Читать книгу A Scandalous Melody - Linda Conrad - Страница 9

A wicked wind blew black storm clouds up from the Gulf and threatened to tear new leaves off the ancient oaks lining the allée drive in front of Live Oak Hall. Standing in the kitchen and looking out the window, Kate knew cold late-spring rains would come in a few more minutes. Right before sunset.

But even with Kate’s vivid imagination, she was positive those rains didn’t have the power to wash away the sting of memories, the heartbreak of wanting things to be different. Lord, how she had dreamed of having the opportunity to make other choices in her life, to go back in time and change what had happened.

Now that Chase had come home, it was clear that she would have to face some of those old poor choices. He wouldn’t let her escape them any longer.

She knew her secrets and her mistakes would eventually come out. But there was one cruel secret that she would never give up. No matter what.

Nothing could ever pry that one from her heart. Not even to save her from Chase’s hatred. It had to stay buried. Where it belonged.

“I can’t believe Chase Severin owns the mill now.” Shelby Rousseau, Kate’s oldest and best friend, frowned once then smiled as she captured her toddler daughter and lifted the little girl into her high chair.

“Well, I’m afraid he does, Shell.” Kate wasn’t sure how to explain the rest of it to the one person who had stuck with her through the worst of times. And far in the back of her mind, Kate still had hope of a reprieve.

Sitting down at her huge kitchen table to watch Shelby finish preparing their supper, Kate agonized over what she knew she had to say. How could she tell her friend that her home was lost? That the young single mother would soon be evicted from the guest cottage where she had been raising her daughter.

That Kate herself would soon be homeless was irritating enough. But to think of throwing out Shelby and her baby…

Her dearest friend made the very best mother Kate had ever known. Shell loved her child enough to do anything, go through anything, to keep her daughter safe and to keep the two of them together.

“Would you please hand Madeleine a cracker to get her by for a few minutes until supper is ready?” Shelby asked as she dipped up the shrimp étouffée from the ancient pot on an even older stove.

Kate reached over and put a cracker into the baby’s hand. The little girl stared up with a big, mostly toothless grin on her face.

The toddler’s cheeks glowed a rosy, healthy pink. Her curious blue eyes were wide and spoke volumes about how smart she was. Sweet Maddie looked just like her mother. But she made Kate think of another baby from long ago. A baby whose smile Kate would never know.

As much as Kate loved Maddie, it hurt a little bit to be near her. But for today, just like most days, Kate buried the pain.

“How’s your catering business coming along?”

Shelby served the étouffée and sat down. “It’s been good recently. After I booked that party over in New Iberia, I’ve had several calls about future engagements.” Shelby poured ice tea from the frosty pitcher. “I don’t know how great things will be if the mill goes out of business, though.”

Instead of picking up her spoon to eat, Shelby laid a hand over Kate’s. “I’m most worried about you, chère. What will you do if Chase shuts down the mill?”

Good question. But not one Kate was prepared to consider just yet.

She shrugged in answer and tried to steer the conversation in a different direction. “I’m a survivor, Shell. I can do lots of things. I’m only worried about the town. There isn’t much else for people to do around here. But maybe Chase will find a way to keep it open.”

Hesitating for a second, Kate decided to let her friend in on just a small slice of her fears and questions. “I can’t understand why Chase bought out the mill at all. The debt load is tremendous. If he decides to put any money into it, it’ll be like throwing the cash down a gator hole.”

Shelby smiled at her. “Maybe he bought the mill and came back here because of you. I bet he’s still in love with you.”

Kate shook her head so hard the curls jumped out of their clip and flew wildly about her face. “Not a chance in hell of that. You didn’t see his eyes when he first came into my office this afternoon. There was such…hatred. Such bitterness in them when he looked at me.”

“Well, there has to be some reason that he would come back to this poor town,” Shelby said as she spooned mashed stew into the baby’s mouth. “The rumor mill has it that he’s really rich now. Drives a Jaguar. Owns houses in St. Thomas and Vail. Made it all by gambling, they say.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear.”

“Do you know something different? Like how he really made his money?”

“No,” Kate mumbled. “But I know the rumors of why he left town in the first place have been a bunch of lies. So why should all the rumors about his return be the truth?”

Shelby wiped her baby’s chin and blew on a steaming spoonful of étouffée for herself. “You never did tell me the truth of what happened that night. I’ve always wondered about it.”

“It was a dreadful night. I would’ve given anything if you’d been here that summer to help me through it instead of off visiting with your grandmère in New England.” Kate had lost her appetite and gave up the pretense of eating.

Shelby chuckled and then frowned. “I guess I must’ve missed my chance forever. After ten years you still don’t want to talk about it, do you?”

“Not really. But I will tell you that all those stories about Chase being drunk and going nuts are all lies. Every one of them. He was stone sober, and he was forced into that fight with Justin-Roy and those boys.”

“I didn’t know Chase as well as you did back then,” Shelby began quietly. “But I never believed he would drink too much. Not when you’d told me how much he hated the fact that his father was always so drunk.”

Tears stinging the back of Kate’s eyes threatened to put an early end to the conversation and to supper. “Shelby, you are my best friend. You know I love you and Madeleine, don’t you?”

“Of course I do, honey. I know you love us, this old run-down plantation, the town…and Chase Severin.” Shelby dropped her spoon and hugged her when Kate began to protest that last part. “We love you, too. And Maddie and I appreciate you taking us in and letting me trade house cleaning and cooking for a chance to stay in one of the guest houses. You’ve been a lifesaver.”

Oh, Lord. Kate could not make her mouth say the words. She just could not tell her best friend that their days at Live Oak Hall were numbered.

Maybe if she went to Chase. If she begged him to let Shelby and the baby stay on, he would consider it. It wouldn’t be the first time that Kate had gotten down on her knees to plead for something important.

She could only hope that this time would turn out a whole lot better than the last one.

Chase picked up his coffee mug and walked alone out onto the B&B’s terrace to watch as the lightning dashed silver streaks across the night sky. He loved the smell of the fresh earth right after a rain.

It had been a long time since he’d been able to breathe in the clean night air and listen to the sounds that the swamp critters made after sundown.

He’d had one hell of a day, coming back to Bayou City and seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of its citizens as he deliberately drove his new XK8 in that flashy topaz color right down Lafayette Street.

He knew the word had spread all over town within minutes. The boy who would never amount to anything was back—and rich. His hand automatically went to the pocket of his navy blazer for a triumphant cigar.

But instead of cigars, Chase’s hand landed on the antique jeweled egg that he’d begun to carry with him everywhere. He smiled at the very idea that he owned something so valuable and old. It was unlikely the whole damn town collectively would be able to afford just the insurance on anything this expensive.

Feeling the shimmer of electricity beneath his fingers that reminded him that the gypsy had claimed this egg held magic, he withdrew his hand and shook his head. He didn’t need any kind of crutch in order to face his old ghosts, not nicotine nor magic. This time he had control of the deck. His cards had turned up in a royal flush.

And he couldn’t be happier to have Kate’s fate thrown into the pot. It upped the stakes.

When he’d first had that private investigator research the town to find out what had happened here since he’d been gone, he was disheartened to learn that her father had died of cancer six months earlier. Too late. Chase had made the decision to come back and get even with the old crotte Beltrane and the rest of the town too late.

But then he’d learned about the mill’s bankruptcy and figured his timing was impeccable. He had been given the perfect opportunity to destroy them all.

“Chase?”

He turned around at the sound of her voice, nearly positive it would just be the ghost that had haunted his nights for what seemed like forever. But it was the real Kate this time, standing there with the lights streaming from the French doors at her back.

“Uh, Madame Seville said it would be all right for me to come out here to talk to you. I’m not catching you at a bad time, am I?”

Her midnight-black curls were pulled back in a loose ponytail and glistened with rain. Drips of water trickled down her porcelain cheeks and clung to her dark, thick lashes. She had a khaki-colored trench coat thrown over her arm, and rainwater was puddling under her as she stood there waiting for him to give her an answer.

The sight of her simply stunned him, took his words away. He reached a hand toward his shirt pocket without thinking, then cursed himself silently for being such a fool. He didn’t need help facing this echo of days gone by, despite the fact she was the most gorgeous creature he had ever laid eyes on.

“What are you doing here?” he asked with a forced grin. “I thought we’d agreed to start on the books first thing in the morning?”

“I need to talk to you, Chase.” She raised her chin in that smug little way she’d had as a girl and took a tentative step closer.

“Talk? I’ll just bet you have a lot to say now.” He turned his back on her and spread his feet for the balance he badly needed at the moment. “You’re ten years too late. You have nothing to say that I care to hear anymore.”

“Please,” she whispered from behind him. “This isn’t about the mill. I’m hoping that will be strictly business with you. But what I wanted to talk about tonight was…”

“Not about the past, I’d wager.” He spun around and glared down at her in the slanted light. “I’d give better than even odds that you’d rather die than have to face your past sins tonight. Am I right?”

She was a good half foot shorter and the shadows cast by the back light kept him from seeing her face clearly. But he did manage to catch the anger in her glinting stare, and he watched her work her slender white throat as she swallowed back a nasty remark.

Tempting, this ghost from his past. Too tempting.

Kate shook her head and straightened her shoulders. “I don’t think it would serve any purpose to go over our mistakes at this late date.”

Just to please himself, to give in to the urgent need to arouse her, Chase moved closer. She backed up a step and he took another in her direction, deliberately pushing her and limiting her personal space.

“My only mistake was in trusting you once, telling you that I loved you.” He heard the evil chuckle coming from his own lips and wondered at just how far he had come away from the naive young kid he had been back then. “It’s a mistake I never intend to repeat.”

Her eyes closed and he heard her soft sigh. Regrets? From the ice princess, Kate Beltrane?

The silent whiff of her perfume reached icy fingers into his soul. The smell of camellias and gardenia that he’d once imagined he would never be able to get out of his mind took a swift sledgehammer to his heart.

He felt that soft underbelly of pity and desire creeping up on him again as he reached a hand toward her shoulder. Before he could give her comfort, her eyes popped open and determination narrowed those full tantalizing lips.

“I didn’t come here tonight to rehash old wounds,” she told him with sudden fervor. “I came to ask…explain really…about Live Oak Hall.”

“You came here…in the rain…to explain about that broken-down old plantation?” He allowed himself a sneer, but didn’t back away from her.

“It’s about the guest cottage. My friend, I don’t know if you remember her, Shelby Rousseau?”

When he just squinted at her, Kate rushed ahead. “Well, she’s a single mother now and trying to get a business started. And…I’ve been letting her trade out cleaning and cooking to stay in the guest cottage. She can’t afford to pay rent, you see, and I thought…”

“You have to start remembering that Live Oak Hall is mine now.” He shook his head and grimaced. “No rent? You must’ve inherited your father’s great business sense.”

The humiliation ran through Kate’s veins. She couldn’t stop it from smarting. But she could hold her place and not let Chase see how badly he was getting to her.

He would have no way of knowing how she had begged and pleaded with her father to let her help make the business decisions for the mill. Two years of business college didn’t make her an expert, but she’d seen what a mess he had been making of the fiances. How he’d run off the best customers and overpaid the farmers for their rice in years when crops were plentiful.

But her father had quite typically berated her back then. Reminded her that a girl could not know what was best in business. He’d relegated her to the accounting pool, telling her account books were for females. And if she would ever have the sense to marry, her husband could give the advice while she gave him the grandchildren.

“This isn’t about business or revenge,” she told Chase with a surprisingly steady voice. “It’s about friendship and love. Please…”

Chase took her chin with a firm grip, frightening her at first. Then he leaned close enough that she could hear his ragged breathing and could smell his desire. The man still wanted her. After everything she’d done.

The shock of realization and the breathlessness of staring into his deep-gray eyes kept her silent too long. Chase must’ve sensed the weakness and moved in.

“Friendship and love, huh? And those are things the poor kid from the bad side of town would know nothing about, is that it?” He inched even closer.

She wanted him to kiss her. They were so close that another centimeter would bring their lips together. Dreams of one more kiss from Chase had kept her going in the darkest hours.

But tonight it wouldn’t be the same as in her dreams. Tonight the rage in them both would make it all wrong.

The panic drove her back in time to become once again the ten-year-old girl who’d run away from home and found a scary but perfectly safe shelter with an old drunk and his twelve-year-old son. She’d wanted Chase to kiss her then, too, because he’d been her white knight and savior.

But he hadn’t kissed her that night. It wouldn’t have been right when they were children—and it wouldn’t be right now when they were both so tense.

She reared back out of his grasp and shoved at his arms. The coffee mug he’d been carrying all this time slipped to the granite tile floor and shattered into a million pieces.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she cried as she kneeled to clean up the mess. She quickly gathered up a few broken shards and then looked around for some kind of cloth to wipe up the cold coffee and the tiny silvers.

“Just let it go, Kate.” He was kneeling beside her and took her arm. “Are you all right?”

“Huh?” She must be in some kind of desire-filled daze, because she couldn’t quite understand his meaning.

He gently pried the broken ceramic from her hand and put it aside. “You’re bleeding.” His big hand encompassed her smaller one, but with a touch so light it nearly brought tears to her eyes.

“It’s nothing.” She tried to tug her hand away, but he tenderly turned it over to reveal the jagged cut on her middle finger.

Chase’s gaze locked with hers as his hard, glinting concern turned in seconds to pure lustful longing. “You need to stop the bleeding first, then clean the wound.”

Turning his attention back to her bloody cut, Chase lifted her hand to his lips and slipped the oozing finger into his mouth before she could stop him.

She heard herself gasp and then moan as the sensation of his tongue and lips on her finger became sensual and demanding. Everything else but the two of them and this minute faded into the background.

But a boom of thunder cracked through the air just then and the skies opened up for one more splash of rain. The sound and the chill dragged her back to the present in a hurry.

She tugged on her hand again, and Chase released her. “I’ll have it bandaged when I get home.”

He stood and pulled her to her feet. “Come under the terrace cover, Kate. You’re getting soaked.”

“I won’t keep you much longer. It’s getting late,” she told him as they ran for a drier spot. “But I…I still have to plead with you to let Shelby and her daughter continue to stay in the guest cottage. I don’t care about myself. I can find somewhere else to go, but for them…”

Dragging her up close to his body, he leaned down to whisper in her ear so that she could hear him over the noise of the rain. “What’s it worth to you, chère?”

She stiffened and looked up at him. Their bodies were touching. Sweat, heated rainwater and passion came off them in waves, steaming up the air between them. Coming here tonight had obviously been a big mistake.

But she had to keep trying, for Maddie’s sake. “I beg you, Chase. Please just consider it.” She looked down between them, away from his demanding gaze. But one look made it clear that her aching breasts were peaked and pushing against her cotton blouse, begging for his touch.

Chase saw it as well and leered down at her. “Ah, yes, bébé, I can feel the heat between us, too. Odd isn’t it, that an ice princess could flare so easily for a ghost?”

He didn’t know? He couldn’t just look at her and see that her heart still longed for him and that her body still responded to his with no provocation at all?

Her heart pounded in her chest, but she pushed away from him. “Dammit. Tell me what I can do to make you change your mind and let Shelby and the baby stay.”

“Do?” he asked thoughtfully after a minute. “Ante up, Kate. It’s time to put in or fold. I want you.”

“Me?” Her knees were wobbling now and she was becoming light-headed. “You mean to be your maîtresse?”

He chuckled at her use of the old-fashioned word. “A mistress? Now wouldn’t that be an amusing form of revenge.”

She scowled and clutched his arm. “You can’t mean that. You don’t even know who I am anymore.”

Kate clearly understood that Chase was her biggest weakness. She wanted him to want her. But she would never give up independence—not even for him. If he asked for her body, fine. She would be all for it.

He would never take her soul.

“No?” Chase said with a chuckle. “Well, let’s start with dinner, then. Tomorrow night. And wear something sexy. I think I’ll be needing a lot of persuasion.”