by Linda Conrad
“Where is she, Shelby?” He steeled his expression so the disappointment wouldn’t show.
“Uh…” Shelby looked nervous and it was suddenly driving him nuts.
“Is she okay?” he demanded. “She’s not sick or anything?”
Shelby caught the panic in his voice. “Calm down. Kate’s fine. The baby is fine. She just had a checkup this morning, and the doctor says all is well.”
“Well then, where is she? Why isn’t she here?”
“She’s working.”
“Excuse me? Working where?”
“She’s been helping Robert Guidry over at the roadhouse tavern during happy hour. He needed the help and she felt she needed the extra money.”
“What?” His ears were ringing. He could not have just heard that the love of his life, the soon-to-be mother of his child was a barmaid.
“She doesn’t need money,” he argued. “All she has to do is ask me….”
Shelby laid a soft hand against his sleeve. “That’s just it, Chase. She wanted some of her own, and she definitely didn’t want to ask.”
“Damned stubborn woman,” he said as he stepped away from Shelby and headed for the Jag.
By the time he arrived at the tavern, Chase had calmed down. He had been so consumed over the last few weeks with his project that he had neglected the time with Kate that she obviously needed.
He’d been so sure of her capabilities to take care of herself and everyone around her. He’d just assumed she would think like he did and they wouldn’t need to talk about every little detail. What an idiot he was.
Parking the car in the almost empty lot, Chase got out and took a deep breath. She was her own woman. And thank heaven for her.
But he swore on his mother’s grave that this was the last night she would ever work for anyone else.
He opened the tavern door and spotted her behind the bar. Just the sight of Kate made his knees weak and his pulse jump.
Happy hour had been over for a quarter hour and most of the patrons had gone on home. Kate stopped wiping down the bar and glanced up when the light in the room changed, meaning the outside door had opened. The bright lights from the parking lot flooded the entryway and she had to squint to see who had just come in.
And her heart leaped into her throat. Chase.
“Hey there, Guidry,” he called out to Robert, who was at the other end of the bar. “I see you got yourself new help.” Chase hadn’t spoken directly to her, but he trained his eyes on her alone as he came closer.
“Cher, I…” she hesitated, not knowing what to say. Ecstatic to see him at last, she wanted to jump the bar and fling herself into his arms. But his face was a guarded mask. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Chase continued speaking to the bar owner as he climbed onto a bar stool right in front of where she stood. “You’re going to have to find yourself someone else, Guidry. This barmaid is a short-timer. In fact, I’d say she has about five more minutes left.”
Her anger came fast and hard. How dare he?
“Just a minute, Chase,” she said with a frown.
He stunned her by grabbing her hands with both of his. “No, Kate,” he said with a grin. “No more minutes left before I say what should’ve been said weeks ago. Je t’aime. I’ve never stopped loving you. Not for one single minute since the day I first saw you.”
He pulled a small box from his jacket pocket. He flipped it open and turned the whole box around so she could see what it held.
She couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her lips. One of the biggest diamonds shone from the most fabulous ring setting she had ever beheld.
“Please do me the honor of becoming my wife.”
Glancing from the ring back up into his eyes, Kate saw the emotion there that she had longed to see. He still loved her. For real.
Heart fluttering, she managed a grin of her own. “Yes, Chase. I will marry you.”
He slipped the ring on her finger and leaned over the bar for a kiss. It was the tenderest of kisses. One of the sensual and endearing kinds, unlike any in her experience. Gentle, raw and full of every emotion that was running through them both, the kiss sent tears to her eyes. She pulled away, sniffed and held her hand, palm out, to study the ring.
Chase chuckled. And Robert whistled.
“That’s some rock, Severin.” Robert came closer to get a better look. “It’s a wondrous thing to be seeing a Beltrane and a Severin about to be joined after all these generations. I guess that will surely be taking the curse off some folks round here.”
“Curse?” both Chase and Kate asked at the same time.
Old Robert Guidry winked at them. “I told you I had some interesting history yet to tell, Severin. You ready to hear it?”
A superstitious curse wasn’t particularly interesting to Chase. But it made him wonder if the old man might have the answers to any of the questions that still rumbled around in the back of his brain.
“Okay, Guidry. I’m listening.” Chase eased back on his bar stool but took hold of Kate’s hand across the mahogany bar. “We’re listening. Go ahead with history.”
The older man showed his yellowed teeth through a half smile. “Well now… It all started with your great-great-granddaddy Severin.”
“Mine? Really?” Chase knew absolutely nothing about his family history—on either side.
“Jacques was his name,” Guidry began. “Came down to bayou country to run the St. Germaine farm.”
“Oh, yes,” Kate murmured as she turned to Chase. “You remember. Gus told us that.”
He nodded but kept silent, waiting for the rest.
“Your ancestor, son,” Guidry continued. “He was a gambling man like you. Spent his spare time in barns and back rooms betting on games of chance.
“More than once he faced a young Beltrane boy name of Armand over cards and dice,” Robert continued. “They had themselves a real rivalry going. Wanted the same land. Same women. Fought over everything.”
Chase was feeling strange. This was not the story he’d been expecting to hear.
“One night a gypsy troop came to town,” Robert told them as he picked up the bar towel and wiped his hands.
“Gypsies? You’re kidding?”
“Wasn’t so unusual back then. They came to small towns to sharpen knives, tell fortunes and part the locals from whatever they had that wasn’t nailed down.
“Both of your ancestors fell in lust with the same gypsy woman,” Robert said with a shake of his head. “She played them both for a while, then unfortunately fell hard for Jacques. Armand couldn’t stand losing. It drove him mad. He went looking for them.”
“Oh, dear,” Kate said. “I’m not sure I want to hear the rest of this.”
Robert patted her on the shoulder. “When the smoke cleared, both Armand and the gypsy woman were dead. Jacques was near death, too, but he pulled through.
“The gypsy woman’s father was inconsolable,” Robert told them as the story wound down. “He cursed both families. Swore they would pay for his daughter’s death for generations.”
“Okay,” Chase interrupted when Robert took a breath. “That’s enough about curses.” He didn’t like the horrified look on Kate’s face. And the gypsy coincidence was just plain spooky.
Robert took the hint and put his arm around Kate’s shoulders. “If there was a curse, Missy Kate, it ended with your father’s death. Don’t you worry about it.”
Chase rolled his eyes over the fantasy tale about a curse. But there were other things he still wanted to know. He wondered if Robert Guidry would have the answers.
“Please don’t try to tell me it was a family curse that drove Kate’s father to hate me. That doesn’t make…”
“You’re right about that, son,” Robert said. “Henry Beltrane had his very own evil spirits.”
“Can you tell me about him?” Chase asked, but then thought better of it and turned to Kate. “You don’t have to listen to this if you don’t want to, chère.”
She seemed stronger now and shook her head. “I want to know whatever you can tell us about my father. I never understood the things he did.”
Robert studied her through narrowed eyes for a few moments. “I suppose y’all both should be hearing the truth. Let the past be the past.
“Your father was a weak man, Kate,” Robert continued in a bolder tone. “He was a spoiled-rotten boy that grew into a weak and selfish adult.”
Chase decided Kate needed to sit down for this. “Come around the bar and sit with me, chère. I need you.”
She lifted her chin as if to accuse him of trying to protect her—which of course he was. But he tried a smile and she smiled back. Then she came around the bar, climbed on a stool and he jumped up to stand behind her. He put his arms around her as she leaned against his chest for support. Her body was warm, and her strength washed right inside him.
It occurred to him then that he did need her. Much more than she needed him.
Guidry began his tale. “Henry Beltrane and Charles Severin went to school together and competed in everything. But it wasn’t a fair competition. Sorry, Kate, but Henry was a born loser.”
She nodded her head and made a motion with her hands for him to continue.
“Charles won the class president’s job. He dated the prettiest girls. And though he couldn’t take the time to participate in sports, whenever they faced each other in a game, Charles’s team always won.
“Your daddy grew more hateful and bitter toward Charles every year,” Robert continued with a sigh. “At their senior prom, Henry drank too much and pawed his date…tore her dress. Charles stepped in like the Southern gentlemen he was raised to be and took the scared girl home. Henry got himself a permanent mad-on cause of that, and swore then that he would someday get the better of Charles Severin.”
“That sounds like my father,” Kate told them. “But what happened to Charles to change him so much?”
Robert Guidry shook his head sadly. “The day Chase’s mama was buried Charles picked up a bottle to drown his sorrows and just never could put it down again. And Henry Beltrane laughed in his face every day. Called him a ridiculous drunk.
“Your daddy used every nasty trick he knew to keep Charles Severin tied to that bottle, Kate,” Robert told her darkly. “And it worked, too, until Chase finally rescued Charles and dried him out.”
Kate twisted her head to question Chase. “You came here five years ago to save your father?”
Chase could only nod. Hearing that story had been difficult. Everything he’d ever imagined about his father was untrue. Chase’s whole world seemed to be shifting.
“I wish I’d known you’d come home then,” Kate said softly. “I might’ve…”
He looked down into the face of the woman he loved and saw great sorrow in her eyes. She was suffering from the sins of her father again. And Chase wouldn’t stand for it.
He’d wanted his homecoming tonight to be a celebration. He’d wanted festive, not depressing. It was time to get them both out of here.
“Let’s go, chère,” he broke in before she could finish. “I have something good to tell you…in private.”
Robert beamed at them both. “Anything you say will stay here, son.”
“No chance, old man. You’ll get the gossip soon enough. My fiancée hears the news first.”
He shuttled them both out of the tavern and into the car. Dying to see Kate’s expression change for the better, Chase couldn’t wait to tell her how they were about to take the ultimate revenge.
“I thought you said your news was going to be good.” Kate stared up at the moonlit outline of the old rice mill and shuddered. “Why did you bring me here? These ghostly walls are a far cry from anything pleasant. I thought we’d put the mill behind us forever.”
Chase shifted the Jag into park and turned off the key. But he didn’t make any attempt to get out of the car. Kate was really puzzled by his silence.
Finally he turned to her. “Do you remember what you said about the mill when we were on our way back from Gus’s? About how it wasn’t the mill itself that you were sorry to see fail. But that the loss of the town’s jobs was going to be the real tragedy.”
“Sure. I meant it, too. It’s a shame. I hate that I let everyone down.”
Chase ripped open his seat belt so he could put a hand on her shoulder. “You didn’t. It was all your father’s doing. He could never admit his failure, not even in order to save the mill and the town. After he drove it beyond redemption, you didn’t stand a chance to succeed.”
She took comfort from the heat of his hand on her shoulder but wished they could go home. Increasingly desperate to get him back in her bed, his nearness had begun to cause other kinds of heat in her body.
“Can we talk about your good news now?” Kate urged.
He smiled at her, and his eyes crinkled with the surprise he was about to tell. “I’m sure I haven’t missed anything where you’re concerned. For instance, you’d be willing to work harder than ever in order to bring back the jobs that were lost. Am I right?”
She tilted her head to study his expression but couldn’t get a handle on the meaning of his words. “Yes…of course, but…”
Chase flipped open her seat belt and helped her across the bucket-seat divide and into his lap. “That’s better,” he said with a grin.
Kate thought so, too. “Please tell me what’s going on.”
“It came to me easy as could be, Kate. The way to take the ultimate revenge against your father would be to build something useful on the site of his greatest failure.”
Her breath caught in her throat. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?
“It took me three weeks of twenty-four-hour days and more money spent on lawyers than I’d thought possible. But I did it, Kate. I just got the final state approvals today.
“Next week we can start hiring construction crews to transform this hulk of a ghost mill into a four-star resort.” He’d said it with a cat-who-ate-the-canary grin. “Within six months, the riverboat casino I special ordered will arrive for its permanent home at the old mill’s dock.”
She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Chase laughed at her stunned expression. “I thought we could discuss turning Live Oak Hall into a luxury spa to go with the resort. It won’t take many changes on the inside. We’ll definitely need to keep all your family’s antiques.”
Her head was spinning. “Wait… Let me catch my breath. You’re saying you plan to turn the mill into a gambling casino and resort. And that such a thing will bring jobs back to the town.” She blinked her eyes. “You intend to hire people from nearby?”
“Of course, chère.” Chase laughed again at her confusion. “Actually, I’ve been thinking maybe Shelby might like a chance to manage her own restaurant. We’ll need several nice places in the resort. I’ll give her the job of food and beverage manager if she’d rather but…”
Kate actually heard a little-girl’s squeal coming from her own mouth. She threw her arms around his neck and laughed out loud.
“It’s so wonderful,” she told him. “But what about your other businesses? Don’t they need you, too? How will you ever be able to see this project through to the end?”
He wrapped her in his arms and lowered his voice. “Well, first of all, I’ll have you to be the most competent partner a man could ever have. And secondly, most of my former businesses are already in escrow. The others are just waiting for higher bids.”
She pulled back to look at him again. “You’re selling all your businesses?”
He nuzzled her ear. “A family man needs to settle down, chère.” His voice became husky with emotion. “Build a home. Become part of the community. Neither of our fathers managed to do that, and it caused a lot of hardship. I intend to see things change now.”
Her heart was pounding so hard that she could barely hear his words. She pulled his head down so that their lips met and kissed him. Kissed him wi
th every emotion she was still afraid to speak aloud.
It was all too exciting and wonderful. Her longtime dreams were coming true. But in her heart she had not forgotten that she didn’t deserve this happiness. As much as she loved him and as wonderful as he had been, Kate was positive that he would go back to hating her and probably abandon her once more if he knew the whole truth.
The cold fear of losing him stole into her soul.
So she tried to bury her guilt for good. Maybe she could just forget it. Bury the truth so deeply that it never came to the surface.
Their kiss deepened, exploded into flames as each of them became consumed with the fire of desire. Time for talking had ended, and it soon became the time for showing…driving…taking…enveloping each other with hot, intense sensations.
Chase’s mouth moved over hers. He claimed, bewitched, seduced. There was so much pleasure. So much promise.
Kate groaned, ground her bottom against his straining erection and reached to unbutton his shirt. She wanted to press her hands against his skin. To feel the smooth contours of muscle. To run her fingers through the silk of matted hair on his chest.
In one surprise sweep of his hands, Chase pulled her top up and over her head. Her breasts began to ache for his touch. When he bent his head to suckle a nipple with his hot mouth, Kate thought she might lose her mind.
She’d never before wanted him with such desperation. He was her hero and her lover. Her everything. For now.
And she prayed that later would never come.
Twelve
“No. No. No,” Passionata Chagari screamed as she shook her fist at the darkness. “Of all the arrogant and smug young men. How dare you ignore the magic and close your eyes to the truth, Severin?”
In a fit of anger the old gypsy threw her crystal down on the swampy bog.
“You think you deserve this happiness and more?” she demanded of his shadow from afar. “You deserve nothing. Deep down, you really believe you were the only one wronged. Imagine that. And worse yet, now you think you’ve ridden in on your white horse to save the town by selfless acts?
