Scarlet Fever - Hill Country 2 (2 page)

Blowing out a frustrated breath, she looked at her pale face in the mirror and admitted the sad truth.
  
Knowing herself as well as she did, when push came to shove, she probably wouldn’t have the courage to actually ask someone to make love to her – either for money or as a pity f**k . . . . Ugh, she was so innocent; she couldn’t even think the word without the asterisks or blushing.

Unfortunately, time was definitely a factor.
 
If all went according to plan with Alex, she could experience love-making – just once – while she still felt half-way decent.

As luck would have it, Scarlet had been allergic to the anesthesia that been administered to her during her foot surgery.
 
Her kidneys had suffered irreparable damage.
 
The verdict was hard for her to face, but the doctors had informed her that she had, at most, one more year before she would have to have a transplant.
 
With no way to get health insurance, and being as poor as the proverbial church mouse, the likelihood of a transplant was just about nil.
 
Sadly she smiled to herself – church mouse; that’s what the men of Pine Forest called her (behind her back, of course).
 
People could be cruel.
    

So her bucket list was important.
 
Scarlet wanted to experience all that life had to offer, and she was running out of time.

When she got to the B&B and met Alex, she would know whether or not she had the courage to try and seduce him.
 
The thought made her laugh.
 
She couldn’t picture herself seducing anybody.
 
Still, when you knew this might be your only chance. . . . .
   

Ten days before the wedding . . . . .

The
Lost Maples Bed and Breakfast
was located in Vanderpool, Texas, very near to the State Park of the same name.
 
The park was home to the out-of-time, out-of-place, stand of Bigtooth Maples that was so highly unusual this far south of the Mason-Dixon line.
 
Scarlet was so excited.
 
Seeing the brilliant reds, burgundies and golds of the maple leaves without having to travel to the East Coast was such an opportunity, and also #32 on her list.
 
Travel items on her bucket list were few and far between.
 
Traveling cost money, and that was one thing in short supply at Scarlet’s house.
 

Placing an Elvis CD into the player, she began to sing in a loud, clear voice.
 
Singing was one of her joys.
 
She had performed at local functions for years; weddings, church meetings, fraternal celebrations – any number of places.
 
One woman had asked her years ago where she had received voice training and she had answered truthfully; ‘in front of a mirror, singing into the end of a candleholder, providing back-up for the King of Rock and Roll’.
 
Scarlet loved Elvis.
 
Going to Graceland was #2 on her list.
 
Chances were slim-to-none that she would ever get to go, but she liked to keep it as a possibility.
 
It
could
happen.

It was a six hour drive between Pine Forest, which was on the Louisiana border, to the Hill Country of Texas.
 
According to her agenda, she planned to spend the first week of her vacation with the wedding preparations and – maybe one romantic interlude with Ethan‘s younger brother.
 
‘Romantic’ wasn’t
exactly
the best word, but she refused to put a coarser spin on it.
 
During the second week, Scarlet intended to treat herself to a little bit of sight-seeing.
 
Crossing a few more items off her bucket list; namely, visiting the Alamo and seeing the state capitol building was an exciting prospect.
 
If she felt up to it, she also wanted to climb Enchanted Rock, a huge pink granite mountain just north of Austin.
 

Scarlet had shared her fun plans with Annalise.
 
Of course, Annalise knew nothing of her kidney problems or the bucket list.
 
And she never would.
 
Not if Scarlet could help it, at least not until it was all over.
 

    
Despite the doctor’s recommendations, Scarlet did not intend to seek a transplant from a living person.
 
Surprisingly, the decision hadn’t been difficult.
 
Putting another person’s life in danger was not something that she could bring herself to do.
 
She would rather die first – which was a high probability, for there were tens of thousands of people on the deceased donor transplant list.
 
You could literally be on the list for years before an opportunity for a transplant arose.
 
And Scarlet didn’t have years to spare.
   

Her reticence to ask for a transplant from someone she cared about stemmed from an incident involving a brother and sister at her church.
 
The sister had been sick for years, and when the time had come when a transplant was a necessity, her brother had willingly made the sacrifice.
 
The sister had come through with flying colors.
 
Her brother, the donor, was another story.
 
He had died on the operating table.
 
Scarlet would never forget this, and she would never risk the same thing happening to someone she cared about.
 
 

While driving through the dense forests near Crockett, Scarlet’s thoughts turned to Alex.
 
Annalise had said that he was very handsome, and that he had more girlfriends than he could count.
 
She had heard the wistful tone in her sister’s voice.
 
Annalise had a matchmaking streaking a mile wide, and Scarlett knew that nothing would make her happier than attempting to fix her little sister up.
 
Scarlet had begged Annalise not to say anything to Alex.
 
She would rather get there and evaluate her own chances.
 
Annalise would never understand that Scarlet wasn’t looking for a date or for a boyfriend, she just wanted to experience sex with someone that she didn’t have to be afraid of.
 

************************

Alex was having a bad day.
 
He sat in the office of
The Lost Maples
and listened as his chief engineer explained to him why they had to disappoint their best customer.
 
Rick LeBeau had worked for Alex for over a year in his eco-conservation consulting firm.
 
It had come as a surprise to find out that Rick knew Ethan’s fiancé, Annalise.
 
She didn’t remember him, but he definitely remembered her.
 
Rick had lived in a neighboring community, but they had gone to the same small high school.
 
This meant that he also knew Annalise’s elusive sister, Scarlet.

At first, Alex had been intrigued by what Lise had told him about Scarlet.
 
And he would have to admit that he had, temporarily, entertained a fantasy or two about her.
 
After all, Scarlet was a sexy name, and if she looked anything like her sister; Scarlet would be a knockout.

Emotionally, Alex was ready for a meaningful relationship.
 
Ethan and Annalise were so happy that Alex had begun daydreaming about finding someone who would love him as much as Annalise loved his brother.
 
So when he had found out that Annalise had a sister, and that she would be coming for the wedding, he had begun building this impossible image of the unknown sister.
 
He had pictured her in his mind; how she would look, how she would move, how she would kiss.

But then Rick LeBeau had blown that all out of the water.
 
Apparently, Scarlet was nothing like Alex had imagined her.
 
The more he learned about Scarlet, the more his mental image of her changed.
 
So far, he had found out that she was the town librarian and the office manager at the little Lutheran church.
 
Alex knew he was stereotyping, but how sexy could a librarian/church worker be?
   

Annalise had also told him of Scarlet’s plans to take in the tourist stops in the hill country.
 
As bad as he hated to admit it (and Alex could see it coming)
he
was going to be the one that got roped into taking the little church mouse around sight-seeing.
 
At that thought, Alex felt guilty.
 
The term church mouse wasn’t his nickname for Scarlet, it was Rick’s, but he had found himself thinking of her that way more than once.
 
The church mouse.
 
He could see her now.
 
She would be plain; nondescript hair, pale eyes and a figure that wouldn’t garner a second look.
 
Not exactly fantasy material, despite Annalise’s glowing description.
 
Alex knew that a sister’s love was often blind.

Trouble always comes in threes, and here was problem number two.
 
Like icing on the cake, now, there was trouble with the wedding preparations.
 
Alex didn’t know how he came to be in charge of it all, but that was how it had worked out.
 
Early this morning, the bakery where Annalise had ordered the wedding cakes had burned to the ground.
 
He couldn’t wait to share
that
little bit of information.
 
Annalise would go nuts.
 
To make matters worse, the caterer had called and they were having trouble with the menu that the bride and groom had requested.
 
Suffice it to say, Alex was in a shitty mood.
 

So, when Annalise had told him that her sister was coming ten days before the wedding, he had struggled to hide his displeasure from her.
 
With everything he had to do, he certainly didn’t have time to baby-sit company or entertain some backwoods country bumpkin.
 

Alex realized he was being mean, and this just wasn’t like him.
 
By the time that Scarlet arrived, he promised himself that he would be over it and on his best behavior – but for right now, his true feelings were bubbling to the surface.

Seeing Rick out, Alex realized that he hadn’t heard half what the man had said.
 
Not that it would make any difference in this case.
 
Rick was a strange one.
 
He was always in CYA mode.
 
Cover your ass.
 
The man was paranoid and carried a small digital tape recorder with him everywhere he went.
 
Alex laughed to himself.
 
He supposed he was lucky that Rick didn’t use one of those fancy cell phones to video tape everything.
 
He suppose it did keep down confusion for Rick, but it was still a little on the creepy side.
 

Emphasizing the necessary outcome with their top customer, Alex blew out a long breath, feeling frustrated.
 
“Bottom line, just do whatever it takes, Rick,” he instructed his employee.

“Will do.
 
And
you
be careful of that church mouse.
 
Desperate women can be hazardous to your health.”
 
The stocky, balding engineer smirked as he added yet another jab against Annalise’s sister.
 
To tell the truth, Rick was beginning to get on Alex’s nerves.
 
Enough was enough.
 
He hated to waste a day hanging out and waiting on a wedding guest who was coming way too early and staying way too long, but that just how it was and he couldn’t help it.
 
But none of it was any of Rick LeBeau’s business. His employee’s poor attitude made Alex want to improve his own outlook.
 
He promised himself that by the time Scarlet got here, he would be Mr. Nice Guy again.
 
He had no intention of hurting Annalise, he thought too much of her.

As Rick drove away, another car passed his, heading this way.
 
Maybe, this was Scarlet, and he could get on with his day.
 
No, Alex recognized this car.
 
It was the shapely, eager Sandy Moffett.
 
Raking a large, strong hand through his unruly curls, Alex sighed.
 
“Crap!”
 
He wasn’t in the mood for Sandy, either.
 
What he needed to do was talk to his brother.
 
Vent a little.
 
He rolled his eyes heavenward and wondered what he had done to piss off the powers that be.