Anna Evans - Faye Longchamp 02 - Relics by Mary Anna Evans

Author:Mary Anna Evans
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery: Thriller - Historic Plantation - Florida
ISBN: 1590581199
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Published: 2005-08-02T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Faye wanted to talk with Joe about the next day’s work, but he was nowhere to be found at the bunkhouse. She asked Amory to tell him that she’d be at Amanda-Lynne’s house, then hopped in the truck and headed out to Hanahan’s to pick up the bread.

Oversized tires raised the project pickup so high off the ground that Faye had to toss the loaf of bread onto its bench seat to free both hands for her assault on the vehicle. Grasping the steering wheel with her left hand and the driver’s seat with her right, she planted a boot sole on the doorframe for leverage and yanked herself into the pickup.

“You do that well.” The light from a gibbous moon glinted off hair that was silver-white, underlain with black. Faye was glad she’d showered away the grimy coating that characterized the working archaeologist, but she instantly regretted having accepted Amanda-Lynne’s dinner invitation.

Brent didn’t appear to detect her brief mental detour. He kicked a monstrous tire. “You’d think Raleigh would have rented you a vehicle your own size.”

“I’m used to being small in a world designed for six-footers. It only bothers me when I’m sitting next to an air bag. They’ve been known to kill small women, you know.”

Looking down on a man was an interesting experience she’d rarely had. It gave her a feeling of power that she knew was unearned. Still, having done time in the presence of men who were convinced that bigger was always better, she enjoyed it anyway.

“How’s your head? Are those stitches starting to worry you?”

“Starting to, yes,” she said. “I wish I had time to talk, but I’ve got dinner plans.” She held up the loaf of bread as evidence.

The easy smile faltered for less than a heartbeat, but Faye liked him better for it, now that she knew his confidence wasn’t completely imperturbable. She’d been purposely vague about her dinner plans, just to mess with his mind. As an act of kindness, she named his competition. “Amanda-Lynne Lavelle was kind enough to invite me.”

“You did that on purpose,” he said.

Faye wondered exactly how much psychology he’d taken during his pre-med years. She allowed him a “whatever-do-you-mean?” shrug and cranked the truck. “If I don’t hurry, I’ll never make it to the Lavelle house before the spaghetti’s gone. I’ve heard about how much teen-aged boys eat.”

She put her elbow on the back of the truck seat and twisted to look behind her so she could see to work her way out of Hanahan’s cramped parking lot, but he spoke quickly before she could ease the truck into gear. “Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow evening?”

She hesitated, not out of a calculated strategy that required her to play hard-to-get, but because her distracted brain was having trouble remembering what day it was. Wednesday. Yes, it was Wednesday, and she was indeed free for Thursday evening. “I’d love to have dinner with you tomorrow.”

“What a relief. For a second there, I thought you were going to tell me you had a date with Raleigh.

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