He closed his eyes briefly on the thought. He was an old man, but she had a way of moving, of talking, even smiling that was sheer come-on. The strange part was, now that he'd gotten to know her, she wasn't that way at all. She looked pure temptation, wild and untamed, made for the long slow nights on the bayou, but he hadn't seen her take up with anyone. He didn't know what was wrong with the boys in the parish, but if they didn't stand up when they saw her, he rated them fools.
"I told you not to be getting into trouble on my account, Flame. I won't have it."
"I did it for the fun of it, Monsieur le Capitaine, no other reason. I like to stir the pot every now and then and see what floats to the surface."
"Sometime, cher, it be best to leave the sludge on the bottom of the river." Burrell looked down at his gnarled hands. There wasn't much left to him in the way of pleasure. He sat on the houseboat and listened to the music of the bayou, smoked his pipe, and played boure with his friends while telling old stories. The days of taking a ship up and down the Mississippi were long gone.
Flame had brought joy back into his life. Their meeting had been accidental. A young thief had stolen his wallet and his old knees wouldn't hold up to chasing the punk down. She had come out of nowhere, slamming a booted foot into the stomach of the fleeing pickpocket, taking the thief down in seconds and returning his property. They'd gone to the Cafe Du Monde and over beignets and cafe au lait he'd offered her a place to stay on his houseboat. He owned a small island, no more than swamp, mostly unusable, but it was his and it was going to stay that way. Unfortunately he'd purchased the land from Kurt Saunders and the man was determined to get the island back.
"Kurt Saunders has made a good living out of selling property and then taking it back when the balloon payment mysteriously disappears. We all know he steals the money, we just don' know how to catch him at it. I was warned not to buy from him, but I wanted my own land, cher, and I couldn't resist. He isn't going to take kindly to havin' the tables turned on him."
"I saw the money, Burrell, you had the entire payment. And I followed them straight back to Saunders's private mansion in the Garden District. No wonder he lives like a king. He steals from everyone."
"Should have kept the money in a bank. Thas why he sells to the river rats. He knows we don' trust the banks. I'm not the first he's swindled. 'Course none of us knew for certain it was him doin' the stealin'. We suspected, but none of us could prove it."
"I told you before not to keep your money in the mattress with all that moss." Flame rubbed his head affectionately. "Some modern technology is really a good thing. And you don't fool me, Burrell. You had to be an educated man to captain a ship all those years on the Mississippi."
"I was born and raised here, little missy, and I choose to fit in with my neighbors. It's the life I love, the one I want to finish out my days living."
She grinned at him, unrepentant and pressing her point. "If you're going to keep large amounts of money on your houseboat and you deal with sleazebags like Saunders, you should at least have some security on board. I can figure something out for you if you'd like."
"No security system on my houseboat is going to keep the likes of Saunders and his men from takin' what they want here on the river. You know that, girl."
Her smile widened until she was smirking. "Maybe not. But then he just got a good dose of his own medicine, now didn't he? He'd never suspect you, not in a million years. He'll just think his men missed one of your stashes and he'll be mad as hell at them, but he won't be able to do a thing about it."
He took a long slow draw of his pipe, regarding her laughing face. The laughter never quite reached her eyes. There was something there, a hint of sorrow, a splash of wariness, whatever it was, that look was as addicting as the sultry heat of her voice. "Kurt Saunders is a mean man, Flame. If he ever comes to suspect that you stole his money--"
"Your money," she emphasized. "I stole your money back." A faint grin crept over her face. "Of course, I grabbed everything in the safe and there might be a bit more than he took from you. Quite a bit more, but I have a few expenses of my own. And he had several disks in one of the briefcases, but no papers, nothing that should make him too upset. It was mostly cash and a lot of cash at that."
"Loss of money will make him upset," he pointed out. "I should have known when you said you were thinking about taking the money back, that you'd do it. You shouldn't have, cher, but I'm going to take it to the bank and explain I've been holding it in my mattress all these years. Now that you've retrieved it, I might as well use it."
"I thought you'd see it my way."
"You can never tell anyone, Flame. Not ever. He'll come after you," the captain cautioned.
She shrugged. "Who would I tell? I'm not into bragging, Capitaine, just getting a little justice once in a while. Throw a bit of moss in the bag and mix it up a bit so it looks and smells authentic." She glanced at her watch. "I told Thibodeaux I'd be at his club tonight to do a little singing."
"I don' like you going to the Huracan. That Thibodeaux, he runs a mean place. They're good people but they like to drink, dance, and fight. Or fight, drink, and dance, depending on how the day went. Looking like you do, Flame, you could be in big trouble with those boys."
"I'm just going to do a little singing, Burrell, nothing else. There's no need for worry. I had a talk with Thibodeaux and he said he'd watch out for me."
Burrell shook his head. "This has something to do with Vivienne Chiasson telling you about her daughter's disappearance, doesn't it? I was watching your face when she told you about Joy and I didn't like what I saw."
Flame sank into one of the tattered chairs beside him. "Here's the thing, Burrell. I heard talk of a girl disappearing in another parish a couple of years ago. A couple of the men at one of the clubs mentioned it when they were talking about Joy. The cops said she left to find a better life, but her family and friends said she wouldn't do that. Isn't that what they said about Joy too? You told me yourself you didn't think she ran off."
Burrell held up his hand. "Everyone in the bayou, up and down the river, knows the story. The police don't believe the two disappearances are connected. Even most the families don' believe it. Joy was seeing a boy from the city. He was real sweet on her. His family has money and they think Joy isn't good enough. She broke it off, but he keep comin' around. I think he got mad when she say no to him one too many times."
"A lot of the families around here think the same thing, but what if they're wrong? What if Joy's disappearance and the other girl from a couple of years ago are related?"
"Why would you think so? They didn't know each other. They didn't look the same. There's no connection between them at all."
"Yes there is." She leaned closer to him, giving him a faint whiff of the fresh scent of peaches. "They both had really distinctive voices. Like warm butter. Sexy. Sultry. Velvet. Smoky. Those words were all words used to describe their voices. All a sleazebag needs is a trigger to set him off, Burrell. Maybe these girls share that trigger." She sat up straight and gripped the armrest of the chair tightly enough that her knuckles turned white. "And maybe I have that same voice."
"No! I forbid you doing this, Flame." Burrell nearly dropped his pipe in his agitation. "Those girls are gone. Some say dead, some say they ran, but I'm not going to let you risk your life to find out which it is."
She shrugged. "You're a dear to worry, Capitaine, but truthfully, I have a tiny problem with orders. I've never been good at following them."
"You could get yourself into a bad situation," he cautioned.
"Joy doesn't have anyone looking out for her. The cops buried the case and that means, wherever she is, whatever happened to her--she's alone. I have to find out for myself that this girl is off somewhere safe in a city, not dead . . . or being caged like a rat by some monster."
He glanced at her sharply when her voice cracked. The boat creaked and rocked a bit with the lazy movement of the water. She held herself too still, h
er face without expression, and her eyes defied him to ask. He didn't. Whatever had happened to her went too deep, was there in the dark places of her mind and swirling for just a moment in her eyes. There was horror there--and knowledge of things he had never experienced and never wanted to. He reached out and patted her hand. "Be careful."
Flame forced a smile. "I'm always careful. It's my middle name." She turned her head to stare out over the water. The gentle waves lapped at the sides of the houseboat, creating a motion she found soothing. She was inexplicably tired lately. Instead of singing in a club with the crush of a crowd surrounding her, she wanted to lie in her bunk and pretend she had a home. Or maybe, even better, she'd go back to Gator's home and have tea with his grandmother.
"Why are you looking so sad, Flame?" Burrell asked.
"Was I?" She swallowed the lump in her throat. Why the hell was she so melancholy? Raoul Fontenot didn't matter. Nothing he said or did mattered.
"You never told me why a beautiful girl like you is all alone in this place," the captain said, choosing his words carefully. "Where's your family?"
"I don't have any family." She was horrified to hear the words slip out aloud. She was gifted at making up stories, making them believable, and she never forgot her own lies. She could come up with a line of bullshit faster than anyone she knew, but she hadn't done that. She couldn't look at the captain. She didn't want to see pity in his eyes. Worse, in some ways, she'd compromised her own safety by telling the truth. She was a ghost, a chameleon, blending in with the local populace briefly and then simply vanishing. It was one of her greatest and most useful talents--and it was what kept her safe. She rubbed her temples to relieve a sudden ache.
"I don' have family either, cher. Maybe thas why we get along so well. You always have a place here with me, you know that don' you?"
She flinched at the compassion in his voice. It made her all too aware of what she was. Thrown away by a mother who didn't want her. Sold by an orphanage with too many children. Caged and treated more like an animal than as a human being. It never mattered how much she worked to educate herself, to improve herself, somewhere deep inside, in a place she protected and defended, she still felt like that unwanted child.
She forced a lighter note into her voice. "Thanks, Monsieur le Capitaine." Deliberately she looked at him, blew him a kiss. "I'm a wanderer. I love to see new places. I can't imagine staying in the same place all the time. It's a good trait to have. If I didn't, I'd never have had the pleasure of meeting you."
"You're good for an old man's soul, Flame." His gaze narrowed on her choker. "What's that on your neck? It looks like bruises."
"Does it?" She fingered the choker, drawing it up closer around her trachea. "How odd. I hope the dye isn't rubbing off. I'd better go check." Before he could look again, Flame was already halfway across the deck to jerk open the door.
She inspected her neck beneath the choker. The bruises were darkening and spreading. Swearing softly, she tossed the choker aside and grabbed a scarf that nearly matched the color of her dress and wrapped it artfully around her neck. As long as she avoided Raoul Fontenot she'd be fine. Otherwise, he might very well take advantage and strangle her after what she'd said and implied to his grandmother.
Laughing aloud, she rejoined Burrell on the deck. "It was the choker. Does this look okay?"
"Beautiful," he replied, once more puffing on his pipe.
"You don't happen to know the Fontenot family, do you? They live in this parish."
The captain burst out laughing. "Fontenot is a very common name in this part of the country, cher. I need a little more information."
"I think the boys were raised by their grandmother. One of the boys is named Raoul and another Wyatt."
Burrell sat back in his chair nodding. "Good family. Oldest boy, Raoul took off to join the service but always sent his money to his grandmother to help care for the other boys. They're wild and Raoul had a certain reputation for fightin'." He winked at her. "All those boys have a way with the ladies, so you look out for them. Don' you go off with any of them and don' you believe their sweet talk."
"No worries, Capitaine. I have no intention of ever getting that close to any of the Fontenot men." She glanced again at her watch. "I've got to go." She leaned down to kiss the top of his head. "You guard that money. Don't say a word about it until you have a cashier's check to give to Saunders. I'll go with you when you pay him off. You'll want a witness with you. And behave when I'm gone. I saw you giving old Mrs. Michaud that cute little come-on smile of yours." She waved as she stepped off the houseboat into the airboat tied up beside it.
He waved her off with a dismissing hand and a pleased grin. The last she saw of him, he was happily puffing away on his pipe.
CHAPTER 5
Gator sat back in his chair, legs sprawled lazily in front of him, his fingers tapping a rhythm on the tabletop in beat to the music. The tapping allowed him to stay focused when each beat of the crashing instruments and the strands of conversations felt like nails pounding into his skull. He couldn't take much more. And it wasn't doing him a whole hell of a lot of good. He'd managed to hear two conversations regarding Joy. The first took place outside the walls of the cabin, whispered words of anger and conspiracy--brothers and friends wanting vengeance. In the second conversation two women had mentioned her in passing as they reminded each other to watch their drinks at all times.
He rubbed his temples, felt beads of sweat forming on his brow. Even his hair was slightly damp from the strain of sorting through the cacophony. Lily had been correct when she said the trick of listening to conversations at a great distance, even through walls, was to be able to sort out the multitude of noise. His head was about to explode. Even his teeth hurt. He needed to go somewhere quiet and peaceful, somewhere he could be alone to listen to the stillness of the night. He tried to suppress the sounds crowding in around him, but nothing worked. He reached inside of himself in an attempt to silence the myriad voices around him, to find the stillness in his mind that was his haven, but nothing could stop the noise from beating at his brain.
His stomach lurched. He was on serious overload. A stupid mistake. One he hadn't made since he'd first been psychically enhanced. He was going to have to get out of the club as fast as possible. He glanced at his brother, already talking up a pretty woman over at the bar. Beside him, Ian tossed peanut shells onto the floor along with everyone else, laughing as he did so. Neither seemed at all aware of Gator's predicament. Just as he pushed himself out of the chair, the door opened and Flame Johnson walked into the room.
Not walked. He couldn't say walked. She swayed. Gator lowered himself back into the chair, sliding farther into the corner, into the shadows, his gaze drinking her in. She was beautiful, sexy. Too sexy. Instantly he became aware of the other men, the way their hot gazes rested on her body and slid over her soft curves. She moved across the room, her dress molding to her soft skin and as far as he could tell, it didn't look like she was wearing panties.
Gator tried to drag air into his lungs, but there didn't seem to be a sufficient supply. Her head turned abruptly, as if she had radar, and her eyes met his right through the crowd. For a moment they were the only two people in the room. She frowned, her gaze moving very slowly over him, taking in the fine sheen on his skin and the dampness of his curling hair. She saw way beyond his easy smile. At once the noise receded and he became aware of a soft, soothing note humming through his mind. The pounding in his head eased along with his churning stomach. She turned away, talking with animation to Thibodeaux.
Gator sat very still, feeling the first astonishing wash of utter jealousy. He had never experienced the emotion, but recognized it for what it was. His attention narrowed until there was only Flame. He could see the smallest details there in the dim lighting and smell her scent in the midst of the crush of bodies. His every sense was acute, so sharp, he could almost inhale her. It was an experience he'd never forget, and he sat there, sprawled in his chair, una
ble to control his body's fierce reaction any more than he could his mind--and for a man like Gator, that was very dangerous.
His headache was gone, thanks to Flame. Why would she help him? Did she feel, in spite of herself, the same pull toward him that he felt toward her? He hoped so. He hoped he wasn't alone in his need to see her.
Flame stepped up the one stair to the stage. Thibodeaux considered the Hurican an upscale blues club because of the perfectly tuned piano he owned. The instrument sat in the midst of chaos and peanut shells, gleaming like black obsidian, highly polished, with white ivory keys, his shrine to the music he loved so much. No patron ever touched the piano, only the musicians. It was an unspoken rule, but they all understood Thibodeaux carried the baseball bat for a reason, and it wasn't because of the numerous fights that broke out. It was to keep the piano safe.
Flame went right up to the piano as though she owned it. She looked an elegant, classy lady as she seated herself on the bench, fingers poised over the keys, the uneven hem of her dress draped over her shapely legs. Thibodeaux hovered anxiously, bat wrapped in his meaty hands, his gaze on Flame as the first notes poured into the room.
Her voice was low and haunting, stealing into Gator's mind and holding him in some kind of thrall. The first words of her song sank into his heart and soul, wrapping him up tightly, squeezing his insides so that her song was personal to him, only to him. Everyone else had dropped away. There was no other man in existence. Even the room dropped away so that they were wherever his imagination took them.
He could almost feel the softness of her skin as her voice beckoned to him, summoned him, trapped him in a web of sexual need and sensual stimulation. One song blended smoothly into the next, smoky notes transporting him into fantasies and making him weep inside for lost love and missed chances. It took effort to make his brain work when all he wanted to do was carry her off to a place where they could be alone.
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