Midnight Bayou

by Nora Roberts

  15

  New Orleans

  1900

  Julian was drunk, as he preferred to be. He had a half-naked whore in his lap, and her heavy breast cupped in his hand. The old black man played a jumpy tune on the piano, and the sound mixed nicely in his head with wild female laughter.

  Cigar smoke stung the air, giving him a low-level urge for tobacco. But he couldn’t quite drum up the gumption for a cigar, or to haul the whore upstairs.

  The fact that he was broke—again—didn’t worry him overmuch. He patronized this brothel habitually, and always, eventually, scraped together the funds to pay his bill. His credit was good here, for the moment.

  He’d selected the prostitute because she was blond and lush of build, vacant of brain. He could tell himself that later, when he rode her, he wouldn’t see Abigail’s face staring back up at him.

  Not this time.

  He took another swig of bourbon, then pinched the blond’s nipple. She squealed and slapped playfully at his hand. He was grinning when Lucian walked in.

  “My sainted brother.” Though his words slurred, they were bitter on his tongue. Julian gulped more whiskey as he watched Lucian shake his head at a redhead who sidled up to him.

  He looked, Julian thought, pale and gold and perfect through the hazy smoke, against the garish colors, through the raucous noise.

  And he wondered if Cain had looked at Abel and felt the same violent disgust as he himself felt now.

  He waited, jiggling the blond on his knee, squeezing her breast as Lucian scanned the parlor. When their eyes met—identical eyes—there was a clash. Julian would have sworn he heard it in his head. The sound two swords make when struck in battle.

  “What’s this?” he said as Lucian approached. “Finally lowering yourself to the rest of us humans? My brother needs a drink, a drink and a woman for mon frère!” he called out. “Though I doubt he knows what to do with either.”

  “You embarrass yourself and your family, Julian. I’m sent to bring you home.”

  “I’m not embarrassed to pay for a whore.” Julian set down his glass and ran his hand up the blond’s thigh. “Now if I married one, it would be a different matter. But you beat me to that, brother, as you have so many other things.”

  Lucian’s face whitened. “You will not speak of her in this place.”

  “My brother married a slut from the swamps,” he said conversationally, jerking the blond back when she tried to crawl off his lap. He could feel her heart pounding, pounding under his hand now as the heat between him and Lucian stirred fear.

  And her fear excited him as none of the promises she’d whispered in his ear had done.

  “Lucian, pride of the Manets, brought his tramp into our home, and now he pines and weeps because she left him for another, and saddled him with her bastard whelp.”

  He had to believe it. Over the winter he’d drowned in an ocean of bourbon the look of her staring eyes, the sound of her body sliding wetly into the bayou.

  He had to believe it, or go mad.

  “Allez,” Lucian ordered the blond. “Go.”

  “I like her where she is.” Julian clamped his hands on her arms as she struggled.

  Neither of them noticed as the room fell silent, as the notes of the piano died away and the laughter trailed off. Lucian reached down, dragged the blond off Julian’s lap. She bolted away like a rabbit even as Lucian yanked Julian from the chair.

  “Gentlemen.” The madam of the house swept forward. Behind her was an enormous man in spotless evening dress. “We want no trouble here, Monsieur Julian.” Her voice cooed, her hand glided intimately over his cheek. And her eyes were frigid. “Go with your brother now, mon cher ami. This isn’t the place for family squabbles.”

  “Of course. My apologies.” He took her hand, kissed it. Then turned and leaped on Lucian.

  The table and lamp they fell on shattered. While people rushed away and women screamed, they rolled, jabbing with fists, snapping like dogs as the violence of a lifetime sprang out of both of them.

  The bouncer waded in, dragged Julian up by the scruff. He quick-marched him to the door, heaved him through. Lucian had barely gained his hands and knees when he was lifted.

  Curses and screams followed him out the door. And anger was smothered by mortification. Lucian shook his head clear, gained his feet.

  He looked down at his brother, that reflection of self, and felt a different kind of shame. “Have we come to this?” he said wearily. “Brawling in brothels, sprawling in gutters. I want peace between us, Julian. God knows I have peace nowhere else.”

  He held out a hand, an offering, to help Julian to his feet.

  But Julian’s shame had a different color. And it was black.

  He wouldn’t remember drawing the knife out of his boot. Liquor and temper and guilt blinded him. Nor would he remember surging to his feet, striking out.

  He felt the blade slice through his brother’s flesh with a kind of wild glee. And his lips were peeled back, his eyes mad as he scented first blood.

  They struggled, Lucian through the pain and shock, Julian through the black haze, with the hilt of the knife slippery in their hands.

  And the bright, bright horror paralyzed him as Julian’s eyes widened when the killing point turned on him, into him.

  “Mère de Dieu,” Julian murmured, and stared down at the blood on his breast. “You’ve killed me.”

  Manet Hall

  2002

  The heat had pumped in from the south. It seemed to Declan that even the air sweat. Mornings and evenings, when it was bearable, he worked outside. Afternoons, he sought the cooler regions of the house.

  It wasn’t as efficient, dragging his tools in and out, but he was making progress. That was the name of the game.

  He didn’t call Lena—he figured she needed to simmer and settle. But he thought of her, constantly.

  He thought of her as he nailed boards, when he studied paint samples, when he installed paddle fans.

  And he thought of her when he woke, in the middle of the night, to find himself curled on the grass by the edge of the pond, Lucian’s watch clutched in his fist and his face damp with tears.

  He tried to put the sleepwalking out of his mind in the daylight. But he couldn’t put her out.

  One more day, he ordered himself as he wiped sweat off his face. Then he was going into town, banging on her door. If he had to push her into a corner to force her to talk to him, that’s what he’d do.

  Remy’s wedding was coming up fast. Which meant, not only was he going to watch his best friend get married, but . . . his parents were coming to town.

  He was ridiculously grateful they’d declined his offer for them to stay with him. Everyone would be a hell of a lot happier with them tucked into a nice hotel suite.

  Regardless, he was determined to finish the galleries, and one of the spare bedrooms. In that way, the house would look impressive when they came down the drive, and he could prove he’d had the room he’d offered them.

  His mother would look to be sure. That was a given.

  He backed down the ladder, grabbed the cooler, and gulped cold water. Then poured the rest over his head. Refreshed, he walked across the lawn, then turned back to look.

  Dripping, already starting to steam, he felt the smile spread across his face.

  “Not bad,” he said aloud. “Not half bad for a Yankee amateur.”

  He’d finished the dual staircases. The sweep of them curved up opposite sides of the second-floor gallery. The elegance of them negated all the nicks, cuts, scrapes, and the hours of labor.

  They would be, he realized, his pride and joy.

  Now all he needed was to bribe the painters to work in this heat wave. Or pray for a break in the weather.

  Either way, he wasn’t going to wait until he’d finished the rear of the house. He wanted the front painted, wanted to stand as he was standing now, and see it gleam in bridal white.

  To please himself, he strode
back, walked slowly up the right-hand stairs, crossed the gallery, and walked slowly down the left. It gave him such a kick he did it again.

  Then he dug through his toolbox for his cell phone and called Lena.

  He had to share his excitement with her. What did it matter if he was a day ahead of schedule?

  The phone was ringing in her apartment when he glanced over and saw Lilibeth crossing his lawn. He pressed END, got to his feet and put the phone back in his toolbox.

  “I swear, this heat’s just wilting.”

  She beamed at him, fluttering her lashes as she waved a hand in front of her face. He noted the bracelets she wore were Odette’s.

  “And it’s barely noon. Look at you,” she said in a slow purr.

  She sauntered straight to him, trailed a fingertip down his bare chest. “You’re all wet.”

  “Impromptu shower.” Instinctively, he took a step back so her finger no longer touched his skin. “What can I do for you, Miss Simone?”

  “You can start by calling me Lilibeth. After all, you’re a good friend of my mama’s—and my little girl’s, aren’t you?”

  She wandered away a bit, let her eyes widen as she scanned the house. “I just can’t hardly believe what you’ve done with this big, old place. You must be awfully clever, Declan.” She said flirtatiously, “I can call you Declan, can’t I?”

  “Sure. You don’t have to be so clever,” he said. “You just have to have plenty of time.”

  And money, she thought. Plenty of money. “Oh now, don’t you be modest. It’s just a miracle what you’re doing here. I hope it wouldn’t be putting you out too much to show me some of the inside. And I surely could use something cold. Just walking over here from home’s left me parched.”

  He didn’t want her in his house. More than distaste, there was a kind of primitive dread. But whatever else she was, she was Lena’s mother, and his own had drummed manners into his bones.

  “Of course. I’ve got some tea.”

  “Can’t think of anything that would be more welcome.”

  She followed him to the door, was pleased when he opened it for her and stepped back for her to enter ahead of him. She let her body brush his, just the faintest suggestion, then walked into the foyer and let out a gasp.

  She didn’t have to feign the shock, or her wonder as she gazed around the grand entrance. She’d been inside before. Remy and Declan weren’t the first to get liquored up and break into Manet Hall.

  She’d never liked it much. The place had given her the creeps with its shadows and dust, its cobwebs and faded glamour.

  But now it was full of light and polish. Glossy floors, glossy walls. She didn’t think much of the old furniture, not for looks anyway. But she had no doubt the price tags had been heavy.

  Old money bought or kept old things. It was a concept that baffled her when there was so much new and glittery in the world.

  “My lord, sugar, this is a showplace. Just a showplace,” she repeated and wandered into the parlor.

  She might’ve preferred the city, where the action was, but she could see that a woman could live like a queen in such a place. And bring the action in, at her whim.

  “Goodness, did I say you were clever? Why, you’re just a genius. Everything’s so beautiful and fresh.” She turned back to him. “You must be awful proud.”

  “It’s coming along. Kitchen’s back this way. We can get you that cold drink.”

  “That would be lovely, but don’t you hurry me along now.” She slid a proprietary hand onto his arm, clung there as she walked down the hall. “I’m just fascinated by what you’ve done with this place. Mama said you’d only started on it a few months ago.”

  “You can get a lot done if you stick to the plan.”

  And since he seemed to be stuck with her, for the time being, he banked down on the desire to get her out again. Instead, as she turned into the library, made purring noises, he took the opportunity to study her.

  He couldn’t see Lena in her. There were, he supposed, some physical similarities. But where Lena had that compact, bombshell body, Lilibeth’s had been whittled down with time and abuse to nearly gaunt.

  Showing it off in tiny red shorts and a tight tank top only made her appear cheap and pathetic—a worn-out Kewpie doll painted up for one last night at the carnival. He felt a stir of sympathy for a woman who sought approval and attention by trying to showcase a sexuality she’d already lost.

  She’d used a heavy hand with makeup, and the heat hadn’t been kind. Her face seemed sallow and false under all the borrowed color. Her hair had frizzed, and graying roots were streaking through it.

  By the time he got her into the kitchen, he found her too pitiful to resent.

  “Have a seat,” he told her. “I’ll get you that drink.”

  And she mistook the kindness in his voice for attraction.

  “A kitchen like this . . .” She slid into a chair. It was cool here, and she tipped back her head to let the air reach her throat—and to watch him. “Don’t you go and tell me you cook, too. Why, if that’s so, sugar, I’m just going to have to cut Lena out and marry you my own self.”

  “Sorry.” The mention of Lena tightened him up again. But his back was to her, and she didn’t see his face. “I don’t cook.”

  “Well, a girl can make allowances.” She lapped her tongue over her lips. He had a good, strong build to go along with those deep pockets. And she was starting to itch for a man.

  “You wouldn’t have anything a little stronger than that tea, would you, honey?”

  “Would you rather a beer?”

  She’d rather a good glass of whiskey, but she nodded. “That’d be just fine. You gonna join me?”

  “I’ll stick with tea. I’ve got work to do yet today.”

  “Too hot to work.” She stretched back, looking at him under her lashes. “Days like this, you just wanna soak in a cool tub, then lie on down in a dim room with a fan blowing over your skin.”

  She accepted the glass of beer he’d poured her, and sipped. “What do you do to beat the heat, honey?”

  “Pour cold water over my head. How’s Miss Odette?”

  Lilibeth’s lips pursed. “Oh, she’s fine. House is hot as hell in the morning with her baking. Gotta save her pennies. I’ve been helping out, best I can, but things are tight. Declan . . .”

  She ran her finger down the condensation on the glass, drank some more. “I wanted to apologize for that scene over at the house the other day. Lena and I, well, we just rub each other wrong half the time. I guess I can’t deny I didn’t do right by her when she was a little thing. But I’m trying to make it up to her.”

  She widened her eyes until they stung and watered co-operatively. “I’ve changed. I’ve come to a point in my life when I realize what’s important. And that’s family. You know what I mean. You’ve got family.”

  “Yes, I’ve got family.”

  “And now you’re down here, you must miss them, and they miss you. Whatever troubles you might have between you, you’d put them aside and support each other. No matter what, ain’t that right?”

  “Yes.”

  She dabbed delicately at her tears. “I need Lena to see that’s all I want. She doesn’t trust me yet, and I can’t blame her. I was hoping maybe you could help convince her to give me a chance.”

  She slid her hand across the table, skimmed it over the back of his. “I’d sure appreciate it if you did. I feel so alone. Woman in my situation, she needs a friend. A strong man in her corner. If I knew I had you on my side, it would help so much.”

  “If there have to be sides, I’m on Lena’s. Either way, I can’t step between family—and if I was stupid enough to try it, she wouldn’t listen to me anyway.”

  “Maybe the two of you aren’t as close as I assumed.”

  “It’s always risky to make assumptions,” he returned equably.

  She took another swallow of beer. “You’re sleeping with her, aren’t you?”

&nbs
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