Page 9 of The Cottage on Pelican Bay

Webb Crawford, a wealthy businessman in town, pressured the Catalina Cove school board to fire Velvet Spencer, a teacher at one of the high schools, after she chose to have an affair with the new banker in town, Jaye Colfax, instead of with Webb. When she was brought before the board on cooked-up allegations, a number of people were shocked to discover Reid had been a friend of Velvet’s parents’ and had personally invited her to Catalina Cove. On top of that, Velvet didn’t need her teacher’s salary because she was an heiress. Needless to say, Webb and all those school board members who supported his craziness had left the meeting with egg on their faces.

Vaughn leaned back in his chair and said, “I wanted to meet with you for a couple of reasons. First, to let you know Reid has reached a decision on the bids he received for the housing project. There were several good companies, and he’s decided to go with Colfax Construction Company that’s run by Franklin Colfax.”

“Jaye Colfax’s brother, right?”

“Yes. We’ll announce our decision at the next town hall meeting.”

At that moment the buzzer on Vaughn’s desk went off. “Excuse me while I get this,” he said to Saint. He clicked on the intercom. “Yes, Kate?”

“Your sister, Zara, called and wanted me to let you know she’d booked her flight and will be arriving in town on Thursday morning.”

“Thanks, Kate.”

Saint’s stomach muscles tightened as desire warmed his spine at the mention of Zara’s name. She was coming back to Catalina Cove? Would she stay at the cottage?

“Saint?”

He looked up at Vaughn. “Yes?”

“Are you okay?”

There was no way Saint could answer that truthfully. Although he’d always considered Vaughn a friend, he was also his boss. Saint wasn’t sure just how much he knew about his and Zara’s history.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Since he’d overheard what Mrs. Dorsett had said, he really didn’t have to ask, but did so anyway. “Zara’s coming to town?”

“Yes. Sounds like she’ll get here Thursday morning.”

“I see.” He was certain the ever-observant Vaughn saw as well. In fact, anyone who’d attended the cookout given for Vaughn and Sierra had seen. It had been a surprise encounter between him and the woman he’d met two and a half years earlier who’d called herself Angel. At the time she’d been twenty-eight and he’d been thirty-four.

Their surprise hadn’t been able to lessen the over-the-top case of the hots they still had for each other. And he was certain that a slew of people, including Vaughn, had known when they’d left that party together.

Saint met Vaughn’s gaze as he sat leaning back in his chair, eyeing him speculatively. Zara was Vaughn’s sister. Yet, to this day, Vaughn had never brought it up. Since Vaughn hadn’t, maybe it was time that Saint did. Clearing his throat, he said, “About me and Zara...”

Vaughn held up his hand to stop whatever Saint was about to say. “No discussion is necessary. Zara is thirty. I respect her as the adult she is and believe she knows how to handle her business. I trust you the same way.” Then Vaughn chuckled. “Nonetheless, I have a feeling Jaye and Velvet’s engagement party next weekend will be rather interesting.”

Yes, it would be, Saint thought. The prospect of seeing Zara again had him heating up. So far each and every time their paths crossed, sexual chemistry between them would reach its peak to the point they would give in to temptation. He hoped this time they did a better job of controlling it.

Zara opened the door to the cottage on Pelican Bay and was immediately rushed with memories of the last time she’d been there. It had been the night of Vaughn and Sierra’s wedding in March, two months ago. She loved the cottage and appreciated her mother for bequeathing it to her.

Rolling her luggage to the main bedroom, she preferred to stay here in the cottage instead of the family mansion. She would be all alone in that monstrosity of a house since Vaughn had married and moved out. She liked it here just fine, she thought, moving around the two-bedroom cottage that had a living room, dining room, eat-in kitchen and two and a half bathrooms on the ground floor.

Upstairs was a spacious loft where her mother would set up her easel to paint. Zara always considered that space as her mother’s artist’s nook, which was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows. Tucked in the corner was the table where Zara would sit with her coloring books, crayons and baby dolls.

Nearby was a huge bookcase that contained a lot of her mother’s favorite books. Sometimes, after Vivian Miller had concluded her painting for the day, she would read Zara a story. Her mother’s favorite had been The Three Musketeers.

On those days when her mother needed her full concentration to work on painting, Zara would focus her time and attention on her dolls by designing outfits for them. That was when she’d discovered that although she’d inherited the gift to paint from her mother, she much preferred designing fashions.

A lot of her mother’s work was on display in the Catalina Cove Art Gallery. Most were paintings her mother had donated to the gallery when her parents had moved to Paris. The rest had been donated by Zara and Vaughn after their parents’ deaths. Vivian Miller had been specific in the will as to which of the paintings were to be given away and to whom. She’d even specified which were meant for Zara and for Vaughn.

The paintings she’d left for Zara were those her mother had known were Zara’s favorites. One hung on the wall in her boutique in Boston and the others were hanging here in the cottage. Her mother’s favorite subjects to paint were the pelicans that flocked to the bay, attracted by the warmer waters from the Gulf.

As far as Zara was concerned, no one could capture the beauty of a pelican on canvas like her mother. Back then, her mother would place her easel on the deck to paint the pelicans in their habitat. Zara loved the pelicans as much as her mother did, which was why she had one tattooed above her navel.

In the master suite, Zara placed her luggage on the bed and looked out the huge window that faced Pelican Bay. She’d had an early flight from Boston, so it wasn’t even ten in the morning yet. Already, she could see through the trees the sun beating down on the shimmering blue ocean. It was definitely a nice spring day in May.

Everyone living in the cove knew the parcel of land Catalina Cove sat on had been a gift to her great-great-great-grandfather, the notorious pirate Jean LaFitte. It had been given to him by the United States government for his help in protecting New Orleans during the War of 1812. At the time New Orleans was one of the most important ports in the United States. Because Pelican Bay had been LaFitte’s private domain and the first stretch of land that he and his band of marauding smugglers reached upon returning from the seas for downtime, they’d made sure the bay was kept well hidden. The numerous trees that grew from the ocean waters instead of on land made it an ideal island for privacy since no boats, large or small, could pass through.

The only way to the bay was from land adjacent to Zara’s Haven. To retain its privacy, her father had installed a security gate that surrounded the entire perimeter of the property. Years ago, the only access to the bay was by boat from the secured property. For her mother’s convenience, her father had built a covered, mile-long pier from the estate to Pelican Bay.

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