Covert Game

by Christine Feehan

  Nonny lifted the money up, but he shook his head. "Your men have a tab, said they'd pay it. Want you all to have a good time." He kept backing away until he was nearly halfway across the room. No way was Nonny going to be able to spend her cash.

  "Even pregnant you've got sex appeal," Bellisia said. "Most everyone thinks I look like a kid just because I'm short."

  "I'm tall. A giant," Zara said.

  Nonny rolled her eyes. "You girls are all beautiful and should know it by now. Your men certainly tell you enough. In my day, men didn't speak much about looks. I worked alongside Berengere on fishin' boats, we crabbed together and hunted alligators. We hunted for meat and pulled the moss from trees to dry it out for our mattresses every year. It was hot work, and mostly I felt I looked a mess."

  Zara caught those words, the way she said it. "Mostly you felt a mess. Does that mean your husband didn't feel the same way about you?"

  Grace Fontenot lifted a hand to her hair to tidy it. Not a hair was out of place and Zara couldn't imagine her, even hunting and fishing, having her hair dare come loose when she put it up. "No, he never thought I was a mess," she conceded. "He always looked at me with that look, the one that told me I was a very lucky woman."

  Zara found herself falling for Nonny too. How could she not? How could anyone not fall under her spell? It might not be sexual, the way Pepper's enchantment was, but the attraction to Nonny was like a magnet. Strong. Lasting.

  The door opened, and Zara watched as two men came in. They scanned the entire bar before they shut out the night, as if they might be expecting trouble. They appeared Cajun and looked similar, as if they were related. Both men seemed hard, but then quite a few men living on the river were tough. They had to be. Living in or around the swamp could make for a difficult life.

  Simultaneously, their gazes hit the Fontenot table and took in the women. At once both men swiveled left and right searching for what Zara could only assume were the men in that darkest corner. The eyes came back to the table and then to each of them. Their gazes lingered on Pepper and then Cayenne and then jumped to her and then Bellisia. Finally, they settled on Nonny. Both men made their way to the table.

  "Delmar! Beer!" the taller of the two men yelled. His voice was booming and filled with command. Clearly, he was used to getting whatever he wanted.

  "Your house beer!" the second one called out.

  "Comin' right up, Pascal, Blaise!" Delmar shouted.

  "Ms. Fontenot," Pascal, the taller of the two men greeted her. There was the slightest deference in his voice. "I've never seen you here before. I'd like to buy a round for your table."

  "That's sweet of you, Pascal," Nonny said. "I was over the other day visitin' your mere. We played a long game of cards and she managed to take all my money again."

  A smile broke out on his face. "She does look forward to your visits, ma'am."

  Nonny smiled up at his brother. "Blaise, so good to see you out and about. I rarely have the chance. The two of you have made something of yourselves. Your mere is very proud of you."

  "It's nice you visit so regular. Since she took sick and can't get around, she doesn't get many visitors," Pascal said, sounding a little bitter.

  "Most of us have gone away or died, boys," Nonny reminded gently. "We're all gettin' up there in age. Your mere had you late. Lost so many with all the hard work. Back in those days we had to do the work of the men. Your mere was no exception."

  The atmosphere in the room had changed since the two men had entered. Zara could feel the tension in the air. It seemed to stretch tighter and tighter, like a wire being pulled taut. It took control not to glance toward that corner where Gino was. She didn't know why, but she felt vaguely threatened.

  "You goin' to introduce us?" Pascal asked. "I've met Cayenne." He leered at her, sounding as if they had a history. "But the others ..." He looked at Pepper and his mouth seemed to drop open.

  "Girls, this is Pascal and Blaise Comeaux. This is my daughter-in-law, Pepper, Wyatt's wife," Nonny said. "Bellisia, married to Ezekiel, and Zara. She's engaged to Gino. We're just out havin' a bit of fun. I should have asked your Alida to join us. She needs to get out once in a while according to your mere. We all do, come to that. I know your mere watched the children occasionally for you so you could take Alida out. If you'd like, call me, Pascal. I'll do it for you." Nonny deftly turned the attention back to her.

  "Nice of you to offer, Ms. Fontenot," Pascal said. "I might take you up on that some time. Blaise and I try to keep her entertained, don't we, brother?"

  Blaise nodded and snickered at the same time. He looked at Zara. "You want to dance? See how a real man does it? Not some Italian foreigner?"

  Zara kept her smile with difficulty. "I'm not certain how Gino is a foreigner, as he was born in the United States, but perhaps you mean a foreigner here in Louisiana. Thank you for the offer, but we're just hanging out together tonight." She gestured around the table at the other women.

  "Too bad. Your loss." Blaise turned away from the table and sauntered across the crowded room, moving others with his shoulder when they didn't see him coming.

  Zara noticed some turned fast as if they might decide to fight, but stopped whatever they were going to say or do when they saw who had shoved them. Pascal remained, staring down at her. "I've never met your man. Has he been in the area long?"

  Zara glanced helplessly toward the dark corner again, needing Gino. She detested being the center of attention. Nonny leaned over and patted her hand. "Gino's been with me for well over a year now, maybe longer or a little less." Deliberately she was vague. She shrugged. "Time runs together for me, Pascal, same as it does, I suspect, for yourmere. Gino doesn't like to be indoors, so he avoids town and most places you might run into him."

  The Cajun nodded, but his gaze didn't leave Zara's face. "Don't understand how these men get such beautiful women."

  Zara forced a smile. "Thank you, that's sweet of you to say." She dropped her hands into her lap and twisted her fingers together. Something about both Comeaux men repelled her. She didn't know what it was, they both had been very polite. Even Blaise, although he hadn't taken her refusal very well.

  Pascal stepped away from the table and made his way to the bar. The four women looked expectantly to Nonny. Nonny shook her head. "Those boys are bad, all the way through. Reckon they have reason to be. Their pere was the meanest man in the swamp. Why Shanty married him, I don't know, but I suspect her pere sold her to Jean-Baptiste. In any case, Jean-Baptiste was a mean, vile man. Any crime in these parts, you could bet he had his hand in. He drank and beat Shanty and the boys. He brought home women. He even brought home women to his sons."

  The four women exchanged a long look. "Pascal appeared to be genuinely concerned for his mother," Zara pointed out. "I could almost like him for that." Almost. He made the hair on her body stand up in alarm when he pushed close.

  "I think the boys, and there were five of them, their oldest brother is dead now, love and hate Shanty. She was weak. She didn't protect them or leave their father. Jean-Baptiste taught them to think of women as playthings, inferior to them, only servants. Their older brother was involved in kidnapping and selling women. He got away with it for quite a few years until my grandsons did something about it. It wouldn't surprise me if the rest of the boys had a hand in it but weren't caught."

  "How sad that they really had no chance," Zara whispered.

  "They had plenty of chances," Nonny corrected. "People all over the world have terrible childhoods. Look at you girls. Pepper lived her life in a cell. Cayenne's life was even worse than hers. Bellisia and you were in Whitney's compound. He experimented on all you girls. He gave Flame cancer time and time again. Gino's family was murdered. So many lives are difficult and start off bad, but people overcome these things. Pascal and Blaise and their brothers, they like livin' a life of crime. They like scarin' people and hurtin' others. It makes them feel like big men."

  "Well, that's sad too," Zara said. She snuc
k another glance toward the dark corner where Gino sat with the other men. Gino had been affected by the murder of his family, he'd turned his back on the life his father had built and he'd embraced the life Ciro Spagnola had given him.

  She took another drink of the ice-cold beer, thankful for the cool liquid. The room was hot. Outside, the humidity and temperature hadn't gone down much from the daytime. Occasionally, rain would pepper the roof and just as abruptly stop.

  "It is sad," Nonny agreed. "But nothin' any of us can do about it. Many tried. We all thought we'd be able to get Shanty free of Jean-Baptiste, but she stubbornly refused to leave him. Just like Alida. History repeatin' itself. I suppose the woman Blaise eventually settles with will be beat and abused and she'll stay too. Let that be a lesson to you girls. You respect yourself and demand respect from your man."

  She looked at Cayenne. "That man of yours thinks the sun rises with you, but he can be demandin'. Don't you ever let him cross lines. You understand me? You set boundaries, ones you can live with. They're yours, no one else's, but you make certain he respects them."

  "I will, Nonny," Cayenne agreed. "I'm not shy about telling him if I don't like something, and he never does it again."

  "Good." Nonny looked around the table, her gaze settling on Zara. "That goes for all you girls. Zara, you have a sweet, giving nature. I can see that in you. Pascal and Blaise could see it as well."

  She sat up straight. Alarmed. What was wrong with her that men like Pascal, Blaise and Zhu all saw something in her that wasn't in Bellisia, Cayenne or Pepper? What about Gino? Was she deluding herself into thinking he was a good man?

  "What's wrong with me?" She supposed she needed to face it. If she didn't know, she couldn't do anything about it.

  "Nothing is wrong with you," Nonny assured. "Nothing at all. Because they can see you're sweet and accommodating doesn't mean you wouldn't walk away from abuse. I think you would in a heartbeat. From what Bellisia has said, you defied Whitney many times. I just want you to remember, you're as important as your partner."

  Zara pressed the frosty bottle of beer to her forehead. "This relationship thing can be confusing. When I'm with Gino, everything feels clear. Safe. Perfect. Then he's away from me and I find everyone around me questions our relationship and I think maybe I don't know what I'm doing. Why does it feel so right with him and everyone thinks it's wrong?"

  Cayenne leaned forward and for the first time, touched her hand to Zara's in a gesture of solidarity and sisterhood. "No one understands my relationship with Trap. On the surface, it appears to others that it's all about sex. Our relationship is very sexual. It's intense. But we fit. I love everything he does, and when we're at odds, we fix it fast. I know he's the only man who will suit me. He knows I'm the only woman for him. We work. If you work with Gino, it's no one's business how you work, as long as he doesn't in any way hurt you."

  "Cayenne is right, Zara," Nonny said. "I know Gino's a good man. He looks at you the way Trap looks at Cayenne. There is no one else in his world, and there won't be. I don't worry he'll abuse you. My husband was a strong man. He wanted a partner, but he wanted me to always follow his lead. Juggling the two wasn't always the easiest, but I loved him and he loved me. We made it work. I do know that men have to be reminded every now and then that you have needs outside of them. You remind Gino, Zara. Every now and then think of something he can do for you and let him do it."

  "That is not what you told me," Bellisia said, waving her hand in the air for Delmar to refresh their drinks. "I believe you said I should give Ezekiel my entire adoration." She sounded indignant.

  Nonny's eyebrow went up. "I said that?"

  "Ezekiel said you said that."

  All of them burst out laughing. Relief swept through Zara. She didn't like not knowing the right thing to say or do. She felt as if she spent most of her life trying to fit in, to figure out the right moves, what to say in any given circumstance and how to act. The only time she could remember relaxing was around Bellisia and Shylah. When it was just the three of them at night when no one was around and they were far from the cameras. Gino had given her that again.

  "Ezekiel does walk on water," Nonny said. "Ask his brothers or Rubin and Diego. They'll tell you."

  "So will I," Bellisia admitted, "but I'm not telling him I think so."

  "That's best," Nonny agreed.

  "I have to admit, I think Wyatt can walk on water," Pepper said. "He's amazing with the girls, and he always seems to know what to do when I'm overloading. I had no idea how to take care of children and make a home for them, and he's so good at it." She smiled at Nonny. "He says you gave that to him. And you definitely give it to me and the girls, Nonny. I don't know what we'd do without you."

  She took another drink of the lemonade-lime that Delmar had brought her. "By the way, this is really good. It isn't alcohol, but it doesn't need to be. That's how good it is."

  "Delmar's mere used to make that drink when we'd have a big celebration, music, food, good friends and neighbors comin' together. It was refreshin' and every one of us loved it." She sounded nostalgic.

  They drank another round of beer, laughed a lot and spent some time on the dance floor in a group. Nonny had moves she taught them and they tried teaching her some of theirs. Zara and Bellisia had learned and practiced dancing by watching videos. Pepper and Cayenne had done the same, although Cayenne's taste ran to the more exotic and provocative.

  Zara was certain it was Nonny's presence that kept the men in the bar from continually hitting on them, because, as promised, the GhostWalkers stayed away from them. She liked knowing Gino was close. She liked having him close because ever since Pascal and Blaise had singled her out from the other women, she'd been uneasy.

  Pepper was the sensual one. Cayenne was sexy as hell. Bellisia was exotic. Zara knew she was pretty, but with the other three women there, especially given Pepper's allure, it didn't make sense to her that the two Cajuns had both made a point of talking to her. She was very happy when the brothers left about an hour before closing.

  The women danced and laughed and drank until Delmar was ready to throw everyone out because they hadn't noticed it was well past closing. Lights and laughter spilled out of the bar as they exited together. Nonny was all no-nonsense, stepping into the boat and reaching back to help Zara. Zara was a little tipsy, but the buzz felt good. She took Nonny's hand and stepped aboard, feeling very proud of herself for not falling into the water.

  Bellisia started to board the boat, but ran back to fling herself into Ezekiel's arms. He and the others were saying good night to Delmar, up on the bank by the bar. Cayenne had jumped into Trap's arms the moment he exited the bar and he had her pinned against the outside wall, hands and mouths all over each other, oblivious to anyone else. Wyatt curled his arm around Pepper's shoulders while he talked to the bar owner.

  Zara blinked rapidly, trying to find Gino. "Is he still inside?" She murmured the question aloud, not really expecting Nonny to answer it. Part of her wanted to get off the boat and go find him. Was he upset because, like the other women, she hadn't jumped him when he came out of the bar? That odd flutter in her stomach worsened. She widened her search pattern, although she didn't see how he could have gotten in front of them without her knowledge. Her radar was usually very good at telling her where he was.

  She took a long slow perusal of the surroundings while they waited for the other women. The Huracan Club was located fairly deep in the swamp, where most authorities would never bother looking. The building was located up above the river on the highest part of the bank, with the swamp reaching for it every moment. Trees and brush crept around it and spread out on three sides as far as the eye could see. In front of it stretched the canal. Boats tied up to the pier and then the occupants had to climb the stairs carved into the bank to get to the bar.

  Something moved just for one moment in the heavier brush on the right bank. A face appeared, peering at her. It was so fast she thought she might have made a mistake, b
ut it looked like Blaise. She stared at the moving leaves, her stomach dropping. There was no breeze.

  "Nonny, I think the Comeaux brothers are spying on us," she whispered, turning her back to the swamp just in case they might see her lips move and know what she was saying.

  "I believe you're right, Zara," Nonny said. "Why don't you step back onto shore real casual-like. Take my hand, I'll help you."

  Zara glanced toward the bar and stiffened. Men in dark clothing emerged from the interior and spread out. Each of them carried an automatic weapon. More came out of the swamp on either side of the canal, all training their weapons on the women in the tight circle the GhostWalkers had formed around them.

  "We're not lookin' for trouble," the leader said. "It's a job. We're to bring that one"--he jerked his chin toward Zara--"to a plane waiting at one of the private airstrips. Man's payin' us bank. Too much to pass up. One woman for all the others. You can afford to give up one."

  "Who would that be?" Ezekiel asked. "Who's paying for her?"

  The man shrugged. "He said he wanted her to know I was delivering her to him. Zhu. Bolan Zhu."

  Zara's heart sank, but she'd known the moment she saw them pouring out of the bar. She would never be able to prove it, but she was certain the Comeaux brothers had led them straight to her. It wasn't like outsiders knew where the Huracan Club was. Only locals knew. And the way wasn't easy, with lots of twists and turns. One had to access it by the waterways. Outside mercenaries--and these men certainly were mercenaries--would never have been able to find it on their own.