Now You See Him

by Stella Cameron

  Amid cheering, the Swamp Doggies made their way back to the stage and the strobe lights started revolving again. Marc and Reb sat at a table with William—who had fallen asleep on Marc’s shoulder—and Reb’s old school friend, Lea Chesney. Lea had been staying with the Girards about a month while she researched the wisdom of buying out the local, and dying, newspaper.

  “This is it,” Reb said to Lea. “The metropolis of Toussaint in full, celebratory swing. I’d say about everyone in town has passed through this place since this afternoon and they’re decked out like I’ve never seen ‘em before. That Byron Frazer—what a hunk—he invited everyone in town, or so I heard. And it looks that way. He wouldn’t listen to arguments from Joe and Ellie about putting on the wedding. Do you think you can make somethin’ interestin’ out of these people’s lives?”

  Lea, blond with wise green eyes, shrugged. “We’ll see. Let me hold William while you dance.”

  Once on the floor, Marc held Reb close. They didn’t get enough chances to do the things people craved when they were in love. “Do you know how much I love you?” he whispered into her ear. They barely moved. Feeling her back, her waist, and when the lights weren’t directly on them, her tight bottom, reminded him why the thrill of making love had never faded. Her sharp mind and imagination didn’t hurt.

  He leaned away and looked into her face. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I didn’t think I needed to. Being loved by you is the most important thing in my life—next to loving you back. Is this a good time to ask a question?”

  Marc stopped dancing. “That’s ominous. Depends on the question, but as much as I like Lea, I don’t think she should live with us permanently.”

  “Neither do I. How do you feel about having another baby?”

  “We-ell, maybe it’s the wedding today that’s got you thinking about babies.”

  “And maybe I’ve been thinking about it and waiting for the right time to bring it up.”

  How had he managed to snare such a woman? “It’s crossed my mind, too, so I vote we go for it.”

  “Don’t look now,” Reb said, “but Guy’s dancing with Jilly.”

  “I used to like dancing,” Guy said, twirling Jilly past the Girards and Doll and Gator Hibbs. “Lost interest somewhere along the way.”

  “When you didn’t have Billie anymore, maybe.”

  He’d walked right into that. “Yep.”

  “Grievin’s somethin’ you can’t hurry,” she said. “But the people you love and lose don’t have to be completely lost. You try to remember the best parts, the happy times and the times when you were on the same wavelength and it felt so good being one of a twosome rather than alone.”

  “You’re right.” And she was something. After the treatment she’d gotten from Nelson, her spirit inspired him.

  “There was a hearing about your reinstatement,” she said, and let the statement hang there.

  “I’ve been reinstated, but I’m on a leave of absence while I decide if I want to go back.”

  “Give yourself time,” Jilly said. “You don’t have to rush into anything.”

  “Because I have no responsibilities?” he said, and hated himself for sounding mean. “Forget I said that. I’m enjoyin’ dancin’ again tonight. Thank you. I think our bride and groom look tired, how about you?”

  Jilly smiled and looked over her shoulder at Joe and Ellie.

  The Doggies struck up a new song. “I want you to myself,” Joe whispered into Ellie’s ear. She reversed positions and said, “Ditto. But everyone’s having such a good time. I don’t think we can leave yet.”

  Joe made a low, growling noise. “Could I show you the inside of my Jeep?”

  Under the cover of her voluminous skirts, Ellie squeezed his thigh, squeezed it again, and again, until she reached the part of him that made him suck in a breath. She kissed him at once, smothering any other sound he might be in the mood to make.

  “Demon,” he said when she allowed him to breathe again.

  Ellie smiled sweetly and put her mouth to his ear again. “When I get you alone I’m planning to eat you, bit by bit. Only the best bits, of course.”

  “I’m going to ignore you,” he said, slipping lower in his chair. “But don’t blame me if things get out of hand.”

  She laughed, picked up a glass of champagne and held it while he took a sip. Then she took one of her own and stared at him over the rim of the glass.

  “Your brother puts on a great shindig.” Joe glanced across at Byron and his beautiful wife, Jade, their teenage son, Ian, and three-year-old Lori. Wazoo also sat with them and they seemed to enjoy her. “They’re a great family. It’ll be a culture shock to be in Cornwall for our honeymoon.”

  “We’ll love being in England,” Ellie said. “Spike and Vivian insist they can manage Daisy and Zipper at Rosebank—with Wazoo’s help.”

  “You know Vivian’s pregnant?” Joe asked.

  “I had noticed,” Ellie said. “She looks lovely.”

  At the far end of the head table, Spike and Vivian sat with Charlotte, Homer and Wendy. They had pulled their chairs into a semicircle and watched Daisy tease Reb’s Gaston and Vivian’s Boa. Wally brought another chair and joined them.

  Jade Frazer leaned on her husband. Lori stayed close to her brother and asked him a stream of questions. “It’s all so different here,” Jade said. “Different from San Francisco or New York, but most of all from Cornwall.”

  “Do you like it?”

  Jade looked into his eyes and then at his mouth. “I do. And I really like your sister, and Joe. I’m glad they want to be involved with us.”

  “I look forward to seeing them in Cornwall. Your dad will give them the once-over, and your mom.”

  “They’re up to it.” Jade rubbed her husband’s arm. When she thought of it, she still felt surprised that this big, impressive, sought-after man had come into her life. “Look at those dogs, Ian. They’re so funny.”

  Homer tried to put the toe of a boot on Daisy’s red cell phone. She was too fast for him. “That’s what I call a dog,” Homer said, giving Boa and Gaston a significant look. “It’s about time you got a fine fella like Daisy and gave the Chihuahua to a needy little old lady.”

  “Daisy’s a female,” Spike told his father, mildly enough. “And Boa’s a spirited dog. I won’t say much about Gaston except you’d better not pick on him.”

  Daisy pushed her phone toward Gaston, but snatched it back when the poodle showed interest. Next Daisy placed the phone in Boa’s reach. Boa sniffed it, stood up and rotated, and flopped down with her back to Daisy.

  “In other words,” Vivian said, “you know what you can do with your silly red phone.” She took hold of the hand Spike offered and they left to dance.

  “Homer,” Charlotte said, leaning toward him. “Cerise just came in.”

  “Fool woman.” He turned around to look at her. “Doesn’t have any shame.”

  Guy had joined Jilly at her table and they sat there saying very little. Doll and Gator Hibbs, Jilly’s table companions, had left to dance and she noticed they didn’t return when the music stopped.

  “Cerise,” Jilly said suddenly, sounding out of breath. “She’s coming this way.”

  Guy didn’t say anything, but neither did he acknowledge that Cerise had arrived.

  “I’ve come to apologize, Jilly, and to try to explain something. I don’t mean I want to say there was a good reason for what happened, just that I know about one thing.”

  “Sit down,” Guy said, without getting up. “Make it fast.”

  Jilly couldn’t look at the other woman, not so close up.

  “I’m very sorry for causing you pain. Things started out differently between Paul and me, then they went sour. I want you to know that I’m staying in Toussaint. I want a chance to prove I’m not as bad as the town thinks. And I’ll be testifying against Paul when he goes to trial.”

  “Thanks for telling me,” Jilly said.

 
“There’s something else,” Cerise said. “I’m sure Paul didn’t set out to hurt Ellie’s dog. The opportunity must have come up so he did it because he thought Daisy would get in his way later…later when he…well, when he went after Ellie.”

  “He had chloroform with him,” Jilly pointed out.

  Cerise blushed and cleared her throat. She crossed her legs and jiggled a foot. “I know,” she said. “But he didn’t get it for the dog. He was bringing it to my place.”

  “Why?” Jilly said, puzzled.

  “You know,” Cerise said. “Sex needs a lift sometimes, something different. That stuff makes you kind of—”

  “I’ll explain later,” Guy said hurriedly. “I appreciate the information, Cerise. I’ll see you to the door.”

  He didn’t need to, she all but ran from Pappy’s.

  Cyrus and Madge watched the small drama Cerise brought into Pappy’s with her. By the time she went on her way, they were stepping outside into a clear, cool night.

  “I never saw more people turn out for a wedding,” Madge said.

  Cyrus laughed. “And I never saw so many people in church at one time. I thought the wedding was beautiful. Those two are committed.”

  “They’re completely in love,” Madge said softly.

  “Indeed.” He thought about the past weeks and the comfort and laughter he and Madge had shared. They couldn’t have what Joe and Ellie had, but he believed their closeness was very special.

  “We shouldn’t be out here long,” Madge said. She thought carefully about her next move before she held Cyrus’s hand and pulled him uphill a little way, to the place where a railing cut off a small but swiftly flowing river. “Listen to it here,” she told him.

  “I’m listening. It’s alive out here. I like it.” He laced their fingers together and held her hand tightly. “You and I have a lot in common, Madge. We both appreciate simple things.”

  A too-familiar pain gripped Madge’s throat. He was right, but she wished fate hadn’t made Cyrus a priest, especially when the same fate assured that she would love him regardless.

  She felt him looking at her in the darkness and turned her face up to his. “We do like simple things,” she said, and smiled.

  He sighed. “This is so unfair on you, but I don’t know what else I could do about it.”

  She had already figured out that she would take whatever she could have of him, and decided she must never push him for more. “It’s fair,” she said. “We understand what’s expected of us and we live within those boundaries. I’m happy, truly I am.”

  Cyrus put his arms around her and spread the fingers of one hand on her cheek. They rocked together. Madge felt him tremble.

  Quickly, she bobbed to her toes and kissed his cheek, then she laughed as she ran ahead of him toward Pappy’s.

  The Swamp Doggies had found their second—or third—wind and played with huge energy.

  Ellie saw Cyrus and Madge come into the building but didn’t mention it to Joe. In fact, each time she looked at Joe her excitement rose. She wanted them to be alone. As soon as they could leave with some grace, they would drive in Joe’s Jeep to spend their wedding night in New Orleans—in a fabulous suite on a riverboat owned by Cyrus’s sister and her husband. Surely the clocks had stopped. It had to be later than nine-fifteen.

  “Excuse me while I walk around a bit,” she said.

  “We already greeted every guest,” Joe reminded her.

  “I won’t be talking to guests.” She got up and sauntered away, swinging her hips and spreading her floaty skirts.

  She went into the ladies’ room for a few minutes, hoping that guests would be too busy to see her leave again. Then she slipped out and instead of going back, she wandered down an empty passageway until she reached what she knew was a storage room. Joe caught up with her and she pulled him inside with her.

  “I knew you’d follow me,” she said, putting her arms around his neck. “I want to kiss you, really kiss you, and we can’t do it out there.”

  “Really?” Joe pulled a hanging string to turn on a tiny overhead bulb. “I wouldn’t have had any problem with it.”

  Ellie pretended to scowl. “I don’t like public displays.”

  “You’re right, of course.” He took off his tuxedo jacket, stiff collar and bow tie and slid them on top of canned goods stacked on a shelf. His shirt followed.

  “Joe,” she whispered fiercely. “Put those back on right now.”

  Instead he kissed her mouth. Running his thumbs back and forth over her ears, he gave her a long, tender kiss, but only until she heard him groan and he put his tongue in her mouth. Their faces rocked together, finding every angle they could to deepen the kiss. Ellie leaned against him, caressed his body and blessed him for getting naked to the waist.

  Without warning he pulled his mouth away and bent to lick and kiss the swell of her breasts above the low, tight bodice of her wedding gown.

  “Thank you for wearing this dress,” he said, dipping his fingers inside to pinch her nipples. When they were hard, he eased them from the neckline of the gown and ran his tongue around each one, until she pulled his head hard against her and he drew the tip of her breast into his mouth.

  “Joe,” she whispered. “Please let’s go. You probably think I’m a wild woman but I want you—all of you.”

  He dropped to his knees, lifted her skirts and put his head beneath.

  Ellie batted at him but to no avail. She wore a garter belt and cream silk stockings with a tiny pale pink thong underneath, and she felt him work the thong free of the belt in front, pull it down and shoot his tongue into her most vulnerable place.

  She tried to pluck at him, slap him, reach under her skirts and grab him—but only until her knees weakened, her legs buckled and she slid until he supported her weight while he sent her into a wonderful abyss.

  “Okay?” His voice came to her, muffled, from beneath her skirts.

  “Wonderful,” she said in a wobbly voice. “Absolutely wonderful. But we can’t risk being found in here.”

  “We won’t be.” In the dim light, Joe’s skin appeared gold. His mussed black hair and dark blue eyes gave him a piratical look and Ellie almost laughed.

  She didn’t laugh long. One after the other, her garters pinged undone and Joe lifted the belt around her waist. He stood up, took off the rest of his clothes and threw the dress over her head.

  “Joe!” she cried through many layers of chiffon.

  He wasn’t listening. Gripping Ellie by the waist, he lifted her. “Put your legs around my waist,” he told her. “And hang on.”

  One thrust and Ellie tottered back against the shelves. Joe went with her, hauling up the back of her dress to make a cushion behind her back.

  They bucked and grasped each other—and ricocheted around the cupboard. Finally Joe lost any control and let his body take them both over the top.

  Cans shot from shelves and the two of them stumbled around, trying to keep their balance.

  Then Joe stopped, took Ellie in his arms and kissed her with the kind of finesse he seemed to have forgotten only moments earlier. He rested his forehead on hers and said, “I don’t want to bore you, but I love you, Ellie Gable.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “I love you, too, Joe. Get dressed while I fix my stockings. Let’s say we’re tired and leave.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  Abruptly, fists hammered on the door and whoops went up from the outside. “We know you’re in there takin’ a nap. Our fiddler, Vince Fox, is going to lead us in a set of polkas. And the two of you get paid for dancin’ with anyone who’ll pay.”

  Epilogue

  Spike reached the rectory and stamped his feet on the mat outside the front door. They were in for an unusually cold winter and he could already feel it coming.

  He rang the bell but walked in without waiting and waved at Madge whom he could see through the open door to her office.

  “He’s in there,” Madge said, pointing toward Cyrus’s
study.

  “And he hears every word,” Cyrus shouted. He rarely closed himself away. “Get in here, whoever you are.”

  Unbuttoning his duster, Spike took off his hat and grimaced when water ran from the brim onto the carpet, but he followed Cyrus’s instructions.

  “Hey there,” Cyrus said, grinning when he saw Spike approach the study desk. “What brings you around so early?”

  “Mornin’.” Spike reached into a pocket and drew out a single sheet of paper. This he flattened out and slid toward Cyrus. “Thought you might like to see this. It’s just a summary. Early days yet.”

  Cyrus grunted. “Heard from the lovebirds?”

  “A card,” Spike said, and chuckled. “They don’t have time for a lot of writing. I’d say they’re pretty taken with Cornwall, though.”

  “Who wouldn’t be?” Cyrus frowned down at the paper, which he scanned rapidly. “I’m not a vengeful man but this sounds fair to me,” he said.

  Paul Nelson is charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. He is being held without bail pending trial. The district attorney will seek the death penalty.

  Jason Clark is charged with rape, attempted murder, attempted rape, sexual assault, battery and unlawful imprisonment. He is being held without bail pending trial.

  Alice Clark is charged with unlawful imprisonment, and being an accessory to rape, sexual assault and battery.

  Charles Penn is being held in Canada pending extradition to the United States.

  “Fair,” Spike agreed.

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-6454-3

  NOW YOU SEE HIM

  Copyright © 2004 by Stella Cameron.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, MIRA Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.