In Dreams

by Patricia Rosemoor

  “Got it.”

  Justin was giving her a hungry look that made Lucy’s knees weak.

  “Let’s get started,” she mumbled, sorting tubes while he spread out the cards like an assembly line.

  As they worked together, she once again thought they made a great team. He wanted her to believe in herself. Well, too bad he didn’t believe in her.

  A couple of hours later, they were done and Lucy was satisfied.

  “Great job,” Dana said, joining them between customers.

  “You really think they’ll do?”

  “You could have been an art forger if you had a bent in that direction.”

  Lucy glanced at Justin, who was grinning at Dana’s comment, then said, “Well, good. Hopefully they’ll fool the murderer long enough to get him to incriminate himself. Now all I have to do is figure out how to keep him from recognizing me.”

  “Wear one of those headdresses and lots of makeup,” Dana suggested.

  Lucy sighed. “I don’t own a lot of makeup.”

  “Your sister Jennifer does,” Justin said.

  “Jenn…yes, she does, doesn’t she?”

  Which might explain why she’d dreamed about her sister, Lucy thought. With Jenn’s help, their own mother wouldn’t recognize her!

  “MAYBE WE SHOULD have gone back to see Odette,” Justin said.

  In the midst of their preparations for that night’s work, Justin was gathering electronic equipment in a discreet leather bag.

  “Why? Do you think the voodoo queen will be there tonight?”

  “Maybe she can make a protection potion.”

  Opening the yellow pages to tuxedo rentals, Lucy said, “You don’t believe in things like potions.”

  “I need to be convinced,” he said.

  Lucy gave him a look before placing her call. She paced the loft as she spoke to the clerk. Luckily the shop had a rental that would fit him.

  “You’re all set,” she said, realizing Justin had wandered off toward the counter. He had something in his hand. “What’s that?”

  “Proof. Or not.”

  “What?”

  He jiggled the vial at her. “Odette’s love potion.”

  Her heart began to thud. This scenario was unfamiliar. Not one of her dreams. She wasn’t sure how to react.

  But when Justin got close to her, warming her with his heat, and asked, “Well, ready to prove a point?” she sighed wistfully and knew whatever happened next would come naturally.

  How could she turn him down?

  “That love potion was for you, if you’ll remember.”

  He handed her the vial and began stripping. He was challenging her. But she wasn’t up to a challenge. Not tonight. Tonight she felt…well, odd. Wistful. Anxious. Confused.

  “I need you tonight, chère,” he murmured as he stood before her gloriously naked. “We need each other. Together we can do anything.”

  Mesmerized by his voice, knowing that he was right and fearing that tonight might be the final climax of their personal relationship, she opened the vial. Tipping it, she dripped fragrant oil down his stomach and along his shaft. She used her fingertips to rub the potion exactly where it was created to work.

  Justin moaned and filled her hand, and slowly she began moving her fingers along his length. He closed his eyes and sighed, then reached out blindly for her.

  She’d showered and was wearing his robe. He didn’t remove it, merely parted it so he could find her and touch her and enter her. He did so with her back pressed against a support. And when he was deep inside her, he urged her legs up and around his back. She surrendered completely and let him make love to her for what seemed like forever.

  And after he flooded her with his essence, he stayed inside her, and within minutes was hard enough to make sure she came.

  Collapsing against him, she murmured in his ear, “So what do you think about the potion? Does it work or not?”

  “Let me show you,” he whispered, then began moving inside her again.

  “JUST PUTTING ON a lot of makeup doesn’t make you a Goth,” Jenn said, sitting Lucy down in front of her makeup table.

  “I don’t actually want to become a Goth, I just want to look like one.”

  Lucy had explained to Jenn the basics of what was going on—not revealing, of course, that men were after her. Her sister was reluctantly going along with the plan. Justin had dropped her off at the cottage on Magazine Street that Jenn had bought with her trust fund—her sister didn’t have the same problems using the family money that Lucy did. Jenn had bought a small house and a few nice antiques and had given herself a modest monthly income that took her through the tough times when she couldn’t get work.

  After leaving her there, Justin had gone on to pick up that rental tuxedo. They would make some pair if they walked into that party together…which of course they wouldn’t now.

  “Smear this all over,” Jenn said, handing Lucy a jar of skin cream. “Face, neck, shoulders, arms. It’ll help get the makeup off later.”

  Doing as commanded, Lucy glanced at her sister in the mirror. Jenn was not only free of makeup at the moment, she wasn’t even wearing a dark color. She looked so much like Mama right now, though Lucy dared not say it. Jenn would hate the comparison. Though she did use the Ryan money, Jenn wanted to be thought of as an individual, not seen as one member of a wealthy family. She just hadn’t decided who it was she wanted to be yet, Lucy thought sardonically.

  As Jenn applied the first coat of makeup, Lucy asked, “How come you’re not Goth today?”

  “Too much hassle if I’m not going anywhere. No work, plus I don’t feel like clubbing tonight.”

  “Speaking of clubs…I dreamed about your being at one last night.”

  “I was.” Jenn frowned at her. “One of those dreams?”

  “I expect so. I can’t seem to close my eyes lately without having a psychic episode.”

  “Why did you dream about me?” Jenn asked, sounding a little freaked, undoubtedly since Lucy had told her about seeing Sophie’s murder. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know why. I was concentrating on someone else before I fell asleep, but there you were. I was trying to get to you, but you were too far away, and you were having a disagreement with another Goth girl.”

  “Tess? Yeah, she took off on her own, and I was trying to convince her to go home and make up with her parents. She ought to let her parents, who love her, help her get out of trouble.”

  “Right.”

  Lucy could relate to that. Their parents had agreed to help her when she’d asked. Maybe she ought to loosen up and ask for things—personal time, for one—more often.

  “But that’s creepy,” Jenn was saying, “you seeing me in dreams.”

  “Not creepy,” Lucy said, suddenly feeling a little creeped out herself. “I needed your help, and here I am.”

  “Yeah. Well close your eyes and hold your breath so I can powder you down.”

  Lucy obeyed and soon wanted to scratch her nose. How could Jenn stand putting this stuff on day after day? She held her breath until the powdering was over.

  “So what about this Justin?” Jenn asked. “Did you use the love potion?”

  “That was a joke.”

  “Humor is built on truth.” Jenn was already applying a second coat of white to Lucy’s face and neck. “So how hot is he?”

  Lucy felt her ears burn and hoped it was embarrassment rather than the makeup. “Hot.”

  “You did the deed?”

  “Mostly in dreams.”

  “Whoa, a qualifier.” Jenn added more white to Lucy’s shoulders, asking, “Does that mean in reality, too? Details!”

  “Not on your life.”

  “C’mon. I’m starved for sex talk.”

  “Sex talk or sex?” Lucy asked.

  “Both.”

  “What happened to Chip What’s-his-name?”

  “The Chipper went North. Literally. Said he couldn’t stand the heat.”
r />   “New Orleans or you?”

  “Probably both.” Jenn sighed, and stopped applying for a moment. “He told me I was too intense.”

  “Argh.”

  “Yeah, argh. That’s why I’ve decided to become celibate for the foreseeable future.”

  “Celibacy is overrated.”

  “I won’t know until I try it.”

  Lucy laughed and Jenn did, too. No matter their different lifestyles, they were still sisters, still as close as they had been when they were kids. They could tell each other anything. Almost. Lucy had left out the part about the thugs coming after her and about being shot. She didn’t want to worry Jenn more than necessary.

  “Gran told me Justin was the one because of the dreams. She basically indicated that since I couldn’t get him out of my mind, I wasn’t going to get him out of my heart.”

  “Was she right?”

  “About the heart part?” Lucy swallowed hard and gave her sister the truth she’d been trying not to face. “Afraid so.”

  “Afraid so? You’re in love and you don’t want to be?”

  “I thought Justin was different. About the gift, I mean. I thought he believed me…but he doesn’t, not really.”

  “And you think that’s weird?” Jenn smacked her lightly on top of her head. “Get real, Lucy. Who the heck is going to embrace what they can’t understand? Why do you think I decided to stop listening when I got a premonition? Eventually they went away. So I don’t have to deal with that particular problem.”

  Jenn spoke with all the fervor of a convert, but Lucy figured her sister was fooling herself. Sooner or later, Jenn would have to deal with her own gift, and it could be all the more intense for having denied it all these years.

  “Give Justin a chance, Lucy. He hasn’t walked away. He seems crazy about you.”

  Lucy flushed. Indeed he did, but hot sex was short-term. Truth be told, she was ready for commitment. Something she hadn’t even known about herself until Justin. Then, she’d never been in love before.

  “Maybe if you just blocked those dreams of yours, everything would be okay.”

  “No, it wouldn’t be okay, not when I would be denying a part of myself.”

  Not wanting to think about how things were going to work out between them—that tonight might be the last time she even saw him—Lucy turned the conversation back on Jenn. And Jenn seemed grateful for the turn in topic. No doubt she didn’t want to think about how she’d been denying herself.

  The time flew as they teased each other about men and sex and before Lucy knew it, she became transformed from the Lucy that guys liked as a friend to a Lucille they might actually lust over…or perhaps fear just a little.

  “Yikes, I don’t even recognize myself.”

  “That’s good, then,” Jenn said with a laugh. “But one shower and you’ll be yourself again.”

  Too bad, Lucy thought, imagining how Justin would react when he saw her.

  WHEN JUSTIN STOPPED by the cottage on Magazine, a Goth girl who wasn’t Jenn met him at the door.

  “Lucy?” he asked doubtfully.

  “Call me Lucille,” she said in a deep, throaty whisper that turned him on.

  Having fantasies wasn’t hard just looking at her: white skin, black-ringed eyes, blood red-lips and nails and black hair straightened into a satin cloud. Her cleavage above the lace-up black vinyl bustier was damn impressive.

  He practically salivated thinking about tonguing a nipple free of the material.

  The rest of her was packaged nicely, also, in a clingy calf-length skirt. Too bad about the thick-soled combat boots, though at least she could run in them if she had to. Or break someone’s leg by kicking it.

  “So what do you think?” Lucy asked, turning for him.

  He didn’t want to think that either could happen or he would change his mind fast. He would be there and keep her safe. He would hear every word she said to every man who used her services. He would be on guard.

  “I think your own mother wouldn’t recognize you.”

  “Good.”

  Lucy grabbed him by the tux front and pulled him inside. The body contact had him concentrating on her, on what he would like to do with her and to her.

  “Now where’s that mike I’m supposed to wear?” she asked.

  Thinking about having to wire her without any hanky-panky considering her sister was looking on with interest, Justin gritted his teeth and pulled several items out of his pocket. “Right here.”

  “Sophisticated stuff,” Jenn said.

  “I’m a professional,” Justin reminded her.

  He was nearly as taken aback by her sister’s appearance as he was by Lucy’s. He would bet Jenn was the spitting image of Kat Ryan in her mid-twenties.

  “Can I watch?” Jenn asked with a big grin.

  Lucy said, “Why not? All he’s going to do is wire me.”

  That’s all he would be able to do, though Justin had visions of his own about what he would like to do.

  “All right, let’s get this thing started,” he groused, selecting the tiny mike. “We’ll have to tape this in your…” He waved at the lacings of her bustier. “Here.” Palms sweating at the thought of touching Lucy to get the mike in place, he offered it to her, hoping she could manage it on her own. “Can you thread it upward from the waist?”

  “If I take a really big breath.”

  When she did so and started weaving the mike upward, her breasts threatened to spill from the top of the corset, and to keep his mind where it belonged, Justin concentrated on connecting the wire to the transmitter so he could test the system.

  “Okay, it’s in place,” Lucy said a moment later.

  “But I can see it.” Justin took the wire and wiggled it backward, all the while looking down the front of her corset. Discomfort made him clumsy. “Okay, that’s too far down,” he muttered.

  Silently cursing, he reached in to adjust the mike against her breast. The soft flesh against his fingertips made him light-headed, and he couldn’t get his hand out fast enough.

  A snicker from behind him made him aware of Jenn’s amusement.

  “Do we need to tape it in place?” Lucy asked.

  “That top is so tight the mike isn’t going anywhere. Now I’ve got to figure out what to do with the transmitter.” Though it was compact, so was her outfit. “We need to secure it someplace where it doesn’t show. Usually I would put it in back, at your waist, but there’s nothing here to hide it.”

  Jenn said, “She can wear my cape for extra drama and camouflage.”

  “Good,” Justin said, securing the transmitter with a bit less clumsiness.

  “Let’s just hope it doesn’t get too hot at this party,” Lucy said. “What about the receiver and recorder?”

  Had her voice actually changed or was she doing that husky thing on purpose? Did she even have a clue as to what she was doing to him?

  He lifted the rest of the equipment from his other pocket. “I’ll be monitoring you personally.”

  She pointed to the tiny flesh-colored earpiece. “What if someone notices that.”

  “Hopefully they’ll think it’s a hearing aid.”

  “This is starting to sound dangerous,” Jenn said, frowning with disapproval, as she handed over the cape.

  “We’ve got it all worked out,” Lucy quickly assured her sister.

  On some level Jenn had to know they were taking chances but was just registering the fact, Justin thought. He hoped she wasn’t going to be too difficult.

  “We’ll be fine,” he said. “Your sister is safe in my hands.”

  “I’m not too sure about that,” Jenn muttered, helping Lucy with the dark purple velvet cape. “But I trust you won’t do anything foolish, right?”

  Justin and Lucy exchanged glances, and together said, “Right.”

  “I THINK I’D BETTER LET you off here,” Justin said, pulling the car to the curb just down the street from the mansion. “The wrong person might notice we’re together
.”

  “Good thinking.” Understandably nervous, Lucy took a big breath. “So you think I’ll do, right?”

  “You do it for me, Luci-i-ille,” Justin murmured, leaning over to kiss her.

  Lucy knew she ought to protest, ought to stop this before she got too distracted, but she simply couldn’t help herself. This could be their last kiss and she couldn’t let it go.

  Her tongue dueled with Justin’s and her head went light. And when she felt his hand on her breast, she felt like abandoning the plan and going home with him to make love.

  Justin broke the kiss, his hand still on her breast. “Just checking,” he murmured, “to see that the mike is still in place.”

  Lucy smacked him playfully. “You’re just taking advantage now, Mr. Guidry.”

  “Of course I am. And you object why?”

  Grinning at him, Lucy wanted to say she had no objections, that he could take advantage of her like this forever, but she couldn’t get the words out. Instead, she reached out to rub his lips with her fingertips. And he tried to bite them.

  “Stop that. I’m just trying to get rid of the evidence.”

  “You’d better get going or I won’t be able to let you go.”

  Heart fluttering, wishing it were so, Lucy slipped out of the car and sauntered down the street in her Goth finery, turning only once to see Justin wave at her before driving off. When she turned again, she almost ran into an older woman, whose eyes opened wide with shock.

  “I’m trying on a Halloween costume,” Lucy said before heading for the mansion with twelve pillars and three stories.

  As instructed, she entered fifteen minutes before the party start time. When she spotted her mother in the foyer, her heart nearly stopped. But while Mama glanced up at the new arrival, she didn’t react. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. Her own mother hadn’t recognized her.

  Quickly, she found Emile’s contact, who guided her to her station in the first floor parlor. It was cleared of everything but a half-dozen small tables with donation bowls for the psychic entertainment, a bar and a food station. Drinks and appetizers would be served by waiters in this room and in the smaller parlor and formal dining room on the other side of the foyer. The sit-down dinner would be hosted in the third-floor ballroom.